Post 6 4/25

3 Things I want people to take away from this

• everyone has bad days and thats okay
• you cant stay in the bad place forever, you have to come out and face it
• everyone "fixes" things in their own way but you cant rely on other people to help

Post 5 4/18

I reached out to Mrs. Collins in the counseling office for my mentor experience. I asked her questions about the different methods of “self- correction” and different “coping mechanisms”. I found her opinions and viewpoints very thoughtful. I agree with a lot of the things that she had to say. She pointed out to me that self-correction is more about managing behaviors whereas coping mechanisms are a better term to describe managing emotions. I hadn’t really thought about there being a distinction between these two things until she pointed that out to me. I think this is a very good point though because behaviors can be taught and learned based on patterns and consistency. However, emotions cannot be controlled quite the same way. We react to every situation differently as we encounter it. You can’t train yourself to react to things a certain way. However, you can train yourself to behave a certain way based on an emotion. For example, you can train yourself to take deep breaths until you calm down when you experience anger or sadness. Mrs. Colli
ns also gave me a list of things I could try when I need to manage my emotions. I have added these to my journal and I’m excited to try them out and see what does and doesn’t work for me.

Blog 4 3/24

I am changing my twenty time project because I am struggling to teach myself sign language. I keep messing up the signs and I can’t understand the grammar rules. I have decided to fill a journal for my personal use instead. I’m going to fill it with quotes, songs, stories, and just things I need to get off my chest. I’ve done some research and studies show that writing things down can help you remember and resolve them. It also creates a little booklet of happy things to look through when life gets rough. Sometimes the only way to work through what’s going on in my head is to slow it down and write it out. However, sometimes you just encounter something you want to make sure you remember. I think that having a journal as a place to write down both of these things would be really beneficial for me as a coping mechanisms almost. 

Week 3 2/23

So far, I have done a lot of research on how sign language varies in its different forms and the reasons why it works. It is actually way more complicated than I expected it to be. It’s a lot deeper than just hand signals. You also have to incorporate facial expressions, body language, and the space around yourself. I found videos online to help teach it to myself. I’ve been watching them. SO far I can do the alphabet with my hands and a few other basic words but otherwise I don’t know much. I still need to learn how to form sentences and use the grammar rules. I understand that learning an entire language in one semester is a near impossible feat. However, I don’t want to learn the whole language, well I do, but I’m hoping that by the end of the semester I can carry on a basic conversation in sign language. 

Week 2 2/17

How many people actually rely on sign language to communicate?

What are the most effective ways to teach yourself a language?

How many different versions of sign language are there?

Besides deaf people who else relies on sign language to communicate?

How was it developed in the first place?

Week 1 2/2

I struggled a lot with picking a project that both meant something to me and was manageable in the allotted time. I knew that I wanted to do something that didn’t only benefit me. I went through about thirty possible projects before I found one I was really interested in. I have since decided that I want to teach myself American Sign Language. Through working at Hy-Vee and volunteering at the police department, I come in contact with a lot of people who rely on sign language to communicate effectively. I want to be able to communicate with these people in a way that is more comfortable to them. When you have a psychical disability like that it is easy to feel discluded or disconnected from the people around you. I think that this is something that I can do to make a few people smile. I can’t think of a better way to spend 20% of my time.