All my life, I had been raised to respect elders and to believe that anything and everything my parents told me to be the best and true. I still remember the tensions I felt in my stomach as I noticed the silence that would soon be followed by the thunderous booming of my father’s voice whenever I was in trouble. The routine for my “in-trouble” scenario would consist of my father’s yelling for 20-30 minutes while I lowered my eyes and head in shame accompanied by a low, barely audible “yes, sir”, followed by “self-grounding” that lasted from a couple of days to couple of weeks depending on the severity =). During the “yelling” session, if I were to somehow raise my head (it hurts to lower your head for 20 minutes, trust me), my father would yell, “how dare you! What are you looking at!” Imagine my surprise when I got in trouble for talking in class on my second week of school in the States and Mrs. Trammell yelled out, “look at me when I’m talking to you!”

            In a classroom, teachers have to keep in mind that there are diverse ways of communicating as there are diverse backgrounds and cultures. As Koppleman says, “communication has the potential to solve problems, but it also has the potential to create them” when it is misunderstood (27). The focus should be on what is intended and being careful not to stray away from the objective. We also should keep in mind that we also communicate in non-verbal manner, and be careful not to communicate something that we do not intend to with our actions.

            Growing up under first generation Korean parents, I have suffered quite a number of victim-blaming rationalizations over the years.  ^_^ My dad had a saying “a smoke does not come out of the chimney for no reason” and would often use this logic to hold me responsible for busted tires, mail that was lost, and my sicknesses. The tires busted because I was driving on the rougher lane, the mail got lost because I mailed it on Monday, which is the busiest time at the post office (I should really be mailing things on a Wednesday), and I am coughing up a lung because I made my body believe that I was sick =).

            Just like Mr. Smith and me, it is hard for the victims to defend themselves against this kind of rationalization because it offers such easy solutions. It makes the victims actually feel as if they made a mistake, since the solution offered is so simple. I only have to drive on the smoother lane, mail the letters on a Wednesday and make my body believe I am not sick. Mr. Smith only had to wear less expensive clothes and not be out on the street after dark. The trick to avoid being the prey of the victim-blaming rationalization is to bring back the focus on the real problem. Yes, the fact may be that Mr. Smith presented himself as a good target, but the reality still stands that those men still committed a crime. By law, Mr. Smith had not broken any rules but the robbers used weapons in order to threaten and force Mr. Smith against his will. If anything, those men committed a predetermined crime by watching and analyzing what a good target Mr. Smith is.

            It isn’t the young women’s fault that the rapists prey upon them knowing that they can’t physically surpass the men; it isn’t the wives fault that their husbands cheat on them with someone younger; it isn’t the child’s fault that their parents use violence and abuse as a means to discipline. For every crime committed, there is right and wrong as our justice system states. It isn’t fair that the victims suffer the abuse of the crime and is blamed for the occurrence. We should be very careful not to fall into the traps of easy solution that the victim-blaming rationalization employs.

I am not saying that this was the right thing to do: My belief is that the person responsible should have served his rightful consequence and learned to respect school’s property. However, the power of number is great; and the good-will and good values are contagious.

Take another situation for example: I learned in my psychology class that there was an incident in New York where a woman was beaten and raped in front of about fifty people. No one dared to step up, and everyone just watched as the event unfolded in front of them. As Koppleman pointed out in his book that values are “combination of attitudes which generate action”, the crowd of New York showed no values that day.

Though parents are also responsible in teaching and instilling good values and morals to their children, school-aged children spend most of their waking-hours interacting with teachers and their peers. They watch and learn, react and reform according to what they are surrounded with. School is a place that is more than math and science, reading and writing. It’s more than just repeating back the text book knowledge. After all, teachers aren’t series of electronic data, and students aren’t machines that copy and store the data in their mass storage (it sure would be easier though). In his article Haynes states that “education’s highest aim is to create moral and civic habits of the heart”. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. For twelve years of the student’s life, it is the duty of the teachers to demonstrate, guide and at times, enforce the good morals as to make it habitual in each student’s life. On top of teaching students the basic universal morals, the American teachers should make sure to keep in mind of all the different cultural religious background students come from. The “schools of conscious” will be sure to equip students to habitually make good decisions as they head out into the world of the big melting pot. The teachers have the power to shape “what kinds of human beings are reading the books and doing the math” in their classroom. Hopefully, using the power of number on their side, teachers would be able to produce students that are full of good values and morals year after year.

