Making Connections: Curriculum and Personal

I realize that my experiences are different than a student would have. I already know how to research, and I learned a long time ago how to put my research and thoughts into words. Writing is one of my favorite things to do. I know from teaching writing that not all students (or adults for that matter) feel that way. Therefore, all of this project has been nice for me because it has fit into my strengths. I realize this whole process would have been much more frustrating for someone younger because it would have all been relatively new for him or her. Therefore, looking at this from a media center/classroom teacher perspective, I would want to guide the students with ideas for topics, where and how to search, and possible project guidelines. I LOVED the flexibility that I was given in this project, but not all students (especially those with limited experience) need the help and direction in achieving.

Curriculum Connection

I truly believe that this would be an excellent project for a health, physical education, or FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) classroom. Neither of these are my areas of teaching, but knowing what I know from these classes in the school where I teach, these are all topics that they have dealt with in their curriculum.

For a health class at a 7th grade level, the following Indiana Academic Standards could be met by having the students study healthy living and my four subtopics of stress management, weight management, exercise, and healthy eating:

• 7.1.8 Describe how pathogens, family history, and other risk factors are related to the cause or prevention of disease and other health problems.
• 7.2.2 Demonstrate the ability to utilize resources from home, school, and community that provide valid health information.
• 7.2.3 Analyze how media influences the selection of health information, products, and services.
• 7.3.6 Demonstrate strategies to improve or maintain personal and family health.

Students could be divided into groups and each group could take these standards and the sub-topic and explain methods of achieving the healthy living sub-topic could be reached.

similarly, with a FACS classroom of any age, the students could perform a similar activity using a whole class or small group structure to look meet the following Indiana State Standard for FACS:

• Integrate factors that impact development of self concept.

I think these topics are important and useful to study in either type of classroom setting.

Personal Connection

In the past few years, I have used the Internet for almost all of my inquiry. If I want to know a fact, that is where I go to find it on a first try. While I used the computer a great deal for this project, I re-realized the importance of using graphic organizers to organize research before it begins. I also realized that before diving into research, research questions should be considered. One should always know exactly what they are searching for before they begin research! For me, I will be much more careful about not just quickly searching for information when I have a project. I will consider what I need to know before it begins. I really will think about the 8 Ws and what they mean and try to implement then into my research. I feel like in using these steps, I have made research easier and more accessible. It has been a journey, but it has been a fun ride!

"Waving and Wishing"

Waving

With a topic such as healthy living, I realize that my topic can impact anyone, and I will be happy to share what I learned with anyone who will listen! I want people to understand the importance of leading healthy lives, and I want people to understand that a healthy life means more than just how much you are eating or how much you are exercising. I will share all of this information with my family and friends, especially those family and friends who I feel need the reminder as to how important all of this is. I would also share it with my classmates or my students and colleagues at school. Anyone who wants to learn about this topic, I would be happy to share what I know. You never know, maybe he or she would have information that I don't have! I would love to learn more. I will leave this information on my IUPUI web space for people who may want to look at it.

Wishing

I feel like my project went very well. About a week ago, I was really stressed out because I simply didn't know how to organize the information that I had. I wanted to use all of it, but in the end I realized that I needed to go through and utilize only what was beneficial to my topic. I think my strengths and weaknesses for this project actually overlap. I believe that I was strong in the area of diversity within my topic. I was able to take healthy living in a number of different directions. However, on the flip side, I almost felt like four things to look at was too many. I had so much information on all four topics that I think I could have done a whole project on any one of them. I am thrilled that I learned about all four, but it was a little much for this project. My greatest challenge was organization. I just wasn't sure how to put it all together. Of course, if I had it to do over again I would have investigated the same way, but narrowed the topic to one or two of the topics I used. I would probably present it in the same manner, but I would give more information about one or two topics and not spread the topic out so much.

Starting the "Wrapping"

This project has been challenging, but exciting. I don't remember a time where I have been granted such freedom with a topic. I have enjoyed really thinking about my topic and learning and about something that will be beneficial and useful for me personally. I will use this information in my own life so that I can help my family live healthier lifestyles. I also plan to share this with other people, especially my friends. Because I am a teacher, I can also share this information with my students. While it does not necessarily fall into my subject area, students often learn by example so they could be interested in hearing about this type of information regarding their health.

To package my findings, I created a website (of sorts). Because I wanted this to be used as a flyer as well, I composed this document in Word. Therefore, I can utilize it both ways for whatever purpose I may have at the time. I plan to share these flyers either by internet or by handout with the anyone who might be interested in living a healthy lifestyle. This is the type of information that can come in helpful when just having a conversation about health with someone. This format simply gives me the tools to share what I know in an efficient manner.

