Blog Post #7: Chapter 2 by Nakkula

After reading chapter 2, Identity in Context, by Nakkula context mapping was one of the major themes. Context mapping is the way in which you act depending upon the environment you are in. For example, how I act with my friends is different than when I am in class and vice versa. What Mitch asks Julian to do is write down the environments he is in everyday, the people he comes across and what he thinks people expect from him in those environments.  Lastly, Mitch asks Julian to write his feeling down when he is in each of those environments.

My Context Map:

RIC: Student, Intern, Classmate, YDEV

Work (CVS): Supervisor, Co-Worker, Team Member, Customer Service

Personal Life: Daughter, Sister, Granddaughter, Niece, Cousin, Friend, Girlfriend

Four Identities:

Foreclosed Identity: Is when an individual has committed to a life direction or way of being without exploring it carefully and without experimenting with alternatives (Nakkula, Chapter 2). Example- Being religious just because your family is.
Diffuse Identity: Is a state in which there has been little exploration or active consideration of a particular identity and no psychological commitment to one (Nakkula, Chapter 2). Example- Doing/liking something just because your friends do.

Moratorium: This is a developmental state in which one actively explores roles and beliefs, behaviors and relationships, but refrains from making a commitment (Nakkula, Chapter 2).

Achieved Identity:  Occurs when the identity crisis is resolved and the commitment to the selected identity is strong (Nakkula, Chapter 2).  I believe this is the GOAL for everyone--> discovering who you truly are. 

Blog Post #6: Chapter 1 by Nakkula

After reading this chapter by Nakkula it was very eye opening. When students act out in class many educators don’t try to see why they are acting out, they simply just discipline them.  They believe this will solve the problem but it doesn't. If educators took the time to speak to the student that is acting up and form a better relationship with them they might find out why they are acting up and their educational experience will only get better.

What I also enjoyed about this chapter is when they spoke about scaffolding and the zone of proximal development (ZPD). I believe scaffolding is an extremely important part of education because not all students learn the same way and lessons must be changed in different ways so that each student learns they best they can. The ZPD is another important part of education because this is where the most possibility for growth occurs for students. Educators strive for students to learn in their ZPD because if not students maybe become bored or frustrated because they aren't learning to their full capacity.

As a future youth worker I need to make sure that if a child is acting up in a program to make sure to speak to them and figure out what is really going on and not be quick to judge. Also when education comes to play I must make sure to remember that not all students learn the same and remember to always aim to educate in the ZPD.  

Blog Post #5: Egg Drop Experience

I really enjoyed the egg drop experiment because it was a hands on activity. I learn better when I am doing hands on experiments so this activity really caught my attention. Before we received our box I was curious to see what materials we had to work with but once I saw our box I automatically knew we had a good chance of our eggs surviving the drop. My group and I got really invested with the experiment and we wanted to make sure our babies (eggs) did not die. All our eggs survived the drop and I had a lot fun with the activity and my group which I thought made the activity even better.

How I think the egg drop experiment connects back to the Ullucci reading about poverty is that each box represents different towns that have different resources. For example, my group was a ‘richer community’ because we had the most eggs out of all the groups and had the best resources like marshmallows and bubble wrap.  This represents how some communities have better school systems which provide more resources for the students living within those communities verses a community that has a lower economic status who’s schools do not have many resources (the box with paper, feathers and a condom).

What I also thought was interesting and did not realize until our discussion about the experiment was that the groups that had the better materials were in the same room and the groups that had the not so good materials were together in the same room. This made we think how sometimes higher economic status communities are usually located together, like Barrington and Bristol, while lower economic communities, like Providence and Pawtucket,  are close together as well. Because of how lower economic communities are set up it can make it harder for community to grow and be better because their neighbors are also struggling unlike the higher economic community where they may want to compete with their surrounding communities to be the best of the best. Overall, I really enjoyed this experiment and it gave me a new view on poverty.