Van+De+Veire,+Tracey

Tracey Van De Veire, M.Ed. Special Education Teacher, LIMS Department of Defense Education Activity Seoul American High School

2008-2011 Exceptional Student Education Teacher Indian River School District Citrus Elementary School Vero Beach, FL

2011- Present Special Education Teacher, LIMS Department of Defense Education Activity Seoul American High School Seoul, South Korea

**Assignment 1**
My name is Tracey Van De Veire and I graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2008 with a BA in Exceptional Student Education. In 2010 I earned the Autism Endorsement from University of Central Florida and then I then went on to obtain my Masters in Exceptional Student Education in 2011 from University of Central Florida. I was a stay at home mother for 15 years raising my own children who are now 26, 25 and 22. I kept busy with my children as the soccer mom, Girl Scout, Cub Scout and Boy Scout Leader and both of my boys earned the Eagle Award in Boy Scouts while my daughter earned her Silver Award in Girl Scouts. As they got older I decided to go back to school to finish my degree in Education. I was able to graduate the same year as my daughter (her H.S. year) and my son (his AA degree) while I received my BA degree. Then, as I continued my education, my oldest son received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering while I earned my M.Ed. and together we graduated in 2011. Now it's turn form my youngest son and I to graduate together. As he works on his Industrial Engineering (BS degree), I am trying to achieve my 2nd Master's Degree in Multidisciplinary Studies with a focus on Education Technology and Leadership. My daughter received her degree in Exceptional Student Education following my footsteps. As you can see I am proud of my children, last year they lost their father to [|Giloblastoma Multiforme brain cancer] and through this tragic time, they were still able to continue their education and complete their degrees. I enjoy traveling, photography, exercising at the gym and visiting my children and my new grandson who was just born in August 2014. Life is great in Seoul, South Korea with my new husband as I continue my career with DODEA. In three short years, While living in Asia, Tom and I have traveled to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand 2 times, Japan, China, Korea and Jeju Island of the coast of Korea. Every summer we take a weekly trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and we also travel back to the United States where we have a home in Florida to relax by the beach and rejuvenate for another year of teaching.

The course Conflict Resolution/Peaceable Schools should be about creating a positive environment for all who work within a school. This includes not only students but also, administration, teachers, paraprofessionals, office staff, janitors, supply personnel, as well as the staff at the district office. The topics that could be of interest are the following:

1. Discovering the past and what conflicts occurred in schools that have been worked out in a peaceful way. (What has worked in the past and what can we learn from that.) 2. How do we reduce conflict resolution in the classroom (behavior interventions that work for various scenarios.) 3. Conflict resolutions and peaceable outcomes for working with teachers in your own school. (How can we all get along and work together to create a great school.) 4. Working out conflicts peacefully with the administration without always having to have the Union involved. 5. An evaluation of self and how do I deal with conflict with other adults or students and how I can improve myself.

If I can learn more about myself and how I am doing with dealing with conflict and how I react in a peaceful way, this would help me to teach others about the subject. Learning about strategies for myself will help when I try to implement conflict resolution strategies in my own classroom. If I can learn more about teaching tolerance and modeling good behavior for stress management I can then affect others who come in contact with me from my students to teachers to administration to parents.

