Gutierrez,+Jessica

Bio: I am a teaching assistant at the American School of Bilbao. The past few years I have been dedicating my time to evolve as a practitioner. I came to know about this Master's Program with SUNY thanks to the ECIS International Teacher Certificate. During my research with ECIS I also familiarized myself with the PYP IB program which I have instilled into my teaching program. This is my second semester enrolled and hope to complete the Master's program by Spring 2016. I love teaching, the theory and practice; understanding more about learning by pushing beyond my comfort zone. Apart from my commitment to my profession I am also a wife and mother to two small girls. They both were born in Bilbao, Spain and are fluent in English, Spanish and Basque. As a family we spend our days outdoors; playing, walking and exploring. Our latest household experiment is to grow an avocado tree, we have just started the process today, fingers crossed. I love the outdoors, reading, cooking and a good bottle of wine.
 * Jessica Gutierrez**

I am looking forward to delving into Conflict Resolution and Peaceable Schools. I imagine we will be studying aspects of Social and Emotional Health, positive communication skills, mindfulness, cooperative and collaborative skills, and ways in which these topics can be incorporated into the curriculum. Along with these aspects mentioned before it would be important to practice skills of managing emotions and controlling one's reaction's to emotional impulses. Reading and practicing methods to improve reflective and objective analyses of one's actions; what are the possible consequences of my actions? The development of self awareness and noticing pitfalls or obstacles and building one's ability to regroup and turn them to positive learning experiences. Building one's ability to look at the long term and create a schema to achieve set or determined goals. I Hope to learn more about: 1. How to promote these values of Conflict Resolution within a school's culture (faculty, student, parent, community) 2. Forms of evaluating a socially and emotionally healthy individual 3. Explore case studies where resilience, commitment, persistence, empathy and listening skills are used in the classroom setting, intertwined within the curriculum. 4. Ways to implement a physical and emotional environment that supports creative teaching and learning. 5. How to connect theses learning points stated above in unison with digital citizenship and media.

=Assignment 2= I watched this film with my husband we connected the overall issue of conflict with situations that are relevant in our lives and the world. **Role of nature and nurture in the film** I had to do some research on what was meant by nature and nurture. I understand the role of nature to be a pre-destined outcome or present reality. You are born into a a situation (poverty or wealth, high IQ or mental dysfunction, etc) it’s a variable that isn’t likely to change. This makes me ask myself, does that nature create or provoke conflict? I think that circumstances when difficult can create/ provoke conflict. Issues arise that effect factors (family, work, personal, health, etc.) and directly or indirectly provoke conflict. In the movie for me there isn’t very apparent nature roles that impact the film. Nurture are the environments (home life, social status, schooling, community involvement) that influence your growth as a human. It is believed that the role of nurture is an important part in the early childhood years as well as in adolescent years. The environment is a critical part to the growth of an individual. In the early years, parental/ family affection, stability and engaging play help stimulate and foster positive advancement in a young child’s social, emotional, physical and health development. In the adolescent years there is a emotional, social and physical transition, they are in the process of re-discovery and questioning. The adolescent is under constant external influence, socially from family, friends, school teachers, coaches and themselves. Their physical selves are changing which brings about lots of emotional discomfort, sadness, anger, frustration. These aspects really affect each other. It was a powerful moment for Dereck to lose his father, especially in such a vulnerable moment during his development. You can be sympathetic to the fact he was having emotional and social growing pains between what he felt was right and what his father enforced as right, along with that he couldn’t necessarily resolve the conflict of understanding about race and inequalities between one another. It was interesting to see how “in tune” Dani was as an earlier adolescent being able to pin point and face such a determining factor of his brother’s life and being empathic of what distorted and determined his brother Dereck’s reality. **Role of school, teachers and mentors in the film** The school environment was “race” divided. There was not a diverse social grouping of kids. It seemed very stereotyped, which I think was the intent of the film. It would have been interesting to see ways the school as an institute provided support and advising on conflict. It needs to be understood that adolescents are transitioning from who the have know themselves to be to who they will become, they aren’t themselves. As a school we should relieve pressures while supporting and empathizing with their changes, because this won’t be the only time in their lives they will feel this. Skills and practices should be coached and grown to foster healthy young adults. The teachers in the film were critical especially Dr. Sweeney. He was a passionate educator. He was clear messaged and portrays a sense of purpose. He was actively involved with the students and in the community. Dr. Sweeney was a determining and influential character for Dereck, always calm and matter of fact, humble yet authoritative. Another teacher was Murray. He was the english teacher and expected respect due to his role, yet respect is gained through communication and listening, did Murray do this? I think he tried to until personally attacked and offended. He seemed even minded and balanced, yet with Dani he was impatient and quick to try and suspend him. Murray wasn’t rude or degrading to any people in the film, he tried to understand Dereck viewpoints and respectfully discuss them, Dereck's beliefs ran too deep, for dialogue to progress. One of the mentors to Dereck was Cameron. Cameron utilized Dereck, I think Dereck connected to Cameron because of father. Derek liked that feeling of being influenced, this influenced fuel his frustrations in a violent way that gave him so type of release. Cameron displayed power through Dereck without real “consciousness” for his actions. Meanwhile, Dereck thrived on the “matter of fact” circumstances (social inequalities) that brought about changed his environment and justified his actions because social inequalities were misconstrued. Cameron fed Dereck anger and reason to blame. The opposite of Cameron is Dr. Sweeney a mentor to Dani and Dereck. Sweeney tries to pacify that anger and rage through self-reflection and understanding of how events shaped the people that Dani and Dereck had become. A mentor is a powerful role to play because the “student” trusts and respects the idea’s and value's of their guide. Mentor's are influential and develop the thinking of their student's, it's a tremendous opportunity for the mentor to also self-reflect and re-evaluate their own value's and idea’s. Through mentoring both parties grow, emotionally, professionally and personally. You can see this evolution of mentor and student in American History X.

