Hoping for a Fair and Equal Representation

In unit 3, Organization, we learned about what makes a group, or company, perform at their best and the methods they use. Looking into business practices such as Six Sigma and Total Quality, then at systems thinking to see how each component works together to make the whole. For our action project we were tasked to find a system in the school and create a SWOT based off it. Along with the SWOT we had to connect the system to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the Commons, and business trends. The main goal was to find a solution to the problems within the system and explain how it would improve it. I ended up choosing the student council because I believe it is a vital part of any school. I really enjoyed interviewing members of the school about the council because they all had a lot to say, good and constructive. I had really struggled with relating I-O psychology to student council, but I found help from my peers and a shared resource we created. Please enjoy my SWOT on the student council below.


Works Cited:

BM (Teacher). Personal Interview. 2017.

LS (Student). Personal Interview. 2017.

“Industrial and Organizational Psychology.” American Psychological Association. N.p. Web. Accessed February 6, 2017.

KK (Director). Personal Interview. 2017

SG (Student). Personal Interview. 2017

"Vroom expectancy motivation theory | Employee motivation theories | YourCoach Gent." Your Coach. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2017.

Equality for All

In unit 2, Herstory, we learned about the issues of gender, race, and class that plague our society. We looked at how the feminist movement of the 1970s helped change and shape the fight for equality. For our action project we had to look at society one hundred years into the future and create a time capsule. The capsule is suppose to contain a multitude of documents that show a possible event of equality. I struggled coming up with the toy that related to my topic without being offensive. However, I enjoyed thinking about what the future could possibly look like and the events that might happen. Please enjoy my time capsule below.

Chicago Tribune February 21, 2117

America Regains Its Freedom

Today marks the day where America finally pushes aside its differences. There is over one hundred years of distrust and hate due to the fear of terrorism looking like someone of Muslim heritage, Muslims have been viewed as civilizations threat and menace. The most current name for this is Islamophobia, but this has only been since 2001, before it there was orientalism where, through cultural and historical lenses, the United States perceived the east, especially the Middle East. However, despite the prejudice, President Omar Mustafa has become the first Muslim to be sworn into office in the United States. He was also the first president to not swear under god.
Born in Chicago, Illinois President Mustafa was raised by his grandparents who, according to him, are the reason he decided to become a politician. They went through many hardships, but had always supported his dreams and encouraged him to make a change. Now, forty-seven years later, he is making many reforms to this country. New laws that benefit everyone in the United States no matter your race, gender, or class. The number of people in poverty is at a record low with more people being able to get well paying, stable jobs. The large gap between the poor and rich has closed significantly; the middle class is now the largest group. His campaign slogan of “A New America”, where he promised equality and the abolishment of discrimination, has shown true.

Many had been afraid that, due to President Mustafa being a highly religious Muslim, church and state would be combined. When confronted about this all he had to say was, “I am the same as any president that was before me. Just because I am Muslim instead of Christian will not change how this country is run. The only factor of the way I will hold my presidency is that of equality for all American Citizens.”

With so many changes already happening we can only hope this trend will continue across his four year term.

Dear Editor,

Voting for President Mustafa was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It is great to finally have someone in office that wasn’t of Christian or Catholic faith. As a person who is Muslim I never thought I would live to see the day where I wasn’t looked at with fear or being assumed to be a terrorist. People might accuse me of voting for him because he is a Muslim. Despite this being one of the factors, it is not the only one. President Mustafa is highly qualified. He was the Mayor of Chicago, Governor of Illinois, and a senator. Not to mention he speaks three languages and has a degree in both political science and law. Even if he had been a different race, I would have still voted for him because I believe in him and his policies. After taking oath, President Mustafa has changed so much for people of all races. Trying to have people accept one another with different programs, activities, and toys. He especially focuses on the children because they are the future and if we can teach them to not be racist America will be better for it. President Mustafa is a role model for the races that have faced prejudice. His presidency proves that no matter where you come from or what the color of your skin is, you can do anything you put your mind to.

Thank you for publishing my letter,

Aaleyah Yasin


Dear Editor,

The United States is going downhill fast. How could we allow a Muslim to President? He will drive this country into the ground. Mustafa needs to go back from where he came from before he lets more terrorists into America. His people beat and rape their women! this cannot happen here America is for the free. For him to not pledge to God is a sign of the horrors to come. It is one nation under God, not Allah!

