Dr. Rebecca

In the last unit of the Cure course, which is called Prevention, the class went over the breakthrough of treatments and medicines. We also looked at how nutrition has a lot to do with trying to prevent a disease, or how certain foods can possibly help treat an illness. For the math portion of this unit, we learned how to graph circles, ellipses and hyperbolas. For the final action project, the class was assigned to create a script where we take on the role of a doctor, and have to give advice to ourselves about nutrition and staying healthy. The "consulation" will be seen through a video that is also part of the action project grade. The whole idea of this project is to become our own prevention doctor. We get tips and advice by asking different questions, and the doctor, ourselves, respond in a way that is expected from an actual doctor. I found this unit and action project interesting because I never really knew the importance of nutrition and the fact that some foods can actually heal or prevent an illness. Doing the research for this project was actually fun because as I was reading, I would learn many things about how simple changes in a person's lifestyle could improve their health. Thanks to this unit and project, I can now make some changes in my own lifestyle, that would for sure improve my health. I hope you enjoy my script and video below!



Doctor: Hey, Rebecca, it’s nice to see you again!

Rebecca: Hey, Dr. Dorantes, how have you been?

Doctor: I’ve been good! So what’s up?

Rebecca: Well my sister has been getting major headaches lately, and she finds herself falling asleep in class, and she recently was diagnosed with sleep deprivation, the same condition my aunt has. I was just wondering if there is any chance that I can get it? And if there is, how can I prevent it?

Doctor: There is in fact a specific gene that some people carry that makes some people feel more sleepy and fatigued, yet they can’t fall asleep (WebMd). But let me ask this, how many hours of sleep do you normally get?

Rebecca: Hmm, well only like 7 or so.

Doctor: Well since you’re trying to avoid sleep deprivation, you should definitely be getting more hours of sleep. As a teenager, you should be getting about 9 or 9 and a half hours of sleep (Nationwide Children's Hospital). I’m also worried about your performance in school. Sleep deprivation can affect the brain and cognitive function.

Rebecca: Oh god really? I want all this to stop, but I’m not going to lie, I need my many doses of caffeine to make it through a day. How much of it do I need to stop drinking?

Doctor: I’m glad you understand the effect with caffeine and sleep. Well heavy doses, like about 500 or 600 mg (Mayo Clinic), can cause symptoms that do lead to sleep deprivation, so even though it might be hard, you might want to cut back at bit.


Rebecca: I’ll do anything that will help me stop from getting the illness, I see how miserable my sister acts because of lack of sleep. What are other factors that can lead to symptoms?


Doctor: Many! Especially having to do with diet. Some things you should stay away from are nicotine, alcohol, and fast food. Lack of sleep can cause the brain to crave more fatty foods (Health Day), and alcohol is known for waking up people in the middle night (WebMD). Do you work out at all?

Rebecca: Yes, when I get a chance to.

Doctor: Well just make sure it’s not right before you go to bed, because it’ll be pretty hard for you to wind down and fall asleep. It would also help you to come up with a strict sleeping schedual. It’s great that you do workout though, but what things do you do sometimes instead of working out?

Rebecca: I like to watch tv and spend time on the internet.

Doctor: Well other ways to prevent those symptoms include, not watching, eating or even reading in bed. Your biological clock doesn’t work right when lights are hitting the eyes because it sends signals to our brains that make it hard to control the hormones that makes us sleepy. (National Sleep Foundation)


Rebecca: Alright, got it! But, back to the food. I love food, so can you suggest any foods that actually make you sleepy?


Doctor: I can! You’re lucky, because they are so yummy. Some of those foods include, cherries, walnuts, milk and bananas. All those produce a natural occurring hormone called Melatonin, that can help control your sleep cycle (National Sleep Foundation) . It works in the body like a clock, and let’s your body know it’s time for bed.


Rebecca: Alright, I can deal with that! But can I still have things I love, like chocolate?