The amount of loathing and hate was overwhelming and shocking to see yet we see this continually in our world around us today like with the Freguson, Missouri shooting and the attacks in France to civilians over the past year, apart for the many tragedies that occur throughout the rest of the world. So again I question and contemplate the ways we can “influence” the young generations to construct meaning through global understanding, realizing that our actions influence not only directly ourselves but also others indirectly; from what we buy and eat to the decisions we make when we tease or invite others to join in. We must think about the big picture and how all communities can best benefit, ways to do this are providing nurturing coaching and mentoring environments. =Assignment 3=

After watching American History X what do you think are some elements of a peaceable school or community. A peaceable community would exhibit practices of kindness, respect and empathy would be mirrored in all members, through their way of being and acting towards one another. A peaceable school or community would be place where dialogue was valued. People would be able to speak openly and respectfully to one another. Conflict wouldn’t be avoided, it was be something normal and natural, it would be inferred that it is a way to understand and progress professionally, emotionally and socially. A peaceable community would tolerant emotional out breaks or loss of control due to social or emotional distress. The communities goal is to grow people who consider how their actions effect the community, both positively and negatively. Intentional acts or displays of hatred, bullying, causing public or private humiliation or shaming would not be tolerated. The rules in peaceable community would be respect above all, communication, active listening and cooperation. Other nitty gritty rules could be develop by students and teachers together, these would prove to be relevant in their classrooms, for example, guidelines for writing a paper, playing outdoors, hallway or lunchroom manners, etc. Other people within our community, such as parents; would also be involved in the ruling making process with the children and faculty. The expectations would be the above, respect, communication, active listening, cooperation, kindness, empathy, commitment to your community. Commitment to your community by volunteering and engaging with the community members, showing acts of kindness, displaying respect for property, people and self.
 * What would a peaceable school or community look like?
 * What elements of communication would be included?
 * What would be tolerated and what would not be tolerated?
 * What would the rules be?
 * What would the expectations be?
 * What would the responsibilities be?

Sources read about Oscar Arias.

[] [] [|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Arias] []

Describe how if Hank (your professor) came to your classroom or community he would observe the elements of a peaceable community. My classroom in a Nursery, we provide care for children between 1-3 years of age. Some elements you would observe in our community include; taking care of our classroom materials, learning the beginning steps towards independence. Being able to care for a friend, give a hug when someone is crying, offer a tissue to wipe one’s nose, offer a toy or book for another classmate to play with or read, give a nice touch to a friend when we have hit or pushed another. In our school community some elements of a peaceable school include, the patrol program we follow; this program provides steps and builds skills in conflict resolution. Another example includes our Model of United Nations club which debate and bring awareness to our community about ethical and moral global issues and how individuals can influence action. In our Upper School section students are recognized for positive displays of behaviors, like punctuality, displays of polite manners and ways the support In my community I try to model positive behavior with students, parents and faculty. I am now head for the CIS accreditation committee where we are doing a self-study on the topic of School Culture and Partnership. The goal here is to learn about how our school promotes physically, socially and emotionally healthy individuals. It explores ways that parents and the school promote and foster these qualities in our community. We eventually will be brainstorming ways in which we can further evolve in becoming a peaceable school. At the moment I am also a CAS coordinator, I am working a various students in ways they can develop a healthy lifestyle, emotionally and physically. Some projects that they students are developing come from this course; for example the students are will be investigating and discussing ways in which our community exhibits kindness and empathy with those around them. They will be creating a visible space where pictures, drawings, poems, writings, etc. can be shared to reflect upon and celebrate as a community. Another idea being evolved in a Think Tank that the students will create a space where topics of globalization, international mindedness, tolerance, conflict resolution and other concerns will be investigated throughout the school community.
 * What evidence would he see?
 * How will you promote peace in your community?

