Frustration Anxiety Tension (The Fat City Workshop)

I have been finding this video that we have been watching in class really interesting. The examples of activities he gives are excellent! They really make a point- each and every one.

He emphasized that teachers need to fix these actions and sayings such as:

1."look harder"
2. bribe them to answer it right
3.take things away- recess
4. blame the victim "she's not trying hard enough"

"Motivation only lets us do the best of our ability and capabilities. Learning disabilities have little to do with motivation and has to do with perception.

Points that I took from the video:
-Reading comprehension- kids need direct instruction
-children with a learning disability, most times when they get in trouble they won't know what they did wrong
-Dysnoma: hard time finding that word on "the tip of the tongue"
-children with learning disabilities: quick to turn others in when kids make mistakes
-the importance of the gift of time- go erase the blackboard and give them time to think

I think that he gives really good activities that allow you to understand what it is like to be a child who has a learning disability which I find gets the point across rather than be lectured to.
I think it is important to put the child first though when talking about children who have learning disabilities. They are a person first and not a "learning disability child".

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Gender continued

On Wednesday's class we continued our discussion on gender and discussed

Issues:

1. stereotypes: broad categories of expected behavior

2. gender bias

3. Sexual orientation

As a teacher, it is important to make sure that we are being good role models. That we are staying away from stereotypes, and avoiding gender bias.

I went to highschool in a small town and I believe that homophobia was very present in the school. I did not know anyone who openly said they were homosexual- but some people teased others saying they were. In my own experience, I have seen males be more homophobic than females in bullying. I think this may have to due with that as a unrealistic threat to masculinity or "the way men should be". I am not sure why this is the case- makes you think! Even when you ask these people-- they do not have a justified reason most times!

Teachers should have a no tolerance with homophobia and bullying. I think we can be good role models for the student and accept everyone for who they are. Step out of your way to talk to this student and make sure they know that there are people there and accept them--not change them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo.

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Gender

In class today we discussed gender. We started the class in groups where we had to think of an individual who we would define as the ideal of femininity and a male who we would define as the ideal of masculinity.

Examples and traits:

Femininity: Kate Middleton; classy, stylish, attractive

Masculinity: Gerard Butler; tough, successful, rugged, unafraid

I believe that gender is a learned behaviour from those around us- family, school, community, role models. I do not think as babies we know that as a girl in order to be considered "feminine" you should have nice looking hair (how do you style your hair and why do you style it that way? Learn through observation), what is considered nice makeup, and what is "stylish"? These are learned through observation. Sex is the biological component, whether you are male or female. Gender is the sociocultural dimension. I believe that children learn (and as stated in class, are policed) gender young from toys, family, community, television, school. Males and females are policed into specific gender roles which are expectations for thinking, acting and feeling-- such as even what toys they can play with! Therefore, I believe gender is a learned behavior.
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In class on Friday we watched the video: Shawn Achor: The Science of Happiness and Potential

I really liked this video about positive psychology! I thought it was very interesting and enjoyed the humor he incorporated.

The points that particularly stuck with me about why don't we study happy people? Why just if there is a problem? I also like the point about trying to attain happiness as a mindset and choice. He made this realistic by including that it is about changing your baseline of happiness (bringing your baseline higher). I found this realistic because I know that I could not be happy all the time but on average I could become a happier person with conscious thought and effort. He gave tips on how to work on becoming a happier person such as writing 5 things you are happy for each morning, writing about a positive experience everyday in a journal, and not multi-tasking. I find that I multi-task too much such as checking my email, working on homework, listening to music, cooking supper, having laundry going, texting, and thinking about something else as well! Just typing that it looks overwhelming! I believe that not only would I be happier if i single tasked-- I would be more successful as I would produce better quality output of work. I absolutely agree with the point of exercising. I know that exercise makes me feel happier because after I workout I feel good about myself. I have been trying to take more time to focus on myself such as going for massages and having alone time away from others each day to unwind. I can understand how it can be difficult to change because it is easier said than done. Even though it takes only 30 seconds to write 5 things you are thankful for down, you still have to do it. This leads me to the other point I liked in the video about making these tasks more easily accessible. The example in the video was the guitar and keeping it out in a more accessible place.
I can include this by thinking positive before a test or hard workout. I have to do it anyway so might as well be positive while going through it instead of complaining about it before and dreading it. As a teacher, you can apply this by priming your students-- acknowledging them by name, asking how they are, asking about interests, being positive yourself as a teacher. As a student I can tell what kind of mood my teacher is in and that effects the whole class. I believe the teacher makes the difference in the tone of the class and it is therefore important to be positive.
All images are from www.google.ca/images.

Diversities

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In class this past week we learned about diversities.

