Second Event

 The second event I attended was an information session on the Future Leaders of Rhode Island Seminar Course. A select group of students met with professor Lawrence Wilson to talk about the class and what to expect. As we met we talked about what leadership is to each of us, what we would like to gain from this course, and how this course would be relevant to our major.  With Youth Development you need to be a leader for youth. Youth will look up to you more and gain respect from you. It is important for me to gain leadership skills, in order for the youth I work with to one day be leaders themselves. We talked informally as a group about these topics, and also went into detail about what the course will look like. Half of the semester is learning about leadership with lectures and informal group conversations. The other half of the class has influential leaders of Rhode Island come into class and speak with us. This interested me because I would love to hear from leaders in Rhode Island who are succeeding in their career. I think this course would be a great asset to my college career and help in the long run once I graduate.

One connection I made was to creating culturally relevant education. Great teachers inspire, and in order for me to inspire youth, gaining these leadership skills are important. As I think back to topic I remember this quote that was in the video "As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration…” I hope that one day I will be the instrument of inspiration to the youth I work with. Hopefully being able to attend this course will give me the tools to inspire youth, and for them to one day be leaders themselves.

Three helpful links I found...

1) http://nasetalliance.org/youthdev/index.htm

This link talks about youth leadership, and how it is an important part of youth development and process of supporting students.

2) http://www.weforum.org/community/forum-young-global-leaders 

"The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multi-stakeholder community of more than 900 exceptional young leaders.  Bold, brave, action-oriented and entrepreneurial, these individuals commit both their time and talent to make the world a better place." As youth workers being able to provide the foundation for students is important for their success. 

3)http://www.leadershipri.org/ 

This link takes you to Leadership Rhode Island. Leadership RI is a nationally recognized community leadership organization. "Leadership Rhode Island creates and supports a legacy of leaders for the state".

Resilient Kids Blog

Resilient kids is a yoga and mindfulness program that is incorporating in classrooms throughout Providence. This program has improved student’s academics, and overall behavior. When I started to watch the video I thought of when I went to Promising Practices in Fall 2012. When signing up for the workshops I noticed one was titled Zumba and movement in the classroom. During the workshop I was able to participate and see first hand how this is successful with children. Movement is so important to a children’s attention while learning. Having programs such as yoga, or Zumba in class give student’s opportunities and an outlet to redirect their behavior.

One of the students interviewed in the video mentions how even at home if he gets upset or angry he works on his breathing to calm him down. Providing students skills and tools such as mindfulness is extremely important. Kids do not know how to calm down, but with practice and these technics they can achieve this. These students are benefiting from improvements in memory, attention, self-esteem, mood, and importantly stress. I feel like this is important in any grade or age group. Children in middle or elementary school are more open to these activities, but I feel high school students could benefit as well. High school is an extremely stressful time causing students to be anxious, stressed, and have low esteem. I know personally having someone teach me these skills at a critical time like high school could make a huge difference.

Event one

For my first event I went to the group-advising event. At this event we discussed our classes for next semester and exchanged help between one another. I was still unsure of what classes I would be taking in the fall and this event helped me finally decide. Since this is my first year as a youth development major I am still myself trying to figure out my plan of study. This was also the first time I was apart of group advising. Group advising is helpful because I was able to ask people right there what classes to take, and what professor. Even though I think of myself, as fairly new in this major I was able to still give my peers advise and help.

My friend who is also a YDEV major often asks me about our class and what we do. I told her technology is very important, which we use to read articles online, watch videos, and then blog about them. The course documents are all online as well as our syllabus. When I think of the technology we do use in class I think of the article Digital Natives, and Digital Immigrants. In college technology has played such a major role in all our classes. Today as the generation of Digital Natives we grew up with technology and excel when technology is mixed into our courses. 

Three helpful links:

1) https://sites.google.com/site/ricydev/home

• This is the link for the YDEV advising central. This link is helpful because if you still leave advising with some questions, this website will have the answers for you.