=Assignment 4= The article by Monkkonen about the differences in violence ratings in Europe vs America, touched on many factors that effect one's understandings of violence and what constitutes violence as something that is “measured.” He points out some possible reasons for why homicide violence has decreased over the last 800 years some include; the growth of democracy, the demise of slavery in the U.S. and the growth of urban societies and uniformed local police in the Western world.

Four of the subject colleagues are ex-patriates who have now been living abroad myself 10 years and the rest 25 years +, the other subject colleague is a British national also living abroad for 25 years +. I and two other colleagues over estimated violence in the U.S. The other pair that took the quiz had a more positive view of the history of violence in the U.S. over the past 40 years. All subject colleagues put false for the the first question, we didn't think that that the serious crime rate in the U.S. had been fairly constant. I think that we all put False due to the types of news, media, and information we receive from news channels, news papers, blogs, etc. The world doesn't report about enough about growths or accomplishments of people, society, or countries they tend to report about violence, destruction, grievances and disorder. Due to this the majority of people who are mostly informed by news aren't sent facts such as, the increase or decrease of violence rates, but stories of violence that are ongoing and ever so present. We all again agreed that the second statement was false; fewer people are being arrested even though the population has increased in the past 30 years. If this were true it would be a negative correlation and logically one would apply a growth in population with a rise in arrests due to violence. My subject colleagues were divided on the third, fourth and fifth statements. I think these differences of opinions are due to ones own interpretations of information they receive and even their background knowledge of the subject, maybe they have been exposed to factors that others haven't experiencedThe last two statements were interesting to me because it is difficult to associate my culture with violence, whereas some cultures in the western world I feel have been portrayed as having violent tendencies. This make question what people if the western world portray my own culture as violent and further questioning what they feel are violent crimes.

Watching this video made my heart race, it started from the moment the interrogator explained his reasoning about the differences between torture and “enhanced” interrogation techniques. The function of using “enhanced” interrogation techniques is to instill fear and panic. He explains that torture draws blood, but to me any type of un-consented withdrawal of blood would instill fear and panic for my own life. I think both forms can be classified under torture. As for the use of these methods as a means to obtain information, honestly gives me shivers and makes me cringe. I have never thought of what my own opinion is towards this topic, but I can say that I feel it is barbaric and that I would never wish anybody to be put in either the interrogator and the one being interrogated position. It amazes me to see the ways in which our world has progressed technically and socially, but on the other hand it shocks me to see the ways in which our world have not been able to progress emotionally. Would I explicitly teach this topic in a classroom? Yes, I think we need people to question their perceptions of reality and be able to come to an opinion based on their beliefs and principles; and the connection of those thoughts with the global world.
 * Response to “enhanced” interrogation techniques:**

From analyzing the quizzes, reading about Mockkonen research on violent crime history and watching the video on waterboarding; I have begun to question my own pre-conceived notions about violence. It was interesting to read how Mockkonen felt about including all of the U.S. under one average of violence, he felt this wasn't representative of the U.S. as a whole and his hope to reconstruct the averages for more interpretable data. This I will keep in mind when I do my own data analyses during my profession. He very aware of different factors that affect data such as mobility in population, social constructs (race segregated and class fractured), slums and gangs, gun ownership, manliness, federalism. He really looks into all aspects that might consider why the U.S. is more violent than Europe; I enjoyed reading the way he questions himself, brings to light the differences in socio-political factors between West and the U.S. that might influence U.S. violence. Doing this assignment reminds me again about the bigger picture and how important details and having an open-mind to multiple perspectives are to understanding.
 * Final Thoughts**

=Assignment 5= Brain hijacking is when one has a strong emotional reaction then reacts suddenly and intensely. The individual does or says something that they later regret (an angry e mail or message). I have to say that being a teacher one see's quite frequently how children and other teacher's get hijacked. When one see's the episode occur that trigger's the individual their face automatically changes and gains a reddish color, their eye's and stance goes from relaxed to guarded, the body stiffens. A response to the perceived threat could be violent or an exchange of words that are aggressive and rude, when this happens the other individual or individuals also get hijacked and the situation escalates. Usually the parties involved later realize that their reactions to the situation were not appropriate and understand that they over reacted. The question is, how can we develop and understand ourselves in order to prevent our brains from being hijacked emotionally?