This is a stereotypical comment I make often in excuse for my spatial disabilities. It is often followed by laughter amongst friends, and a few more jokes about women’s inability to measure up to their male counterparts are shared: “Women are bad drivers”; and “women do not know how to handle their vehicles in bad weather”; and “women are bad at following directions as they are bad at giving them”.  After truly digging into the concept of prejudice and stereotypes in this course, I cringe as I recall the times I have made this unfair statement. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are widely accepted in our society, as the general public uses them as means of humor. Most people accept such stereotypes as long as they are addressed in light-hearted manner, and sometimes more “humorous” stereotypes are created as means to avoid the need to acknowledge the real issue. In my attempt to deflect my personal responsibility to lack of sense of direction, I found it easier to blame it on the existing stereotype. Without knowing it, I have been practicing “avoidance rationalization”, and never working to address the real issue and improve myself.

I think to myself, how would I be affecting a young mind if he or she heard me make such a comment? They are sure to carry on this negative stigma on women to even a wider public, and furthermore, I might hinder a young girl’s potential to develop full directional skills as well as driving skills. Woolfolk explains that a “low expectation…can lead to a sense of helplessness” (181). If a young girl believes that women are bad drivers and have bad sense of direction, she may feel that this is inevitable and never really try to reach full potential.

Teachers should be careful not to express any stereotypes or act on stereotypical beliefs. As it would be easy to assume that a low-income student will fall behind the class therefore, assigning easier assignments; it is also easy to assume that a student of certain race would understand materials right away, therefore not enforcing the assessment.  In both cases, the teacher would be hindering the student’s progress and potential. In the classroom, the teachers should constantly demonstrate and teach students about accepting each other as individuals regardless of their background. They should also help the students get to know their peers of different culture and background by creating an environment where they can spend the time to get to know each other through partner projects and well thought-out seating charts.

            In the video, Dr. Stiles discloses the importance of “nurture” and environment in shaping one’s brain. In the beginning of her lecture, she explains that infants form as many as 60 trillion synapses (which in her terms would equate to “all of the leaves in the Amazon forest”) and goes through “pruning” or shedding of these connections and neurons as the infant reaches adulthood. She states that everyone goes through this pattern of loss, but experiences determine which and how much connection is lost. To illustrate this point, she uses the “rat study” as an example. In the study, both young and matured mice were placed in two different types of environment and after duration of time, the brain activities in the mice were measured. The mice in the “impoverished” environment were placed in a plain metal cage in solitude, and were given food and water daily; there was no activity or no extended interaction with anybody else. The mice in the “enriched” environment were placed in a large cage with a dozen other playmates; the cage had many places they could explore, toys, and the graduate students were attentive and tended to their needs. After fifty-five days, their neuron connections were measured, and it was proven that the mice in “enriched” environment retained higher number of connections and showed more brain activity. What was more interesting was that compared to the range found in two groups of young mice, the mature mice showed more difference between the two groups. All of the mice followed a “pruning curve”, but in the end, the mature mice in “enriched environment” retained twice as many neuron connections as the mature mice in “impoverished environment”. This result shows us that learning truly never ends. Given the stimulating environment, a person at any age can show significant improvement in neuron retention.

            Utilizing this finding, a teacher could incorporate many different methods of teaching in a classroom in order to stimulate the young mind. Especially in an early education, teachers could incorporate many hands-on-activities. Marcy Driscoll states that, “the brain is relatively plastic, so enriched active environments…are likely to support cognitive development in young children” (Woolfolk 28). Active learning will not only hold the attention of a young mind better, but it is sure to help them retain more of the precious neuron along the way =).

