Reshaping Education Towards Adult Life

Hello and welcome to my final presentation for the Winter term of my Sophomore year (2019-20). This presentation is based on a workshop I had in my STEAM course Disease. My guiding question was inspired by a disaster plan I made starting out Unit III of Disease. My guiding question is, "What skills do students need to survive in the "real world" and how can education systems better prepare them?".  I formed this question from my own and my elders' experience(s). Some feel that they would've thrived earlier in life if they were taught life skills for their future earlier in their education. I started focusing more on survival during a nationwide pandemic but later refined my studies by focusing on life skills that boost the chances of survival. I hope you enjoy.

Song of Solomon Should Not Be Banned

Hello, my name is Nakiya'h and welcome to my final action project for my Humanities course, Forbidden Books. Overall I have really enjoyed this hands-on course focused on literacy and literature  In this unit, we discussed books in America that might have been controversial and surprisingly have been banned. For my action project, I re-read Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. I researched the reasons behind the banning and censorship of one of her most popular novels. I hope you enjoy reading my research paper!

Toni Morrison, 2006. Oil on canvas by Robert McCurdy

Bipolar Disorder I

Hi and welcome to my second action project for my STEAM class called Disease. In this class, we have been looking into different mental disorders. During this second unit, we read the book, The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. The novel is about a young boy who has autism. Throughout the book, the author answers questions people have about autism and the way he deals with his autism. In class, we also learned how to create piecewise functions by graphing the different brain waves people produce. We mainly studied the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of mental disorders fifth edition). The three mental disorders we researched closely are schizophrenia, OCD, and autism. With the DSM-V we looked at the overviews and diagnostic criteria of each disorder along with some related disorders.

For this action project, we had to choose a disorder to focus on and research. I chose to research bipolar disorder 1. I was assigned to lead a lesson for my class demonstrating how it feels to have bipolar disorder. I also had to record the brainwaves of our classmates during the whole session.


Bipolar Disorder I (Bipolar Disorder)
Bipolar Disorder is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. (NIMH) is also known as bipolar disease or manic depression. I define Bipolar Disorder as a mental disorder that mixes the emotions, energy, and activity levels negatively by increase or decrease.

According to the DSM-V., criteria for at least one manic episode (Criteria A-D under “Manic or Hypomanic Episode” above) has to be met in order to diagnose someone with Bipolar Disorder I.

I found an interview with Demi Lovato where she at down with “Extra’s” Renee Bargh and opened up about being one of the more than 12 million Americans living with bipolar disorder. She is outspoken about her struggles with drug addiction, bulimia, and mental illness.

Some takeaways from this interview were that people often throw the word “bipolar” around very often and in situations that don’t relate to bipolar disorder at all. Also, there’s a lot of negative stigmas when it comes to discussing mental illness in America. During the interview, Demi Lovato said, "The biggest misconception when it comes to bipolar disorder, in particular, is that you’re fine one minute then you’re not fine the next minute. In reality that’s not how that works."

Below you can find my slideshow further explaining the disorder, a lesson plan video, and template, piecewise function and graph, and poster. I hope you enjoy!

 



 

Works Cited

“Area of Brain Linked to Bipolar Disorder Pinpointed.” ScienceDaily, 2017, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124144000.htm. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.

“Bipolar Disorder | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness” Holland, Kimberly. “Everything You Need to Know About Bipolar Disorder.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 18 Jan. 2018, www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder. Accessed 12 Mar. 2020. ‌

“NIMH » Bipolar Disorder.” Nih.Gov, 12 Mar. 2020, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder/index.shtml. Accessed 12 Mar. 2020. ‌

Dogmas of Song of Solomon (Macon Dead Jr.)

Hello, I'm N.L. and welcome to my blog. This action project is for the second unit, Dogma, for my Humanities course class Forbidden Books. In this class, we discussed different religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and how they each are similar and different from each other. Our main focus of this was to discover that each religion rests on the same common fundamentals. Islam and Judaism both believe that they are ancestors of Abraham. Buddha and Confucianism both follow the `golden rule”. We continued to discuss books in America that focus on religious\cultural contexts that have surprisingly been banned.


For this unit, we were required to read 3 books for this unit, 1 independent and 2 class books. First, we read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This book was banned from America’s schools for different reasons such as religion, sexual content, and the use of racial slurs. Next, we read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; which was banned because of its vulgarity and its plot where one of the books that eventually gets banned and burned in the Bible. We went on a field experience to WBEZ to speak with Natalie Moore, a journalist whose book, “The Almighty P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall, and Resurgence of an American Gang” was banned from the Illinois prison system. There we talked to Natalie Moore about the banning of her book and her opinions on censorship and banning literature in institutions. We also visited the Muslim Community Center to learn more about Islam and the difference in the types of Muslim beliefs. Independently, the students were required to read a book of their choosing. The only criteria for the book are it needed to have been banned from schools.

For this action project, I chose to read Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. This interview focuses on examining how the setting (time and place) of the book influences Macon Dead Jr.’s personal dogmas.

