Week 10- Finally Some Service Learning Hours!

What?

We completed the volunteer/teaching portion of our service learning project! It is an amazing feeling to be done with it! I have worried about it all semester. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. We taught several classes at American Fork High School about nutrition and reading nutrition labels.I thought that the students would be very difficult and that we would not have enough activities/lecture to fill the entire 80 minute blocks of the classes we taught.

We learned about essential oils in class this week. I have thought about getting some to help me relax but I didn't just want to buy some at a big retailer because I was pretty sure that those oils would not be as effective. I was surprised at how many oils there are and how many things they can do.


So What?

I think I learned a lot about myself during this teaching experience. I learned that I am not as shy as I thought I was. Speaking in public is really getting easier for me and I think that's because I have to force myself to do it all the time in my classes. I also learned a lot of organizational skills necessary for preparing lessons and activities for learning activities. It is definitely a lot of work and I gained a lot of respect for my teachers.

I learned that maybe essential oils are not for me. I have always been very sensitive to smells. Strong smells in particular give me very bad headaches. After being around the essential oils in class I learned that I might get headaches, not relaxation from using essential oils.

Now What?

Now all we have to do is finish up our project by putting together our presentation for class and writing our paper. I really do feel like the hardest part of this semester is over. I also believe that now I can be more confident in my abilities to present information in front of large crowds. The beginning of this project was a nightmare but now I am actually glad that I had to do it. I feel like I have grown a lot and learned a lot about myself by doing service learning at American Fork high school.

Since I don't believe the essential oils will work for me, I will have to find other ways to relax. I hope that when I do find a way to relax I will have far fewer headaches. Maybe I should start doing something like yoga. My parents did that for a while and they seemed to really like it.

Only 1 more month to go until 2nd semester is over! Only 1 more year until we're all registered nurses!

Week 9 - Preparing, Preparing, Preparing!

What?

We officially start preparing our lesson plan tomorrow morning! I'm starting to get more nervous the closer we get to actually doing the project. I'll be glad to get it over with. Then it will just be writing the fat paper and preparing for the final presentation. Those bits won't be so hard, I think. The hardest part of this project was simply finding one to do. Now it's just a matter of doing it and everything will be great!

In class we talked a lot about alternative medicines and health care provider's attitudes toward these types of care. There was a lot more of a heated debate than I expected. I'm not really sure where I stand on the subject because I have never really tried any kinds of alternative treatments.I have wanted to try them, though, so I think that now may be as good of a time as any to learn about these treatments.

So What?

So now I can stop worrying about this service learning project!

I do think that alternative treatments are something I should be knowledgeable about because a lot of people use these treatments and a lot of people have strong opinions on the subject. These treatments may also help me and my health. I think what I really need to focus on is reducing my stress level. I should figure out where to buy the essential oils for a good price and make time in my schedule for other activities such as yoga.

Now What?

Now I need to push through the last bit of the semester and get this project done. I am excited to be able to blog about something other than stressing about the project.

Now I need to find the time and energy to put into trying new methods of health care. If I can find something that works well for me then I may just become a firm believer in alternative treatments for common ailments.

Week 8 - Halfway There!

What?

The semester is halfway over and the only hours I have so for the service learning project are prep hours. I wonder if I could count the 6 weeks of looking for a project towards my hours....probably not. We got word from the teacher that we are working with that he wants us to teach about reading nutrition labels and important nutrients. This is a different from what I originally thought we were teaching but that's okay. I think that teaching about nutrition labels will be more challenging than teaching about eating disorders but I am up for the challenge.

We mostly discussed the test in class this week. I think that it helped a lot to talk about it because it helped to clarify the rationale behind some of the questions that I got wrong; even though most of those were dropped.

So What?

Reading nutrition labels is really important for young people to understand. Being able to read nutrition labels can help people to make better decisions about the food that they eat. When healthy habits are started young they are easier to maintain throughout the lifetime. I think that we will also bring in the nutrition facts of foods from popular restaurants. I hope that this will open the eyes of the kids to what they are really consuming when they eat their favorite foods.

I'm glad I got to see the questions that were dropped on the test. It made me more confident for the next test.

Now What?

I really need to brush up on reading nutrition labels. I was looking at a nutrition label the other day and I could only remember a few of the main points of reading labels. I think that it will also help to prepare more than enough material to cover the 80 minutes of each class. I would hate to run short of things to do and have a class of 30 teenagers just staring at me. I'm going to spend some time practicing the important points of the lecture. I often get nervous when speaking in front of people so I think that practicing will help calm my nerves and help me to remember everything I need to teach.

Now that I know the rationale behind a lot of the questions I can direct my studying in a different way. This will help me to do better on the next test. I think that I will have less anxiety about the next test as well because I already know the testing style.