I remember writing these as I locked myself in my fortress (the laundry room) and underneath my mom’s vanity. I would sometimes sit for hours to reflect on daily events and big issues like life and death. That’s why it didn’t surprise me that one of my strengths according to the assessment was that I have a very good sense of “self”. Despite scoring the highest on “social”, I have always preferred to reflect on my own thoughts. To most, I am viewed as a person who thrives in the crowds and social gatherings. Therefore, many people are surprised when I make a remark that the crowd tends to tire me. What did surprise me though, is that the third strength of mine was “nature”. I remember in my childhood chasing after butterflies and dragonflies, splashing in the pond to catch the tadpoles and raise them as my pet. However, as I grew older, I dug deeper into books and technology and further away from “nature”. There was one year in my life when only “nature” I saw was between getting in and out of my car on my way to work. But I suppose it was always in my “nature” to love “nature”. I was pleasantly surprised that it was still within me.

The results from the test made me realize that although our strengths may vary from time to time, our core ones never go away. More importantly, what we are not good at does not change easily (I had never been good with directions, and was not at all surprised to find that I scored the least in “spatial”). I have always been good at assessing myself, therefore I know that in my position as a teacher, I can rely on myself to review my strength and weaknesses as a teacher. Also, I will know what my limitations are and what my abilities are, and I will ensure that all of my engagements with the students are to my full potential.

 After taking this assessment I am more aware of the fact that people’s intelligence differ and that their way of learning is different than mine. Knowing this fact alone will help me manage my future class better by developing different method of teaching in order to help incorporate all of my unique students. This emotional awareness will ensure that I will be a successful teacher in the years to come. After all, “success in life requires more than cognitive skills: it is important to be emotionally “smart” as well” (128 Woolfolk).

            Of course, to a six-year-old, the idea that violence witnessed on TV is not acceptable in the real world is a hard concept to grasp. When I witnessed a boy spilling juice on my friend’s sundress, or a boy classmate knocking down the building that my friend (a girl) had built with blocks,  I thought to myself, “What would Mighty Mouse Do?” and sprung into action. My episodes always ended with the boys crying and me feeling quite powerful as I dictated how the scene would end. Of course, my young self was biased against boys because, like many other six-year-old girls, I believed the boys had “cooties” and that they were the “enemy”.  My “prejudice” prevented me from thinking that perhaps, he had accidentally spilled juice because his hands were slippery, or that he had knocked down the building blocks because he accidentally tripped over it. The girl classmates saw me as some sort of hero, and often saved me the best seat in the cafeteria and would always trade their cookies for my apples. It wasn’t until I tasted my own medicine that I realized my actions weren’t “justifiable” after all; the day that the boy classmates obtained “Mighty Mouse” of their own through a transfer student, my reign over the class’s justice system had ended.

            Woolfolk explains that “aggressive children tend to believe that violence will be rewarded…they are more likely to believe that violent retaliation is acceptable”.  Just like in my case, “seeing violent acts go unpunished…affirms and encourages” the aggressive children to continue this behavior (97). It is crucial, especially in early childhood, for teachers and parents to be attentive to such behavior and use intervention methods in order to correct the violent conduct. As Woolfolk suggests, “engaging in role play [and] participating in group discussions of personal experience” will teach students alternative tools in conflict management (98).

 The author of the article, “Understanding Violent Behavior in Children and Adolescents” explains that “much violent behavior can be decreased or even prevented if… the exposure of children and adolescents to violence in the home, community, and through the media [is decreased].” Though it may appear harmless to many adult viewers, much of today’s young-adult’s entertainment is based on violence Whether it be a cartoon character slapping his peer, character on a teen sit-com verbally abusing his friend for laughs, or a video game that requires the player to “kill” the other character, violence is everywhere. It is crucial that children in today’s society, with much access to media, have teachers and parents who would shield them from witnessing violence that they are not suited for.