**Assignment 2**
American History X showed the nature of the school and the conflict of racism within the school and community the hate that had been ingrained into that community for quite some time. The schools had to deal with this continual conflict that was located in Venice, California. The Principal in the school wanted to change students thinking to become better at accepting everyone and to stop the conflicts and the racism within the school. It was thought that he did have good intentions to help reduce the violence in the schools as he took on the role as a mentor to the younger brother Danny. Derek, the older brother and the leader of the young white supremacists, was influenced by his father who grew up disliking immigrants, blacks, Jews and others because they took away his white co-workers jobs (affirmative action). The dad convinced his son, Derek to question Dr. Sweenie, a teacher at the time, when Derek was a student at the school. He told him not to believe what Dr. Sweenie was telling him in his classes and to think for himself. Young students in High school are very receptive to adults and believe what is heard to be true and do not hardly question authority and they are easily reformed if they are seduced into a gang. Derek grew up learning from his father's perspective of people and the younger brother Danny adored his big brother so he followed in his brother's footsteps. It comes down to how a person is raised and the values they are taught at home and then the influences others have on students at a young age. Young men and women can be convinced easily to join a group or gang to feel part of a "community" and to be accepted. When Danny was in High School the Principal, Mr. Sweenie who was once Derek’s teacher had hope for the younger brother that he would not end up in jail like his brother. He chose to mentor him but at the same time it was thought he also wanted to know the “inside thinking” of the white supremacy group. By having Danny write about his brother in a paper called American History X we wondered about the Principal’s motives in some ways. It showed how the Principal was also part of a task force with the local police department too and he was working with them, so it was also thought that he truly did care to stop the racism. The quote that was said in the movie from the Principal to Derek while he was in jail made sense that he did want a change and he asked the question: “Has anything you’ve done made your life better?” This of course mad Derek think while he was in jail for 3 years. While there he was betrayed by people whom he thought were on “his side” as they made trades within the jail which caused discomfort to Derek. He eventually is betrayed in a very evil matter and he chooses at that time to be on his own. He learned in jail from an African American prisoner that violence is not the way. It took one person in prison to make a difference to change him. When he departs jail, his mission is to change his brother’s thinking, but by that point the reform is so ingrained that it’s hard to break the cycle. The vicious cycle of racism continues as the next generation grows up and the hate continues. This is shown in the unfortunate events at the end of the movie.

Assignment 3
If Hank were to enter our school, my classroom or visit our community on base, he would observe the elements of a peaceable community. Students are not under the influence of gangs in our school like they are in the United States. There is a no-bully policy set in place for our school as well as in our classroom. The military community and the community at large is connected with our school through the monthly Student Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings where their goal is to achieve peaceable schools in addition to supporting our DODEA school community. The evidence you will see is the commitment to the students best education and environment possible. Students from all races and ethnic backgrounds as well as religious freedoms and sexual preferences are all accepted and tolerated within our school.

I will continue to promote peace in my school by being an adult with an open mind and heart for accepting everyone. There will be no biases in my classroom, I have a poster on my door to let students know that if they feel like they are being bullied they can come to my room. I will listen, ask questions and get involved if someone is being bullied to stop this from happening. Children are taught to hate and fear, they don't come into the world wanting to hate. We have to be the positive person in our student's lives and continue to lead them as peaceful people in our community.

Watch this video for making a bully from scratch. (10 minute video) [|How to make a bully from scratch You Tube Video]

Below is a sampling of the SY13-14 Parent Student Handbook. Presently the Parent Student Handbook is being re-written by parents, teachers, administration and student input. This describes what is tolerated and what is not, what the rules are and what the schools expectations are at Seoul American High School on Camp Yongsan in Seoul, South Korea.

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICY

The following listed items are violations of school policy. This list is NOT comprehensive and exhaustive, but contains the most common violations of accepted school policy. Please refer to the Table of Consequences at the end of this handbook in the addenda for further details. Administration will determine the consequences for any violation not contained in this handbook.

Alcohol

The use, possession, or being under the influence of alcohol is strictly prohibited. The penalty for violation of this policy is suspension in accordance with Section D of the Table of Consequences. Additionally, a mandatory referral to the ASACS counselor will be initiated before the student is allowed to return to school.

Bomb Threats

Bomb threats are serious crimes and will be dealt with severely. The military police will assume authority over a bomb threat suspect. If it is determined a student has initiated a bomb threat to the school, the school will immediately begin expulsion proceedings. The student will be suspended until the expulsion process is complete.

Oscar Arias

Oscar Arias Sánchez. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 07:58, Oct 07, 2014, from [|__http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-arias-sánchez-37438__] .

