Week 15

The 19th Annual Spring Conference on Problems of Adjustment in School Settings: A Prevention Programs Review

April 24th, 7-9 pm

Education Building - Room 22

This week I chose to attend an Ed Psych symposium on programs aimed to help with behavioral problems in the classroom. I wanted to go to this because I thought that it could be helpful for my teaching in the future. A lot of the times kids with behavioral problems and problems with self-regulation are labeled and then neglected; in this case, these programs are trying to find ways to include them into the classroom, while also taking a preventative step forward to make sure that incidents don't occur and that students are respecting themselves, their peers, and their teachers.

The front of our presentation pamphlets.

Unfortunately I didn't learn as much from the conference as I had hoped. It was set up a bit like speed dating, where at each table was a grad student in the EPSY program who had picked a preventative program to present about. I didn't think that this layout was very conducive to good presentations, because it was hard to hear the speaker and because you only learned a very very brief amount about the program since each presentation was one 15 minutes long. I ended up staying for 5 presentations. 

Another critique I have is that the grad students were presenting with these posters that were so crappily made that I was positive my 5 year old sister had made all of them. I feel like if you take the time to research something so deeply, you might want to take the extra 10 minutes to make a power point or at least make the poster on photoshop. That took away some of the validity of the research for me. Luckily each presenter had a hand out that looked much nicer than their posters did. I got most of my information from these.

Handouts for two of the presentations.

My favorite presentation was for a program called Project Happiness, which is a preventative and collaborative learning program aimed at kids in grades 5-12. It's completely free and can be accessed online by anyone who's interested in using it. This program focuses on collaborative exercises that teach empathy, teamwork, respect, and compassion. I really liked that it was a collaborative program, because I feel that learning self regulation comes from having lots of real world experience with conflict. Hearing stories from your peers about a situation you might be going through can make coping a bit easier and also spark connections between people. Project Happiness is a way of creating community in the school as well as helping kids find ways to deal with issues that don't involve harming themselves or others. I think that a program like this can be really beneficial to any school, not just kids with a lot of "at risk" students. Being able to communicate with others is a strong skill to have and can ease frustrations that might cause conflict.

 I kind of regret wasting my time with this conference, but it also sparked an interest that could really benefit my classroom in the future. I think I'm going to keep researching preventative programs so I can possibly implement one at my school in the future.

Week 14

20th Annual Student Health Fair

Wednesday April 17th, 2012 - 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Illini Union Rooms A, B, & C

This week my roommate informed me of the Student Health fair that was going on in the Union. At first I thought it was for people in health related majors, but then she told me that it's put on by McKinley and it's for all students, with performances, food, and free stuff! I really love free stuff so that was incentive enough to get me there. 

Look at this lovely tri-fold display. Straight out of a fifth grade classroom. 

When we walked in we were greeted with a bag for our goodies, and a map of all the vendors at the fair. The first stop we made was at the Carl Breast Cancer Clinic table, where they helped my roommate and I assess our risk for getting breast cancer. My predisposition rate is 11% which is the national average. My roommate was at 35% which would have freaked her out but I think she already knew since her family has a long history of breast and ovarian cancer. 

My favorite aisle at the health fair was the sexual health aisle. Mainly because they had the most colorful posters. Also, condoms. Condoms galore. I saw some frat boy bro-dudes shoving handfuls of them into their pockets. Classy. After witnessing that I headed to the planned parenthood tent and looked into summer internships.

Probably the coolest thing about the health fair was what was happening on the dance floor. When we hit that area a traditional Indian dance was being performed by a student group. I didn't catch the name of the group or dance but it was really beautiful. The dance is said to bring peace of mind and well being. They also wore the traditional dress, which were really beautiful and brightly colored saris. 

Did I mention that they were barefoot?

We walked around for a little while more, and eventually ended up getting our cholesterol and blood pressure checked. The cholesterol check was a little but like hell on earth for me since it involved drawing blood. My roommate had to hold my hand through the whole process because I'm a self-admitted gigantic baby. But everything checks out and I'm in no risk of having a heart-attack so that good to know. 

Overall I think this was my favorite event after the opera that I saw over break. I learned some pretty important things about myself and my community, as well as scoring a lot of free swag. 

I'm out for now. See you next week.

Week 13

Sex & Gender Film Series: "Pink Saris" (In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month)

April 11th, 2013, 6:30 pm, Women's Resource Center

This week I attended a showing of the film "Pink Saris". I knew going into the viewing that this indie doc wasn't going to be a pleasant viewing experience. Sexual assault is an issue that's close to my heart. Being a friend to many victims and being a victim myself, I was worried that the movie might have triggered some unwanted feelings. Luckily I managed to do just fine, and learned a lot as well. 

