J-terms 2015 at The Post Oak School

Megan Rahlfs reading to an elementary-school student at the Falmouth All Age School. (Photo source: Megan Rahlfs)

Each January, our school starts its J-term, when students choose one course that they sometimes create for three weeks. This year there were four different J-terms: the Jamaica trip, Filmmaking, Winter Orientation and Positive Psychology.

The J-term that I was in, Positive Psychology was all about, well, Positive Psychology. But what that is may be different from what you may think. Positive Psychology is about looking at psychology in a non-disease model, meaning focusing on the people who are achieving and trying to see what they are doing so we may improve our own lifestyles.

We got to read two books: Before Happiness by Shawn Achor and Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck, which were all about understanding how you view the world and how to help yourself see situations in new lights. We also got to Skype with Dr. Richard Learner from Tufts University and Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Dr. Learner works on ways to help organizations and governments use positive psychology to create a better lifestyle and environment for their people, and Dr. Csikszentmihalyi coined the term “flow," which is a state when a person is completely immersed in the activity they are doing.

We also got to study a certain area or aspect of Positive Psychology, such as willpower, positive emotions, emotional intelligence and empathy. Finally, we handed out a survey to find the activities that teens do that they find gives them fulfillment and long term happiness (eudaimonia) and happiness that you get from small things, like eating cake (hedonia). We found that teens often score equally on eudaimonia and hedonia in cases of things they do for fun, such as socializing. We believe this is because that the teenage stage of development involves understanding complex relationships and finding where you fit in in society. This is why teens scored high eudaimonia scores on social activities, because they are fulfilling the teens’ developmental needs.

Though I was only able to be in The Positive Psychology J-terms, my fellow schoolmates have written a few words about the other J-terms.

Jordan Barger (Class of 2018):“In the Filmmaking J-Term we had three weeks, with each week separated into the three parts of filmmaking: pre-production, production, and post-production. In pre-production, we came up with the concepts for our movies, wrote our screenplays, and drew our storyboards. In production, we filmed our movies. In post-production, we edited our films and had critiques. A week after J-Term ended, we had a film festival that we planned at Rice Cinema. It was a success. If anybody is interested, some of the things we made are on our YouTube channel: POHSFilmmaking. All in all, it was a fantastic week with many new experiences.”

Ian Williams, Matthew Watowich, and Emily Randall talk to KeVaughn about their AutoCAD drawing project. (Photo source: Emily Randall)

Matthew Watowich (Class of 2017): “During J-term at Post Oak High School, I had the opportunity to take part in a course called Falmouth Field School. Throughout this course, we studied the historical importance of Falmouth, Jamaica, and the Caribbean. We also researched the architectural styles of Falmouth, the culture of Jamaica, education in Jamaica, and how tourism is affecting Jamaica. Rather than sitting in a classroom reading sources about these topics, we actually traveled down to Falmouth, Jamaica, to experience these subjects firsthand.

We stayed at Good Hope Plantation, a historic sugar-cane plantation just outside of Falmouth. We worked with a local organization, Falmouth Heritage Renewal, to study the historic aspects of Jamaican architecture and help restore houses. While in Jamaica, we visited the Falmouth All-Age School to study the education in Jamaica. We also visited multiple plantations, archeological sites, and historic locations, to help further our knowledge of Jamaican History.

Meeting local families was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Even though {they} were living in grave conditions, they seemed to be happy: the kids played with us, the parents talked with us, and they offered us some of their food multiple times. Overall, the Falmouth Field School was an incredible experience that taught me many eye-opening lessons.”

Brayden Chavis (Class of 2017): “The Winter Orientation trip provided our group with an extremely enjoyable experience, which had a lot to do with where we were staying. The town of Telluride is secluded from much of what makes up our busy lives here in Houston - any chain restaurants (besides a solitary Starbucks in Mountain village, which arguably fits the theme of the place) are an hour away, and a good portion of the population consists of avid, laid back skiers and snowboarders. You won't exactly be seeing much traffic. As an added plus, the tap water is drinkable!

There are many different activities and things to engage yourself with year-round: in the colder parts of the year there are, of course, the winter sports we associate so closely with Colorado's mountain towns; and in the summers, hiking, whitewater rafting and biking will occupy most of your free time. Having gone in early January, we were able to ski/snowboard for the first week of the two that we'd be spending there. It was a great adventure that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy.”