This information is important to me because I feel like there are many people that I care about who don't pay enough attention to their health. By researching this topic, I hopefully will be able to share why I feel it is important to care about the topic. I hope that the website/flyers that I am presenting will be easily readable for those who look at them and will give those people information that will benefit their lives.

Please click on the following link to visit my flyers/webpage:

http://portfolio.iu.edu/aacree/Healthy_Living.doc

I hope in reading this people can learn and appreciate the information that I have found!

"Weaving" it all together

In working on my research I focused on four areas: stress management, weight management, exercise/fitness, and healthy eating. I wanted to find out how these areas would impact each other and methods to maintain these areas within a busy lifestyle.

I gathered information by doing a lot of searching online. I feel like there are excellent websites and articles via the web available and I wanted to utilize those resources as much as possible. I also went to the library and searched for some books. The most helpful book I found was by a physical trainer, Bob Greene who worked with Oprah Winfrey called Make the Connection. The purpose of this book was to help people achieve healthy lifestyles so it included many of the topics I was looking at for my project. Another book, Concepts of Physical Fitness by Charles Cobin and Ruth Lindsey gave information on how to figure what exercise can be beneficial. While both books were great, I found with this topic, it was just as easy to access the information via the web. That is why I made the topic ten websites for this topic (http://portfolio.iu.edu/aacree/Top_10_Websites_for_Living_a_Healthy_Lifestyle.doc).

I analyzed all of my information simply be searching and reading for several weeks. I had this project in my head since the beginning of the semester so I was always on the look out for good information. One of best things about this topic is that it is timely--people are always discussing health issues. Therefore, it was easy to find recent information. Once I found the information, I would then compare it with other information or resources that I found. If I found something that was useful and I found it in more than one place, I figured it was a good source to have and to use. I also was careful when I would read through different articles, books, and websites to use information that fit the topics that I was covering. I found interesting information about cancer prevention, combating heart disease, and diabetes that I didn't use because they were not part of my original plan. They did give me a basis for further research, though, that I look forward to in the future. My initial web (http://portfolio.iu.edu/aacree/Healthy_Lifestyle_Web.doc) was a great way to decide what those initial topics would be. I also found myself making written notes quickly at times to organize the information that I was finding.

In planning my final project, I tried to figure out what an effective way of communication would be for this topic. At first I was stressed because I like to be creative and I could not come up with a creative idea for this topic. However, the more I considered it, the more I realized that I should put it in a format that others could read and use. I created informational pages (approximately one page for each topic and a portal page) for each of my main topics. I felt like they could be presented electronically as I will do when I turn this assignment in, but they can also be presented as handouts.

Continuing to "Wiggle"

In my last post, I felt like I was explaining my process in finding information. Now, I feel I need to explain some of the information in which I have found on each of my four topics. When I started with this topic, I felt like I was already somewhat knowledgeable on each of the things that I was going to share, but I feel like I have more concrete evidence to help describe the information that I have compiled.

Healthy Living: Exercise

• I have learned that adults need at least thirty minutes a day (at least five days a week) and children need at least sixty minutes (President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports). That is more days a week and more hours for children than I had previously thought. I think it is time to put the video games down for awhile!
• Not enough schools are requiring physical education anymore based on the need for test scores to be raised. This is not only not giving kids that time to exercise, but it is also not allowing kids to recognize types of physical activity in which they would enjoy participating. (President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports)
• Also, when someone is starting an exercise regime he or she should focus on low-intensity exercise. Risks for injury and burnout decrease if a person does this. (Principal Health News)

Healthy Living: Weight management

• Maintaining a healthy weight is important to prolonging life expectancy, fertility, keeping away diseases and illness, not snoring, and even cataracts. (Harvard School of Public Health)
• In order to lose weight, a person needs to use 300 calories more a day than they take in through food. (Principal Health News)
• In an effort to have success in weight loss, a person needs to combine aerobic activity, strength training, as well as healthy eating. A person should be ware of fad diets because they rarely produce long-term success because they are limiting in what a person can eat. (Fitness Center)

Healthy Living: Healthy Eating Habits

• There are methods of getting an accurate view as to how many calories that you use in a day. In gaining this information, one can accurately count not only how many calories they are consuming from food, burning from exercise, but they can also calculate how many calories they are burning in their daily routines. Principal Health News gives this information their website in the "Cool Tools" section. This is an excellent way for people (whether they are dieting or not to determine just how many calories they should be eating each day.
• Variety among food groups is essential in healthy eating. Fad diets which have you eliminate a food group are thinking only about your waistline and not about your overall healthy. Now, the key is to not overeat in any of the good groups, but it is important to have a range of foods because all of the good groups have different nutrients that a healthy body needs. (Dietary Guidelines for Americans)
• One basic way that people can eat better is to simply not take seconds of an item that they have already had on their plate. Even though our taste buds beg us to sometimes, we have already benefited from the nutritional value of that particular food. Therefore, in order to further benefit our nutrition, we should eat something different such as a salad or a piece of fruit if we are still hungry. (Healthy Eating Habits)