Doctor: You can, but not as much anymore! Chocolate also has caffeine along with dark chocolate.


Rebecca: That’s going to be a hard one! I mean this is all going to be hard, but I don’t want to fall into a sleepless life like my sister!


Doctor: I wouldn't want that to happen to you either! How about we schedule another appointment from about a month from now, and in the meantime, if you have more questions or just want more tips, just call!


Rebecca: Thank you so much for the help! I’ll definitely keep you up to date on how things are going!

 

Walter's downfall.

In the last Humanities class of my Sophomore year, Drama, we studied different plays that starred a strong female lead. In the last unit which was called Matriarch, we read the play, A Raisin in the Sun , a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. While reading this play, the class was assigned to look deeper into issues of  class and race during the 1940s. We also had to look  into and discover who the matriarch was in the book. The word matriarch refers to a women of motherly love, but who also has the most power in the house or family. It was interesting to see how much power a woman really had in her house, when there wasn't really anyone else to turn to. For the final action project, we were challenged to create a modern chorus about one character's glory, downfall and consequence. I decided to focus on Walter. Walter was an interesting character because you could tell that he wants to be the head of the house and be the main supporter so bad, but he just doesn't have enough power to do that. At first I had a hard time picking a character because in the book, they all seem to have a glory, downfall and consequence, but after thinking about it, I thought Walter was the best way to go. I've never seen a chorus written out like the way we were assigned to do, so that gave me a hard time. Once I saw the correct way on how to format it though, things got way smoother. Through this unit, I learned what the word matriarch means along with understanding how life was like for an African-American family who just wanted to get out of their problems, but who were also breaking the rules of society to get over one problem. I also learned how to correctly write a chorus. I hope you enjoy it below!

Asthma.

In the second unit of the Cure class, which was called Treatment, the class went over the breakthroughs in medicine, including the discovery of Penincillen. We also  went over antibiotics and medicines and figured out what ingrediants they carry and how they work in our bodies. For the math portion of this class we went over how to balance equations and learned how to solve quadratic formulas. For the action project, the class was assigned to choose a certain illness and describe it's symptoms, the perscribe medications, and alternatives that can possibly treat this illness. All this information was to go on a box that is designed like an actual medication. For the math portion, we had to measure the length, width and height of the box we chose to design. Once we had the numbers, we had to set it up as quadratic formula, and figure out the equation in a video. The video will be seen by the teacher through a QR code that is glued on our medication box. At first I was a little scared when I heard how the math would be introduced into this project, but with some practice I got over that fear. I like the idea of getting access to the equation video thorugh a QR code. Thanks to this project I learned about the illness I chose, Asthma. It's a illness that so many people have, yet I didn't know much about it. Thanks to this unit I learned about many medications, and learned how they really work in the human body. I hope you enjoy my box below!

Women can be groovy too.

In the last Humanities class of my Sophomore year, Drama, we are going over the roles that women had to play in society throughout the years. In the second unit which was called Doll, we went over A doll's house by Henrick Ibsen. While reading this play, we were assigned to look carefully at the character of Nora to see how women were portryaed at that time. It was interesting to see how controlling some men were, and how obediant some women were towards their husbands during those times. For the first action project, the class was assigned to create a dramatic dialogue including ourself as a character, Nora and one historical strong woman. In the drama, we had to include the guiding question, should men and women have different roles in society? The one historical figure that I decided to choose was Kali. She was a hindu goddess who was known to swallow up negative thoughts and even people. She also had no time to deal with people who had huge egos. That being said, I thought she would be a perfect person to talk to Nora. This was a challenging project because there were many other historical women who would've also been great to pair up with Nora, but I think I made a good choice in picking Kali. It was also difficult to actually write out a script in the correct form, but with some practice it became easier. Thanks to this project, I now know what it is like to write a drama, and thanks to this unit I understand how much pressure was put on a woman when it came to following her husband's rules. I hope you enjoy my script below!