Oscar Arias Sanchez. (2014). Youth for Human Rights.org website. Retrieved 8:50, October 07, 2014, from [|__http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/voices-for-human-rights/champions/oscar-arias-sanchez.html_]

Assignment 4
1. Why do you think the rate of homicide violence has gone down in the last 800 years? I didn't think that homicide violence went down, I thought that it went up and after reading the article I found out that in certain areas in the U.S. homicide is still high. But when you complete a statistics on the U.S. you encompass all the States and since we are a big country, it doesn't look like homicide violence is up but it is in some areas.

2. Did you over or underestimate violence in the United States? No, I really thought of the recent shootings in schools, violence by famous athletes, 9/11, and while I had lived in the Washington, D.C. area I had remembered how every night on the television they would give a count of how many murders there were to date in the DC area. Since we complete an Anti-terrorism training for our school through the DOD, we are updated with all the various Terrorist attacks that happened on U.S. soil where people were murdered. I think in someways, guns in the wrong hands and "manliness" of owning a gun plays a roll in some homicides.

3. What did your 4 subject colleagues think about violence in general? They all thought violence was up in the U.S. When you compare Korea to the U.S. - the United States has more homicides. Korea on the other hand has more suicides.

4. Why? One has a son who is a Sheriff in San Jose, and he sees this often in his profession. The television, internet, radio all keep us informed of the bad things happening in the world. Another stated that working in the hospital in California, she sees first hand people coming in with gun shots.

5. What did you think about this lesson.

Four Serious Violent crimes: Homicide, Rape, Robbery and Aggravated Assault. The observations I made from this assignment were, those that took the Violence Quiz did say they thought crime was increasing in the U.S. yet when we read the answer sheet we were shocked to see the statistics of Violence going down in the U.S. It wasn’t until I read “Homicide - America’s Exceptionalism” that I got a better picture. It was interesting how the statistics from the answer key gave us a national average to help us think about big issues but in reality as big as the U.S is, only certain places in the U.S have higher crime. The U.S. with it being so big, and there are many States, but if you break down the violence in certain areas you get the real picture of where violence occurs. I did learn the history of gun ownership from the 1850’s until the present. Back in the 1850’s the prevalence of gun ownership was well documented and many people had guns. Interesting to read that gun ownership in U.S. declined since the colonial time and pre-1850 era when many households had a variety of guns used for hunting, defending their home etc. Also, only 1% of the guns owned in pre 1850 were short guns. Now statistics show only 1 household in 10 have a pistol or revolver. We are not toting around rifles instead those that own guns have pistols but only a small percentage of people own them. So that shows via this article that the majority of homes are gun free. Guns are not the whole story only part of it. People moving from the countryside to the city or moving to another city either by choice or for a better life does not always guarantee that will help reduce the crime in one area. And even sometimes people are forced out of their neighborhood in order to clean up the neighborhood. This also showed that one departing family did not always produce a positive new family entering the neighborhood. With homicide on the rise in the U.S. and with the judicial system only punishing about 11% of all convicted criminals, this may be where the problem lies is in the court system. When a person knows they will possibly get out early for good behavior or they know that their chances of being sentenced to death they are not afraid to commit the crime. It is troubling to read this and we can all hope as teachers that we can make a difference in our students lives that they become upstanding citizens in their own community and in the world.

Mentioned watching a video on Waterboarding. No link for Video on Waterboarding on Independent Study Page.

**Assignment 5**

Describe a time when you saw someone's brain get "Hijacked" by their Amygdala.

At school where a student was very upset because the student had their laptop taken away. The student had downloaded videos off the internet and had been storing them in the teachers computer drives on our school system. In addition, the student was receiving all “F’s” in every class they were taking. There wasn’t a day where this student wasn’t sitting in the hallway, library or in front of the school with headphones on and either listening to music or watching videos. The student was in a fit of rage when the computer was taken away and they could not control their temper and they only cared about getting their laptop back. Yelling at the teacher and in the teacher’s face saying nobody is taking the computer away. The student was obsessed with his computer (which in fact was a school issued laptop.) The student and the teacher usually got along very well, and on this day the student was out of control. The student had to be without his computer for a week and eventually got it back. His brain was ruled by his emotion and not logic.

