Garcia,+Irma

Hello everyone, my name is Irma Armandina Garcia Garza and I'm 25 years old. I am from the beautiful city of Monterrey, Mexico and have been teaching here since I started my career. This is my 5th year teaching. After I graduated, the first two years of my teaching experience were spent working with three year olds at a kindergarten. This was an exciting and thrilling experience there was an unexpected adventure each day. I think that this was a very positive way for me to start in the field of teaching and helped me to realize what type of atmosphere I could create with my students. After two years with primary students, I decided to look for new challenges and started working at ASFM as a Permanent substitute. In this new role, I was able to teach every subject from 6th to 12th grade. I have found this experience extremely valuable, as I have been able to get to know students throughout their Middle and High School careers as well as have been able to experience different subject areas and different teaching styles based on every new classroom I work in. This has been my position for the past three years and it has been the best learning experience I've had. Because of this opportunity, I’ve been exposed to different grade levels and challenges in classroom management. It has been truly amazing, as I have now taught students from the age of three to the age of eighteen, something that I hope with help me in my new experiences as an expectant mother.



Activity #1  A course in Conflict Resolution/ Peaceable Schools should be about solving different issues in school. There are several different kinds of issues that one might encounter in a school. Some can be student-teacher conflicts, when a student has a problem with their grades or with some of the teacher's rules it can unfold a complication.

Some other problems we can encounter in a school environment can be a student-parent, when the parents have a strong reaction to an event that their child experienced at school. They can be angry or devastated if their child failed the year, got suspended or expelled for bad behavior or any other situation like this. This kind of student-parent dispute can affect the student performance in school further on.

 Issues in school can also be Administration- Teacher, in where the teacher is not meeting the expectation the school and administration has set for instructors. This course should help us resolve issues within the staff and administration so that the students get a great and fair instruction while the teacher gets the resources and help they need to provide this.

Another kind of problem can be parent-teacher, where the parents have a conflict with their child's teacher and the way they grade, their flexibility or way they teach.

In this course I wish to include the 4 different types of issues I described; student-teacher, student-parent, teacher-administration, parent-teacher. I would also like to get a general idea of what a peaceable school might look and feel like and what my school can add or change to make it possible.

Activity # 2

 The film exposed the theme of nature vs. nurture in an interesting manner. I found that the nurture overpowered the nature in this movie. We could see it in Derek's house with his siblings. Although they were born from the same parents, grew in the same house under the influence of their father and family, the boys from the family grew up to have strong negative racist feelings, and their sisters didn't.

 Derek was not a bad person; he was influenced by the wrong crowd and got convinced of some beliefs that were not positive. It was disappointing to see how Derek started to get lost in his way, when his father started giving him racist ideas telling him not to listen to his teacher Dr. Bob Sweeney about everyone being equal and deserving the same. We could see the struggle happening between the influences of his teacher vs. the influence of his father.

 Derek has the strong influence from Dr. Bob Sweeney to help him get back on track. It takes a long time for Derek to get his mind straight; it was not only with Sweeney's help that he changes his racist beliefs. He has a tough experience in jail in which his "white" friends betray him and hurt him for playing basketball and hanging out with the "black" crowd. He has been hanging out with a black man every day folding laundry and realized how wrong he was for judging and discriminating black people. He gets betrayed once again by his own girlfriend and gang when he's out of jail and asks his girlfriend to move away with him, he didn't believe in that any more. His girlfriend tells the gang that he has changed and they should shoot him. Derek couldn't believe how much out of hand things had gotten and yells at Danny to go with him.

 I think Sweeney does the right thing every time, trying to help Derek get away from the gang and then help Danny. We see a powerful scene when the Jewish teacher storms into Sweeney's office complaining about Danny, and giving up on helping someone like him. That teacher had dated Danny's mother and had seen how problematic their family was and how troubling were Derek's beliefs, now being followed by Danny. Sweeney doesn't give up on that family and is also very much involved in helping them and the police with gang problems so that his school can become a safe place. He's a person who is willing to try his best to help students, in this case Danny and before that, Derek, get away from gang and racist beliefs. He starts with Derek by teaching him about equality with books and literature inside a classroom and takes on the responsibility of the Jewish teacher that gave up on Danny and he becomes his teacher.

