Blog 9

Before watching this video, I had never heard of Resilient Kids. After watching what they do for children though, I believe this is a great practice to do in schools and it should be done in every school system. I feel that no matter what the age, this practice can be used in a positive way and will only better off the individual.
As one of the teachers said in the film about children can get themselves all worked up on something very easily, but very few know how to calm themselves down. I couldn't agree with this more, and I feel that even adults are unsure how to do accomplish this. Having this skill allows a person to be more in control of themselves. It also allows for children to stay out of trouble when they are thinking calmly and rationally about a situation. For example, when a child is yelling at another child, and instead of this child getting yelled at becoming upset, the child walks away. Therefore he has become the bigger person by not letting his emotions get the better of himself.
Even in the research that they video stated about a teacher said that, after this program was installed into their curriculum, she did not have to write one student up in her classroom. If all students knew how to control their emotions in a positive way then students would not be getting into trouble at the school level as well as in their own personal lives.
I can use this in my future practice with youth by teaching youth to be aware of their emotions and knowing how to react in a positive way. By teaching them how to:

Blog #8

Watching the video and reading the article helped me understand how to work across different cultural boundaries in many different ways. The video helped me understand the importance of having family being involved with school, having constant communication between the student-teacher, parent-teacher, and showing the youth that you care about them. The article helped me understand the importance of how African Americans have suffered greatly in the US in the past and still suffers today along with new minorities in the US,
"No American has the right to allow the present government to say, when Negro children are being bombed and hosed and shot and beaten all over the Deep South, that there is nothing we can do about it.There must have been a day in this country’s life when the bombing of the children in Sunday School would have created a public uproar and endangered the life of a Governor Wallace. It happened here and there was no public uproar". This link talks more about minorities as well, www.abpsi.org/pdf/juvenilejustice.pdf

 When working with diverse cultures, it is important to recognize where the individual youth come from and to learn about how their experiences in life may be different then yours. For example, I am a white female coming from a middle class family. Growing up my parents expected me to get good grades, to graduate high school, then to graduate from college, get a good career, and then to start a family. Many other family especially those of different cultures have different expectations for their children and it is important to be aware of these differences. For example, in the video one of the teenagers being interviewed said that her parents both had her young and both dropped out of high school and this was what was expected of her. However, she wants to prove them wrong because she wants to do better for herself.
As being a future youth worker, once I find my first job with youth, I should familiarize myself about the community that I will be working in and to not take the job unless I know I will love it.

Event #2

For my second event I went to watch President Obama make his speech on the economy here at RIC on Friday, October 31st. During this event he touched upon the topic of the economy as well as focusing on women's equality, raising minimum wage, and continuing to have more people back to work. He spoke about women’s inequality in the work place as not being fair and should be abolished. President Obama talked about his personal experience of his single mother having to work so many jobs because she was getting paid unequally only because of her gender. He also spoke of the minimum wage being increased to $10 an hour because the reality is that people cannot live off of $8.00 an hour and this is why poverty is so high. This in turn will get people back to work not having to work crazy hours to make ends meet, but to finally live comfortably.

This connects to Ullucci because he highlights the following in his article, stereotyping poverty youth, teachers not having the proper background to interact with poverty youth, and the culture of poverty myth. When President Obama talked about the economy in terms of women’s equality, raising minimum wage, and continuing to have more people back to work it all connects back to youth. Mainly for their future of not having the unnecessary stereotyping of gender determining how much money you make, if you get a raise, or promotion at the work place. As well as finally having the minimum wage back to a rate that a person could actually live off of if necessary. This in turn can open up doors for our youth in the future.

