Resilient Kids Video

After watching the video and reading about Resilient Kids, I think it is a great organization.  Resilient Kids, is an organization whose program promotes the development of life-long skills, which includes focus, self-esteem, self-confidence, balance, empathy, and community(http://www.resilientkids.org).  From the video I learned that for youth it is harder to have memory of the learning that they have done inside the classroom outside the classroom.  As described in the video during a yoga session the youth stretch and do yoga poses that will help to calm their mind.  Youth on their own don’t exactly know how to calm down when a teacher tells them to calm down, and Resilient kids gives them a toolbox of ways to learn how to do that.  Youth can go as high as they can with their emotions, but coming down from it is a difficult skill set.  The principal of the Silver Spring Elementary School made a great comment about how children’s brains aren't wired to settle and calm down but they can with practice, which I think Resilient Kids really helps them do practice having the skill set to focus and balance their emotional and social challenges.  Resilient Kids is really giving youth tools that they can take throughout their whole lives when it comes to stress management and dealing with challenges inside and outside the classroom.  According to the Resilient Kids video training students in mindfulness improves working memory, attention, academic skills, emotional regulation, and self-esteem.  Mindfulness also improves self-esteem, mood, and decreases anxiety, stress, and fatigue.  From what I have seen in the video Resilient Kids is making great strides in mindfulness techniques and tailoring to the youths needs of distressing in helping them to face challenges both inside and outside of school.

Here are some more benefits of yoga in a school setting: Click Here

"A Talk to Teachers"/RW Video

“A Talk to Teachers” By James Baldwin was a very interesting article to read.  The one statement that really jumped out at me was how he talks about how children are very different from adults.  He explains that children are not aware that drawing their own conclusions can be dangerous in the society that we live in because as adults we can intimidate children to believe what we want them to believe and not have their own thought process or way of thinking. I can infer that he is talking about a white child because in the next sentence he explains how a black child looking at the world is aware and able to draw his own conclusions about why his mother works so hard and why his father is always on edge.  In some way this child knows that they are different and it is in school where he discovers why his family and life is a certain way.  When working across all different cultural boundaries we have to learn about the contributions that that particular culture has made to the current culture that we live in.  For example, Baldwin says, “If one managed to change the curriculum in all schools so that Negroes learned more about  themselves and their real contributions to this culture, you would be liberating not only Negroes, you’d be liberating white people who know nothing about their own history.  How can we expect others to want to learn about our culture if we refuse to learn about theirs or really teach about how their culture affected our history and how they made a difference.  When working with different cultures it is apparent that is right and just to teach them that they have the right to examine everything and question what they feel isn't right.

The video that was seen in class really opened my eyes to how youth really want a mentor type of relationship with their teacher and not just someone there telling them what to do all the time without a bond being built.  Youth also want to be able to learn creatively and in a way that they can understand better.
Here is a great article about valuing diversity in a classroom setting, but this can also be applied to any setting Diversity

Event #2 Open House

On Saturday, October 8, 2014 I attended Rhode Island Colleges Admissions Open House.  When I first walked into the Murray Center I thought it would have been more packed than it was, but there was so much going on outside the Murray Center like tours of the college and a lecture about the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development.  As soon as I walked to our Youth Development Booth I noticed we had pencils, bubbles, and candy. Corinne introduced me to a girl that was interested in preschool was ready to talk to me about Youth Development and how preschool intertwines with it.  I talked to her about what I do for a job and how Youth Development has helped me pursue what I want to do through having an internship.  Talking to someone for the first time and using the elevator speech, that I had used in class really brought me out of the “box” I was in and helped me to feel more comfortable talking to others.   As I was standing behind the booth I noticed a girl and the adults she was with staring in our direction, so I decided to ask Justina if she would want to come with me and go up to her and talk to her about RIC and the Youth Development program.  Justina and I went up to her and she seemed interested in what we had to say.  We said thank you for your time and gave her a pencil and bubbles to keep.

            This whole experience really made a positive impact on me because as students came over to the booth I was ready to talk to them about the community of RIC and if they were interested in hearing about the program I would talk to them about it.  All in all I feel as if it was a really successful event for Youth Development and having a background with our elevator speeched really helped too!