I learned that the “amygdala hijack” is three things:
 * 1) a strong emotional reaction
 * 2) a sudden onset
 * 3) and regret for your actions when you reflect later.

When we feel overwhelmed or anxious we can complete these questions in our head before we are taken over by an amygdala hijack:

What am I thinking What am I feeling What do I want How am I getting in my way What do I need to do differently

TED talk by Amy Cuddy

Your body language shapes who you are

A colleague had shared this TED talk at school and it was refreshing to see it again. After watching Amy Cuddy’ TED talk it reminded me that non-verbal body language can be very important in communication. She motivated me not to just “fake it till you make it” but to “fake it till you become it”. By using the Power Pose and having the hormonal changes in our brain helps us to let our nonverbals govern how we think and feel about ourselves. Let our bodies change our minds. Think positively and powerfully for success. This is something we could easily teach our students in school. Show them that we can change a lot with nonverbal body language. We can show them that with non-verbal body language such as showing power, domination, pride we feel that way and our body reacts because of the hormonal changes in our brain. Also, when we feel powerless and when we show high and low power this too will overall have an effect on our body and how we are perceived. We can automatically complement the other’s nonverbal and we mirror behaviors and do the opposite and such is the case when someone is showing dominance we show subordinance. It’s about you talking to yourself (non verbals to yourself) Our body changes our minds, and our minds change our behavior….and our behavior changes our outcomes. So, before the next visit to the Principal’s office or the next interview, I’ll try to use the power pose to get my hormones going so my body reacts appropriately.

**Assignment 6**

What is conflict?- To come to a disagreement What is conflict resolution?- (reconciliation) Coming to a compromise between those that are in conflict.

[|Wikipedia Conflict Resolution] Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest of the group (e.g., intentions; reasons for holding certain beliefs), and by engaging in collective negotiation.

Here is a conflict in which I have participated in recently within my family. My oldest son (26 years old) is getting married and his wife to be (31 years old) is not working (although able to work and has no health issues and is not pregnant or have any reason to stay home) and has an enormous amount of debt. The new wife to be wants an elaborate wedding and her mother is giving $2,000 towards the wedding. My son is willing to put up some of his savings to help with the wedding and I offered to give $4,000 to help them with the wedding. And then the conflict began. My husband and I were in conflict because he felt I should not give that much money because I have my own school debt to pay for. He reminded me that my son said, “Mom, it’s my call that she is not working so I don’t want to hear anything more about this topic.” Then my husband said he would divorce me if I gave my son $4,000 because he would then end up paying for more things because I wouldn't have any money since I would be giving my son about $400 every month.

That being the case, my husband felt that it was my son’s choice not to encourage his new wife to get a job and work and to help put $4,000 herself towards the wedding (wedding is 8 months away). She has plenty of time to be a substitute at a local school, work in an office, department store or use her degree in Graphic Arts and get a job for what she trained for. She is the one who wants this elaborate wedding yet is not willing to help at all. It was a conflict for me because emotionally I wanted to help my son for his wedding. My ex-husband had died of brain cancer last year and I’m the only one left to help my son out for the wedding. First off, I was upset that my husband would say that he would divorce me over what I thought was a nice gesture to help out my son. But, my husband’s points were very clear and made sense to me but emotionally it was hard to call back up my son a few weeks later and tell him I could only give him $1,000 for the wedding. I also mentioned that I thought his new wife should work to help with wedding. My son said to me that he was happy with whatever I could give but he also said, "It's not the first time being disappointed." He was referring to his father who had promised to help with college tuition and ended up not being able to help him out. At that point my husband reminded me that I was the one who helped out my son in college and had given him $5,000 to finish his last semester at Florida Institute of Technology. After a while I said to myself, “what was I thinking”...I have no savings and my son does, his wife should help with the expenses of the wedding if she wants a fancy wedding and as tradition goes, it should be the bride’s side of the family paying for the wedding. But I know as well as anyone else, both sides of the families now a days helps with the expense of the wedding. But for me it was a conflict among my husband and I along with an emotional conflict for me with my son. I would say the Amygdala was working to hinder the conflict as I was emotionally caught up in the situation because it was my son’s wedding. Probably the guilt of divorce, the sadness of his father’s death and being my oldest son, my brain was not thinking financially straight.

