Fin.

AP Psychology has been one of my favorite classes I've had this entire year. Maybe it's because of my interest in the field of Psychology, but it's probably because I've had a really cool teacher to guide me through the psychedelic world of psychology.

The class itself has been wonderful. Having experienced Ms. Halfen, I can definitely say I'm taking AP Econ next year. The wonderful John Quiñones has been introduced to me through the countless What Would You Do episodes we've watched in class and I've been able to throughly enjoy learning rather than just taking notes and having a test.

The current project we are finishing up, the mind map, has been my favorite project because it allowed me to spend all of my parents money on loose glitter and modge podge (is that what it's called). My project is going to be SUPER glittery and I'm so excited to turn it in next Monday.

There weren't many downsides to this glass but I guess I could say that I didn't like the number of quizzes we've had. Now, obviously, these quizzes need to happen because they are grades but as someone who is a horrible test/quiz taker they've done more harm to my grade than they have good. But that's just my opinion.

There's really not much in this class that you can leave out because the AP is so soon in second semester, but I guess something I would suggest is to lower the number of quizzes given.

What to do next year? More John Quiñones. Something I think that should be done is more FRQ's. There wasn't much practice with FRQ's and although the ones on the AP were easy, they might not be the years to come.

I like that there are so few tests, but as I've said before - I am a horrible test/quiz taker so I haves fared well with the majority of the quizzes. But the small amount of tests has helped because it allowes me to understand the material rather than just memorizing and forgetting everything a few days later.

Students taking Psych next year: STUDY. The quizzes make up the majority of your grade and if you don't do well on them your grade will continue to drop. DO YOUR VOCAB. There is ALOT of vocab on the quizzes AND the AP. The AP is MAINLY vocab so knowing the cool psych terminology will help you succeed on the AP and in class.

It's been real, AP Psychology. I'll miss this class next year because none of my teachers will play WWYD in class.

Memeing My Life

Meme creation isn't something you'd think would be a psych assignment, but when told it was I was just a little bit excited.

1.

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/06/11/inside-out-a-look-at-how-emotions-work-together-in-adolescents/

2. 

http://study.com/academy/lesson/fixed-interval-examples-definition-quiz.html

3.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/agoraphobia/basics/definition/con-20029996

4. 

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder

5. 

http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/Amygdala.htm

Toxicity in the Debate Space

As someone who tries to keep an enthusiastic persona and attempts to be nice to everyone, it surprised me to learn that my once safe debate space was no longer safe for me rather it was harmful for my mental health because of the toxicity I was exposed to.

Although I plan to continue in the activity, I feel the need to address the toxic environment and provide ways to fix this.

The debate space hasn't always been toxic for me, but a few months back I had been told that someone who shall not be named had been trash talking me since the beginning of the season. This person is someone I have confided in on many occasions, so I was not only shocked but I was angry. But this anger had brought another ill thing with it. Anxiety.

The news spiraled my life out of control and I was constantly paranoid and anxious when near the debate community. Of course, having my luck, there was more than one person who would often talk about me 'behind my back.' There were three, and they had an entire group chat dedicated to talking ill of everyone single one of my failures.

This year was supposed to be my best year. I was supposed to prove everyone wrong. I was supposed to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, but three people ruined this for me. My work ethic diminished and rather than enjoying the activity I found it as a chore, a burden, something that would soon be over.

My previous love for the activity was weakened and I found myself wanting to quit on several occasions, but I couldn't. I have spent too much time and money on the activity to let three people ruin it for me.

I wasn't going to let my anxiety ruin my life.

Depression and anxiety disorders are reoccurring illnesses in my family, both on my mom's and my dad's side. So, it didn't come to that much of a surprise to me when I had began feeling the constant paranoia and the need to cry every hour of the day because someone was talking about me. I felt worthless at times and these were the days I looked the happiest.

Makeup and sleep hid the anxiety, but my extreme enthusiasm was a bad disguise because even my most distant of friends could tell that something was wrong.

The debate space has been toxic since it's existence, but I've never experienced the toxicity until this season

.