Campos,Olga

Module #1 AMERICAN HISTORY X “My conclusión is: Hate is baggage. Life is too short to be pissed off all the time. It´s just not worth it!” Danny Vinyard

Derek´s hatred for the blacks and the emigrants in general was fuelled by different factors over the film.

Starting from his own home, where his father felt very alert about the influence that his literature black teacher, Sweeny, could have over his way of thinking. He started to fill Derek´s mind with his own negative perception of what was meant to be a law to reinforce justice for the minorities, and was becoming an arbitrary “method” to make decisions, favoring those in such groups even though they were not necessarily competent. Even though his father had a valid point in his argument, he encouraged Derek to be suspicious and think badly about the minorities in general.

After that, his father’s assassination was a definite step on the ladder of rejection and hatred that had been growing in Derek´s heart toward the blacks and the emigrants. Like him, many others around his age, had experienced different circumstances that had led them to resentment against such groups. Feeling perhaps abused, frustrated with the protection that the law extended to the emigrants, and maybe victims of different attacks or crimes from their part, in need of protection and a sense of belonging, Cameron entered their lives to give them a sense of direction and empowerment. They were not to endure such circumstances, they could actually do something about them and against the injustices.

Cameron was someone that used all those youngsters to do what he was not brave to do himself. He took advantage of their vulnerability, to extend his own hatred and get them involved in several abuses, but keeping himself save.

The teacher on the other hand, was a grounding perspective of the situation. Inviting Derek (and later on Danny as well) to think beyond their prejudices. What benefit could all that cycle of revenge and harm to one another bring to their lives, he questioned.

The school was like a nest where all those feeling were conceived and fed. So many abuses took place over there, but there was no one to be there making sure thinks would function in order. That same lack of regulation and intervention is what also ended Danny´s life.

Prison to Derek was the eye opener. It helped him realize that people like Cameron had their own agendas and created a cause to manipulate others but staying save. He understood that in reality the boundaries between gangs were kept until some personal interests were involved such as making money from the drugs sold. The injustice committed against a black man, Lamont, that had to pay 6 years in prison for having been accused to harm a policeman and his word had no value because he was black. And at the end, who really stood for him was who he once considered his own enemy: his black friend, Lamont, at the prison that make sure that he would leave there alive. Sweeny entered the scenerio again after Derek got raped by who he once cosidered his own. By asking him a profound question challenged him to make the decision to completely leave the violent lifestyle: Have you ever done anything to make your life better? By having a negative answer to that question, Derek realized that he had just been wasting his life by being part of the cycle of anger, bitterness and rejection.

So Danny’s words are the best conclusion to the conflict. Hatred only brings hatred and is a waste of one’s life. In this world we are going to experience wounds caused by others but forgiveness and leaving those things behind is what will stop the cycle of destruction and pain.

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.)

1. I am very surprised to know that violence has actually come down over time. 2. I suppose the huge amount of instant communication that we are exposed to nowadays makes us believe that things are worse than they are regarding violence. 3. It definitely doesn�t feel safer now than before. 4. Continuing to work on conflict resolution is very important so that the violence incidents continue to go down. 5. I wonder if that would be the case knowing that more and more kids are exposed to violence in games, TV, movies and different kids of media.

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.Remember to ask personal questions to the different students that I have every day so that I can...  2. ...Connect the lessons to the student�s lives and context. 3. Play more games

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.

My friend Mike took the personality test and his results showed him to have a pretty even personality. The results were between CP:22 being the lowest and PM:28 being the highest. It was nice to share in detail with him what they all mean and actually confirm that the results are very accurate. I learned how important it is to be aware of things like this when we are trying to be people of influence. Knowing what our strengths and weaknesses are, helps us to make wiser decisions about even how to delegate or work in a group taking the best out of every person involved. It was a fun activity.