The movie follows Sampat Paul, leader of the Gulabi Gang, a group of women in Northern India who set themselves apart by wearing bright pink saris. This band of women speak out against the oppressive societal  norms of Indian culture and stand as advocates and allies of the battered an abused.  

This film definitely opened my eyes to Indian caste system, which I can't believe is still being followed so strictly. thing that shocked me most about the film is that these women are FEARLESS. And I mean that in the sense of "Dayummm girl, you're crazy" but in the best way. Sampat's biggest tactic for change is verbally calling out the abusive husbands and fathers in public. In a country where tradition and expectation go hand in hand, it's probably a risky thing to start a shit storm of verbal abuse in a public place that contradicts what everyone in that context knows to be normal. The added fact these families are living in an area of extreme poverty drives home my opinion that class has a lot to do with the understanding of progressive issues, such as sexual assault awareness. These women are fighting to change that. 

Sampat struck me as the kind of woman that I would love to have a cup of coffee with; her brutal honesty allows her to keep her ground while she's calling out the abusive husband and families, and keeps the victims strong. At one point she told a young girl "You cannot be shy or else you'll die". She's even gone so far as beating up the husband or father with a bamboo stick to get her message across.  Her story and work serve as an inspiration to everyone who is overcoming sexual and physical abuse or who serves as an advocate for the cause.

This sign made me laugh, since we've been forced to creep on the lecturers/events since the beginning of the semester. And now someone was creeping on me...granted it is weird to take pictures of someone watching a movie...

Week 12

Ted Talks on Gaming

This week I chose to watch 2 Ted Talks on the impact of gaming. 

1) "Gaming Can Make a Better World" by Jane McGonigal (http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html)

• Jane McGonigal, a game designer or 10 years, proposes that investing 21 billion hours a week to solve global problems with online gameplay. My first thought upon hearing her proposal was "This chick is effin' nuts." Being an online gamer, I was quick to disagree. Typically my gaming binges lead me to feel guilty and stressed (mainly because I do it out of procrastination). Jane makes the point that people become so addicted to games like World of Warcraft because of a couple reasons:
• 1) There's a constant feeling of optimism/satisfaction-- Players are always on the verge of an "epic win" because they are posed with problems that are challenging but never too hard to complete. This feeling of gratification tempts gamers to spend more time in their virtual worlds than in their real ones. 
• 2) There are MILLIONS of people playing the game at given point in time. The game acts as a social hub, allowing constant collaboration and idea exchange. The pseudo-social interaction allows players to hide behind a virtual face, giving them the opportunity to reinvent themselves and be different than they are in real life.
• Jane mentions that kids who grow up in a strong gamer culture on average play 10,000 hours of online gaming by the time they're 21. That means for most, they're playing and feeling these experiences while their brains are going through some major developmental changes, prompting Jane to ask the question: What are gamers getting good at? 
•  1) Urgent Optimism- extreme self motivation
• 2) Social Fabric- We like people better after we paly a game with them, because it takes a lot of trust.
• 3) Blissful productivity - Being happy to work on something you're interested in that promises results.
• Epic Meaning - World of Warcraft is an insanely detailed and complex world.
• All of these things make up a Super Empowered Hopeful Individuals. People who believe they are capable of changing the "world". The problem is that it's the virtual world and not the real world. McGonical offers her games as a solution to this. Games that deal with social issues, and habits that can affect how a player lives their everyday life. I am impressed by this notion, and it's one of the better talks that I've watched.I'm still skeptical of the theory, but I think that it has some promise.

2) "Are Games Better than Life?" by David Perry

(http://www.ted.com/talks/david_perry_on_videogames.html)

• Perry's talk seemed like it would be interesting to me because, being a gamer, I couldn't help but relate to the title of the talk itself.  His talk starts with some stats on the video game market. Specifically World of Warcraft, a game that makes 80 million a month in subscriptions and 275 million in first time installations. These stats alone are showing that people invest in this game for a reason. Addicted online gamers spend over 40 hours a week on their online games--as much time as you would spend at a full time job. These gamers start to blur the lines between what's virtual and what's reality. I've personally never been addicted to online gaming but I could understand why some people would be. Perry makes the argument that these new up and coming games seem simple on the surface but in reality the paradigm of video games could open new frontiers to creative minds that like to think "BIG". 
• I wasn't particularly moved or impressed by this talk. I understand that lots of people play online games because of what they offer mentally and emotionally, but I do still think that there needs to be more importance put on how these skills and feeling can be transferred to real life and how they can help the people in our society. Being an advocate for gaming means that you have to be ready to explain exactly how this can happen through playing games. 

