Boadway,+Amber

Module #1Write a brief - 2- page (500 word+ or -) report describing the influences you observed and discussed. Put you first reflection on your individual wiki page

American History X Nature vs. Nurture

By Amber Boadway

American History X is a movie that explores into the roots of race hatred in the United States of America. In the opening scene, a teenage boy named Danny Vinyard runs into his older brother’s room to warn his brother that black people are breaking into his car in front of the house. His brother, Derek, gets a gun and shoots the robbers to death and is then sent to jail. Meanwhile, Danny, a rebellious teen, tries desperately to follow in his brother’s footsteps. After Danny writes an essay about Hitler’s Mein Kampf, he gets in trouble. Danny’s consequence from his African American high-school principal, named Sweeny, is to write another essay about his older brother’s life before he went to jail. Through Danny’s essay it becomes apparent that Derek is part of a gang that kills African American people and robs stores that have African American workers. It is through Danny’s essay that we can see the ways in which Derek is nurtured into being a racists and it is through the changes in Derek’s outlooks and relationships that we can see that Derek is not naturally racists.

The director of the movie chose to show Derek and Danny as young innocent boys playing at the beach. As Derek grows up you can see his innocents still even as an adolescent. This concept is shown in a particular scene when Derek was young and is around the dinner table with his father and his father begins influencing him towards negative feelings about African-Americans. Derek came home from school and is telling his father about reading Joseph Conrad´s book //Heart of Darkness//. Derek seems to genuinely enjoy the book. His father gets angry about the fact that the African American teacher is having the students read a book about African Americans. Although at this point in the movie, the society Derek presently lives in does not influence him until his father is killed by an African American man. You can see as Derek gains more life experiences and as time goes on, he learns to dislike African American people based on their color and his experiences with other individuals that are colored. Environment now play an important role in his decision to join a racist group both because of his father’s raising of him and by what the environment has done to him. Nurture is what plays the role in influencing the racist group as defined in the movie plot.

When Derek goes to jail it is the climax of his racist leadership to his skin head gang. It is in jail that we begin to see a change in his character. Derek becomes friends with the man he works with in jail who is an African American. His name is Landry. Landry and Derek build a positive relationship. The man helps Derek learn the system and rules of the jail. He laughs and jokes around with Derek. They realize they share many likes and dislikes in common. And when Derek separates himself from the protection of the ‘white’ men in the jail, his friend protects Derek by telling the black men in the jail to not hurt him. This experience nurtures Derek into realizing that racism is not right.

It is possible that Derek’s former principal Sweeny also helps Derek grow and change from his previous self. There is a scene in the movie when the principal comes to the jail to talk to Derek. He is asking Derek to help his brother Danny from following in his footsteps. In the conversation Sweeny says

There was a moment, when I used to blame everything and everyone for all the pain and suffering and vile things that happened to me, that I saw happen to my people. Used to blame everybody. Blamed white people, blamed society, blamed God. I didn’t get no answers ‘cause I was asking the wrong questions. You have to ask the right questions.

This intrigues Derek, and he replies “Like What?”, in which Sweeny responds “has anything you’ve done made your life better?” After this conversation, you can see Derek start to transform into a more positive and open minded person. When he leaves the jail he goes home. He is openly upset with his brother Danny, and does not like that Danny has shaved his head and become a skin head. He also is very disappointed in Danny’s choice of friends. Derek tries to separate Danny from the bad influences. He also beats up the leader of the skin head gang to make a point that he is finished with the racism and violence they cause. It is through these changes that you can see Derek’s experiences have nurtured his opinions and actions in regards to racism.

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.)

I predicted that violence had stayed the same, in regards to the percentage of crime per population, over the past 30 years. It was interesting to see that the trends have decreased because of education. I am very interested in teaching the students more about conflict resolutions as education and providing the skills people need to solve conflict will help lower violent conflict resolution. As a first grade teacher in a class with multiple students with behavior issues, it is very important for me to teach conflict resolution skills in order to lower the amount of violence that happens every day in the classroom and out on the playground during recess.

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. Make the curriculum applicable to the students´ interests. For example,

2. Through literature and art build a safe community: for example, while learning about characters, we will study how characters might be feeling, why they are choosing the actions they are choosing, and to think of other solutions for solving the problems of our characters if we were in the story. We will do this through art, writing, and role play.

3. Take time to talk to my collueges about their personal life and how they are feeling, rather than just talk about school while leading team meetings. Building personal relationships with my team is important if I am going to help lead the team.

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.

I did the personality prototype with Harrison. His result was a Practical Manager. The results were not surprising, and that prototype fits very well with what he is. Harrison loves to follow the rules, he loves to plan, and he gets very frustrated being stuck in traffic or when our flights are delayed. In our house he is very routine: he eats at the same time every day, he packs his back and lunch the night before, he does his chores on time, and he always has a detailed plan for our trips. I scored very high on the Creative Problem Solver. It was suggested that we would not get along because we are so different (Harrison linear and me not very linear). I think at the beginning when we first started to live together we drove each other crazy. Harrison could not understand why our shared closet was always so messy, and why I forgot to put away my laundry the day it was dry, and he could not understand why I like to run around disorganized every morning when I could get everything ready the night before like him. I always found it irritating to have to eat at the same time, or to follow a grocery list at the grocery store, and I do not like being told to put away my laundry when it is dry. These were challenges and conflicts we experienced at the beginning of our relationship, but not they are not a big problem. I really appreciate that my lunch is made at night, and my laundry is done before I run out of socks. I also like how he knows the train schedule and bus schedules for our trips so we never run into problems or get stuck in one place for too long. I think Harrison has come to appreciate my creative meals so he does not have to eat the same food every week, and he realizes we would not be living overseas if it wasn´t for my dreams and plans to explore. I think our different prototype complement each other more so than cause conflict. It is interesting to see how much we fit on prototype though!

