Bandura,+James

__**American History X**__ Nature vs. Nurture is still a long running debate that is very apparent in the conflict driven film //__American History X__//. In the movie, the main character, Derek (portrayed by Edward Norton), is convinced that all of America´s problems are because of African Americans and immigrants. He calls them the “//maggots//” sucking the life out of society solely based on their race. Derek and his white supremacists friends are true believers that nature is what makes you good and decent or poor, bad, and dumb; minorities are born inferior and will continue to be inferior, holding the white man back from reaching ultimate success. The story itself, tells a different tale of how nurturing hate or tolerance will eventually define who you are with the consequences spreading like a butterfly effect. Scientists have long studied humans and more closely, twins, to see how much of “//who we are”// is predetermined. Although, they have found many links between DNA and physical traits, few show //true// correlation among personality traits. There are genes that are associated with aggression and pessimism, but studies show no genetic connection to crime and violence. The psychologist, David Lykken, suggests that “//predispositions to aggression and impulsiveness combined with incompetent parenting and a breakdown of the nuclear family//” (Colt, 1998) are to blame. I agree with Lykken and this is extremely evident in the movie. Derek did not have feelings of dislike or aggression towards African Americans until his father started planting these seeds in a scene around the dinner table. It wasn´t until after his father was murdered by an African American gang member, that these seeds blossomed into pure hatred for any opposing race. Derek´s family soon became dysfunctional without a paternal figure, and the mother was too weak in his upbringing to try and subdue this hatred. The character, Cameron Alexander, nurtured Derek´s hatred until he became a well-known neo-Nazi leader along the west coast. Derek brought his twisted ideals home and helped mold his younger brother into another neo-Nazi. Derek and Cameron created a small bigot army, where they would force feed them indignant lies that developed into complete repugnance of the other races. Cameron preyed on weak minded, confused, young adults and educated them poorly. On the other hand, Dr. Sweeney, the school principal, reached out to young adults to empower them with real knowledge. He was a modern day warrior combating social injustice by leading his students toward hope and prosperity. He nurtured the weak minded and confused in a positive way unlike his counterpart. He believed in rehabilitation and this was proven as he aided Derek during prison and saved him from an entire life of grief and despair. Dr. Sweeney even worked outside the school with the local police to help fight gang violence in the community. Once mentally rehabilitated, Derek mentored his brother on his last night alive. He spoke of prison and the African American inmate who helped him get through it. He spoke of the racist propaganda that had poisoned their hearts and minds. Derek became a walking example how nurturing shapes our lives. He was taught hatred and lived it out until he killed a man. Then he was nourished by a positive influence and became a new person leaving behind his old ways. I guess Dr. Sweeney said it best in the movie, “//He learned this nonsense, and he can unlearn it too.”// Despite the fact that we have predestined genetic dispositions, it is our family, friends, mentors, and experiences that will ultimately shape us as individuals. It is proven that traits like aggression, timidity or impulsivity are highly heritable, however, these are developed with less force or more force based on the individual´s surroundings. “//Genes are not commands but nudges”// (Colt, 1998) and it is our job as teachers to nudge kids in the right direction. Nowadays, when home environments seem so unstable, teachers have perhaps the most important and influential job in the entire world. A teacher´s role is more than class subjects; it is a mentoring program for young, confused individuals who step foot through our door. Will we fight nature in order to preserve nurture? Will we uphold strong morals and values nourished at home, or will we tear them down? These are the questions teachers must face in order to be a positive influence inside and outside the school walls.
 * Module #1 . Write a brief - 2- page (500 word+ or -) report describing the influences you observed and discussed. Put you first reflection on your individual wiki page. **

I was honestly shocked. My graph had a line that steadily increased to about 20 millions violent crimes in 2009. I guess because news sources, movies and video games are so focused on violence, I figured we were living in really violent times. It is still hard for me to believe that our population has doubled, but the number of violent crimes has actually decreased. Why is this myth so widely spread? Why are we so misinformed in the reality we are living in?
 * Module #2 V iolence - Prediction, Prevention and Intervention - Myth vs Reality - Write 5 Sentences about your reaction to the statistical data showing the trend below. (Remember your initial estimate on violence in the last 30 Years.) **


 * Module #3 **
 * Hearts and Minds Describe three things you plan to do in your teaching practice to reduce stress and win the Hearts and Minds of your students and co workers. 1. 2. 3. **
 * 1) Show even more interest in my student´s social/family life...spend more time with them outside of the classroom.
 * 2) Put more effort into personalizing the math lessons to show the relevance of the topic to their life.
 * 3) Give more responsabilities to my students, so they can start sharing and owning their learning in my class


 * Module #4 **
 * Do the Personality Prototype test with another person. Discuss what the results mean. **
 * When you Teach you learn. Tell us on this site what you learned by sharing PP Results with another person. **