Assignment 7
Positive When you take your communication book home I can communicate with your parents and I feel good knowing your parents knows what is going on in the classroom.

Positive When you volunteer in your vocational class in the PX stocking the shampoo bottles I can see that you have good working habits and care about your job and I feel that the managers will want to hire you as an employee this summer.

Corrective When you are mad and hit your friend on the playground I can see that your friend is not happy and their feelings are hurt and I feel that if you use your words instead of hitting you will have more friends.

Dear Abby: Gigi

Corrective Gigi when you take things from my room without asking I lose my trust in you and I don’t believe you are honest and I feel that if I cannot trust you then you will not be allowed in my house.

Positive Gigi I really like your heart of gold and your friendship I can see that you enjoy borrowing my things and I feel that I can let you borrow them if you ask me first.

Extra Credit: You Stink! Link is broken and was not able to review.

Assignment 8
The behavior contract below is something I used in my classroom for a student with autism (moderate to severe disabilities) it is a Self Monitoring Sheet. Student works on self control in the classroom and in their general education setting.

[|Behavior Contract for student in 10th grade (Moderate to Severe).] Self Monitoring Sheet

[|Do2Learn Website] This is a website I refer to often and has great samples of behavior contracts, etc for teachers working with students on the autism spectrum.

The behavior contract below is for a student with an intellectual disability (IQ below 60) and is in the moderate to severe class but goes out to the general education setting and has difficult time keeping his notes from class.

[|Behavior Contract for student in 11th grade (Moderate to Severe) in a general education setting.] Behavior Management Plan

As a SPED teacher, I know that the work in High School is well above their intellectual ability and the students are in these classes more for being with their peers and socializing with their age group. Sometimes we work with parents who want their student in the general education setting but expect them to complete the work and take notes and participate just like the other students. Our students have a difficult time with organization, tracking and taking notes and keeping up with a lecture. This contract also makes the parents accountable as well as the student for taking notes, keeping notes and reading the notes. The student has already told me he would rather be in our Daily Living class to work on his independent skills in life skills ( preparing for meals, cooking, laundry, ironing, etc.) but his parents feel they want him in a general education setting (they hope to get him from reading at a 3rd grade level to an 8th grade level in one year). A student with an IQ of 60 will have a hard time achieving this but sometimes parents are in denial so these contracts help to keep them involved.

Assignment 9
I enjoyed taking the Adult Personality test and finding out what I fit under. After adding all the scores, I came up with “Practical Manager” which fits me perfect. I am an organized person, I have been using lists with checklists forever. I like to decide what I am going to do first before I get into an assignment or project. Also, I find myself managing my time because of my busy schedule taking 3 grad courses and 3 Project Read courses and working full time and all the other jobs I have at work. Even though I am so task oriented, I am a person who goes with the flow to avoid conflict. So if a group of teachers were to go out to dinner, I wouldn’t fuss over what restaurant, instead I would enjoy going out with the group. Whereas, my husband would be in a big debate over which restaurant, concerned over how much each dinner would cost and what type of food and if the portion of the food was worth the price. I do know that everyone, adults and students have different personalities. It would be great if we could match up teachers with students and then the teachers could be more understand their personalities to provide the optimum learning environment for the student.