 I think that Sweeny is doing all that it takes to have a peaceable school in a troubled society. We need teachers or leaders like Sweeney in our school. People who are willing to stay and fight for their students and help them. In the film we saw how Sweeney helped get Derek out of jail and talked to him so that Danny wouldn't go the same path as he did. It was a matter of one single day that would've made the difference and maybe Danny wouldn't have died. If Derek had gotten out of jail a day before he did, he could've talked to Danny and convinced him that the racist ideas and Cameron's gang were not correct or important, Danny's attitude towards the black boy who killed him would've been different. I think Danny wouldn't have gone to the basketball court and mockingly smiling and challenging the black men playing. It made them angry and caused them to kill Danny afterwards. It was just one day that could've made the difference to Danny and Derek's life. Teachers and leaders in a school should keep this in mind and know that every day counts, every day fighting for a peaceable school and for its students is one that can make a great difference.

Activity # 3

 A. Remembering the film we just watched describe what the elements of a peaceable community or peaceable school might be:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What would a peaceable school or community look like?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> A peaceable school or community would have people respecting each other and working together towards a common goal, learning.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What elements of communication would be included?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It would include posters and advertisements around the school promoting respect, equality and peace. The school could celebrate UN's Peace Day and give out flyers of what it is. Teachers could post book recommendations on bulletin boards or the hallway that would help students open their minds to new ideas and accept different cultures, religions, beliefs, and see everything equally important and valuable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What would be tolerated and what would not be tolerated?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Respect and Tolerance to all students, staff and people inside the campus would be tolerated. Everyone should be treated equally and with respect, and be willing to help out each other. No bullying will be tolerated, at any level.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What would the rules be?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The rules would be simple:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Respect each other and the community (including school property)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Treat others, as you would like to be treated.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Be responsible of your actions

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Use appropriate language at all times

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What would the expectations be?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The expectation would include students and staff members working together in maintaining a peaceful environment by learning about different cultures, promote peace ( MUN programs, or Character Ed.) and helping solve conflicts within the school community.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What would the responsibilities be?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Everyone in the school would be responsible of maintaining the peaceful community by intervening to solve conflicts. Teachers will also work with students to create different kinds of media (posters, songs, bulletins, announcements) that can help with the peaceful school environment inviting all to respect one another and different cultures.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B. Do a web search for Oscar Arias (use a minimum of two sites other than wikipedia)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1987/arias-bio.html

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://www.oscararias.cr/index.php/bio

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C. Read the Oscar Arias speech to the international educators at the Tri-Association, found at this

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. Post Journal Entry #3 on your web page. (250 - 500 words)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Describe how if Hank (your professor) came to your classroom or community he would observe the elements of a peaceable community.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What evidence would he see?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How will you promote peace in your community?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> If Hank came to visit ASFM he would find a working peaceful community. He would observe how the hallways are filled with different bulletin boards including information about different multicultural groups or interest groups. He will find an open culture school community in which different likes or interests are respected. There is a different activity open for everyone, from learning and sharing new languages and cultures, sports, green team, Spanish Club, reading clubs, movies, board games, chess, Drama, to Choir, etc. The teachers and students are growing with these different alternatives for interests until they get to see it as normal and equal. Students get to respect each club and give the same importance to sports than to the Drama department. Bullying in those areas have decreased.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When walking inside the library, Hank could get to see different kinds of books involving diverse cultures, wars, history, and places. The library is a place open to different interests and no one judges what kinds of books each individual picks out to read. They have bulletin boards and send e-mails informing staff and students about banned books and the story behind them. They provide options and promote tolerance and respect.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The students are also involved in Model United Nations Program (MUN). Some of the students take thus class and not only have simulations but are also in charge of communicating to the school the different events, treaties, wars, or current events that are going on around the world. They are in charge of one bulletin board, which they fill out with this information. Once a year, they take over every bulletin board in the school and some space in the walls to post important information and how peace is important. The school also celebrates Peace Day. The MUN class plans the events; they show videos, wear white and promote peace. The school promotes these events so that students can take the things that are going on in the world and apply it to their own culture inside the school. I would keep doing the same things the school is doing to keep promoting peace in my community. I think Hank would be very pleased with the working towards peaceful community we got going on in this school.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activity # 4