Links: Admissions Open House, Success=Elevator Pitch, Youth Development Article by The Anchor at Rhode Island College

Admissions Open House courtesy of Rhode Island College

Nakkula Chapter 2

Context Mapping helps adolescents figure out who they are, who they want to be, and what role they play in society.  Youth are able to work out the identity vs. role confusion through a context map.   Mitch asks Julian to list the various spaces and relationships he must negotiate each day like family, school, and activities.  Mitch then asks Julian to write down what people expect of him in the relationships and activities that he has.  Finally, Mitch asks Julian to pay close attention to how he feels and to note when he feels safe in situations and when he feels uneasy.

The four identities mentioned in this article are:

• Foreclosed Identity: is when a person has committed to a certain way of life without exploring it carefully and without experimenting with alternatives.  This identity can be pushed upon a person by family, friends, or peers.
• Diffuse Identity: is when there has been no commitment to one particular Identity.  There has been no exploration or consideration to an identity.  Those in this status are easily influenced by others and often change their minds.
• Moratorium Identity: A person actively explores roles and beliefs, behaviors and relationships, but does not make a commitment to either one.
• Achieved Identity:  This occurs when the identity crisis is resolved and there is a high commitment to the selected identity. The ego-identity is successfully integrated within the individual.

My Context Map:

RIC-Internship, Practicum, Professors, Classes, Work- study, Friends

Little Shepherd Preschool- Parents, Children, Co-workers, Mentor

Home-Family, Boyfriend, Friends, Babysitting

Understanding Youth Adolescent Development for Educators by Nakkula

This whole article was very meaningful, but what really caught my attention was the meeting of the minds.”  If educators want to make a bigger impact on their students and their thinking then educators must share how they think and make sense of content, so students can get the fundamental tools to share in the thinking process.  According to Nakkula, the key is that the educators’ thinking be made as transparent as possible in order for students to connect with them.  Basically if Ms. Peterson was upfront about her expectations of Antwon he might be more open to talk with her about his fears of failing.  Then again it could be reversed; if Antwon were able to openly talk about his fears of failing then Ms. Peterson might respond to him positively.

 I think another big key to this is for the educator to understand their students’ way of thinking and how they think.  Nakkula made a great point with the statement, “without a concerted effort to learn how our students think, it is virtually impossible to optimally share our thinking with them.” What I think this means is that each person learns from knowledge that other people have and are influenced by that knowledge this process can also be known as scaffolding.  I really enjoyed the example about how if a teacher constructs a safe place their notion of “safe” can be very different than a student’s version of what “safe” is, looks, and feels like.  In order for educators to construct a safe place with their students the teacher must be upfront about what she/he already knows a safe place to be like.  Then educators must pick the brain of their students to find out what they think the meaning of “safe” means.  After basic knowledge is made both the teacher and student can co-construct ways of interacting with one another in a safe place.  This process scaffolds their new learning and ways of interacting on the content and knowledge they already possess.

     Both teachers and students need to work as a team to learn from each other.  Just because a teacher has that title that does not mean they have attained all the knowledge that they need.  It is only natural that a teacher would gain new knowledge from their students after learning how their students think and process information. This also goes for students in the sense that they might think that they know everything now, but once scaffolding takes place and the teacher is upfront with them about what he/she expects then they will be more open and willing to learn.

Here are some great scaffolding strategies to use in any educational environment: Click Here

Egg Drop with Youth In Action

In class on Thursday we did an egg drop along with the youth in action students.  I remember that the first time I ever did this was in high school and we did it to help us learn about Physics. This time I am so glad that it was not to learn about Physics, but learning about the different classes in our society, such as the poor/working class and the middle/rich class.

  For this activity we were given materials by the youth in action students and my groups materials consisted of paper, rubber bands, condoms, balloons, and paper bags.  With these materials we had to create something that would protect our egg from breaking when dropped.  My group decided to put the egg in a cup covering it with a condom and other soft materials that we had and blowing up the condom to put the cup with the egg in it.  When the youth in action group came over to us and took away some of our materials, we didn’t let that discourage us because we were more than half way done and we thought our egg would sustain the fall.  To our dismay it didn’t sustain the fall and the egg broke.   After thinking about how the materials were taken away and how the groups that were inside working on their egg had more materials than the groups outside (my group) it kind of felt like we were set up to fail before we even started.