I took a color personality test my first year of teaching and I fell into the Leadership category and also into the people person category. I can see after 6 years of teaching that I’ve gravitated more towards leadership as I am given more opportunities in leadership positions. The above personality test only shows one type of personality you fall into, but I think most of us have one strong personality and usually we do fall into part of another personality chart.

**Assignment 10**

Assignment #10 Tracey Van De Veire

Compare and Contrast - High School student - Derek in American History X (Derek is the older brother in the movie) and - Homer in October Sky (Homer is the younger brother in the movie)

-In a single family home. (father killed by black drug dealers) -Oldest brother in his family. -Grew up in Southern California in Venice, Los Angeles - a larger city. -Lives during a time of high racial tension. -Growing up and part of the neo-Natzi movement. -Smart student and could write very well according to teacher || Both in High School
 * || Derek (American History X) || Similar to both || Homer (October Sky) ||
 * Compare and Contrast || -1980’s

-Both stole items from their community. || -1950’s -In a traditional family. -Youngest brother in his family. -Father is occupied by his position and his job at the coal mine. -Grew up in Colewood, West Virginia in a small town. -Everyone in the town expects that the males in the town will work in the coal mines. -Smart student and interested in science/rockets. || -Cares about her son, visits him in the prison. || -Mothers genuinely loved their boys unconditionally || Mother believes in her son and allows him to explore his interests. Supportive of his son and attends his shooting off of his rockets. || and Role of teacher Miss Riley in Homer’s life || -Murray was Danny’s teacher (Danny is Derek’s younger brother). -Murray tried to expel the younger brother when he wrote a story about Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Murray was dating their mother and while over for dinner, Derek revealed his membership in the neo-Nazi gang. -Murray left the family feeling he couldn’t help change Danny from entering into the same life as his older brother Derek. || -Both were bright students in their schools || -Miss Riley believed in him and encouraged him to enter a Science Fair. -Showed her disappointment when Homer started working at coal mine instead of going for his goal of entering the science fair. -Never gave up encouraging the boys to continue their goal of going to Science Fair. -Gave a resourceful rocket book to Homer for his birthday. -Stood up to the Principal to support her students. || -Cared about the younger brother and tried to keep him out of gangs while Derek was in prison for killing other gang members. -Continued to reach out to Derek even after he graduated from High School. -Visited Derek in jail. Told him that he used to hate white people, but learned that hatred is pointless. ||  || Principal believed all students would become coal miners. Only believed a few would go on to do other jobs/careers. -Once Homer proved that his rocket did not start a fire, allowed Homer to continue with his science project. -Supported Homer to go to the Science Fair in Indianapolis. -When Miss Riley was sick, Homer visited her to show his winning medal. || -Racial tension during this time. ||  || -Community of Homer was supportive of the Rocket Boys. -Helped to make parts for the rockets. ||
 * Role of nurture in families || -Father (when alive) was anti-affirmative action and against political correctness. || -Family provided home and food and cared that their children went to school. || -Father only wanted his son to work in the coal mine and follow his footsteps. ||
 * Role of the mother in development of each || -Mother is present in the life of Derek but she seems to let him do what he wants and doesn’t stop him from joining the neo-Natzi movement.
 * Role of teacher Murray in Derek’s Life
 * Role of the two principals in the lives of Derek and Homer || -Principal used to be Derek’s teacher when he was in High School
 * Role of the community in the lives of Derek and Homer || -Community of Derek was filled with violence and gangs.

Bonus for Peace in our schools for our students:
I went to a conference in Seoul and met this man who started a website for children to post drawings or poems about Peace.

Here is the website: I[|FLAC Children's Peace Train]

Additional Bonus for you - My classroom students with moderate to severe disabilities participated in the project and wrote their story and drew their pictures. Take a look and enjoy!

[|Peace in my Life by - Wade]

[|Peace in my Life by - Sarah]

[|Peace in my Life by - Brenda]

[|Peace in my Life by - Jeani]

[|Peace in my Life by - Asia]