This is the creative piece I made for my Identity Unit Final Project.
Curricular Competencies Reflection
Create and Communicate: What did you learn about Indigenous themes, issues, or perspectives during this assignment or task and how did you grow in your writing, speaking, or representing skills? How will you take what you learned and use it towards working on reconciliation?
As I worked through this assignment, I researched the different issues Indigenous peoples, specifically Indigenous woman face to this day. I discovered that Indigenous woman face discrimination for their culture and gender, and they face severe sexual harassment. My picture above illustrates all of the issues mentioned as an Indigenous woman is seen on her knees begging to her ancestor above for help as men of both white and Indigenous blood surround her, some even trying to grab and grasp at her clothing. When it to completing the writing component of the project, for each explanation I wrote about how the picture depicts the issue and detailed certain facts and information I found about the topic. As I complete each explanation, my writing grew and my knowledge on the subjects increased as I read and wrote. I would take what I learnt from one explanation and tied it into the next. I will take what I learnt during the duration of this project and help to raise awareness to these issues Indigenous woman encounter.
Core Competencies Reflection
Share the experience of positive personal/cultural identity for your artifact (Consider your strengths and qualities, any connections you can make to of your identity, how you made decisions based on your values, and what you would improve on for next time
When it came to choosing what to do for my project, I chose to do a creative piece because I knew that that is my strength, creating art. I chose to focus more on Indigenous woman because we had learned that they were sexualized and abused when the settlers first came to turtle island and I wanted to address those issues and raise awareness. I know that from my own identity woman have so much to offer and shouldn’t be praised or categorized because of their figure and features, but because of their personality and ideas. If I can add more next time around, I would include actions plans that would further explain how to end or prevent these issues.
This year, I plan to communicate and connect more to engage with others. My goal is to maintain a positive environment and make myself more approachable by participating in more group activities and in-class discussions.
This year I am determined to advocate for my needs by asking for help during class-time if needed. This way I am clear on specific instructions and know what criteria to meet.
1. I have become more outgoing and social since I started high school. I’ve made new friends and have gone outside my comfort zone when it came to talking in public and challenging myself to trying new things. I’ve also started to become more involved with the school, by going to shows and joining the debate team.
2. I have also put a efficient amount of focus toward school, wanting to become more academically inclined and expand my vocabulary. My vocab has significantly approved, making my written work seem more professional and my assignments go over extra expectations, completing bonus assignments for extra credit. I also have picked up reading as a hobby. I even have received three “Top Student Award” out of four of my classes, for my hard work.
3. I have become more physically active, maintaining my health and diet. I have attended P.E classes, and I been taking walks and exercising after school during extra-curriculars.
Areas For improve
Goal
Action Plans
To become more involved with the school
I will start to attend some sport games, and go to the dances, maybe even go the leadership events.
Joining Advance Classes
I plan on talking to my counselor about maybe joining more advance science classes next year, maybe Bio 11 or Chem 11 in second semester, completing science 10 in first semester.
Time Management
I want to focus more on school instead of social media. I plan on setting aside an hour each day to study, making sure my phone or any electronic device is out of my way, making sure to solemnly focused on studying.
Eating Healthier
I will be watching my diet, making sure to stop buying unhealthy snacks and buying healthier food.
Stress could be triggered from many different things. For me, stress is usually caused from upcoming tests, homework, chores and just my responsibilities in general. Stress hasn’t really been much of an issue for me until I hit 6th grade, where my responsibilities started to increase. Since stress was really foreign to me, so I didn’t fully know how to deal with it. As time went on I started picking up different coping mechanisms, such as take short breaks, which relaxes your mind and body so you could think, crying it out, letting your emotions run wild instead of holding it in, or just talking to someone. Letting someone so close to you listen, they don’t even have to be close to you, they just have to listen, show their support. Technology is also a big help, when trying to deal with stress. It could be used as a get away from reality, by watching your favorite shows, playing so calming games, anything to get your mind off whatever was causing you stress. Technology helps me calm down, when on a verge of a panic attack, a result having to much stress. Catching up on my favorite shows or playing my favorite games, helps relaxes me and distracts me from our world full of stress.
Core Competency Reflection
I am kind to others, and support others when they need it.