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I think that the rate of homicide violence has gone down in the last 800 years because people are getting more education, have less reliance on physical force to survive in society, and there has been a change from Feudalism to Capitalism. We now have infrastructure, institutions, judicial system, constitution and laws that help establish the way people should act and help control our society better.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I actually overestimated violence in the United States. I thought that violence had been increasing in the last years and there was actually a problem of crime going on. I believe my misrepresentation of violence was due to the representation of Availability Heuristic. This describes how easily something comes to mind, for example, the more graphic something it, the easier it comes to mind. In this case, violent crimes (ie. Ferguson case) help create a picture in your head with the help of the media and how they represent it causing your mind to overestimate a higher probability of violence in the United States.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In general the four subject colleagues thought the same thing I did, that crime in the United States was increasing. I think they got this idea the same way I got mine, from the media and how they represent various criminal acts on news. Their minds can generalize ideas the same way I did.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I found this lesson interesting and an eye opener in that United States is not so bad in violence and criminal acts as I though. I read the Article about the comparison between Western Europe and United States Crime and found interesting that Western Europe has less violent crimes and has decreasing violent rates much faster than the United States. When comparing these two, the United States shows some increase in violent crimes in a lapse of 200 years, but the big picture is still the same for United States, their violent crime curve is still decreasing. The article talked about some of the reasons why United States homicide rate is higher than Europe, which included, mobility and the tolerance they developed for religious and cultural differences.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I don't believe that using "Enhanced Interrogation" or torture techniques is helpful for either side. The tortures may not be getting the whole truth. The ones receiving the interrogation (either Waterboarding or any other technique) suffer such a high degree of pain that they may become psychologically damaged, and, as previously stated, any information drawn from them may be unreliable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the consequences of torture not always considered is the aftermath of the actions: the persons being tortured may develop PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Depression, Anxiety Disorder, or other psychological diseases, and become un-adapted socially speaking.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In addition, the person being tortured may die during the process of being tortured, and if this is the case, then no information will be gathered at all.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In general, I believe that torture is a violation of basic human rights. I do not think that torture is the right mechanism to withdraw information. In fact, torture is now illegal in a large number of countries. The United Nations has declared torture as inacceptable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In my opinion, an ethical alternative to waterboarding, or any other form of torture, is to hold a sincere negotiation with the prisoner. Exchanging information for a less strict punishment may be a path to obtaining the desired information. But even then, the risk of information being false is still present.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> As stated above, Session four was an interesting and an eye opener session for me. I overestimated violent crimes and homicides in the United States. It was a learning experience for me to discover that United States is actually not that bad in this area. Compared to Western Europe Civilization, United States still has some work to do, but it is not that bad at all. It was interesting to read about the reasons why US is still not that great like Western Europe. The topic of mobility, having people leaving "bad neighborhoods" and moving into new ones helped make the violent areas even more violent and have crime increase in certain areas. The tolerance of religious and cultural beliefs also made the United States' Jury more lax and tolerated more crime, in a way that fewer crimes were being rightly punished. This lesson made me realize the effect of torture in people. Waterboarding is only one type of "Enhanced Interrogation" technique that is not very helpful for either parts, the interrogator or the tortured one. It causes the person being questioned to give any kind of information, not necessarily the truth, in order for the torture to stop. It is a way of violence that affects the person psychologically. I am completely against any kind of torture for questioning and believe it is an unnecessary use of violence. In general, I found this session very informative and interesting.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activity # 5