   Connecting this all back to Ullucci, I can see how most children don't know what they have until they see what someone else has.   I can see how a lot of people/children might think that they are being set up to fail in life with the lack of resources that might be given to them, but I feel like we all have the ability to really persevere over adversity.  I am sure that there are people out in our communities that have come from nothing, but because they want to make their life better they have overcame them.  I think that for everyone there is room for improvement both within an individual and the institutions around them.

        I feel as if it is wrong that some communities get resources and others don’t.  Today not everyone is going to have what someone else has and it’s really sad. I wish that all communities had the same resources because then individuals would feel more prepared for the world a head of them.  We see schools in different towns in Rhode Island that always have new textbooks and other schools that barely have enough textbooks for everyone or there are schools that have the newest technology.  Just because some schools have more that doesn’t make their students any  smarter or better off than a student whose school has less, they are just learning in a different way. People who are poor feel like there is no way out and that feeling of there being no way out is passed down from them to their kids and so on.  When people feel like there is no way out, that is when our institutions need to step in and change. They need to change in some way when it comes to there being more jobs, more school materials, and higher salaries for workers.  This would make communities feel like they are being backed up and someone is rooting for them to succeed.

    There is a quote that I have always loved and I feel like it really pertains to everything we have learned about.  It states, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Everyone has a special purpose that they bring to the world and every word that they say or don’t say matters.  The world is a big place, but everything that is done either by you, me, or someone else is important.

Here is an article that gives some good tips on essential skills that can be used for overcoming adversity: Essential skills

Pathologizing the Poor: Implications for Preparing Teachers to Work in High-Poverty Schools by Kerri Ullucci

           Ullucci makes claims in this case study that students from low income backgrounds are less likely to have medical care.  This can cause students to have vision, hearing, dental, and other health ailments, like asthma ( Ullucci, 2014).  Not having medical care can affect their academics greatly because if students cannot see how can they soak up the knowledge they need? If students cannot hear they won’t be able to comprehend what they need without the proper supports.

            Ullucci also suggests that children who come from an impoverished background move from place to place or are homeless (Ullucci, 2014).  When children move from place to place they miss out on the proper academics that they need year to year because they are only getting bits and pieces of what they need without any support. Without a home and a place to do their work it would be hard for any child to flourish without a guiding hand in the environment that they live in.

            Many children living in poverty are seen as the “other” (Ullucci, 2014).  Many people feel that those living in poverty are lazy or don’t want to live a different life than what they are in right now.  The more those that do not live in poverty downsize those that do and boast about how living in the middle class is better and know more than those in poverty, we take the power away from those in poverty to better themselves because then they feel like they don’t matter; those in poverty become marginalized.

            Poverty might impact a youth development space because those living in poverty will need different supports and activities to help them learn in a way they can understand.  Those students living in poverty in a youth development space need to have what they can do highlighted than what they can’t.

When I begin my career I can see myself working in either a suburban or urban area in a preschool or head start setting.  I can see myself working in a place which will guide me and support me through my career as a youth worker.  I want to be someone a child can look up to and be the person to help guide them, so they can eventually be on the path that is right for them.

Here is a great link for anyone working with youth to see what they can do to help disadvantaged students: Click here

Event #1: Artists' Exchange Fall Out of Summer Festival

Hey everyone!  For the first public event reflection this semester I attended the Artists’ Exchange Event: the 7^th Fall Out Of Summer Arts Festival with my family in Cranston, RI at Rolf Square.  The festival was an all-day out door event mainly centered on children and their families.  Many of the family fun games that they put together were hand-made by the kids/adults in the organization.  There were carnival games that the artists made themselves centering on different famous paintings.  There was a fishing game called Fishing with Monet, where there were paper fish in a kiddie pool and the children used handmade fishing rods to see how many fish they could pull out.  Another game was named after Vincent Van Gogh and it was called Vinny Vang’s Star Toss.  The artist that made this game painted a replication of Vincent Van Gogh’s famous painting, The Starry Night.  In order to play this game the ball that is tossed has Velcro along with the painting and the ball that is tossed had to stick to the Velcro on the painting.  This festival was filled with knowledge and learning for children.  The Artists’ Exchange made it fun for children to learn and to raise money for their organization.  Children could also participate in music, face painting, ceramics, and giant jenga.

