Critical Issues in Education

 The lesson I chose to analyze this week was about cannabis and how it impacts adolescents. The first step of the lesson is to initiate a discussion among yourself and your students about what they've noticed regarding cannabis in their community. In recent years, many dispensaries have opened up in my town after the new legalization in New York State. This conversation has been going on for years, so I am sure many students will have something to say regarding it. The next step of the lesson is to read the article titled Cannabis: The Facts You Need to Know . The article goes into detail about what exactly cannabis is, how it is often used as prescription medicine, and how THC affects the teenage brain, both short-term and long-term. The most frightening statistic to me was that " about 11% of adolescents (ages 12–17) developed a cannabis use disorder within  12 months of their first  cannabis use versus about 6% of young adults (ages 18–25)" from a 2021 study. While rea...

  Hartmann Garner, A. (2017, August 26).  Creating a mindful classroom environment . Getting Smart. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/08/26/creating-a-mindful-classroom-environment/  This week, I chose to embrace the topic by using the app Calm every morning when I woke up and every night before I went to sleep. I could not have loved it more! They had amazing selections for meditations for sleep so I was able to use a different choice every night. My favorite was "Quieting the Mind and Body" because it helped reduce the hyperactivity that my thoughts go through every night before bed. In the mornings I would use "Daily Calm" or "Morning Stretch" to prepare myself for the days ahead.  I thoroughly enjoyed my experience using Calm and I am able to see the impact it made on me in just a week! I noticed I had much more energy in the mornings and was able to get my work done in a more timely manner. With my free time, I was able ...

 The topic of this week's module and post is poverty and homelessness. Fair warning: this has been one of the most heartbreaking posts to write. Brace yourself. The stories of Anthony, Kasey, and Roque in The Homestretch  (2014) were nothing short of gut-wrenching while also quite inspirational. Each of these teenagers went through traumatic experiences at such a young age in their lives, causing them to live under a constant stream of pressure. None of them should have had to deal with the issues that were presented to them.  Throughout the film, all three teenagers fight for their right to be happy by finding outside joy in the little things, despite the challenges they face constantly. Take Roque as an example. Through difficulties with his parents and the Department of Immigration, he was forced to separate from his family and fend for himself at the start of his sophomore year of high school. SOPHOMORE YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL?!?! He was still a child. Thanks to his kind-...