When working in group or with a partner or just when talking to someone, I always make sure to treat them kindly no matter who they are. I try to let each and every person to have a chance to just talk, while I sit in silence and listen. I do this to show my support, and because some people just need someone to listen and be there for them.
I demonstrate respectful, inclusive behaviour.
In PHE I make sure to respect my peers by listening to their reasons, concerns, and rants, as well as including my peers in activities if they don’t have a partner or friend. I also make sure to remain respectful to my teacher by listening when they’re talking, making sure to keep my eyes on them and not on any thing that is considered a distraction. I make sure to follow the instructions and and try to stay on task, to able to get my work done.
I find it easy to be part of a group.
When being put into a group, I find that it has positives and negatives, mostly positives. I love being put into groups because you can divide the amount of work amongst you group, giving you self a lighter workload. When working in a group, I find it easier to talk and connect with my fellow peers, this helps me build future friendships, as well as getting me out of my comfort zone.
The internet, as we see, is a place where we can connect with others, access information, post whatever we want, find entertainment and do pretty much whatever we want. So, yes, we generally think the internet is an awesome and safe place to do and be whatever we want, but what most people don’t know is the internet can also be a dangerous place. A place where cyber bullying Is active, a place where you will always have haters no matter what you say or post, a place where once something is up its stays there forever, and place where you don’t know who is real or fake…. A place where you aren’t as safe as you think.
Why Internet Safety is Important:
When using the internet, it’s important to make sure you are using it safely. Why? Well let’s just say the internet is not always what it seems. For example, when you upload a picture or video on a social media platform, it gives you a choice to delete if you want to take it down. It might delete what you posted from the public eyes, but it’s still in the website’s server, and trust me once it’s in there it’s programmed there forever and there’s really no way of getting it down. The worst part is, once it’s up in public, there are people who can save it, copy it and give it away, disclosing your information. This makes it easy to trace you and gain information you don’t want anyone to see.
Another example is location. On your phone it gives you an option to on or off your location. Even though it’s meant for people to see where you are for safety reasons, bad people gain access in your phone (in other words, hack though data servers) and give away your location and disclose it to other people. Making it even easier for people to get personal information, (like where you live, go to school, go to work etc.).
In conclusion Internet safety is important not just teens but for everyone because we all spend so much time on our devices. Even though we don’t know it, every website, game, social media platform we visit, hackers can go through their servers to find information on us and sell it or use it to track us, this making us vulnerable and in danger.
Give Examples of Unsafe Activates
Some things we do on the internet are considered ‘unsafe’. Whether its by accident or on purpose, you might not know how seriously unsafe these activates are.
Posting inappropriate (mean or sexual) pictures or comments.
People who post stuff like this are either pressured into it, think it’s cool, or are going through something. When posting mean comments, the person who’s posting them usually thinks it’s cool or is going through something. They don’t really think it through and how it’s going to affect them in the future. People who post sexual pictures or comments (wither it’s private or public) usually do it because they think it’s cool or is pressured by someone. Either way it’s dangerous. Their stuff can get leaked and then shared to people who they defiantly don’t want to see it. This will affect them in the future, whether they can’t get a good job, can’t contact their family, or expelled from school. Not to mention people can find out who you are and get your contact information, and that’s a whole problem.
Opening attachments from spam emails
Sometimes you can receive an email from somebody you don’t know, that has an attachment. Now like everyone, you will have an urge to open it. Don’t. When opening it you might find a joke, a ‘letter’ or a photo. And people usually think, ‘it’s fine, it’s nothing bad’. What you don’t know is there are probably a few viruses that can really damage your device. So, it’s better to delete the email before you give in to the urge of opening the attachment.
Giving out passwords and credit card numbers
As unbelievable as this sounds, it’s true people do give out this important piece of information. Sometimes scam calls will say you won something, or they want to send you something for free they will ask for your credit card or some type of password. Same thing with some websites! They will ask for some personal information before letting you in any farther.
Connecting to an old or public Wi-Fi network.
When connecting to a public Wi-Fi network you might think “it’s just Wi-Fi, whatever” but do you know someone can be intercepting your data from the network, and who knows what they’ll do with it. Make sure to have a personal firewall up and running.
Describe the steps everyone can take to stay safe
I know finding out some of this stuff about the internet can be scary, but here are some ways to help you stay safe!