Sincerely,

David Smith

This doll has a button that changes skin tone and comes with traditional garments from multiple countries around the world. It will teach children acceptance of others and their heritage. The goal is to eventually eradicate discrimination of others based off of what they look like or where they come from.

Generations and Their Colors

In unit 2, Group, we learned about how a person's behavior changes when surrounded by others and their awareness to this alteration. We looked into similarities between group dynamics and what makes them function. Some of the groups we researched were Boy Scouts, Outward Bound, and NOLS with the goal of finding out their purpose and why they've lasted for so long. To help understand group dynamics we planned out team building activities and the class ended up becoming closer due to it. For our action project we had to design and administer a sociological experiment. I chose to observe how a person’s tattoos and race can affect how they're viewed by multiple of societies generations. I really enjoyed being able to look into this because it hits close to home. I love tattoos, I currently have two, and have been told by many people that they will affect my chances of getting a job. It was a struggle to write since my project was somewhat more difficult due to having multiple variables that needed testing. However, this was overcome with minor obstacles with the help of my teacher and a friend. Please enjoy my lab report below.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Great Recession vs. Everyone

In unit 1, History, of Equality we learned about issues revolving around race, gender, and class. For our action project we wrote a history chapter about a major event from the past twenty years. The catch was that it needed to be written in the point of view of a marginalized voice. The event I ended up choosing the Great Recession in 2008 because we as a country are still recovering from it nine years later. The specific voices I chose were those of business owners, college graduates, and construction workers and I interviewed someone from each category. We also needed to include three educational devices to make it both support my writing and appear as an actual chapter in a history textbook. I really enjoyed researching more about this topic because my family was greatly impacted by this event. However, I ran into many problems the main one being who to interview. I had to ask my teacher who the marginalized voice would be during the Great Recession. Please enjoy my history chapter below.

I Am Me

In unit 1, Individual, we learned all about different psychological evaluation tests that help individuals discover more about themselves. These tests measure how much we truly know about ourselves and the way we function in society. This brought us to our action project, making a self portrait and artist statement about what we've learned about ourselves. We were given free reign of how we wanted to represent ourselves in our self portraits from concrete to completely abstract concepts using whatever medium we wanted. I decided to do a more abstract drawing that shows both the tests I took and my true self. I had mixed feelings when creating this project. On one hand I loved the creative liberty given to us and that we got to share more about ourselves with others. On the other hand it was really hard to express who I am as a whole in a single image. It was challenging and took me a while to decide on an idea for the project. I knew I wanted to incorporate eyes in some way and went from there. In the end it turned out to be something I loved and am extremely proud of, I managed to capture the basics of my essence in this drawing. Please enjoy my self portrait and artist statement below.

TS. "Through the Eyes of Me". 2017. Chicago

"Through the Eyes of Me"
Computer Printing, Sharpie, and Colored Pencils on Card Stock
H 9" x  W 12"

I had taken a multitude of psychological tests in order to have a better understanding of myself. Out of all the tests the two I think represent me most were the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs. In the Enneagram test I ended up being a six, otherwise known as the Loyalist, meaning that I will do anything for what I believe in and for those I care for. Sixes are the committed, security-oriented type and are known to be “reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion.” (“The Loyalist Enneagram Type 6”, 2016). It freaks me out how spot on my test results were. I tend to try and solve problems before they happen and am constantly wary of others and their intentions. The reason being is that I’m afraid to be forgotten and left behind once again; to not have the security and support that I need when life gets tough is terrifying. So when I decide to put my trust into a person or idea I make sure to defend it with all my being. If you ask anyone who is close to me what the most predominant trait I have the answer will always be my loyalty. This is represented by the eyes and the tree. The eyes are the physical representation of my loyalty, one being human while the other being a wolf, an animal that is immensely faithful and that I am compared to quite often. The blue color of the irises is for my true eye color and the color symbolization of devotion. Trees are known to be sturdy, unmoving and to solidify this thought I wrote “security” in Tagalog, my native language. For the Myers-Briggs test I was placed into the ENTP group, which is also called the “debater” or “visionary”. They are “quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems. Adept at generating conceptual possibilities and then analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people. Bored by routine, will seldom do the same thing the same way, apt to turn to one new interest after another.” (ENTP Type, 2016). This is fairly accurate, but not exactly me. The problem with this test was that it was very black and white; there is no grey area. You’re either an extrovert, who thrives off of being action oriented, preferring frequent interaction and getting energy from spending time with people, or an introvert, who prospers from being thought oriented, favoring substantial interaction and receive energy from spending time alone. I am neither of these, instead am an ambivert, a person who exhibits qualities of both introversion and extroversion. I don’t prefer one way of functioning over another, rather I’m a jack of all trades doing well in any situation be it social or secluded setting. To show this I have two different skylines portraying my interactions with my surroundings, twilight for introversion and dawn for extroversion. The silhouettes of the people are manifestations of me and how I can easily blend into each trait.