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.

Lesson: Reading and Character Eduction

Topic: Find the central message in a story: and the Truth

Common Core Benchmark:

RL.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson

Materials:


 * The Berenstain bears and the Truth, by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Proceedure:


 * Tell the students that good readers think about what the author is trying to teach them. Is there a lesson in the story?
 * Read the book Berenstain Bears and the Truth,
 * Have the students turn and talk throughout the book. Predicting what is going to happen as Brother and Sister bear continue to lie to Mama.
 * Before the end when Papa Bear helps them find the words to set everything right again, have the students in their tribe think of what to do in this situation. Should they continue to lie? Should they tell the truth? What is the best way to fix this problem? Have them role play how the book is going to end.
 * Have the students present their ideas to the class
 * Read the end of the story.
 * As a reflection, students will think about a time they made a mistake and did not know how to tell their mom and dad (or teacher) what happened. Have them write what they decided to do, and what they should have done.

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

1. When Luciana accidently kicked you and you pushed her without understanding the situation, it caused a bigger problem than needed to happen.

2. When you plan our trips so well, we get to see so many great places and never waste time doing things we have no interest for so we leave the trip very content.

Reaction: He smiled and said that´s why he does it.

3. Since you have been working in our classroom the students have been much better behaved. I really appreciate your calm and structured way in our classroom. Thank you

Reaction: He was embarrassed and said no.

Module #7

I believe in being thoughtful

I will be determined, dependable and honest

I will build a healthy family and become a parent

I will be caring, organized and helpful

I will listen and always be genuine

Module #8 I enjoyed reading the part about creativity and brainstorming when reading the chapter about stress. I think it was important to note the rules of brainstorming and how to be open and accepting of everyone’s ideas because sometime the best ideas are piggybacked off of the crazy ideas. I think these are important rules to remember to teach your students. It could be done at the beginning of the year and made into an achor chart. I also think teachers need to provide a lot of opportunity for group work, brainstorming, and creating in the classroom.

One activity I would like to use for conflict resolution from thie book InStepp, is

Chapter Two Activity Sheet Two

Manifestations of stress

Activity Sheet: Stress, who me?

When you are stressed you can expect a number of things to happen almost instantly.

Within milliseconds:

1. The heart beats more quickly to get ready to ― Fight or Flee ‖

2. Blood Pressure increases to supply the brain with extra blood

3. Vision changes as the pupils constrict to increase visual acuity

4. The muscles tense to get ready to spring into action

5. Hearing changes to allow you to hear deeper sounds more easily

6. Digestion slows or stops to provide extra blood for the muscles of the body

7. Blood is directed away from the of the skin to the body core

8. Concentration is narrowed to allow you to focus on the perceived immediate threat

9. The brain begins a faster thinking process involving less logic and more instinct

Stress in You: When you are stressed what symptoms of stress do you feel or see in

yourself?

The most important part of this activity for my class would be recognizing the stress in other students. In my class this year there are 7 students with special needs and 1 with very serious behaviour needs due to his anxiety from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Although this student is working very hard and controlling his emotions and learning how to identify in himself what makes him stressed and how to avoid it/remove himself from these situations, other students do not recognize how their actions are putting this student in these violent high stress situations. The students in first grade are getting hurt daily from this other student and it would be an important lesson for them to learn how to recognize stress in others, so that they can help this student and help their own safety of the class.

Module # 10

Website
http://amberboadway.weebly.com/index.html

This website has been designed as an online teaching portfolio. I will use this website to organize all my teaching documents, certificates and sample projects so that when it is time to find a new job I will have a portfolio ready to show. I believe this fits nicely with conflict resolution as it is a way to organize papers and prioritize my time. It is a priority for me to get a new job in the future and here I will have all the things I need to do that.

For What would you walk the "I" beam?
Mr. Hundert in //The Emporors Club// opens the movie with these lines “As I’ve gotten older, I realize I’m certain of only two things. Days that begin with rowing on a lake are better than days that do not. Second, a man’s character is his fate.” At the time Mr. H made the choice to help Sedgewick he did not have any examples or proof that Sedgewick’s character traits included deceiving and dishonest. From the scenes we saw in the movie that involved both Mr. H and Sedgewick together, Sedgewick looked like a young sad boy who was looking for some attention. His attitude, jokes, and grades told Mr. H that Sedgewick needs guidance, love, and attention (positive attention). Mr. H did not see the the dishonest or illegal things that Sedgewick brought into school, and even if he did a teacher could believe that Sedgewick was just looking for attention from his father, even if it was negative attention. The scene with the girls and skinny dipping could be argued that he was just a curious mischievous boy. Thus, I do not think Mr. H knew that Sedgewick was deceiving by character.

Just like Mr. H, I would want to help instil the taste of success; and most importantly to give Sedgewick an experience to help him believe in himself. As Mr. H says to Sedgewick’s father “Sir, it’s my job to mould your son’s character”. And that is what led Mr. H to make the decision he did. I think that at the time I would have wanted to make the same decision as Mr. H. A caring teacher, one who can help a student grow, is sadly sometimes the only caring person in a child’s life. Unfortunately after the teacher had made the decision to make this values choice, he begins to see that Sedgewick not only is lacking guidance and attention, but he also has a deceiving character which will be his fate in life.

The ibeam:

I would walk the ibeam for a young child who was about to fall off the beam, I would do if someone I loved was being threatened and that was the only way I could save them, and I would walk the ibeam if I was a contestant on The Amazing Race and it was the final task to win the Amazing Race.