Race/Identity

 One class where the concept of race and identity was framed was when I took an Anthropology course for my connections requirement. This class was very interesting to me and the professor was pretty cool. One topic we discussed was how race was a social construct. We also discussed the biology of it too and watched a study. In the study the teacher asked his students who they thought theyd be more closely related to just by looking around the room, most of the students picked  another person that physicallly resembled them. The teacher more or less disproved them by comparing their DNA's together showing that many kids were actually more closely related to other students who did not resemble them at all. From there the story of Elizabethe Warren came up about her identifying as Native American, her blood proved that to be true but the council that the indigenous leaders sit on also pointed out that since customs and traditions and language are not practiced they did not fully recognize her.  This got me thinking as someone who is mixed.  I am hispanic and white, but have no connections to customs, traditions, and language so based on what the council determined I would not be able to claim being hispanic but also i am not physically white, so i cant really claim white either. So it got me thinking about where I fall in my own racial identity. I came to the conclusion that I (and each of us) can determine our identities for our selves and if we want to go and claim our heritages then we can do that, if we want to learn and experience these sort of things then we can. We hold all of the tools that allow us to do this. I gets me thinking about where I belong in this world and what my current experience is now and what i want my future experience to be, I dont have all these answers yet but we figure these things out as we go i think. 

 Visible & Invisible Rules in The Classroom 

Some of the rules that I've placed are not speaking out of turn-- raising your hand, independence, and obedience. There were a few parts where Marcus would start participating out of turn and become distracting.  I think the biggest rule i see is obedience, school settings have a structure and the everyone who is part of this learning environment has a place and a role to play Emilys classroom seems fine and though she does not utilize authoritativeness often it did happen, in moments where Marcus may have actually needed some attention, otherwise Marcus receives a lot of support. Maybe this classroom would've benefitted from a teachers aid.  Marcus did not fit into his role entirely and would have much rather to create is own role, which connects to the whole power dynamic thing that is discussed towards the end.  I think many youth spaces i have encountered have initiated this authority model especially on children deemed to be "trouble."  Marcus reminds me of a student who was part of my field placement class, in this class the "trouble" students were isolated they sat alone and away from the rest of the class, I believe them to be misunderstood maybe even impulsive. In regards to Ferri, Many of the kids who are deemed trouble students are struggling for other reasons like ADHD or ADD and have no clue yet, just this idea that they are somehow "bad." 

 Adultification Bias

Take aways:

-Young black girls are seen as less innocent.

-Need less nurturing.

-Need less support.

-Need less protection.

-Need less comforting.

-Are not worthy of second chances.

-More likely to have more punishment.

From the video, three stereotypes that young black girls are labeled with are being loud, aggressive, and threatening. These stereotypes paint these girls in negative lights, spreading misconceptions about them across the board to other groups of people. Why should young black girls be seen first with stereotypes before interacting or getting to know them, its wrong.  I do not recall very many instances where I have personally felt prejudice, I do remember feeling out of place though. I spent many summers at my aunts house in Richmond, RI.  The population there was predominantly white, there was one black family who lived around the black but their kids were very young.  I was the only brown kid in that neighborhood and at times i felt out of place, especially with nick names like "midnight" since I get much darker in the summer time. At the time  things like this did not stand out too much for me, it was not until i got older that i realized how damaging words can be since at the same time people would comment on me sounding or acting "white." I definitely experienced confusion growing up as to where I belonged. My mother and her family are white, and my father and his family are hispanic, and since I did not grow up with my dad in the picture or his family for that matter I had no connection to the language, culture, customs, etc.  There was a disconnect matching how I grew up to how I look. So at some point i would feel slightly uncomfortable being the only brown person in the room, or even feeling out of place around many hispanic people too.

 Youth Development Guide

Knew

I did not have very much prior knowledge of this information before this chapter.  I find the information useful and sorta eye opening.  I knew the concept of resiliency but did not know the term for it. The items that help young people succeed are caring relationships, high, clear and fair expectations, and opportunities for participation and contribution. Positive supports are an important focus. 

Learned

The Deficit Approach: Intervening when young people exhibited problems, or for identifying those young people "at risk" for problem behaviors and trying to prevent them from engaging in specific problem behaviors.  This approach failed because it did not consider the basic developmental needs that young people had.  I find the youth services chart very interesting, there are many "resources" available to the youth but for your "higher risk" communities the programs many not be very effective. The shift in policy section is very helpful in comparing deficit to youth development processes.  "young people's healthy development and learning depends on what they experience in all the settings in their lives: home, school, and larger community." Family, School, Community based programs.

More

Would more funding make a difference in after school programming? I don't think the difference happens with materials fully but actually the staff, maybe better funding would lead to better trained staff? I went to an after school program for a long time and it was not the best time for me, i think training probably would have helped.