Healthy Living: Stress management

• Instead of believing that everything we have to do is a "must" we need to start thinking of things as "wants." What do we want to accomplish first today? What do we want to have done by the day is over? Feeling that we have deadlines with "musts" oftentimes puts us in a "no win" situation. (How Stressed-Out Are You?)
• There are many ways of combating stress, but one of the most efficient and effective is a short stretch of the muscles in your body. In doing this, you relieve tension and when tension is relieved it is easier to focus on other projects at hand. (The 3 Minute Stress Fixer)
• Saying "no" is one of the best methods of stress management. We always fear the word no because we are afraid it may cost in our lives (jobs, family, etc.). However, if we will not be effective with what we are trying to accomplish, then saying no is a must in order to manage our stress levels. (StressBusting)

Works Cited

Dietary Guidelines for Americans. United States Department of Agriculture. 2005. Available: http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/

Fitness Center: Weight Loss. ISL Consulting Company. 2002. Available: http://health.yahoo.com/centers/fitness/2

Food Pyramids: Harvard School of Public Health. 2004. Available: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html

Healthy Heating Habits: Part Two. Iannelli, Vincent, M.D. 2005. Available: http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/weight_loss_gde_2.htm

How Stressed-Out Are You? Thomas, David. LMHC. 2004. Available: http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/stress/a/ytstress804.htm

President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Department of Health and Human Services. 2005. Available: http://www.fitness.gov/resources_health.htm

Principal Health News. Principal Financial Services, Inc. 2003. Available: http://www.principalhealthnews.com/topic/fitness

The 3 Minute Stress Fixer. StressBusting. 2005. Available: http://www.stressbusting.co.uk/news/10020.asp

I also have inlcuded my top ten websites for this project thus far. To read a word version of these websites with annotations, click on the following link:

http://portfolio.iu.edu/aacree/Top_10_Websites_for_Living_a_Healthy_Lifestyle.doc

"Wiggling" with New Information

In searching for information that was to help me with this project, I had to synthesize a lot of different topics and ideas on those topics. Because my four subtopics with my Healthy Living topic are overlapping, I had good luck finding information that would benefit multiple aspects of each topic.

Within the stress management portion of my project, I have found several websites that are beneficial in giving information about stress and methods of managing stressful situations within a life. The Stress Management Society maintains a helpful website (http://www.stress.org.uk/ ) in which they detail their organization. I felt like the information on that website gave me a basis on the definition of stress on a technical level, and it also showed me possible product solutions to stress (which I honestly didn't even know existed!). Another helpful website on stress is Stressbusting ( http://www.stressbusting.co.uk/ ) which is a website that comes from the United Kingdom. On this website, there are ways of coping as well as a A-Z guide of stress therapies. This website was very easy to navigate and gave helpful real-life information on how stress can be combated.

Exercise is a very "fashionable" topic right now. There are a great number of health clubs being created, and people are exercising in great amounts. Yet, for some people who greatly need it, there are many people who still don't do it. Therefore, I was looking for sources that would give me information on various types of exercise and give suggestions for the reluctant exerciser. I didn't find everything I wanted on the reluctance, but I did find some information about general physical activity and of course my search isn't over on this topic. The American Heart Association provides information a number of healthy lifestyle strategies, and one of the most interesting is physical activity. I believe that one way that we could motivate someone who doesn't like exercise would be by showing them the health benefits. This website, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?Identifier=4563 , shows ways to calculate whether or not your physical activity is benefiting your health and provides information on what types of physical activity may be best for you.

I have found many, many websites in my search. I have actually had a harder time finding information from books. This topic has so many different branches, and many personal opinions. There are a lot of books out there on certain types of diets, but those diets don't necessarily give the information that is needed for optimal healthy eating so the search has been tough.

There are many aspects of this project that I would still like to go through as I work on this topic. In the next couple of days I plan to sift through the following questions:

• I have information on all of these topics now. What is the most important information that I have and want to utilize?
• How do I want to present this information that I have learned to the class?
• How do all of these topics compare and overlap?

I will be working on these things in the next few days, and as I do that I will post my findings as well as my dilemmas that I run into throughout this process.

"Webbing" Healthy Lifestyle Ideas

Well, over the past week, I have been considering the resources and direction in which I wanted to continue with this project. I realize that I last posted that weight management, healthy eating, stress management, and exercise are the topics that I am going to focus on for this project. The next issue is, however, which direction will I take each of these subtopics. After careful consideration, I determined what I wanted to focus on with each of these topics. This helped me to realize what direction I needed to take my research in an effort to gather all of the information that I need to find the needed information for my project.