When showing the Empowerment video to the 11th grade IBDP students I started with an introduction to the video. I asked them: What is empowerment? Is it measurable? Who is someone that is empowered? How do you know? The students were intrigued by the video, they especially liked the real life examples set up by Amy that showed social signs of empowerment and how media can decide and manipulate who is empowered. At the beginning of class many students were slouched over, showing signs of “it's been a long day, lets get this over with.” At the end of the video they were all sitting up straight, their bodies were opened up. What makes me think is: When one's body is enclosed and slouched over is what they are hearing actually being internalized? I feel like they internalized what they were listening to as their postured changed. They were motivated by what they were listening to, maybe not completely aware about it, but some conscious part of them was very aware, thus the change of body posture and language. Some student were even experimenting with the poses during the video clip. Iit resonants in me to hear and for the students to hear that success in life is confidence, passion, authenticity, empathy, etc; I know that in todays world grades perceive academic success but they don't in the real world. The homeroom teacher of the 11th grade told me that the “psychologists and sociologists” of the class really took in what was being said. The students really looked more confident at the end of the video, like they can succeed. I left them by inviting them to experiment with what they heard and if they felt comfortable to let me know if they feel or are understood differently.

=Assignment 6= Conflict : is having strong opposing or clashing feelings towards something be it opinions, principles, or interests, this could be begin as dialogue because of disagreement then convert to discussion and escalate to an argument
 * Part A**

Conflict resolution: coming to terms with the conflict or conflictive issue at hand. There are many ways this can be accomplished; you and the other collaborate to move forward; to accept and avoid the issue at hand; to fight about the issue; compromise, both parties give in; or a quick fix, temporarily the conflict is resolved but can provoke potential conflict later.

I know I have been “hijacked” several times, but it happens most when it involves my work. I love my job and the variety challenges that are presented through it, the more I learn about educational leadership, practice, and thought the more passionate I become to explore and exhibit my learning. My understanding is that with education comes transparency and communication. WHAT HAPPENED: Our school has been a train wreck, different directors coming and going, poor implementation of academic programs, etc. So people are on guard, closed and vulnerable. Last year our school was in the process re-accreditation and we received a visit by the accreditor's. Several faculty talked about their feelings of change and direction that the school was making. Sometime passed and news wasn't reported about the visit until a parent approached me; “We are on warning!” she remarked “Excused me?” I said. “The accreditor's put our school on warning, do you know anything?” “Umm, no I don't, we won't know until we receive an official announcement from the administration.” I replied. The mother left and I panicked, literally. I approached my line manager also mentor at the time in fury. I told him, “I was going to warn the director, this can't be happening again, the parent's always talking and knowing about issues before the staff are spoken too. He needs to know and take action.” All the while my line manager Jessica when you talk to him what do you want to gain from the conversation. “That he is going to relinquish the rumors and put the parents in their place. We are a professional educational program and those types of encounters are not respectful and inappropriate and shouldn't be accepted by the new Admin.” He asked me, “Do you think you will get the answer you want?”: “I better, otherwise why is he our boss if he won't.”

Did my Amygdala hinder the conflict resolution? Yes, in that moment it was too emotional and personal (raw). I was really looking to foster communication and transparency but that completely backfired and if I approached the situation differently, clam, cooled and reflective and with a purpose, I would have been able to remove the subjective and be only objective.

Why do I use swear words? Swear words usually come out reactively; I have either stubbed my toe (dealing with pain) or I have a strong feeling toward something or someone. Just because I use a swear word doesn't mean it is necessarily positive or negative just that they arouse strong feelings. ====Swearing is also used as a coping mechanism and helps create emotional resilience. When swearing is not directed towards another individual it can be an appropriate means to blow off steam. During the readings I approached an article about multilingual swearing as a form of venting. If someone speaks multiple languages they might have internalized more effective swear words that release higher amounts of stress. This is exactly what happens to me when I swear, I use Spanish words when upset because it was want I heard my mother say when she was venting. I also use English swear words but when I am really upset Spanish comes out automatically.==== ====What is worrying to me about swearing is that the amygdala activity is correlated with negative emotional associations; stimulating the amygdala can cause panic attacks and aggressive behaviors, while destroying the amygdala causes unusual placidness or fearlessness. When reading this statement I question the ways to deal with conflict because stimulating and destroying the amygdala can damage an individual both emotionally and physically. How can you learn to balance your emotions and control your emotional reactions and what happens when you are repeatedly let down by your work or family environment?====
 * Part B**