Some references online that talks about this are http://keepthemiddleclassalive.com/the-importance-of-a-federal-minimum-wage/ sustainabledevelopment.un.org   http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment1.htm

Event #1

 I went to an event put on by the social work department. This event was about diversity within their curriculum as well as diversity within the department as a whole. The two professors assuring the event were there to get ideas on how they can improve their department by hearing from the students. Many students brought up good points about how the program is succeeding as well as places for improvement. Some of the good points discussed were the discussions on 324 and 325 because it touched upon all the topics of diversity. However, even though all topics of diversity are talked about, many of the students expressed a deeper discussion on all topics. When it came to diversity within the department it is lacking in forms of gender and topics of politics. In the social work classes the females typically over power leaving only about three males with a class made up of 20. Lastly we discussed how the social work is considered liberal democratic and never really opened to republicans. Therefore it can make those that are republicans to feel awkward in sharing their true feelings in the classroom.

One of the course themes that the event I went to relates to the Ullucci article. This article made me think of how I want to begin my career I imagine myself working with urban youth. Ullucci has helped me realize not to get sucked into the myths and stereotypes surrounded by youth in poverty. The event I went to make a strong connection to the necessity of having people be aware of the diversity around them and to embrace it. These websites talk about diversity in all different forms such as http://www.worldvisionusprograms.org/us_poverty_myths.php , http://the-classroom.org.uk/ , and http://www.grad.umn.edu/about/diversity

 

Blog 7

Context mapping helps those figure that are having a crisis of adolescents figure out their identity vs. role confusion. When Mitch asked Julian to list the various spaces and relationships he must negotiate each day. He next has him to write down what he thinks people expect of him in those certain places and relationships. Lastly he asks him to pay attention to how he feels and specifically note wen you feel safe and when you feel anxious or uneasy.

My context map:
RIC: classes, professors, class mates, sorority, mentoring, internship, friends, suite mates
Home: family, friends, boyfriend, animals
Stop and Shop: coworkers, customers

 

The four different identities are:
Foreclosed Identity: when an individual has committed to a way of life before exploring it carefully and without exploration/experimenting with alternatives. (particular identity selected by parents or peers)
Diffuse Identity: a state in which there has been little exploration or active consideration of a particular identity and no psychological commitment to one.(easily influenced by others often changing their minds)
Moratorium: which one actively explores roles and beliefs, behaviors and relationships, but refrains from making  commitment (great deal of anxiety)
Achieved Identity: when identity crisis is resolved and the commitment to the selected identity is high (successful ego-identity)

Blog 6

Nakkula talks about students testing their boundaries with their teachers, "As adolescents test limits through experimentation with their behavior and the responses it elicits, and as adults help shape and label that behavior, adolescence itself is being constructed" pg.3. Teachers need to be open minded to their students and not be so quick to judge them. When kids are growing up, they look up to adults and peers for self guidance and shape themselves around their surroundings. "The reading might prove difficult and inaccurate, but without a concerted effort to learn how our students think, it is virtually impossible to optimally share our thini8ng with them." (pg9). Therefore teachers need to not only teach their students but also be their mentor. That being said, they have to be aware of their students normal behaviors and to identify when they are acting out as an unusual behavior.

Blog #5

The egg drop was an experience that I will never forget. For the most part I think this way because of the supplies we were given to use to not let the egg drop; those being a bunch of condoms and plastic bags. But on a more serious note, I feel this experiment was a lot more meaningful because the way they separated the groups; the poor materials in the hallway and the more beneficial materials in the classroom. I felt that this made a stronger impact on when we went outside to see what everyone else made and noticed that they had a lot more better materials and it made me feel frustrated.

When I was not aware that all the groups had different materials I did not think that my materials were so bad, until I noticed that my group received the short end of the stick; that's when I began to think this was not fair. This connects back to Ullucci because these children growing up in poverty are typically unaware of their financial situation, however their teachers are and they form a bias on the child's learning: "We must focus on helping our students be clear-eyed about the struggles children may face without becoming helpless... First, it would be helpful for students to see how poverty impacts the development and learning of the young people with who they will work... Moreover, providing case studies where students can brainstorm class, school, and community responses can be helpful" (17-18). This allows children to no longer be put in the dark, but to form a voice and to be able to stand up for themselves against those that do not believe in them since they are stuck in the stereotypes of children in poverty.