In webbing this project, which is a method that works very well for me, I had to figure out a way in which my web could be posted to this blog. I used my IUPUI webspace in an effort to make my web for this project accessible for all those who are interested. Please click on the following link to see my web for this project:

http://portfolio.iu.edu/aacree/Healthy_Lifestyle_Web.doc

My next step is continuing my research and finding materials that work to discuss the ideas that I have posed.

"Wondering" about Healthy Lifestyles

Now that I have chosen my topic for this assignment, I am involved in trying to figure out exactly what direction I want to take the topic. This is where Lamb's "Wondering" comes in from the "8 Ws" approach.

There are many questions that I have processed as I have looked into this topic.

• What types of health issues do I want to focus on as I research this topic?
• Do I want to focus on a certain age group or overall healthy living for everyone?
• How can I make this topic interesting for everyone else who is interested in the topic?

While I have struggled with all of these, I remembered one of the main tips that I have given my students as they begin a writing or research assignment--pick something that is important to you. Because I have seen so many of my loved ones ravaged with health issues, I have decided to work hard to live my life in as healthy way as possible and to try and help my family members do the same. Therefore, I felt that it is important to focus on the overall healthy living for working adults. I do not have children, yet, so I have decided to not focus on that age group. Also, I feel like my parents are still in the category of working adults so I am including the generations that are the most important to me by saying this.

The next area where I have been trying to decide how to best focus my information is that of the types of health issues to focus on with the inquiry. The following are health issues that I feel are pertinent to working adults:

• Weight
• Stress management
• Healthy eating habits
• Exercise

Therefore, I think I will branch my inquiry into these four areas because I think in a lot of ways they all branch together. I am staying away from heredity and chronic illness because I want to make this pertinent to as many working adults as possible.

Now that I have organized my topic into subtopics, the next part is finding some great research and great help! :)

"Watching" for a topic for CourseQuest #1

Well, I would be lying if I said that this has not been a difficult journey in finding a topic. I have changed my mind throughout this journey many different times, and I have had to take a few "personal checks" to identify things that I really did want to learn more about. For instance, in the past three years of my life it has seemed like everything that I have done has been in relation to my teaching subject. I absolutely love to read and write. Well, while that seems simple enough, in the past three years almost every book that I have read (and I read a lot) has been a young adult fiction book. I teach 8th grade English so that isn't that absurd, in fact most would see it as wise because it allows me to talk my kids about the books they read, but I haven't had time to think about what I like to read. I haven't really thought about what I am even interested in outside of school for such a long time because between teaching a tough subject area and getting my master's degree, I don't have time to think about that type of stuff! Anyway, to make a short story long, I was very tempted to pick a subject for this L551 project that could be beneficial for me for teaching. Then, I realized that there was a reason why it was stated in the syllabus to not do just that very thing. My husband convinced me that it is about time I did research on something that I really cared about, and for once I think I am going to take his advice.

So, I made a list of things that I wanted to know more about. Here are a few:

• Knitting--I am so impressed with the amount of people going back to this hobby nowadays and I am eager to try. I thought maybe I could do some research on it, and attempt to try myself, but I decided that it just wasn't something that I really wanted to research. Try it, yes, I do want to do that, actually research it, nah.
• Starting a family--This topic was actually high in the running, and I think it could have been interesting. My husband and I have been married for going on three years, and while a family is not in the cards for a couple of more years I thought maybe some research on the subject would be good. I thought about looking at financial impacts of children, working families, etc. In the end, though, I felt like I couldn't come up with a project for this topic like I could some of the others.
• In the end, I decided to do some medical research. While this may sound boring to some people, these are topics that I am absolutely fascinated in studying. I think that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is so very important and there are very many diseases out there that impact people I care about that I thought this would be an opportunity to learn more. From here, I narrowed it to three things: 1. I thought about studying healthy lifestyle/living a healthy life and dividing it into eating/exercise/dieting/etc. 2. I thought about studying juvenile diabetes. My cousin, who is four, was just diagnosed and it has been a huge adjustment for her family and it is something that I have been suddenly interested in learning more about. 3. I have thought about studying ulcerative colitis. This is certainly not a glamorous topic or a glamorous disease, but it is one that I care deeply about. My husband has the disease, as does my very best friend. I see every medicine/form of the disease/dietary impact of the disease through these two people, but I have always felt that there is more out there to learn.

So, it was between the three medical topics from which I needed to choose for my topic. I have decided to investigate healthy lifestyles for Coursequest #1. I want to look at how people can achieve healthy living throughout many different aspects of their lives. I will plan to look at healthy eating, exercising, and stress management. While I am still working out the kinks of this topic, I think it is one that I will learn from and will be beneficial to me and to those who I plan to share the information with as I learn.