Diversities can be seen in:

• socioeconomic status
• cultural capital - The term cultural capital refers to non-financial social assets; they may be educational or intellectual, which might promote social mobility beyond economic means. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_capital

It is important to:

• reduce barriers

• promote multicultural education by:

1. empowering students: promote pride in student's background, encourage students(and demonstrate yourself as a role model) to make positive changes in community
   
2. Kanu's 3 Recommendations:

• School curriculum should be openly anti-racist and anti-discriminative
• multicultural education should be apart of every students education
• students should be trained to be more conscious of cultural

"If people are going to come to this country, then they need to adapt to us! Plain and simple, I'm not changing for anybody!"

I do not agree with this quote. Canada prides itself in multiculturalism and who has the right to say that "their way" is the "right and only way"? If this was true than would you agree that Hitler was justified in his actions? That African Americans should have different water fountains? We are all human. We may have different culture and color of skin but I believe that is was makes us unique. This is what makes each person interesting. I think we should view diversity as a chance to learn from each other! To people in favor of this quote, what is your thoughts on First Nations and how they were forced to change their ways even though this was their land first? I believe then this is hypocritical. Thus, I agree with the points of continuing to promote multicultural education in schools. I believe this will encourage students and therefore the future generation in creating these positive change in their community and valuing their own background and being able to appreciate others. I believe by starting this education in the classroom it will prepare students for living in a multicultural society. As a teacher you can promote cultural awareness by even something as simple as including posters that have individuals from different cultures! I agree that it is important to acknowledge the differences, instead of ignore and pretend that you do not notice these differences-- because these differences are attributes that make us unique and are important to self-identity.

The other day in class we discussed IQ:

Defn:

A simple way to describe intelligence by assigning it a number that represents the ratio of mental to chronological age, multiplied by 100. Average IQ is therefore 100 and is based on a comparison between an individual's performance and that of other comparable people.

Average IQ score: 100

Formula: IQ= MA/CA x 100

Myths:

1. IQ tests measure a vague, mysterious, property

2. IQ score is constant

The result of the test could depend on how the individual was feeling that day-- did they eat breakfast?? Get a good nights sleep? Did they just have a fight with their mom?

3. Measures the only important thing to know about people

There are so many important things to know about people other than just intelligence in this one area. Is this person caring? hardworking? dedicated? honest? These are important qualities for success as well.

4. IQ score is unbiased
ex: If the test is given in English rather than the test writer's first language; social class differences-- does this student come from a home where there are books everywhere or did they even have breakfast this morning?;

Fact: strongly correlates academic success

General intelligence will assist you in success but I believe that having a hardworking, "don't give up" attitude is just as important- because if you have all the smarts--but no motivation or effort- you are not going to get anywhere. I think it doesn't make you smarter as I believe everyone is smart in their own way--perhaps someone excels at kinesthetics, at drawing, creating music, cooking, writing, discussing different view points etc.

I have seen (and participated) in achievement tests in schools. I have never taken a "IQ" test that I know of. I think that IQ testing or achievement tests are okay to have in schools because it gives an idea of where the students are at today in comparison to 10 years ago. It also gives the teacher some idea of areas they need to work on with their classes.

I think that achievement tests can be detrimental in situations where a student gets a "bad" mark on a test and then labels them self as "stupid" and settles for this label and stops trying in school.

Carol Gilligan gave us the points of

Kohlberg being too:

1. Individualistic

and Kohlberg overemphasizing:

2. the justice perspective

Carol Gilligan believes that we should emphasize more:

3. Care perspective: relationships and concerns for others

4. Feminist

5. Combine justice AND care

I agree with Carol Gilligan's framework because she emphasizes justice and care combined. I believe that justice is important but it is important to care for others as well. It may be wrong to do something but it may be the only option to help someone who you care deeply about. You have to be realistic with this though: yes, maybe you would steal medicine from a store if the person you cared about was dying and you could not get it any other way but you would not kill someone just because your significant other got in an argument with them and told you to. For example, as a nurse, perhaps you have a patient who wants to die-- as a nurse you can still care for them--but you can not assist them with their death.

Kohlberg

Kohlberg's levels and stages of moral development

1. Preconvential
a) Punishment "shouldn't do it because we could get caught and punished"
b)Hedonism "need to do what is necessary to get what I want" live off those highs

2. Conventional
a) "nice girl/boy" -want to be good, liked
b) law and order "it is illegal"














3. Post conventional
a) social contract "we are a community"

b) universal ethical

I find that I am at different stages of moral development at different times. I believe I have been at all the stages except universal ethical because that is a high level to compare myself to others. I believe I am a very morally sound individual and conscientiousness of what is right and about others feelings. I like the social contract level of the thought of "we are a community". I could leave more things outside without worrying about if it would get taken or not during the night if more people were at this stage of moral development.


All images were found on www.google.ca/images