Opening Sounds (‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by The Andrews Sisters)

The novel Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison spans from Milkman's birth to age 32 (1932-1963) while including the three generations of the Dead family's history. It occurs around the time of World War II, the Harlem Renaissance, the murder of Emmett Till in 1953, the Brown v. Board of Education decision occurred in 1954 to desegregate schools, and the Civil Rights movement was starting up. Jobs back then were well earned and hard labored. If you didn’t work and had no money you lived in poverty and that' was that. Women worked as well as men but weren’t treated with the same view as men. Segregation then was by social class but obviously by race. 

It’s 1961, and today I’m interviewing Macon Dead Jr also known as Macon Dead II. Father of Milkman, Lena, and First Corinthians and brother to Pilate Dead. Our session takes place in Montour County, Pennsylvania on the porch of the beautiful farm owned by his father. Our interviewee’s father was once a slave in Virginia. When he was freed, he and his wife took a wagon train going north. The farm is known as, “Lincoln’s Heaven” a paradise of agriculture, nature, and family. Macon Dead is an African American man who has distanced himself from his family, his community, and his African heritage on account of his lust for materialistic wealth. Macon is hated and feared by blacks, who dislike his arrogance. He is a landlord to many of the residents of the town of Mercy, Michigan and has spent his adult life driven by the desire to accumulate profit and wealth through his businesses and ownership of properties. Macon’s life is filled with struggles ranging from the deaths of his mother and father to his do whatever it takes mentality to keep money in his pockets. Not many people know too much about or can understand him.

NL: Afternoon Mr. Dead, thank you for spending your time today for my session.

Macon Dead: In all honesty, I needed a break from my properties and stress. It’s no sweat.

NL: I’ll move along with it then. First and foremost, how has money and currency impacted your life growing up?

Macon Dead II: I grew up poor after the death of my parents on their farm. Sadly my father was shot dead on this very farm and my mother died giving birth to my younger sister, Pilate. Ever since money has been the deciding factor of life and death.

NL: Do you believe you can exist without the security of having money, that causes you to be greedy and bitter at times.

Macon Dead: “Let me tell you right now the one important thing you’ll ever need to know: Own things. And let the things you own, own other things. Then you’ll own yourself and other people too”. (55). You need money to have a house, own property, take care of your family, buy a gun, and to fulfill whatever self-desires you might have.

NL: Many people say you’re a stubborn old man who knows nothing but greed. Why do you think that is?

Macon Dead: Those people and their opinions don’t mean a damn thing to me. I am a man of God. I care for my money, my business, and my family only. I don’t need acceptance or approval from nobody but the lord.

NL: That was a very deep response, I guess you get that question a lot. Well, what about the way you treat your own people; you seem to have little to no respect for your fellow blacks or women.

Macon Dead: That’s not true. I simply don’t have time for lower-class blacks, who are beneath me socially and economically. As for women; “You got better things to do with your time. It’s time you started learning how to work. After school come to my office; work a couple of hours there and learn what’s real. Pilate (my sister) can’t teach you a thing you can use in this world. Maybe the next, but not this one.” (55)

NL: It’s surprising because women are still oppressed by America’s society and must pay the price for men’s freedom; yet you still choose to overlook women for their strength. I agree that a woman can’t fully teach a boy to become a man without a male figure in a boy’s life. I don’t agree that women can’t teach boys anything they can use in this world.

Macon Dead: Well you won’t be a man in this world. You’ll always be under someone’s control and will have to depend on another person to survive; which is something a real man wouldn’t allow for himself.

NL: People often believe that names are alive and their meanings change depending on who refers to them and how they do so. For example, a name can be immortalized and turned into a landmark; such as Mains Ave., which is known to blacks as Dr. Street back in Michigan. What are your criteria for giving children names? ”

Macon Dead: “A name that is real is given to a child at birth with love and seriousness. A name is not a joke, nor a disguise, nor a brand name.” (18) Names hold power to those who wield them. If your name holds no power, you will be treated with little respect.

NL: I agree that names hold power to a level of respect people will have for you despite your very name. Those who give names to their children should be aware of the power a child’s name will hold in its future. That’s all for this session; thank you for your time, sir.

Macon Dead: No problem at all, enjoy your afternoon.

In conclusion to this interview, we can look back to the mid-nineteenth century and reflect on how far this country has grown as far as societal agreements among the treatment of black men and women. Looking back from the year 2020, we can see the controversial dogmas Macon had. First, names hold great power and should be given wisely otherwise chosen from the bible (Self-Image). Next, money is the only will to live. Without money, you have no purpose in this world (Lust for Money). Finally, women are disrespected, shunned for their mistakes, and are inferior to men (Gender Inequality). I don’t agree with all of Macon’s dogmas but, he is a reflection of some dogmas that existed during that time in history. He allows us to consider how dogma in our society changes with time. Macon’s dogmas can be compared to dogmas of the present to decide on what we need to change or reshape in society. Thanks again for tuning in.

MLA CITATIONS

Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. Plume: New York, 1987