What We Keep: Challenge #1
Reflection:
The biggest discovery I made during the process of this project is that the little things in life really end up being the most important to you as well as things for other people. I never once thought for a second my blanket would be the most valuable thing to me until I worked on this project. Something else I came to realize is that other people hold different things closer to the heart not because of the looks of it but the memories it holds. The objects listed in this project were a blanket and stuffed elephant... how meaningful can those things really be? To that person or including myself it has gone through every stage of life with us and that's what makes it meaningful. Everyone's story is unique but matters so much because that's what makes that person... well, simply them!
My experience connected to asking questions, making connections, and trying new things in numerous ways. Interviewing a stranger or acquaintance isn't something I was ever fond of but at the end of the interview and project, I felt a bond with this person. I would never go up to a random person walking the street and ask this question but it made me realize when we do these things it allows us to better understand a person and dig deep into their persona and who they really are.
Moving forward, I came to realize that each and every person truly has a different story, no one is really the same. We can make connections to people with similarities and make great connections through those as well.
Be Your Own Detective: challenge #2
Reflection:
This experience taught me to look at things from a not only broader perspective but a simplified one as well. I have gone through life so fast and never took the time to sit down with my mind and feelings for what I have a passion and drive for, which is important to do every now and then. I grew up in a Christian home attending a Christian church as well as youth groups which turned into me leading them as well. But, what did that mean for me? What created. That passion and drive for me to want to do that and keep a strong faith base in my life? This project couldn’t have fallen at a better time for me as I drove home this weekend to attend the grand opening and lunch parties of my church leaders now, new church, Reset church in Elgin Illinois. Christa and Keegan, my high school church leaders made completing this challenge a breeze as I have the same insights and feelings as them but felt I gained more knowledge after taking a short time “interviewing” them. Talking to someone who has the same passions as you is quite easy but getting in from a different perspective, in this case, allowed me to gain more knowledge on why we do the things we do and why we pride ourselves on them. I never focused on the why factor of why I went to church or why I trusted God with my life and plans that lay ahead of me until I had that meaningful conversation with them. ​
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Being Christian isn’t as easy as it's often put out to be. We struggle with daily decisions and what our Savior would want from us. I want this but would God approve? Or is this the path I am supposed to be on? It all seems and feels so frustrating at points but we as a community have a [passion for it because it gives our lives value and meaning. It is a constant daily battle of right and wrong but it holds us accountable. For the bigger question, why do I have a passion to follow God and stay continuous in my faith base? Which I have never asked myself before this project. I continue and now strive to keep this passion because it gives me a deeper meaning to life, something to believe in, someone to trust in, in every single thing I encounter. I asked Christa and Keegan, how do you hold yourselves accountable? What gives you this drive to keep going, because I want to do the same. The response was quite simple but had immeasurable meaning. “God has been good to me my whole life; He’s given me everything I wanted and showed me the things I wanted yet couldn’t have because it was for the better. How could I not be good to God’s people when He’s been so gracious to me?” That answer right then and there reminded me and let me know right away why I have and want to grow a passion for this.
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Blending this topic of faith or religion could be difficult to formulate a study or action plan but there is always a way. I think a way to include this in a lesson study is to let students know you are excepting of all religions and all differences. Teaching students that everyone has different beliefs but is what makes out classrooms and schools unique. I want to use the passion I have for my faith in my classroom to show my students how much I want to see them succeed and how much I aspire to teach them as they do learn.
Investigation Mixtape: Challnge #3
Reflection:
This challenge #3, Investigation Mixtape was the most interesting for me, specifically because it’s not always easy going up to someone and asking them what faith means to them as an individual. As this ties into my last challenge #2, The Detective Challenge, and me having a passion for God and my church, I also investigated the idea of having faith and what faith means to someone all together because it’s something I do to have a passion for.
While digging deeper into the meaning of “faith” and doing father research I found myself really focusing on one big idea and it was the simple question of “what does have faith mean to you?” during my “interviews” with people I noticed people don’t often get this. Question, because honestly, it’s not easy to answer. Everyone has their own views and thoughts on faith but personally I feel it brings us all together because we get to understand people and everyone’s views better. Faith doesn’t start or stop at one meaning; it is an endless definition/meaning word.
This last challenge has impacted my thinking moving forward because I came to the realization that yes, everyone has different interpretation of the meaning to faith, but I questioned why.
The short answer is that we all come from different backgrounds whether we are faith based (religious) or not. We all hold some sort of faith in us weather it’s for God, or having faith you passed your math test, or overall having faith in yourself, much like believing in. yourself. Faith doesn’t work one way or another, it can go many ways, but it was so cool to see everyone’s different viewpoints because it’s what makes us our unique individual selves.
Why do writers write?
Why do writers write?
This non-fiction text would be to inform how fragile our childhood truly is to someone and when other people, like Cash’s parents, do things to affect it, it creates bad mental health as a growing adult.
Whom do writers write for?
it will be an informational article about how trauma affects our mental health. This article is about Cash, a young teen who suffers from mental health but learned to rise above it.
Interview to article:
This interview is about Cash, the main character in, In the Wild Light explaining to us how his past trauma as a child is affecting him as a maturing adult. It also gives insight on how to bring awareness to it.
Article:
Cash’s father left him before he was born and following that, Cash’s mother overdosed from a mixture of drugs and opioids only to pass away. Cash was then taken to live with his grandparents after the incident and still does today as a freshman in college. Cash stated about acquaintances and peers in his town he grew up with that “their life stories have no chapters on mothers chasing that Cadillac high and scumming to an overdose of heroin, fentanyl, and Valium mixed together. No fathers who ran off to work on an oil rig shortly before they were born.” Cash has had a very difficult life and was executed to things no young child or teen should be exposed to. Because of all of Cash’s trauma he has trouble trusting people, believing in himself, and fearing losing the people he currently has in his life, specifically Delaney, his best friend, and his grandma and grandpa who serve as parent figures. Today, after interviewing Cash I was better able to understand teen mental health and bring awareness to it. Today teens struggle with mental health like never before, especially since we are living in a world with social media which seems to be a constant to teens. We must recognize the signs of bad mental health so we can help our teens overcome whatever traumas they have experienced, or simply help them learn to cope.