__**PERSONALITY TEST**__ I chose to do the personality test on my wife. After studying the different types in class, I easily identified what she would be and also picked her second strongest before the test. Johanna is a **//practical manager//** with a score of 32; however, I guess I see her as more rigid and estimated above 35. Johanna is extremely organized and completely unprepared if just the slightest thing doesn´t go to plan. She gets stressed easily and cannot function when life throws her a curve ball. In addition, she scored 25 on **//learned expert//** which didn´t surprise me. She is very argumentative and opinionated and would have made a great lawyer. Johanna craves knowledge and loves to study. One thing I really learned from this is some of the strategies I use when communicating with her is correct and others just set her off. My personality type is moderate, and I adjust in most situations easily. I try to relax Johanna and get her to see the simplicity of some of her “problems” however many times it doesn´t work because I am looking through my own eyes and not hers. I should use more objective suggestions to get her to understand. When arguing, I should incorporate the “rules of debate” so we both stay on topic and fight fairly and logically. I really do think this new knowledge on personality types will help me to “//manage”// our relationship better.
 * **22 ** || **25 ** || **21 ** || **32 ** ||
 * PP || LE || CP || <span style="font-family: Helvetica-Bold,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">PM ||

I teach 7th graders. This could be done during homeroom or at the end of the week as a way to take a break from my pre-algebra class. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Based on a real story, the movie "Sonar No Cuesta Nada" (To Dream Costs Nothing) is about a group of lower class soldiers from Colombia who have been combating in the jungles for months. With little food and supplies, their lives will forever change when they find $46 million dollars buried in the ground. It is their patriotic duty to report this money to the government especially because it is guerilla and drug money. However, they decide to keep it and start spending it in once they get back to civilization.
 * Module #5 **
 * Moral Dilemma - Develop a MD for use in your teaching practice. Outline it here. Use any lesson plan style or outline that you might have for your class / subject / or grade level. Describe your audience, age, demographic and what you will do. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I won’t tell them the whole story, but we will watch the opening scenes of the movie that show the struggles of being an impoverished soldier in the jungle up until the point they find the money…I will then present the question. So what would you do?

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I would let the class explore their possibilities, and then I would help direct them to the best possible choices (keep the money and go AWOL from their military unit; tell their commander and let him decide; turn it into to the government; don´t tell anyone/do nothing). We will then divide up into groups based on their choice. They will have 5 minutes to discuss why their choice is the best situation, and then present it to their classmates. I will play devil´s advocate, and then allow them a chance to change groups.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">To wrap up we will talk about what did happen (they went to jail and had to repay the money spent). We will also talk about the importance of honesty and doing the right thing even though you might be outnumbered.

Module #6
 * Post 2 "I" messages - (positive) comment on the reactions. **
 * Post 1 "I" Message (negative or corrective) **

__** Positive: **__
 * 1) Johanna (wife), when I come home late after a long day of work and studying and all of Sebastian´s toys are put away and he is ready for bed, it allows me to relax and enjoy you two for a little while longer tonight, and I feel so happy and grateful for my family. --- //She of course loved but did think it was a little rehearsed. haha.//
 * 2) Sofia (student), when you get working right away and are really concentrated, your impact on the class is so positive because you are a leader, and it makes me so proud to be your teacher and see you grow. //--- Sofia gave me a big smile and thank you and continued to work well the rest of the class.//

__**Negative**__:
 * 1) Federico and Juan (students) when you two are playing and interrupt the class, myself and others get distracted and we lose time on our projects that now might not get finished, so I feel frustrated for the others that are working so well.

Module # 7 After going to the website and going through the 13 steps, this is what I came up with based on my values, beliefs and influential people in my life. The last sentence I stole from an email my dad sent me. I was really moved when I read it, and it sums up my mission statement.
 * MISSION STATEMENT: **

I want to exude tranquility and authenticity through my attitude and actions. I want to be honest, fair, passionate and perseverant. I want to live and share the essence of “agape” love. I want to never stop trying and doing new things/ideas. I want to aspire to inspire before I expire.

Module # 8 **Select any one additional chapter to read. (Not Time Management) Describe the Chapter you read and your reaction to the chapter. Pick one activity from the book and describe how you will use this for Conflict Resolution**

I read chapter 2 “All You Need to Know About Stress,” and I thought it was a very interesting and helpful chapter. I am someone who has a pretty low level of stress, but I know it is a huge problem among adolescents and adults. I really enjoyed the beginning of the chapter about the historical aspect of stress and how it has been around for millions of years, yet our body´s response to it has not changed. I had no idea that stress and stress management is a new topic of study, but I guess it makes sense if we are still so far from actually controlling and/or relieving its effects on our lives.

As I mentioned before, I have a low level of stress, but I do not however, use the stress management techniques mentioned in your book; it is just my nature to disassociate and not allow stress to affect me that much. I really did like the “Managing Stress” section especially the Chinese proverb, “//know your enemy as you know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat//.” Knowing your body´s response to stress will allow you to use the adequate “stress busters” such as breathing, disassociation, exercise, etc. to help you control how stress affects you. I also agree that it is important to know the things that stress you out, so you can try to avoid those situations. Obviously stress is not completely inescapable, but “//consequences of// [your] //response can be healthy or not depending on the appropriateness of the behavior.// “ I believe that statement is the key because it puts the ball in our court. We have the power to control our reactions to stress and it is those reactions that make stress healthy or damaging and in some cases deadly.