Out of the two talks I definitely enjoyed Jane's talk the most. Her innovative outlook on gaming and how it can help others was refreshing and nice to listen to. It will be cool to see how her research develops and what other games she'll help design that will implement change in our society. That's it for now. I'm going to go indulge in some Skyrim.

Week 11

Ted Talks on Education

This week I chose to watch three Ted Talks all related to education. 

1) "What Adults can Learn from Kids" by Adora Svitak ( http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html )

• I was seriously amazed by this talk. First of all, the speaker is much younger than I am. Adora Svitak is a 12 year old child prodigy, who had some very insightful things to say about how children can teach adults. "Learning between grown ups and kids should be reciprocal" is a statement that I whole-heartedly agree with. She made the point that adults often underestimate kid's abilities, which I remember from my elementary school days and even in high school. Adora makes her point by telling her story about how she blogged hundreds of times starting at the age of 7. Her goal was to be published as a result of this. Upon being rejected by most publishers and hearing "We don't work with kids" she questioned why these publishers would alienate themselves from their target audience. "The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult, but rather better adults than you have been...This is why we're not in the dark ages anymore". I think I can start applying this to my everyday life by starting with listening more closely to my sisters (ages 5 and 10). Most people have the habit of dismissing children's imaginations, and not taking their wacky ideas seriously, even though those wacky ideas are what society relies on to change, progress, and adapt. People should not discourage a child, even an adolescent from pursuing an idea that might not work, or that seems ridiculous. These kinds of explorations help kids to grow and think in a more self sufficient manner. The next time my sister's tell me that they want to open a restaurant in our basement (which happens often) I'm going to ask them how and help them work out a way to do it (even if that means subjecting myself to possible verbal abuse and food poisoning. (Kidding...except about the verbal abuse. The 5 year old is a tyrant.)

2) "Teaching Arts and Sciences Together" by Mae Jamison 

( http://www.ted.com/talks/mae_jemison_on_teaching_arts_and_sciences_together.html )

• This talk was interesting to me because as an artist, I think it's vitally important that the arts are kept in schools and should be an integral part of the schooling experience. Part of keeping arts in schools is finding ways to integrate them into other parts of a curriculum. Mae Jemison makes the argument that this can be done (which I knew already, but was excited to hear more about ), by realizing and implementing creativity in all aspects of the school day. Both arts and sciences requires intuition and creativity, as well as investigation. So why wouldn't we use one to help the other? Jamison makes several comparisons between the sciences and the arts calling them "manifestations of the same thing". "Science is the chance to influence and experience the universe external to ourselves. The arts are our attempt to share or influence others through experiences that are peculiar to us as individuals. Science provides an understanding of a universal experience, and art provides a universal understanding of a personal experience." Most great classical artists also were scientists in some way (i.e. Davinci, Michelangelo, Aristotle) there are even contemporary examples of that (Olafur Eliasson). These two fields don't have to be separate, but instead should be used together in new an innovative ways.

3) Michelle Obama's Plea for Education ( http://www.ted.com/talks/michelle_obama.html )

• In this talk Michelle Obama talks to a London girl's school and makes a plea for every student to take education seriously. Michelle starts by talking about her upbringing. "Nothing about (her) childhood would have put (her) in (her) situation" except for the fact that her family loved and supported her and that she was surrounded by incredible women all throughout her life. She expectantly mentions that her husband, President Obama, instilled that idea that "the world how it is and the world how it should be should be one in the same". She then addresses the audience and mentions that they need to be the people who bring these two worlds together to improve future generations. This talk was indeed inspirational, but also a bit flat. I agree with Michelle in the respect that education is the most important way to become who you'd like to be, and how to help the world. I think most people agree with that.But she also made a statement that sounded to me like she was saying that always being on time, never skipping homework or class, and getting straight A's is the only way to become educated. This is where I wish she had spoken more for people who like to learn but aren't good at school (people like myself.). I think it's very possible to struggle with school but still become successful and a role model to others. It's about how much passion and drive you have for what you do. I know for a fact that I'll most likely never be a straight A student, but I work hard at the things I'm passionate about, and that's propelling me forward towards achieving my goals of helping people, especially children.

These talks were interesting to watch together. Although their sub-content was different, I was able to apply something from each one to my own life. No life changing discoveries were made, but my drive to graduate and help others do the same was heightened and the fire was re-lit. Hopefully more people than just me feel the same way, otherwise our world will be stuck at a standstill.