Extra April Blog- "Tranquility"

We only have about one more month of prison left. Oh, I mean school.


....or do I?

Adequacy would be the least of my concerns at this point. I have consistently striven at this school to achieve only excellence. I put time and effort into everything I turned in. I wholeheartedly believed that my effort would reflect in my grades, that my GPA wouldn't so much be a number, but an asset that would run parallel in worthiness to every one of my accomplishments in high school. The truth is, I was naive to believe that. Even during my first year of attendance, I noticed that there was a problem. My effort was not being reflected in my grades due to the oh so lovely grading system here at I-Poly. Foolishly, I remained a loyal I-Polian for the sake of simplicity. I had already created (what felt like at the time) unbreakable bonds, embraced the I-Poly mentality and became accustomed to a certain style of teaching (which does not include senior year). Now only weeks away from my senior presentation, the one 8 months in the making, are you curious to know how I feel? *no* WELL I'M GOING TO TELL YOU ANYWAYS. 

I feel nothing, but tranquility. 

I'm not worried, because I have spent months dedicated to this project, weeks debating over all the possible ways of phrasing my essential question, days perfecting my research check notebook just to make sure it looks organized, hours in libraries hunting down the perfect books and now I'm left with few minutes of worry. I've had 4 years of stressing just to be able to attain that AE, but now it's over. I will try my hardest to succeed for the duration of this project, now without that same AE mindset. I am no longer concerned with the grades I receive at this point. Rather, I am more concerned with knowing that I did the maximum amount I possibly could in this presentation and for the rest of the year. Consistently displaying such effort in the past and only being rewarded by 'P's, this year I was very discouraged. I'm pleased to announce that I am not longer seeking to satisfy my fellow classmates, teachers or faculty. I am finishing this project for me. You see, I-Poly really is a prison. We are kept in a room for hours, confined to close quarters and being told that when released, things will be different. But prisoners walk out of years of confinement all the time completely unchanged, I-Poly is unlike this. This month I have finally realized just how much of a transformative experience I-Poly has the ability to make. I am so thankful I had this little epiphany, because honestly I could easily blame the changes I've undergone these past four years on puberty or the 'Teenage Change,' but it is I-Poly that has reconstructed me as a whole. In my opinion, it is largely part of what has made me the strong, capable woman I am.

[For those of you who are not familiar with the I-Poly grading system: AE = A, P = B] There are no pluses, no minuses. You are either proficient or approaching excellence. Because we all know in this world there is no in-between, right?]

Blog 19- Independent Component 2

Literal:

a) I, Marissa Jasso, affirm that I have completed my independent component which represents 45 hours of work.

b) My main source that helped me complete my independent component was the required text for the class that I took (which was my independent component), titled "Psychology In Your Life" by authors Grison, Heatherton and Gazzaniga.

c) Digital spreadsheet- Uploaded in my Mentorship Log
It can also be found here.

d) Explanation of what I completed: I have completed over thirty hours of working on this component. I decided to take a Psychology class at Citrus Community College. It was titled 'Psychology 101: Introduction to Psychology,' instructed by Dr. Sharon Rizk. Throughout the course of the class, I read the entire Psychology text book which consists of 531 pages.

I was originally inspired to take this course because the topic of psychology had always interested me and now that I'm going to college, I need to start acquiring my general education units. I was planning on taking Psychology 101 due to my need for college credits anyways, but when I found out that we needed another independent component, I was sure that this psychology course was for me. The psychology course was based on the many theories of mental processes, perception and intellectual research.

Interpretive:

Here I would like to explain the significance of my independent component 2 by providing evidence and reasoning for this particular choice of topic. Many would wonder how a Psychology course could interconnect with Immigration Law and to that I would answer with this: Psychology and any type of law work hand and hand. Psychology is the study of mind and behavior, and when working in law that is extremely useful information to know. When working with clients, our office often would like to know what on earth was running through their minds during the time of our interview, or the time they committed their crime, or why their behavior is they way it is. Often times we would like to study their behavior more often then we would like to fix the consequences of it. This is why I found that taking a psychology course is significant. I took it in hopes of better understanding the clients I serve.

Theses are the examples of the notes we had to take outside of the classroom. We were assigned two to three chapters per week of reading which ranged from 85-130 pages. There were also mandatory notes we had to take in class, which the professor would check for at the end of every class, but assured us it was for our own personal benefit. There were also homework worksheets the professor would give to us after every lecture, which were constructed very similarly to my personal notes.

This was an example of the homework given in which we would have to fill in the blank. This was an example of Chapter 3 and the pictures I took covered Chapter 3.1. A typical packet she would have given to us for homework would be 7-8 pages in length of fill in the blanks, because it would have to cover material for Chapter 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The structure of the class was simple. The class was held once a week for 3 hours at a time at night. Every other week was a test on the 2-3 chapters we were assigned the week before. In total, I have completed 45 hours of in class Psychology test/lecture learning time. This 45 hours of documented work on my project hours listed above does not include time for homework outside of the classroom, studying or personal note taking from the book or recorded lectures at home.

Applied:

This class helped my answer my EQ in multiple ways I never would have expected. Besides the fact that I'm not even completed with the full course yet, I have already learned so much that can help me answer my essential question. The best example I could give was that in Chapter 9: Motivation and Emotion, the book discussed the topic of belonging, social development and social attachments. The chapter was enthralling to begin with because it started off with the sentence: 'We often hear that "humans are social animals." This statement is not just a s way of saying that people like parties.' What a chapter hook, am I right? Later in depth, it began to speak about the need to belong, and specifically the Need To Belong Theory which states that the need for social relations is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive reasons. It has been our method of survival since far more primitive times, sticking together has now evolved into what it is today which is people staying together in social groups. The book states that "a lack of human contact causes emptiness and despair." It even mentions the movie Cast Away as an example of how necessary human togetherness is to not only life, but living. This was how I got my answer of having the client maintain consistently involved in the progress of their case. People need human contact with other individuals, it makes them feel safer, more protected and more connected. This human connectedness builds the feeling of confidence and motivation within that one individual. I do not feel that I would have come up with this answer if it were not for all that I have learned throughout the course of this class, as well in the particular chapters of Emotion and Motivation.