Blog #9 Resilient Kids

Watching this video was very educational.  I never knew that a program like this existed.   I know that these things helps kids with anxiety and stress from being a student with anxiety but I never knew that there was a program that would go into the schools and teach it. 

 

the data from this is crazy to believe.  The suspension rate went down tremendously and the write ups for behavior write ups decreased as well.  Seeing these types of results its crazy to believe.  I went to Woonsocket high school where the suspension and write up rate is very high.  A program like this would be perfect for the students in Woonsocket. 

 

resilient kids

Event #2 RIC Open House

 

For my second event I attended the Rhode Island College Open House on Saturday November 8 2014.  The college open house is help for potential students to come and see the school and talk to different people form different majors.  For the Youth Development major there was about 10 students that showed up during the 3-4 hours.  We spoke with about 10 different potential students about the major and if it was a correct choice for them.  The main question that we got asked a lot was What is YDEV?  And this is where our elevator speeches were very helpful.  I also brought my son with me to this event as well.  I call him our little mascot!!!!

 

I believe that the open house is connected to the topic of Identity.  Trying to find who you are and where you belong.  Trying to also figure out and decide what you want your career to be for the rest of your life is a very big decisions.  To me, this is the biggest decision you have to make in your life.  I never attended the open house when I applied, seeing the event and what its about, I wish I had.  I wish I was there when it first started cause that's when the most people were there, but when I was there it kind of died down a lot. 

 

Identity article

RIC website

IDENTITY PBS

 

 

EVENT #1 Group Advissing

For my first event I attended the Youth Development Group Advising meeting on a Wednesday in October 2014.  Even though h we were there to help others with their class choices and scheduling, I learned some new thing myself.  I learned about all the changes to the non-profit components to the major.  I also learned that we finally got our very own prefix for classes.  NO MORE BORROWING!!!!!!!  For how small the major was at this time last year compared to this year, the major has definitely become more popular and will continue to do so.  Soon we will need a bigger room to hold everyone. 

 

Being able to see and connect with old friends that are in the program that I don't get to see to often was nice.  I did also have to bring my little man with me to the meeting but he was perfect.  I believe that this event is connected to the technology topic that we discussed.  The room that we meet in is a computer room in Gaige so that we have the computers to use.  If we didn't have computers then advising would take a lot longer then it does, and I think we take that for granted.  we never actually sit and think about what if?  We just automatically know its there and that's that.

Y DEV advising site
RIC course bulletin
Digital Natives Article

Post #8 CULTURE

To be a teacher, you need to love what you do.  You need to be creative with learning.  Each child has there own life outside of school. To make learning interesting you need to teach them through things that they already know. One of the things you can teach about or teach with is CULTURE.  each child has a unique culture and they should be able to live there life through there culture and not be afraid of what others think.  Teacher are to make sure students feel safe, included and accepted for who they are.  The teacher should not, under any circumstance, treat any child in a racist way, especially towards their culture.  Every child has their own story let them tell it.  I

THe Constructions of Adalesence!!!

Chapter one was very interesting.  I actually liked reading it.  One point that stood out to me was the part when Ms. Peterson stated that she does not like confrontation in her classroom and that she is afraid of urban culture African Americans like Antwon.  This should not happen if you decide to be a teacher.  You should not fear your students.  They all have a reason for the way they act deep down inside.  You just have to try and find that reason and work with them to act better. There is no reason that you should have fear when you are the one that holds the power n the room.  These kids are just as afraid of you as you are to them.  There also like dogs if they smell fear they will use it against you.  We as teacher have to teach students the right ways to act and handle there issues as well as teach them.  There are a thousand students out there like Antwon and if we let them get to us as educators then the students would be running the schools and classrooms not us.

Children of Poverty!!

I have always wanted to help the kids less fortunate.  I grew up not poor but not rich either.  School was my favorite place to be it kept me out of trouble.  I lived in Woonsocket which everyone knows is a poverty area.  I have seen the kids in these types of areas; Woonsocket, providence, Central Falls.  These are the areas that I want to work in.  I want to make kids feel about school the way I did when I was growing up. 

Most teachers believe that students that grow up in poverty stay in poverty.  This is not the case at all.  Children that come from poverty are no less intelligent, able, motivated or worthy than others.  Children from Poverty can do anything they set their mind to, just like all kids. Four common myths about poverty are:

1.       Anyone can pull themselves out of poverty (The Bootstraps Myth)

2.       Those who are in Poverty are Lazy, welfare queens and or irresponsible (The Individual faults Myth)

3.       Poor Children are not particularly smart or school ready (The Educability Myth)

4.       People in poverty share a common culture (The Culture of Poverty Myth)

Ways Poverty does impact children is by environment, health, child labor, community violence, mobility, childcare, transportation, mental health and shelter.

 

Technology!!!!

Technology has become a very big part of our society. We went from having nothing to having everything in the palm of our hand.  Some of it is good but some is bad as well.   I really don’t know what I would do without it to be honest.  Take my cell phone for example; I have an IPHONE it has everything on it that I need.  My step father laughs at me but I call my phone my life because without it I’m lost.  It has my email, my contacts, my schooling, my photos, my appointments everything.  I really think that my generation would not be able to service without technology.  Technology can help you as a youth worker because there are so many educational sites on the web, educational TV shows, games, movies and more.  I believe that kids learn better while interacting with something, whether its friends, a TV show, an educational website etc.  Technology has its benefits.  The computer and internet have made learning how to read fun. Math is also made fun on the computer.  Learning has made a huge step with computers being used and other technology as well.  Technology is also a distraction though as well.  It depends on how you use the technology for it to be either helpful or a distraction.  It’s your choice.