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. I will use the following dilemma in higher level (level 7 or 8) class with adults as a conversational activity. They are all professionals working in different fields. It will create a great oportunity for them to practice the language and for me to be able to learn more about their believes and points of views regarding decision making. TAKEN FROM [|DILEMAS]

You are going on a cruise. 2 days into the cruise your ship experiences technical difficulties and the captain says it needs to make an unscheduled stop. A couple of hours later the captain makes another announcement that the ships hull has been breached and that you will all need to start heading to life rafts and abandon ship. The ships life rafts are lowered as people begin to pile in and you get on board one of the life rafts. As it is lowered however, it hits the side of the ship, putting a hole in the side of the raft, and when it hits the water it begins to sink. There are 10 people in the boat and to prevent it sinking, you quickly work out that by having 9 people working for 10 minutes while 1 person rests you can bail the water out with their hands, quick enough to keep the water at bay and preventing it from sinking, but you have to continually keep it up to ensure that the boat doesn’t sink. By being able to rest one person you are greatly able to increase the length of time you can keep the boat afloat, however if the rescue team doesn’t turn up you calculate that within 5 hours the boat will sink and you will all die. While taking your break, you glance over to another boat and notice that a friend of yours who you met on the boat is there and has noticed your predicament. He is signaling for you to come over and join them on their boat so you don’t have to continue bailing water out. There is only just enough room for one more person. You also notice that their boat is moving away rapidly with the current, but your boat can’t keep up because the hole is affecting its buoyancy. You estimate that if you jump ship, you will force all 9 remaining crew members to bail water continuously, which will reduce the total time they can stay afloat to just 2 hours, but will ensure that you will be able to live long enough to be rescued. If you stay aboard, you will not have another chance to jump ship, and there’s no guarantee that the rescue will arrive in 5 hours, meaning you will drown, however by staying you give everyone a better chance of survival.As you watch the boat with your friend drift away, you realize you have about 30 seconds to make a decision:

a) Do you stay on your current boat and help keep it afloat as long as possible and hope that the rescue will arrive in 5 hours

b) Do you go to your friends boat, ensuring your rescue, but reducing the chances of the others on the boat being rescued?

Depending on what students say, ask ¨Have you consider...¨questions.

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

1. Mom, when you say thank you to something that I do for you, and my effort is acknowledged, I feel appreciated.

2. Mike, when you say that you are proud of my work, and my effort makes a difference for you, I feel very satisfied.

Corrective This is something that I would have said to our manager when ask to distribute the number of classes fairly among all the instructors at the different centers and his answer was that they wouldn´t send us to other centers because they would have to pay us extra money for transportation. (less than a dollar to go to a different center) Mr. Z, when you said that you as a company wouldn´t give us lessons from other centers because the company would have to pay extra for transportation, and we get a small paycheck because of lack of lessons, I feel very discouraged to work for Berlitz

Module no. 7 MY MISSION STATEMENT

I am at my best when When I can be creative and innovative.  I will try to prevent times when I am caught in a routine.  I will enjoy my work by finding employment where I can Teach and see people learn and get better..  I will find enjoyment in my personal life through Get to know God better, spend time with friends, learn about and be in contact with animals, rollerblade..  I will find opportunities to use my natural talents and gifts such as plan social projects, being a friend, accomplish goals.  I can do anything I set my mind to. I will live in Kenya, learn Swahili and work at one of the natural parks over there. I wouls study vetenerary or something related to be able to work with animals. .  My life's journey is Up until 4 years ago and for about 15 years, I had a clear vision about working in Christian Missions in a remote country in the world. My thinking has changed much since I had to come back to Colombia in 2008 and I am still in the process of clarifying what my passions now are. God is still very important now, but I perceive my relationship with Him and what derives from it in a different way. There are issues in my family that limit my freedom to make decisions... I am not sure where I am heading now..  I will be a person who With me would be some friends. I would like them to say that I made a difference in their lives. . <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> My most important future contribution to others will be Support.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I will stop procrastinating and start working on:

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I will strive to incorporate the following attributes into my life: <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I will constantly renew myself by focusing on the four dimensions of my life:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Their faithfulness to their work.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her responsability
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Their ability to enjoy every minute of their lives.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I definetely need to make time to exercise.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Continue my prayer group with Marcela and Monica
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Continue reading regularly
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Make time to socialize

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Module # 9 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Videos posted on the wiki

