Event #2

For my second event I attended a lecture at the Warwick showcase cinemas called speaking of kids. This particular lecture pertained to dealing with children with difficult behavior.  This was extremely informative and useful for me because it reaffirmed a lot of what I was using as disciplinary tactics with the kids at the Y, as well as a couple new tools that can be used in the future.  One such important aspect is the ability to disciplining children without singling them out.  We have issues often times at my work where children will act out or behave in a way that is clearly meant to catch the attention of the staff.  When confronted with the situation you have to take into account how much attention should be given without making the behavior desirable.  The discussion discussed how if the behavior isn't a detriment to the class then ignoring can be effective, but often times it needs to be confronted.  In that case it is best to confront the entire group about the issue, insuring that the child who is attempting to catch your attention receives the message of what behavior is acceptable, while not giving them the attention they so desired.
The Discussion also reiterated my attempts to stay positive with the kids at my work.  As a staff we try to word as much of our directions in a positive manner.  It has been found that kids respond to a direction that does not include negative words like "no" or "don't".  He said that this is the more difficult way to discipline because it requires you to think more about what you say, rather than what is instinctual.  But I have found that the more i practice being positive, the easier and more natural it gets.

Event #1

The first event i attended was a discussion at the social work building.  They invited every student who attends classes in the building to come and discuss anything that was on their minds.  Particularly about classes and material.  The teachers who conducted the even kept an open conversation and allowed students to both discuss what they liked and what they wanted to change within the program. One thing discussed that both social work majors and youth development majors liked was the professors.  Many of the professors within the program are understanding, knowledgeable and willing to help their students in any way possible.
An important lesson to learn from this discussion is how education should be.  It so often is a one sided relationship between student and teacher.  When the student feels comfortable discussing shortcomings with teachers then they will be much more invested in the education.  The feeling that teachers are as much interested in insuring a proper education is an empowering feeling withing the dynamic of teacher and student.  So often today teachers automatically think they are correct and know best merely because they are the one given the power.  So often in our discussions in class we try and convey the exact opposite.  It should be the students and teachers as near pears rather than a dictator like environment.

Resiliant Kids

These practices can be extremely useful in any environment when working with kids.  I have personally considered using the technique of merely taking a slow walk around to calm kids at my work when they seem to be overly excited.  In schools this can be an even more useful tool for teachers.  There is a lot of pressure for teachers to be able to teach all of the material set forth for a certain school year.  This can be a reason why many educators would be hesitant to use valuable class time for relaxation or mindfulness.  But it is evident that the benefits far outweigh the time used for the relaxation techniques.  If students are relaxed and calm they are far more susceptible to learn and understand material.  This is the final goal for teachers, not to merely present the material to the students and hope they understand.  It is through these innovative techniques and the willingness to experiment that defines what a good teacher is.  There is no script that can be used when working with kids but there can be understanding.

YIA Documentary

Teaching in an inner city school is no easy task.  Often times teachers are unable, or incapable of motivating their students.  Many of the students in the YIA Documentary feel that their teachers fail time and again to connect with their students and rarely consider their students as a person and more as a burden.  This creates a culture where the students do not learn and the teachers do not want to teach.  The first issue is the type of teacher that is typically at an inner city school.  These teachers are often the least qualified to teach, often fresh out of college and inexperienced.  This is because an inner city teaching job is often the least desired position for teachers.  They desire to work in wealthy suburban school where discipline is minimal and parental involvement is assumed.  In an inner city school many of the students even in younger grades are not given parental guidance and therefore fall behind because the only means of an education they receive is during school hours.  These new or poor teachers are not able to motivate their students because they struggle with the concept of teaching.  Often times in the video the youth expressed the feeling that they were merely being spoken to when in classes rather than taught.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM?
There is no one solution.  Many strides are being made to help students after school and provide them with the same opportunities that wealthy children are given.  There are still countless youth who are put at a disadvantage or left behind every day by poor schools and poor teachers.  But progress is being made to keep both students and teachers accountable for their role within schools.

Contextual Mapping

Contextual mapping as described by Nakkula allows youth to identify and work on strength and weakness that may be presnet within their personality.  In the text Mitch asks Julian a series of personal questions.  These questions allow Mitch and Julian to identify the areas in which Julian is strong and which he needs to work on.  The ultimate goal of the excersise is to allow the youth to understand their role within society as an individual.

The four different identities are:
Foreclosed Identity:  The person is committed to a particular way of life without exploration into different alternatives.  This identity is often pushed upon a person by family friends, or peers.
Diffuse Identity:  When a person has commited to a particular identity in one social situation, but to another in different situations.  Individuals in a diffused state are very easy manipulated due to their unsure and differing nature
Moratorium Identity:  The person explores all roles and different situations around them but fails to commit to any particular role or identity.
Achieved Identity:  This is when the identity crisis is resolved and the person has fully developed who they are at the particular place and time.  It is important to note that there is a chance that a person who is in the Achieved Identity state can fall back into any one of the previous identities

My Contextual Map

RIC -  Teachers, Classmates, Friends,
YMCA (work/internship) - Children, Co-Workers, Boss, Parents, Members
Home - Family, Friends

Steps or Fluid

I personally agree with the context that Nakkula presents in the field of cognitive development.  The ideals presented by are presented by the fields predecessors were integral towards the development of her ideals.  Erickson's steps of development the portray someone constantly growing was revolutionary and extremely relevant to the field, but by no means is the end.  Neither will Nakkula's concept of contextual mapping.  But the ideal that a person can skip stages and even regress back to previous stages of development is extremely powerful and relevant.  Many times someone going through trauma or an integral juncture in their life may not act rationally, and revert to a state of mind of a previous stage.  This is where Nakkula's concept comes into play much more.  My biggest disagreement with her is the idea that there are only 4 different stages.  This is where Erickson's theories shine and hers do not.  Over the course of s persons life they go through a wide variety of ideal changes and maturing.  So much so that it cannot be condensed into 4 different stages.  It may be prudent for future psychologists who want to examine the idea of cognitive development to develop a much more extensive list of stages for Nakkula's contextual mapping.  I am exited for our field;s use of these ideals because with more knowledge of how our participants think and develop the better we will be able to teach and help them grow into happy well adjusted members of society.