Making your account private
If your account is out to the public, it’s easier for people to copy and get your personal information. My suggestion is making your account private, and just adding your close family and friends. Read the guidelines and settings as well to make your account more secure.
Changing your passwords when you notice weird activity on your profile.
If you notice something weird that’s happening on your page or website that you use, change your password immediately. Someone can be pretending to be you and they can just share a bunch of stuff, and you don’t want that. Even if it’s just a glitch change your password anyway, better safe the sorry.
Think before posting something
Before posting something, think about it first. Do you want to post this? Is it appropriate? If your parents see this, what will they think? Are you confident? Will this affect you in the future? Lots of people don’t think before they post, and they end up regretting it in the future. Because like I said before, once it’s up, it’s up. So, think before you post, trust me, it’ll save you some regret.
Check your Digital Footprint
Typing your name, email, screen name into the search bar every once and a while will help you see how active you are online. This also tells you what others see of you, and maybe tell you what things you should tone down on and whatnot.
Snap Chat
Snapchat is a social media platform, where we can connect with others, send people (friends, family…strangers) pictures called ‘Snaps’, can watch videos called ‘Snaps Storys’, and just letting people know what’s going on with our life when posting something on our story.
Why Snap Chat can be Unsafe
‘Snaps’
Snaps usually last a few seconds, (unless it’s a video) and since it’s a couple of seconds, couples use this to send revealing pictures to each other. What people don’t realize is that even though snaps only last for a few seconds, that’s enough time for people to screen shoot them. Which means the photo will most likely get leaked, shared, copied etc.
‘Stranger Danger’
Snapchat gives anyone who uses it a chance to interact with friends, family and… strangers. On this app anyone who uses it can send pictures to anyone who they send a friend request to. This is dangerous in many ways. For example, someone can pretend to be anyone on that app, so say you added a ‘friend’, when it’s someone you don’t know. You could go without months before finding out, and the worst part is you’re sending snaps or information thinking it’s your friends. Imagine what they could do with that information.
Snap Maps
Anyone can see your location anytime. How scary is that, and yes you can decide who can see your location (or turn it off), but people can go through the data servers and hack it, and that leads to having your location leaked. This feature can also be damaging if you have trust issues. This can expose your friend’s location and you might find out they are hanging out without you or their online, but they haven’t responded, which can be bad for your mental health.
‘How to Stay Safe on Snap Chat’
Checking Settings
Checking the settings regularly will help your stress that someone is watching you. You can choose who can view your snap stories, location, and who can send you snaps. You can even use ‘Ghost mode’ when wanting to ‘go off the grid.’
Making sure your email or phone number is attached to your account
When verifying your phone number or email address, will let you know who you friend or who friended you, as well as making your account setting more accurate. This will also let you know if there is any suspicious activity on your account.
Blocking or reporting people on snap
If somebody’s bothering you or making you feel uncomfortable on Snap Chat, you can easily block them by clicking on their name. You can also report abuse such as harassment, bullying, etc.
Programs Used: Microsoft word and Word Art
Works Cited
Magid, Larry. “The Good and Bad of Location Sharing.” ConnectSafely, 22 June 2018, https://www.connectsafely.org/the-good-and-bad-of-location-sharing/.
Teen Voices: Oversharing and Your Digital Footprint. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ottnH427Fr8. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.
Your Digital Footprint May Be Unflattering Video – Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=Your+Digital+Footprint+May+Be+Unflattering+video&rlz=1C1ONGR_enCA976CA976&oq=Your+Digital+Footprint+May+Be+Unflattering+video&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.451j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.
Personal/ Safety Competency Reflection
I know that my digital footprint can have positive and negative consequences, including showing people what I do online (games, profiles, email, etc.). So, I adjust my actions to by turning on private settings if the websites I use have them. Example, On Snap Chat I have a private story that only the people I choose, can view the story.
I make digital ethical choices such as thinking about what I put online, and who can view it before posting something. I do this in order to make sure in the future I have no regrets about what I posted, and it can’t affect me in any negative way.
My values around getting good grades and having free time, inform my decisions about how much time I spend on my personal device, as well as how long should a game or watch videos for. So, I would normally turn off my phone, do homework, take a break, and finish any other work I have left.
