Week 1, Day 4

This focus of this week is primarily educational, to get everyone up to speed about the science regarding concussions, and to focus on remote teamwork. The end of this week and the start of next week will focus on writing the Concussion Update newsletter; the next edition of the newsletter comes out on June 25. After the newsletter, we will launch into projects.

There are no tasks to do today

Educational Resources - Video, Newsletter Prep, Documentary, 5 Languages or Appreciation:

Today, before Dr. Eve Valera’s presentation, we would like you to watch a short video where she describes the findings of her studies. Furthermore, in conjunction with Galen’s presentation, we are also providing another opportunity to practice your newly acquired newsletter writing skills. You will also be watching the documentary League of Denial as a less hands-on approach to learning about the field. Finally, we would also like you to read the introduction to the 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace in preparation for Friday.

Materials, & Resources

PINK Concussions Task Force (Optional)

Your first endeavor will be to peruse the PINK Concussions task force on partner-inflicted brain injuries. Dr. Valera is on the leadership for the task-force and Malayka is a member. They offer monthly task force calls with professionals in the field, presentations, and discussions. Scrolling through the page would augment your understanding of Dr. Valera’s work before her presentation.

Video

Psychiatry researcher, Dr. Eve Valera, focuses on traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) related to intimate partner violence in her work. Before you assist her presentation and interact with her, we would like you to watch this brief 3-minute video where she describes her findings.

Congratulations! You are almost set to begin writing for the newsletter. You have now read multiple past newsletters, received training by Julian on science writing and by Galen on writing effective synopses. Similarly to yesterday’s work, we are providing you with another prompt to give you a chance to develop these freshly acquired skills.

Using what you have learned from both Julian’s and Galen’s talk, we would like you to:

Edit the paragraph that you wrote yesterday. Take into account all the advice that you have received about writing for the newsletter as well as about being a good writer. Place yourselves in Galen’s editorial shoes and take a critical look at your own work. Try to keep it synthetic, accessible to the general public, and make sure it is accurate. You can experiment with sentence structure and writing styles to keep the piece engaging as long as it is comprehensible. Here is your chance to develop your voice in the newsletter while also adapting to our own consistent style.
Write a new paragraph like you did yesterday. If you have forgotten, here is the prompt : Pick an article based on a scientific paper from a past newsletter. Use the framework provided from [the presentations provided in the past two days] to discuss the validity of the synopsis, practice your skepticism, and analyze the material. You should go back to the original source/ paper for this task. We would then like you to then rewrite the synopsis and improve on its quality and judgement. You do not necessarily have to be judgmental of the past writer’s work but you should try to exercise your best critical thinking skills.

Refer to the Style Guide for assistance on writing the paragraphs.

Documentary

Today you will be watching the documentary League of Denial - The NFL’s Concussion Crisis. This is an episode of PBS’s Frontline series. You can find it on the PBS website, Youtube, and Kanopy which you have free access to using your Carleton account.

This documentary was originally aired on October 8, 2013 but much of its content is still relevant today. League of Denial covers the consequences of long-term brain injuries provoked by American Football. A significant portion of the work is related to covering the story of the end of Mike Webster’s life and his post-mortem diagnosis with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Focus on how the documentary defines social attitudes towards concussions: its misperceptions and misconceptions. We must note that the documentary often confounds CTEs and post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Pay attention to this distinction (or lack thereof) and try to understand why there does not seem to be an established, consensual definition of these conditions. If you are still unclear on these terms after yesterday’s expert videos, please reach out to one of us.

We will be hosting a forum about this documentary in upcoming days. Please engage with the material, come ready to discuss and ask questions!

5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace

On Friday, we will be getting together to discuss everyone’s preferred language of appreciation and to analyze our common report. To further understand your results and to prepare for our meeting, please read Chapter 1 of Gary Chapman’s The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People.