2) List of possible concentrations

• This google doc shows a list of concentrations students can have. I think this is extremely helpful for people who are still unsure of what they are going to have as there concentration. 

3) List of possible minors

• This is another google doc that shows a list of minors. This is also helpful if students are still trying to figure out if they have credits towards a minor, or what they have an interest in.

Creating Culturally Relevant Education

I actually enjoyed watching this video about Creating Culturally Relevant Education. I liked hearing the different cultures and how school was in different places. Teachers in Pakistan are more like your mothers, one of the students explained. They care about your actual learning instead of how your grades look and if you obey the rules. “It like you have a mom at school, and a mom at home”. These students get the point across that today teachers need to break the traditional roles. Breaking these roles will get teachers out of the just getting through the class and not really caring. In order to be successful in school you have to have a teacher that loves their job, and supports their students.

In the video it shows a quote:

As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration…”

When this quote came on the screen I thought it was extremely powerful. It is important teachers do not use their power as torture, but as inspiration. Inspiration is what students need to succeed. Another student mentions how her teacher in the past has helped her through a lot of things because she supported and pushed her. The teacher would always ask her how everyone was at home, and gave her that motivation she needed to come back to school everyday instead of giving up. They grew a bond with the student as a mentor, more then a teacher. I think today teachers need to combine being a teacher and being a mentor for their students. Teachers need to challenge themselves and challenge their students to get to know them with a deeper connection.  

Chapter 2 Context Mapping

Context mapping: Method used to uncover valuable key information in areas such as work, school, home, etc. In the reading Mitch asked Julian for a list of the various spaces and relationships he must negotiate each day. Julian was able to create a context map about home, school, and all the people he interacts with throughout the day.

My context map:

I wasn’t sure how to make mine to look like the examples online, or like the examples provided, so I made them into a list…

RIC: YDEV, Theta Phi Alpha, Internship, school friends, professors, students.

Home: Family (Mom, Dad, Mike), Puppy (Rocco), childhood friends (Neighbors, friends)

Work: Co-workers, customers

The four different identities are:

   1)   Foreclosed identity: When an individual has committed to a life direction or way of being without exploring it carefully, or experimenting all alternatives.

   2)   Diffuse Identity: State in which there has been little exploration or consideration of a particular identity and no psychological commitment to one. Individuals are influenced by others and often change beliefs.

   3)   Identity moratorium: Development state which ones explores roles and beliefs, behaviors and relationships, but refrains from making any commitments. This causes a great deal of anxiety due to the demands.

   4)   Achieved Identity: When identity crisis is resolved and the commitment to the selected identity is high. Result of high exploration and experimentation.

Nakkulat Chapter One

I enjoyed Nakkulat Toshalis first chapter in The Construction of Adolescence. Having a story between Antwon and Ms. Petersen made the reading easier to read then past articles. The relationship between the two is based of what they imagine from past experiences, and how they interpret the theories. This section of the chapter I found to be very interesting.  Nakkulat goes on to say Antwon’s behavior and self-understanding are being coauthored by Ms. Petersen’s actions toward him.  Antwon acts differently towards Ms. Petersen, because of the contributions and co-authorization she gives him.  This also made me think back to while I was in school and my teachers who had my brother already had a preconceived idea of me as a student. They based this on the experiences they had with my brother as a student, and used that as a theory of how I would be in class. Ms. Petersen does the same thing as I have seen done to me or other students, and places preconceived judgment onto Antwon.

            As a youth worker it is important that we put aside these preconceived ideas, and focus on the individual. In Ms. Petersen’s case she should not have had her personal feelings towards African Americans effect her approach while working with Antwon. No matter the students attitudes or behaviors it is important not to disengage or resist. As youth workers we have to be able to work with everyone and not base any prior experiences or impressions on the youth we work with. We have to remember that not everyone is alike, and we can't assume that everyone is the same. Each person deserves to be treated without prior assumptions or judgements.