Care

I really identified with Michelle in this article, to the point tears started to flow into my eyes. When I was in my practicum room for SPED 300 and FNED 346 I would bring snack everyday for my kiddos. I noticed that I would have kids so hungry even after they had breakfast that they would be very hangry. We would have time during centers where they could munch on some pretzels while working on their work and automatically the classroom staff saw a decrease of behaviors and even an increase in focus. Sometimes kids are not misbehaving because they want to make your day worse, but it is because they have a need that is not met.

Personally at my internship I have control over the culture I create in my program. For example, I was working in an urban environment and had a child specifically come very cranky each week. He would cry and scream when it was time to leave though. It ended up that they were living in their car and he did not want to go back to the car after class was finished. I was able to work with the family and connect them to a local shelter where they were able to stay for a bit while the mom finished up job training. They now have their own apartment. I am extremely blessed to be able to have freedom in caring for my students and their families, and I have support from my boss in whatever I do.

Adultism

We know that an important first step in erasing adultism is recognizing adultist tendencies in ourselves and others. Take a few moments now to think of a time when you were a youth at the same age as the youth you currently serve. Can you remember a time when adults took away your ability to make choices? What did that feel like for you/ how did that impact you? How did you respond?

I remember once I was in an after school program when I was in forth grade and we were given a choice to either watch a movie first, or have snack first. We all picked snack first and the program director started screaming at us saying we were being inconsiderate and making more work for her. It was like even though we were asked to make a choice, we choses "wrong". After that, when we were asked to make choices no one really wanted to because we were afraid to make the wrong choice. I think, from looking at it now, it showed how one person for 40 kids was not the best way to run a program. Understaffing, and underfunding creates stress and chaos. Even though the director wanted to most likely give us a choice, she probably was burnt out, and tired from years and years of running this program by herself, but it changed a safe space to make choices into a place where people were afraid to make choices. Personally, I was not effected by the situation because the director was my babysitter and I was helping her oldest daughter with a project, but if I would not have been doing that I would of been afraid of her.

Ideology Horoscope

In my YDEV horoscope I really do not identify with the Risk, Resiliency and Prevention part of YDEV.

I scored 16 points on that part of the quiz and I had both 9 points in positive YDEV and critical YDEV.

I feel like that aligns with my views on YDEV more. As a teen I really truly hated when people would say

"do not get pregnant" or "do not do drugs" over and over again at us. Not all teens are enticed to do drugs,

or to have sex and we need to realize that while working with youth. Youth have something amazing to offer

to society and we need to work with them to help change the world. The future is theirs and I rather help them, than

critique their every step. I also love educating people and leading with them. One thing I look forward to as

being a future teacher is being wrong and being corrected by my students. To me, their is no better way to foster a

community that supports learning than to make mistakes, or be mistaken and be corrected.

I think that it is interesting I have two types of YDEV ideologies that are tied together, I truly wonder who else has

similar results?

Lights On Afterschool Conference Recap

I actually loved the Lights on After school Summit! My favorite part was when Kiera Bulter from Diversity Talks went looking for the Youth in the room. I have done some work with LRI that has merged with Diversity Talks for PD and I absolutely loved that she went in and really followed her personal beliefs that kids are the best experts on them. I also loved the workshop with Youth Pride. It was so detailed and really gave us a solid list of resources. I even was able to share with my staff some of those resources. One thing that was kind of showy in my opinion was all the awards to politicians. It kind of felt like a political event at first which kind of turned me off. I also loved the way the guest speaker from the Nellie Mae fund really dove deep into racism and how to advocate for youth and give them skills. I really appreciated him being very honest and upfront. 

Overall, next year my boss and I will be attending and it has also lead to my work getting to be able to learn new information. The conference was great, but I was feeling pretty sick, so I was not all there, even though I tried super hard to be focused. 

Injustice in Our Lives

Write about a time in your life when you experienced or observed an injustice. How did it make you feel and how did you react? Now, with some time and hindsight, how would you react to this situation if it happened again? Finally, how does your experience/ observation of injustice connect to other people/ experiences/ structures of injustice? Do a little googling and see what you find!

I experienced injustice as a child a lot. I was always picked on for my hair, my nose, and my ethnicity. It made me feel like I did not matter, and that I was useless. The first couple times I said something, I was always told I was being dramatic and that I needed not to tattle, so I just really shut down. I would in who I am now stand up and say something. I am very bold because I know how it feels to be the one that is being made fun of. One time at work I was working at a Catholic school and I had one student who identified as Muslim, and she was constantly made fun of and called a terrorist. I actually called the police station and we had an officer come in and talk to the girls, (I worked at an all girls school) about how bullying effects their friends and their life. We then changed their author study to the book called Wonder, and we dived deep into the effects of bullying people based on their physical appearance. 

My experience with injustice really helps me to connect with people like Malala Yousafzai. Malala is a young girl from Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban because of her views on education and the fact that she was a female who was Arab and educated. She used her platform to be able to speak to young girls about the value of school and freedom, and is even a Nobel Peace Prize. There is also a Kurdish singer named Helly Luv that I identify with because she uses her music to stand up to the resistance and instill hope.