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Module #10 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">OCTOBER SKY A fter watching the movie compare and contrast that film with the film American History X. Use specific examples from each of the two movies to explain. Both fathers had great influence in each of the main characters in their own particular way. Derrick´s father planted in him his own prejudices and hatred against the emigrants as it was clearly shown in the scene at the table that led Derrick to pursue the path that he did before his prison experience. In the case of Homer, his own father´s skepticism of his son´s ability to do more than just being a miner as he once expressed it also at the kitchen table, telling his wife to help him come to his senses about his idea of creating rockets. Homer´s own stubbornness, inherited from his own father, made him want even more strongly to prove that he would transcend his own ´destiny´. It was very touching when, at the end, Homer insinuated to his dad that he was his hero. His father had no other option that accept that his son had been right and he was born to be something different from himself. Derrick´s mom was at the margin of her son´s steps. She wasn´t really aware of what Derrick was getting into until that moment at the table when he insulted her boyfriend over their discussion about the emigrant´s situation in the country. Then, they all as a family, became aware of how deeply Derrick had gotten into going against the emigrants. Her own emotional inadequacy, and her addiction problems didn´t really help for her to be more present in his life. In the other hand, Homer´s mom, yet very submissive to her husband in weak in character in a way, not necessarily encouraged Homer to pursue his dream, but didn´t really discouraged him either. She tried to be a neutral point between him and his dad, doing her best to in a way excuse his father´s apathy towards what Homer was dreaming about. At the end, she was able to confront her husband and talked him into helping him to recover the pieces that they had stolen him at the fair and had his workers make them again. For both of them the role of the teachers was priceless. They greatly influenced their thoughts and their decision making. In each of the movies there is a key moment when their influence gave a different direction to the events. In the case of Derreck, when Mr. Murray asked him at the prison´s hospital if he had done anything to make his life better. That question really confronted Derreck with his life and life decisions up until that point and made him turn completely around and realize he had been wasting his life. In the case of Homer, when he went to visit Ms. Riley when she fell sick again, and Homer had had to start working at the mine to cover for his injured dad and he was starting to believe that it was true that his destiny was already written and he was suppose to be a miner and no more than that. Ms. Raley told him that she was proud of him and that she knew that he was created for better things than that. That was the push that Hommer needed to continue pursuing his dream, and he did. In both cases, the principals were a negative voice in their lives. They were unable to see their potential and were only guided by what they saw and not by they could see in a future in their lives. When Derreck got out of prison, the principal was saying that they needed to watch him closely, always expecting the worst of him. In the case of Hommer, when Ms. Riley gave him the book for his birthday, he told her not to give him false hope about what he could accomplish The community had influence in both of their lives. In the case of Derreck, very strong leader able to talk many people into following his lead. Influenced by Cameron, he had many followers and in his own community among the gang members, he was very respected and looked up to. Hommer, in the other hand, only counted with 3 friends that reluctantly at first started to follow him, and then really started to believe that it was actually possible to accomplish something big. I really liked the way Homer was able to see good out of the bad. Even when he was writing his letter to Mr. Brown, telling him about the development of the rocket, he wanted to see the support of people and said they were supporting them in their project, even though the reality was that most of the people around them, either rejected his idea or made fun of it. Again, he with his stubbornness was able to overcome that and fulfill his dream.
 * 1) The role of nurture by the families of the two main characters, Derrick and Homer.
 * 1) The role of the mother in the development of each of the two main characters Derrick and Homer.
 * 1) The role of the teacher Murray in Derrick’s life and the role of Miss Reilly in Homer’s life.
 * 1) The role of the two principals in the lives of Derrick and Homer.
 * 1) The role of the community in the lives of Derrick and Homer.

Module no. 11 (instead of Module 8)

The Emperor´s Club is a movie that clearly shows how one´s actions can become a double edge sword. With the best of intentions, and actually more so because he felt identified with Mr. Bell and his relationship with his father, Mr. H. tried to help Mr. Bell to excel even if it meant to lie and in a way cheat going against his own principles, things that he then saw in and rejected from his own pupil. What moral authority could he have to scold and challenge Mr. Bell for having cheated in the contest if he, himself, got him there in an unfair way?

Years later, in their class reunion for the rematch, Mr. H was hoping to find a different Mr. Bell. At first he thought that things had actually changed in him and he had overcome the immaturity of his youth, including his dishonesty. To his surprise, he found the same man, or even worse because now he was a man of influence that was hoping to be senator in the country.

Then, Mr. H felt even worse. He felt the need to even confess his mistake to Martin who had never known that he was the one that had actually made it to the best 3 to be able to compete. Mr. H, feeling like a complete failure, found in Martin forgiveness and in the rest of the students gratitude for his job as a teacher. They acknowledge his effort and appreciated his teaching.

At the end Mr. H realized that, even though he had made a big mistake, and no one is exempt from making mistakes, there are always fruits to our efforts that are rewarding. He had wasted precious time and efforts with someone that never meant to be different, but others appreciated and made the best of his teaching and felt grateful for what he had done for them. At the end, it all had been worth it, anyways.