               

          This festival was centered on the arts and the community.  The Artists’ Exchange fosters many programs for children like summer programs, kid’s clay making, and music together classes. This festival provided an outlet for both children and adults to showcase and sell their artwork.  The Artists’ Exchange hopes to "revitalize the community they live in, which is in Cranston, RI.  They pride themselves in providing opportunities for the interaction of all kinds of people, with and without developmental barriers, with art acting as the unifying force bringing the community together(http://www.artists-exchange.org/falloutofsummerfest.html)." 

         This Festival really relates to how a youth worker can use their talents within an organization to teach children art and music.  So far in class we have talked about the types of jobs and internships a person can get with youth development.  The Artist Exchange brings knowledge to children in a hands on environment through music and art.  The children at the festival seemed very happy, and the youth workers very patient with the children in teaching them new skills in relation to art and music.  It was so nice to see the imagination and craft it took to put this festival together.  I could tell that many of the youth had in put and new a lot about the games that they were putting on for the other children. As we have been learning in class it is so important for youth to have input because it makes them feel like they are apart of something important; something that will make a difference. By all the children and families that were there I would say that the event was a success.

For links related to the Artists' Exchange: Events click here, Ways to get involved click here, General Information click here

This is my cousin Arianna in a handmade airplane by one of the artists.

Fishing with Monet

Map of the festival

Remake of "The Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh made by an Artists' Exchange artist

"Main Ideas of Problem-Focused Services by Costello"

     This week's reading was broken up into three sections.  I was assigned the Problem-Focused Services section.  Under problem-focused services is Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice systems.  These two systems "have extensive contacts with children and families and a lot of power over them" (Costello, 211).  This reading by Costello gave a really great background behind the history of Child Welfare and the Juvenile Justice System.  

Child Welfare

     -Began in the last half of the nineteenth century.

-Charitable organizations were developed to take responsibility for children when the care and protection that is provided by families is inadequate.

In a world that was and still is changing economically and socially the size of the population overwhelmed  informal arrangements (Costello, 211).  The creation of these organizations are meant to supplement or substitute for parental care.

Settlement Houses

Around this time, settlement houses were founded and intended to "protect and promote the development of children and the well being of families" (Costello, 211).  These settlement houses offered a range of primary supports as well as problem-focused services.  During the 1960's the prevention of physical abuse to children became a high priority and emphases was placed on the interests of children and their entitlement under the civil rights legislation in the 1960's.

Juvenile Justice Systems

In the 1970's youth became subject to court supervision and incarceration for behaviors like truancy and running away from home.  If these youth were adults and committed these "crimes" they would not be held accountable because they are of age.  In 1974 the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act ended incarceration of juveniles for these "offenses."

  My Thoughts

     After I read through all the main ideas of this article the author, Costello, makes a great  point when it is stated that as a community/society children in the child welfare system are viewed as innocent victims because they couldn't help how they ended up with the state.  Essentially, it was out of the children's realm to protect themselves from ending up in state custody because of either a bad family home life or other things going on in their life.  This differs very much from those children in the juvenile justice system because they are viewed as perpetrators because they could have simply not broken the law.  To view these two issues of social services and juvenile justice as one being innocent and the other being perpetrators seems so wrong because all these children need is help and guidance to take the path they need to to live the best life possible.  The youth in these two situations have "unknown adults taking control of their lives (Costello, 214)."  In one situation control is meant for a safe society and in the second  control is used to protect them from further victimization.

     

     Youth work is not just cut and dry.  There are a lot of laws and regulations that any youth worker needs to be briefed on in order to do what is in the best interests for the youths that they work with.  As youth workers we significantly impact children's lives many children do not have the willingness to bond with a youth worker they are working with for fear that they won't be working with them for long and risk becoming close to them.  As youth workers we have to prepare to work with all different types of children from all different types of families.  After reading this article I realized that if more organizations involved youth in decision making such as program development they would be seen  as individuals who have their own mind and are able to figure out the best path for them with a little guidance from a youth worker.

Here is a great website about youth laws and policies click here.  This organization assess the impact of public policies on young people.