Can You Succeed?

Throughout our classes in social work reiterate the inequalities and how to work with them.  There is a constant struggle with the government and funding that force us to work with less and less.  In our activity we had a real life example of inequality.  Certain groups revived more materials to protect their egg while others had what little stuff they had taken away.  We had an almost identical activity given to us in our into to social work class.  It is clear that those groups who had the better materials were more successful than those who had little.  In the end the best we could hope for as the builders, and as employees in this world is the feeling that we did the best we can.  This will mean something different for every one of us in the Youth Development field.  For some it will be endless weeks and a constant feeling of an uphill battle, while other will just do what they can for the little time they are working.  The difference will still be made, weather you work 4 hours or 40.  The difference we will make will always be felt by at least one child, and for those of us who pour our hearts and souls into our work will help that many more.  That is the hope is that we will be that difference maker in organizations who will make something out of nothing.  We will be wearing multiple hats, and no two days will be the same, but at the end of the day we will be able to go home and feel like our "eggs" will be protected as best they could with the resources provided.

What can Organizations do?

Support is a key to any child's development.  It is clear that children growing up in middle to upper class families have more support at home and therefore thrive more than others.  Whether from their own parents or from their childcare providers, it is clear children receive the help and support naturally.  If parents can afford the support then they will provide it, and this is natural and fair.  The compensation must be provided on an institutional level.  More often than not the burden for children in an inner city environment only receive this support in school.  Therefore there must be an inexpensive and effective way of providing the further support for these children from the time they are a toddler through high school.  This has been provided by YMCA's, Boys and Girls Clubs, and many other non-profit organizations throughout the world.  These organizations are unfortunately underfunded, and do not have the professional skill required to provide the help these children need.  It is asked of the employees to develop expert programming for their participants when they often do not have much more than a high school education themselves.  The only case these organizations may receive the professional help they need is through the generosity of others volunteering their services.  So what is the solution? There is no one easy fix all unfortunately.  We have to put in 80 hour weeks and go above and beyond and hope that our work will make a difference in the children in our care.

BTV Song

The Blaming the Victim Song

Warning there is explicit language and I imagine many of you have heard this song, but I challenge you to listen to the lyrics 

Blaming the Children

Blaming the Children

It is always easiest to find a problem.  If youth today are struggling to meet expectations then it can be very easy to pinpoint one aspect of their life as the cause.  Whether this is parenting, schooling, friends. neighborhoods, it isn't hard to use that as an excuse.  But in the end that is all that those things are, excuses.  Why do we need to make excuses for these children and label them, when all they need is guidance and the right opportunity.
We look at upper class communities and idolize them as the norm.  Just because they can preform better on test and look better on paper doesn't mean that they should be the norm that the rest of society needs to conform to.  These students who have be labeled as delinquent or even underprivileged should not be made to feel less than any other child in the U.S.  The failure happens progressively, and when a good teacher, mentor, or friend observes a youth on the downward slope it becomes exponentially harder for them to affect change in the person.
Students are merely passed on from one bad situation to the next and it is no surprise that they have trouble failing.  If they are not given the opportunity to succeed how can we expect them to excel.  Students should be given equal chances throughout the school systems, not just because their parents can afford a white picket fence.
Progress is being made.  Many services are giving these students extra help so that we can fix the problems we have created for them.  The hurdles they have to are still more significant than others, but with the right guidance and help then they two can achieve whatever goal they set for themselves.  Us as caregivers and educators can't ever though use the excuse the student being too difficult or too far gone to explain our own failings as professions.  For gosh sake we are the adults act like one

Technology, Modern or Medieval?

Reading and viewing the material for this week has made me aware that especially the reading was 

written by a digital immigrant. Their tenancies are those of a person looking in on the digital 

immigrant world and not of someone who grew up in the technological world their entire life. We all have to accept that technology is changing the way we live for better or worse, and Prensky is correct in saying that the education system has to reflect this. Many successful school systems are attempting to provide this new education environment to their students, but impoverished school systems are struggling. The problem is the equipment to create a digital native friendly environment costs more than what the school systems can afford. Many companies and corporations have accepted the technological age. Applicants have to diligent on what their digital imprint is, and weather their Facebook and other social media outlets portray a person companies would want to hire. With more access comes more responsibility, and review required of the information portrayed. The article written by Prensky has a very interesting approach to linking the Digital Immigrants to the Digital Natives. He proposes that a student should b able to access computers and technology once they are able to build a computer themselves. This would be a very informative and effective way of teaching students a new skill, but only to the extent of attempting to have a student think in a "immigrant" step by step manner while applying it to technology. This will create a space where the teacher will be able to apply their method of teaching and learning to the modern age, instead of encouraging students to think and develop strategies of learning of their own.