Districts

Today is the day when all high school cross country teams battle to qualify for state cross country.  My college coach has cancelled team practice today so all of the members can cheer on their old teams.  I am so excited to see my old team race! I miss it so much and I'm really glad I have the chance to make it to such an important race.  One of my sisters will be racing today (it is only a varsity race) and it is her first districts because she is a freshmen. 

It will be hard to see my entire old team race without me, but I think it will make me look at them in a new light.  I've never been able to actually WATCH my teammates before or cheer for them! I hope they do awesome.  I'm almost positive that the entire team will qualify for state.  If I am wrong, I am certain that atleast three of them will individually qualify.

Pink

October is breast cancer awareness month.  Many members on my cross country team bought pink strips to place in their hair to raise awareness.  Others, like myself, straight up dyed part of their hair.  This is an example of direct action strategy.  I am doing my part in raising awareness of an issue. 

I would also clasify myself as a community builder and a socially responsible daily behavior.  I am a community builder, because I participate in things such as helping businesses clean up after the flood of 2008 (I'm not quite sure if that is the correct year).  I carried a bunch of gymanstic equipment out of the water at Chow's Gymnastics and placed them up high.  Then, I helped sandbag and remove water.I am socially responsible, because I recycle and reuse things as well as donate to some causes.

Many times, people fit into a couple of different categories.  it would be uncommon if someone only fit into ONE category.  The other categories include; direct service, community/economic development, voting/formal political activities, grass-roots, and advocacy through community education.

Chemistry

I learned three things in my chemistry lab today; I'm not as bad as I thought I was, my chemistry professor really DOES like to help, and my professor is witty.  We got our tests back and I recieved a B! I was/am really surprised.  But I did study for about 8 hours, atleast.
I ordered all my books two weeks before school. I still haven't received my chemistry lab book two and a half weeks later. I've called and called and each time they claim they will fix it.  In the mean time I have been copying the worksheets down in my notebook and then filling it out. Today, my prof just handed me an extra lab manual.  It was so nice!
The last thing I learned is Prof. DeVries is very witty. When I was comparing test answers to my lab partner's test answers we found that we had a few different answers.  This struck me as odd considering we had the same answer for one question, but I was the only one who lost a point. She encouraged me to show both tests to the prof and get my deserved point back.  When I did, Prof. DeVries said "Oh, I'll fix this."  Instead of giving me a point, she took a point off of my lab partner's test! I was shocked! I guess chemistry really is full of surprises.

Reflections

Today, we talked about motivation.  This is also the topic in psychology this week.  There are many types of motivation.  In psychology we talked about Maslow's heirarchy. He states that first we must fullfill the first level of the pyrimid before we even think about the levels above it.  The first level included things like food, water, shelter, relieving ourselces and etc.  I think it's really interesting if you think of how a little kid acts when they REALLY have to go to the bathroom.  They don't care about that awesome slide down the street or even the candy bar you wave in front of their face; they just want to go to the bathroom.  The urge is motivating them to concentrate on what is needed and only that.  Another example would be hunger.  When you are hungry, you don't usually just push the chance to eat off to the side.

When we talk about motivation in IS 101, we look at motivation in a different light.  There is intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.  Intrinsic is basically when you are motivated for reasons from within.  An example would be a runner. When I do not do very well in a race, I don't quit.  It's intrinsic because I stay on the team or compete again in the hope to improve.  Extrinsic is when motivation comes from outside sources.  You can use a runner for extrinsic also.  An extrinsic runner in the above example might quit, because their motivation would come from approval, winning, or credit.

Outfly

All I have to say is "THANK GOODNESS IT'S OUTFLY".  It could not have came a better time! I was in desperate need of a work day.  I just cannot fit all my random stuff in the 24 hours the day provides.  I had two tests, four papers due, and two other assignments this week!  This means that this has been the most stressful week I can remember.  Once again, I need to work even more on my time management skills. 

Because of my crazy schedule, I have had a unique Outfly. I was already at work when they announced Outfly. This was very disappointing, because I could've slept in! After that, I went to eat the best breakfast I have had here so far.  Cross country practice was immediately after breakfast.  Then, I headed straight to my room to start on my laundry and do some homework between loads.  Right after lunch, I had to head to the library to work on my bio proposal with my lab group.  We worked on the proposal for four hours.  That proposal took us a total of nine hours.  exhausting! I've been in my room doing homework ever since then.  Thank goodness I planned ahead last night and transferred my dinner to the Den (time management at its best!).  Hopefully I finish all my homework for Monday and tomorrow today! If I do then I will have my first stressless weekend at Wartburg!

Psychology

Today we were required to read a section from out Inquiry Studies book.  It just so happened to be about a psychology experiement.  Since, I just joined PSY 101 last week and I have gone through the material at warp speed in order to be ready for Thursday's test I decided I would use the Inquiry Studies book as a test of how much I had really learned.  As I went through the section I was highlighting and commenting on examples of definitions I had learned in psychology.  An example would be when he brought up how a reward for reading a book would increase the amount of books read.  This is an example of positive reinforcement.  In psychology, reinforcment can be substituted for strengthen.  Then, the text goes into the example of nursery children being asked to draw pictures.  He stated that the ones that received rewards the first week for drawing were less likely to draw pictures the following week.  This goes against all I had learned in psychology so far.  Of course I panicked.  I stopped reading the book and looked back through my psychology book.  Sure enough, it should have been the other way around.  Because of this I was confused about why the author was so adament about it, so I emailed my SI leader.  She was able to explain it to me.  According to her I had not learned everything about positive reinforcement yet because it won't come up until later in the year.  But positive reinforcement when applied to education can have both a positive and a negative outcome.