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I saw one of my friends brain get hijacked by their Amygdala when she jumped out form her car thinking it might explode because she could smell something different in it. We were driving from her house to another friends house and we were going down a hill. I was driving a separate car behind hers. She was using her breaks a lot and when we got down from the hill she started to smell something burning and saw a little smoke coming out from under her car. Instead of stopping the car and getting down to see what had happened, I just saw her jump out of her car and her car kept on going and stopped when it bumped with a sidewalk and light post. I parked my car went down to help my friend and asked her what had happened. She explained she saw the smoke and smelled something burning so it made her believe her car was going to set on fire and explode. Her reaction was to jump out of her car to save herself. The good thing was that no one got severely hurt; she just had some scrapes on her. She was incredibly embarrassed of what she had done and said that it was a reaction, that se didn't think it through. This is an example of her brain being hijacked by her amygdala; it was a fight or flight response acting without thinking, but with emotion.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Watching Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk made me realize how important body poses are for your brain. The fact that your body poses can affect the way you think and feel about yourself is incredible. She discussed different ways in which hormones affect the way people feel about themselves and how hormones can be altered so easily with body positions. I found it interesting the way she talked about the study they implemented with different kinds of people going to a job interview. Each individual was given a body pose to do for 2 minutes before the interview started. Some were high power poses and some were low power poses. The results were amazing. People who had their bodies in a high power pose for the two minutes before the interview had better, more positive results than the other group. The body can help you gain confidence and alter some hormones in your body that can help you be successful in life. The vide started with the quote "Fake it till you Make it", stating that even if you're not a confident high power person you can use your body position to fake it until you make it, and you get what you want. I loved how the video ends in that you don’t have to "fake it till you make" it but rather "fake it till you become it" so you can feel you deserve to be where you are. This kind of exercise with your body can take time and efforts to get you were you really want to be but it's a great way with positive outcome that can help. I loved the experiment and the tips she gives out. I'm sure going to follow them. I find incredible how much body positions can influence what others think of you and even more what you believe of yourself.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assignment # 6

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, Conflict is a struggle for power, property, etc. A strong disagreement between people, groups that results in often argument.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conflict resolution is the process of resolving a dispute or a conflict meeting at least some of each side's needs and addressing their interests, according to Harvard's Law School daily blog post.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. One conflict that I have observed in terms of a hijacked brain could be when I was working in a kindergarten 3 years ago and a boy bit a girl in her arm because they were fighting over a toy and the mother of the bit girl lost it.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. The brain hijacked by the amygdala in this case was not only the boy's who was the one who bit the girl, but the girl's mother! When she came to pick up her child and saw the bite, she went into the classroom, shouting at the teacher asking who was the one who bit her girl because she wanted to bite him/her back. The principal walked into the classroom and with the teachers help got her to leave the classroom and go to the office to talk. She was calm after a while but her amygdala definitely hijacked her brain and she acted with emotion, she got angry that someone had hurt her baby and blamed the teacher for not being able to stop the boy form biting her daughter and the boy for biting.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Do the involvement of emotions and the Amygdala always-hinder conflict resolution?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I believe that emotions and the Amygdala always present obstacles or hinder conflict resolutions. Emotions make the conflict more personal and difficult to reason with. People take every conflict more personal with emotions and are willing to defend their own point of view vehemently.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activity # 7