I looked into other psychological assessments and case studies to gather a better understanding on human and, ultimately, my behavior. I first delved into an unofficial, but quite accurate, assessment: Pottermore. I took the test that places you into a Hogwarts house; I ended up being sorted into Slytherin. Their traits are cunning, ambitious, resourceful, shrewd, loyal, and determined. This strongly backed up my results in the other tests with certain traits being repeated. For instance loyalty makes another appearance due to Slytherins constantly looking out for eachother. Though many believe that being a Slytherin means that you’re evil. This is not true it just so happens to be that there were recently many infamous dark wizards that came from Slytherin, the other houses have had their fair share in producing dark wizards but no one mentions it. Merlin, the most famous wizard ever who was the definition of good, just so happened to be a Slytherin. The Slytherin house is just frequently misunderstood. A case study that we analyzed that connects to the Pottermore test was the Stanford Prison Experiment. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo designed a prison simulation where students played the role of a guard or inmate. The experiment ended early due to the severity the guards treated the inmates, causing them extreme psychological torture. In this case the power the guards believed they held went to their heads despite being picked randomly from the same group as the inmates. Proving that anyone has the potential for evil given the right situation.

The thought process behind my piece was confusing and didn’t have a final form until I finished. I knew that I wanted eyes to be incorporated due to their unique beauty and doors to the soul. From there I figured that a concrete portrait wouldn’t get my whole message across so I went with an abstract piece. Deciding on the medium had been the last big hurdle that needed to be determined before I could let loose my creativity. As a kid I loved to use colored pencils so I opted to go with that. Keeping the tests in mind I filtered through different ideas that I could integrate the eyes that I wanted. Once I thought of a semi-concrete idea I began drawing, but as I continued to draw new ideas kept coming causing me to add something last minute. The colors of everything was decided at the end based off of what I thought would best express both the tests and who I am. When talking to a professional photographer on the process of creating art accompanied by an artist statement she told me this: “Art helps people change the way they look at things without realizing it.” This really made me think about why I created this piece. What view was I exactly trying to change? Eventually I came to this conclusion - go out into the world to learn more about yourself and don’t be afraid to show who you truly are. The world is constantly trying to put people down and make them feel bad and embarrassed about what makes them different. This is causing people to lose touch with themselves. I want people to go express themselves, be unique, and make sure that to have fun while doing it.

Works Cited:

Berkers, E. (2017). Enneagram Tests (free). Retrieved January 18, 2017, from https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/dotest.php

Briggs Myers, I. (n.d.). The 16 MBTI Types. Retrieved January 18, 2017, from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/the-16-mbti-types.htm

ENTP PERSONALITY (“THE DEBATER”). (2011). Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.16personalities.com/entp-personality

ENTP: The Visionary. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2017, from https://www.truity.com/personality-type/ENTP

Hogwarts houses: Slytherin. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.pottermore.com/collection/all-about-slytherin

On Ambiverts: Why Distinguishing Between Extroverts and Introverts is Inadequate. (2013, June 08). Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.diplateevo.com/on-ambiverts-why-distinguishing-between-extroverts-and-introverts-is-inadequate/

Sol, M. (2016, November 03). Ambiversion: The Lost Personality Type. Retrieved January 21, 2017, from https://lonerwolf.com/ambivert/

Type Six - The Loyalist. (2016). Retrieved January 19, 2017, from https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-6/

Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment revealed how social roles can influence our behavior. We look at how it was conducted and what we can learn from it. (n.d.). Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence_personality/stanfordprison.php

KING OF GODS!