"Digital Natives"

     Hey everyone! So this week’s reading was all about Digital Natives and how in today’s day and age all youth know is the Internet, e-mail, and video games.  Reading this article brought me back to the days where I would be on the computer for hours upon hours tuning everyone and everything out on instant messenger and e-mailing.  Today I still am always on the computer, but for different things like homework, e-mailing professors, and researching different subjects for school.  By using digital natives such as the Internet, I have gained a lot of knowledge on different subjects like history, politics, and the education system.  The Internet can be a great place for children to explore and gain other knowledge that they might not get in school.

     As a youth worker and knowing that youth are prone to always being on the computer and playing interactive games it would be natural that a child would unsuspectingly come across Neuroplasticity games.  My dream job would be to work with children in preschool through grade 2 in a school setting where they can learn and grow.  Technology could help me teach youth about the world in the sense of states, countries, Mathematics, Science, and History.  As seen in the You Tube video, The Machine is Us/ing Us, by Wesch, interactive maps and games can be a way for children to learn about the countries and places that they live in.  Many interactive games can be equipped to expand a child’s knowledge, such as interactive Internet games like Luminosity, that are equipped to challenge children and adults, but there are those that can fail at providing knowledge.  According to Marc Prensky, “…if some of these games don’t produce learning it is not because they are games, or because the concept of “game based learning is faulty.  It’s because those particular games are badly designed.”  When a game is designed to produce learning it will but when it is faulty the game is not to blame, but the design is.  I hope to use technology in a way to increase knowledge and instill confidence in the youth I work with, so that they can know that they can learn and have fun at the same time.

Here is an article showing 12 ways to use technology in the classroom:12 Easy Ways to Use Technology .  These 12 ways show how to make learning fun and interesting for the youth we work with.

"A World Where Youth Hold the Power"

     This article, "In a World Where Youth Hold the Power," written by Adeola  A. Oredola really speaks to how our youth are our future.  Youth In Action takes into consideration how the youth feel about the community they are growing up in and how they can all work together to create positive change within their community.  The teenagers along with the adults in Youth in Action work as a cohesive team to develop programs in which youth can get involved in all aspects of their  community in regards to media, politics, organization, community health, and many others.  In this organization the youth run every aspect and have a distinct voice.  Youth in Action provides a family like atmosphere, where youth can feel comfortable giving their opinion where in other situations they might not feel as comfortable (Oredola, 47).  Youth in Action is a great way to make the youth, who are the future of our communities, feel involved and like they matter because one day they will be the ones ultimately making all the decisions.

                

     There was this age old saying when I was younger and that was, “children should be seen and not heard.” If my opinion was not asked then I would not give it and that is why I can relate to many of these youth wanting an outlet to be heard and make a difference.  As 17 year-old Marlie Chatelain stated in the article, “As a young person, if you raise a controversial issue you’re usually shut down (Oredola, 51),” which is the way I felt many times throughout my youth.  Many times a young person is told what to think without needing to do any critical thinking because someone “older” and “wiser” might have told them that one certain way of thinking is better than the other.  Youth in Action makes it okay for youths to understand that their possibilities and ways of thinking are endless.  I can definitely relate to the youths in these aspects and I just wish I knew about this program or a program like this when I was a teen.  Youth in Action helps students find their voice in a safe place where they will be heard.

About Me

     Hi everyone! My name is Regina Figueroa and I am what they call a "Super Senior" here at Rhode Island College.  This is my fifth year at Rhode Island College and I was formally an Elementary Education major, but found that it wasn't quite the right fit for me.  I like to work with youth, especially Pre-k and as of right now I work at the Little Shepherd Preschool in Cranston as a Teacher's Assistant. I previously worked at the Explorations program at Henry Barnard School on campus and tutored at Ricci Middle School a couple years back. I am so glad that Youth Development is a major because it gives me the chance to do what I love without some of the hassle of going through an intensive teaching program.  I love helping children develop their critical thinking skills on both the academic and social level and also instilling confidence in the students that I do work with.  When I graduate I would love to possibly be a director or co-director of a Preschool because the ages of three through five I feel are very critical in preparing a child to be in the public school system.  I am looking forward to learning a lot from this class and getting to know my fellow classmates!