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> a) (To my husband): I am getting bigger because of the pregnancy, I do not have the right clothes for my size. This makes me feel very uncomfortable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Response: He spent a couple of hundred dollars with me on Black Friday to purchase the right clothes for my second trimester of the pregnancy.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> b) (To my husband): You have taken the trash out and paid the bills this month. I did not have to do as much this month and I am very thankful for that.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Response: He was very glad about the compliment I gave him and told me he would do it next month as well so that I could rest.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> c) (Yet again, to my husband. He is my guinea-pig): You had the initiative to begin reading a book about pregnancies to understand what I am going through. I do not have to go through this alone, and so I feel very close to you and loved by you.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Response: "Well... I have not read it yet, but I promise you I will get to it! Love you"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> a) Gigi, you have the habit of going through the belongings of my house without asking for permission. Those belongings now include my boyfriend's as well. My boyfriend and I have no privacy and that makes us feel very uncomfortable.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> b) Gigi, my best friend. You have not gone through the belongings of my house without first checking with me to see it was OK. I have found everything in its place, and this makes me feel like I have my privacy again, and thankful.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activity # 8

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> This behavior contract was used for a student that demanded a lot of attention. He is a smart student but was determined to steal the attention of the whole class from the teacher at all times. He is a student in need of attention and is constantly disrupting class with jokes; shout outs, or comments every time the teacher is trying to teach.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> We talked and decided to implement a Behavior Contract. Parents were contacted and were part of this contract. It was important for parents to participate in this case because the student was reaching out for attention, having his parents involved motivated him more. This way the motivation for his good behavior was greater; he wanted his parents to notice his improvement. He wanted to feel appreciated. The contract included the following:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He agreed to the following:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1.Show respect to my teacher and peers inside the classroom by controlling shout outs and jokes.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Listen to the teacher and peers while they are speaking and wait for my turn to comment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The contract sheet looked like this:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Behavior Contract

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Name:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reason(s) for the contract:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day of the week || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Positive Behavior || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Negative Behavior ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reflection (Teacher):

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reflection (Student):

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Steps for Next Week:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reflection (Parents):

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Student Signature <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Parent Signature <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teacher Signature

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> With this contract, the student would receive positive behavior comments as well as negative behavior comments every day, having as a goal to fill out the column of the positive behavior comments and leave the negative behavior comments blank. In this specific case, the student was on the contract for 4 weeks. That was all the time it took for us to reach the goal. The parents were satisfied as well as the student. This case was a much more extrinsic motivator because the student wanted attention. He knew that he would get more attention from home and from the teacher individually when he could achieve the goal. The student was trying to gain some external reward and avoid punishment. The intrinsic motivator would be something within him, something that would give him an internal reward that is something we didn't see in this student's case.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activity # 9