In unit 2, Are You A Game, of Game Changers we delved deeper into the processes of how games are made and worked on creating our own games. For our FEs, we had talked to many people who have a successful career in the game industry. This had helped us significantly while creating our games since we had professional advice from people who have been in the industry for years. We had gone to Chicago Toy & Game Fair to compete in the Young Inventors Challenge where we had presented our second prototypes. Our action project was to create a final prototype of our game, show its process, and make an elevator pitch. My game is called King of Gods; it is a battling race game. I really enjoyed being given such creative liberties over this project, being able to come up with a unique game of my own without any restrictions was amazing. I had so many ideas, but the one about mythologies was by far my favorite. However, I didn't enjoy feeling rushed while making it because in total we only had about two weeks to finish three prototypes. Despite this emotion I put my head down and worked hard to get everything done. Please enjoy learning about my game below.

Pitch

One day, gods from four different mythologies got into a fight about who was the most powerful god and you have been tasked to help one of them win the battle. You will travel through the Underworld, Middle Earth, and Overworld. Along the way you will encounter monsters and fight other players. Your aim is to survive through the battles to reach the Overworld throne to become the king of all gods.

Going into the project, I was fairly confident. I had not realized how truly difficult it is to make a game. Coming up with the theme and type of game I wanted was fairly easy, but making it a reality was much harder. There is a lot of trial and error involved in making a game. In order to have a successful game, you must make it virtually unbreakable (meaning everything needs to be clear cut, easy to follow and solid mechanics) ,  all the while still having it be fun, aesthetically pleasing, and marketable.

The way to achieve this is through multiple rounds of play, testing. By having people play your game, you can learn what things need to be fixed and how to make it more enjoyable for the players. For example, when I had people play my first prototype, they weren't following the path, were battling wrong, and didn't have a lot of fun. They told me my boards were confusing and the battle mechanic had many flaws; overall it was not a lot of fun to play. From there, I made the borders clearer and made changes to the battle mechanic. When I had the same people playtest my game after the changes they had a lot more fun, actually laughing and enjoying the game’s theme. They had found the board’s paths to be clearer and easier to follow.

I think my favorite part of making a game was the experience of going through the stages of game design and watching your game grow.. Seeing what it is like to make a game that is appealing to the public, but at the same time functional, is amazing. You have to put in tons of mental and physical work in order to achieve this. This class has given me a whole new appreciation for games and their designers.

Scouting for Games

In unit 1, Game Mechanics, of Game Changers I learned all about tabletop games from defining what a game is to the mechanics of a game. We also looked at different randomizers such as dice and the statistics for what you will roll. We had gone on a few FEs that helped us understand what a player's perspective and a game designer's perspective is during a game. Out of all the FEs the one I found most useful was when we talked to game designer Jason Little, who has created over 50 games. He gave us very in depth answers to all our question and tips on dos and don’ts when creating a game. For our action project we were tasked with coming up with a scenario where a person or group wanted to play a game where we then gave them two different recommendations. I found it to be challenging to describe the mechanics of the two games without going into the rules of the game. After talking to my teacher and classmates I was able to write the mechanics of the games. I really enjoyed having to have a lot of freedom in this project by being able to choose a scenario and the

games that would best fit those needs. Please enjoy my scenario and recommendations below.

Capricorn.August 2016.

In my scenario, a scout group needs a game to play during multi-day events. The group is looking into games that would be enjoyable and not a great hassle. The biggest needs I’ve identified for the scouts are:

• Transportable, meaning it needs to be relatively small and easy to carry around and play anywhere be it in the airport, car or boat.
• Inexpensive since they spend most of the treasury’s money on their events.
• Be able to accommodate large groups due to there being 12 scouts and 4 adult leaders on the trip.
• Re-playable due to them playing multiple games

I have chosen two games that fit the needs the best: Egyptian Rat Screw and Werewolf (Mafia). Below are the reference sheets that will introduce and explain each game.

The scout group would easily benefit from either of these games. Since both games can be played anywhere and with a lot of people. Another thing is that each game is slightly different from the last making it re-playable enough that the scouts won’t get bored of it. These two games are able to raise the energy in a room since people can get really into it which would help the scouts to not be as sluggish later on in the day. Werewolf has the bonus of being themed with a background story as to why the game is happening which Egyptian Rat Screw lacks.

If I had to choose only one game for the scout group to bring with them it would have to be Egyptian Rat Screw. The main reason for this is that it is cheaper than Werewolf. All you need for the game is a deck of normal playing cards, about $0.50, versus the special cards needed for Werewolf, about $15. The other major reason is that once you out in Werewolf you are no longer engaged in the game. In Egyptian Rat Screw they have a mechanic that can get you back into the game therefore keeping you constantly engaged.