The stress management chapter can be very helpful especially as a middle school teacher where stress levels along with hormonal changes are extremely high. While reading this chapter, I already identified a few students that could really benefit from the stress busters and long term strategies. There are two activities that I will definitely use because I feel it will be helpful for all students to know. The first activity mentioned “Identifying Stressors” is extremely important so that students become more aware and conscious of what things may stress them, and so that they will see that pretty much all kids their age struggle with the same things. Now that the students have identified some things that stress them and have talked about it, I think the “Stress Busters” activity would be perfect for my students. It allows me to model and they practice affective yet simple techniques to relieve stress. In addition, they have to write about these techniques in English which also incorporates our school mission of developing responsible, self-directed bilingual students.

Module # 9 **2 Conflict Resolution Websites**:


 * 1) This website offers lots of material, lesson plans and links for "character education." I stumbled across the moral dilemmas archives ("Daily Dilemma" link) that were taken from real situations in middle/high schools. These could be very useful for classroom discussions. I guess "character education" would be alot more important than my math lessons...maybe I need to start making a sacrifice.  []
 * 2) I'm sure Hank already knows this website from the National Crime Prevention Council. It offers numerous resources from disaster readiness to halloween safety. It also includes a list of resources on conflict resolution...stuff for parents, teens and even activities/lesson plans for kids. Check it out! []

Module # 10


 * I chose to skip this one and replace it with # 11.**

Module #11 offers an alternative of any one of the 10 modules above. Watch the movie Emperors Club. Then write a reflection of 250 words (+-) describing the values choices that Mr. H made and discovered through the end of the movie. Describe your alternate choices or support his.

The Emperor’s Club is about William Hundert, a western civilizations teacher, and his attempt to shape the lives’ of his students using a strict code of morals and principles. Mr. Hundert was a man who thought values, honor and contribution were above all other attributes that a person should have, yet he put his own values aside for a moment in hope that he could win over a new rebellious boy who was finally starting to make progress. Mr. Hundert wanted so badly to inspire his student, Sedgewick Bell, to continue on the right path, that he dishonestly helped Sedgewick and actually led him astray. Many times, we teachers think we have our student’s best interest in mind like Mr. H did when he changed Sedgewick’s grade, but it went against the high standards and ethics he preached about day in and day out. I understand the struggle Mr. H went through, but I disagree with his choice. He should have given him the A- and reiterated the motto of the St. Benedict’s Academy “//the end depends upon the beginning.//” It would have been a great lesson for the student. To be great, you must **always** give your best.

Another moral dilemma occurred shortly after in the Julius Cesar contest. Mr. H saw Sedgewicik cheating. Should he call out Sedgewick in front of his peers and parents for cheating or let it go? The headmaster told Mr. H to forget about it, so he gave Sedgewick a question that he knew he wouldn’t get correct. Sedgewick missed the question and was eliminated from the contest…problem solved. I agree with him this time. He did the right thing by not causing a fiasco but still getting the same result with Sedgewick´s elimination, and then talking to him about it in his room later.

Mr. H was tested once more when they met again 25 years later for a Julius Ceasar reunion and Sedgewick was still cheating. Mr. Hundert confronted Sedgewick in the bathroom and Sedgewick reacted strongly by telling Mr. H that in the real world no one cared about morals and virtues and that lying and cheating was a part of life. Only then did Mr. Hundert learn his finest lesson that humbled him greatly. “//I´m a teacher, Sedgewick, I failed you as a teacher.//” Now facing Sedgewick as an adult, Mr. H had no reason to expose him to the others. Life and karma would eventually catch up to him and it did once Sedgewick´s son walked out and heard who his dad really was.

Lastly, Mr. H did the honorable thing by confessing to Martin Blythe he had messed up all of those years ago; that he //gave his spot away// and Martin should have been in the contest. Sometimes it is very hard to admit when we are wrong, but I believe making amends with Martin took a huge burden off his back, and he became even more respected in Martin´s eyes. This was seen at the end when Martin walked his own boy to Mr. Hundert´s class; he too, wanted Mr. H to play an important role in his son´s life.

For What would you walk the "I" beam?

As a person afraid of heights, I could have answered your question three and a half years ago with one word...nothing. Now that I have a son, I can honestly say, he is the only reason that I would walk the "I" beam. As you know, the love a parent feels for a child is unmatched and immesurable. I´m not sure if I would risk my own life to save other family members or close friends. I obviously love them very much, but I would not want to gamble with my son´s well being and the possibility of growing up without his father.

Who really knows though? When faced with walking the "I" beam, I think the amygdala would engage and maybe our once rational thoughts would be put aside to save anything precious in our eyes.