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I took the personality profile test and was surprised by one of the results from it. I had two predominant personality prototypes, People Person and Learned Expert. I expected the People Person prototype; I think that part was really accurate. The Learned Expert part of my results was the surprising part for me. I knew I was a person who liked the facts and want to have the information before I start working on something new but I didn't think that would be a predominant part of my personality. I think that the combination of both makes it interesting. I completely agree with the results of the Personality Profile test I took, it made sense when I thought about it and commented the results with my husband.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My husband's results really described him; we were surprised by the accuracy of the test. His results showed predominance in Practical Manager and Learned Expert. I think this helps us balance each other out. His personality is completely explained by the Practical Manager prototype and he's also a person who's interested in the facts and is always looking for more learning opportunities. We found this Personality Prototype test very useful and valid for describing different people's personality profile.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Activity # 10:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. The role of nurture by the families of the two main characters, Derrick and Homer.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Both main characters in the movies had a strong nurture influence from their fathers. In the movie American History X, Derrick's father is a fire man who tells Derek that black people shouldn't be treated the same as white people. He expresses his anger about equality during dinner and tells his son not to believe or get miss leaded by his English teacher Dr. Sweeney. The boy looks up to his father and believes that the right thing to do is not to let hos father down and follow his beliefs.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Something similar goes on in Homer's life. His father is the hero, the best mine digger there is in the town. No one has much of a choice; they are expected to work on the mines when they grow up, only a few get to go to college on sports scholarship. His Father believes that Homer's interests in stars are childish things and he has to grow up and start concentrating on the mine. Homer works for a while in the mines to help out his father's hospital bill and proves out to be one of the best down there. His father is so proud of him and constantly repeats that he was born for the mines and he was glad to see that Homer was too. Both characters followed what their father's believed in for a while, but at the end they chose their own path, one chose to get away from the violence and discrimination, while the other pursued his dream in rockets and space.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. The role of the mother in the development of each of the two main characters Derrick and Homer.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> We can see that both mothers in both movies don't really have much of a say on what the father believes and tells his children. In American History X the mother doesn't support the fathers ideas and it is until his husband died that she expresses Derrick how much she's against that kind of violence. Derrick gets to protect her and take care of her at the end when she is sick and worried about Danny. His mom tries to get both of her sons away from the horrible violence.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In October Sky we can see Homer's mother disapproving her husbands ideas and way he treats her son. She gets the courage to tell him she's going to leave him if he doesn't start supporting their son in what he's interested in. It is with her help that Homer's father realizes he needs to support his son and help him get his goal, the college scholarship by winning the science fair.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both mothers have little say on what the father promotes but at the end both mothers get their sons to stop following what their fathers had nurtured and start living by doing what they believe in.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. The role of the teacher Murray in Derrick’s life and the role of Miss Reilly in Homer’s life.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The role of teacher Murray in Derrick's life is not a very positive one. The teacher gives up on Derrick, Danny and their whole family when he realizes that Derrick’s beliefs are too strong and negative. He wanted to help and started dating their mother but he got scared of the horrible things Derrick was living and doing and decided to walk the other way. He wasn't a positive role for much time in Derrick's life. In the contrary, Miss Reilly believed in Homer's dream and interest. She wanted to believe that her students could get somewhere, that they could get far and a scholarship to get away from the mine work and become someone important. She supports Homer's idea and defends him from the principal. She's on his side and is extremely proud when she gets to see he made a difference with his life. He got to go to the science fair, win and get a scholarship. She felt complete that she could do a difference in some of her students. Miss Reilly was a positive role model and support for Homer it's what kept him going.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. The role of the two principals in the lives of Derrick and Homer.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The role of the two principles in Derrick's and Homer's lives are very different. Principal Sweeney gives his best to help Derrick get out of jail, fix his live and his family's. He is willing to do extra work, and visit him in jail in order to keep helping him and guide him to a positive future. He is a positive role model for Derrick and his family.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In the contrary, Principal turner doesn't give the same support to Homer. He believes that Homer is a criminal and that he set fire to the woods while trying to get his rocket to fly. Homer leaves school in order to work on the mines and the principal is happy he's doing that. When Homer proves that they weren't the ones who caused the fire, Principal Turner doesn't believe him, it is Miss Willey who has to convince Principal Turner to listen. Its until the end, when Homer proves his innocence and that he's good at what he likes, flying rockets, that Principal Turner starts believing that someone from his school can actually make a difference and win the science fair, and get those types of scholarships and starts supporting Homer.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. The role of the community in the lives of Derrick and Homer.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The role of the community in both films is important to the characters. In American History X Derrick is surrounded by people who think like he does, they are violent and discriminate black people or different races of people. He is exposed to constant hate and violence. The School community turns out to be the same. Black boys attack white boys in the bathroom and the other way around. They live in a community where there is very little social acceptance to equality of races. This helps Derrick keep his beliefs and keep living in the violent surroundings he lives in.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the other hand, Homer's community revolves around mine workers. It's a small community that believes that the majority of the men should grow up to work on the mines. Boys have little opportunities to become something different, the other way out of the mines is by getting a sport scholarship. The majority of the boys don't have aspirations they live in a community where they are told since they are kids what they are going to become in the future, mineworkers. It's difficult for everyone to understand Homer's wish to become something different, to reach his goal of flying a rocket ship and getting away of that town with a scholarship.