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=Assignment 7= //I dentify and deliver 3 "I messages" // The person I approached was an administrator/ teacher in my school and his response was that "I am feeling emotional." He then invited me to sit down with him and talk. He asked me about me, my studies and how I came to get where I am now. He told me that he had just finished his Master's in Educational Leadership just last year. We had a great professional conversation about; evaluation in education, leadership, and the love of learning. It was really meaningful. He later invited me come again to his office to talk and to learn more about one another. This experience just really reinforces the need to mention the positive everyday occurrences and how you value them. We shouldn't take polite manners for granted.
 * When you left the room the other day when I came in, I could see that you're thoughtful in perceiving that the conversation was private and I felt appreciative and respected by what you did. **

The person reaction was emotional and affectionate. We gave each other a big hug and have been working more closely and honestly than ever. We are able to really slow down and listen to each others thoughts. We have been communicating clearly and have formed a more positive classroom environment.
 * When you listen to me, I am able to express myself and develop an understanding, I feel thankful and valued for having such a respectful working relationship.**

The person I approached was a fellow colleague in my school. The persons reaction was: “Well you know there was an emergency meeting and I couldn’t go away. Anyways you had help in the class room, so you didn’t need me to go over.” My reply “I understand that emergencies can occur, but I when I went to ask you if you were coming you just told me know.” Person “It wasn’t in the morning bulletin.” Me “All I know was that you were suppose to come over and offer support and you didn’t, next time can you communicate to me in someway, we are a team and when we don’t communicate then there is a fracture.” Person “I was told not to go, so I didn’t” Me “Ok, next time can you please write me an e-mail or send a student with a message so I don’t get concern and wait around for you.”
 * When you don’t communicate changes that occur, I am not able to complete the activity I had planned for your arrival, I felt frustrated and upset about not being told that there was a change in your schedule.**

// Dear Abby: I think we can do better. // Gigi when you look through and borrow things with out asking, I can't find them and I feel frustrated about not being asked to look through my things

Gigi when you advise me about something you are trying to find, I expect things to be missed placed and I feel comfortable with it because you had spoken to me about it, thank you.

=Assignment 8B:= What I learned about bullying and conflict? After reading these articles I had a better understanding between the differences of bullying and conflict. I have always known bullying as something that is wrong and unjustifiable, though I am clearer about the development of bullying. Bullying is a learner behavior that is used strategically and has evolved from unresolved conflict. Conflict on the other hand are normal everyday occurrences which usually happen due to miscommunication; these conflicts are resolved and case closed. The key factor that disrupts bullying and promotes conflict resolution is empathy. One must realize that through empathy you develop an awareness of those around you and how choices affect the wider community. Empathy is an emotion and skill that develops active listening to others and to yourself meanwhile giving you the ability to assess the needs of those around you. How might I use this information in my school? At the moment I am working with two students to develop their Service portfolio's; to encourage them to take action I will share the links and information with them. After they have read the articles and at our next meeting I might guide them and ask questions about what they read: What did they think or find interesting? How did they relate to what they read? What kind of emotions or feelings were provoked? After the readings is there something you can do to take action and influence kindness and empathy in our community? From here we would brainstorm some action steps that our community could make, for example, a visible kindness display where people can post something kind they have done or something kind that they felt. Classrooms can display their learning of what they understand conflict resolution to be and the school community can come together to celebrate empathy and it's value in our community. I do believe that in the global society in which we live today empathy is a key emotion that all must have in order to be physically, emotionally and socially (personally and professionally) healthy.

=Assignment 9 = // Tell if you agree or disagree with your Personality Profile from the test you took. // According to the Personality Test I am a People Person (28 points) and a Creative Problem Solver (26 points). I also received 23 points for both Learned Expert and Practical Manager. I do agree with the fact that I am a People Person. I especially was so when I was younger. I was a definite people person; throughout my adolescence but through experiences and maturity I have become more aware of my own needs as an individual. I still tend to question my own thoughts and understandings and discuss them with others that I trust and respect. Sometimes I take bits of their own understandings to better evolve my thinking. I also think when I make decisions, try to include others thoughts of those around me so that all accept the change. I don’t necessarily like conflict, but I do try and be open to that fact that sometimes others can interpret my actions or words as conflictive. When I am taken as a person who generates conflict I tend to become over sensitive. Sometimes I need to take a step back and re-evaluate the scenario. Form this point I am able to talk about and resolve issues. I particularly don’t like being teased or center of attention and I tend to be sometimes react emotionally. I have learned strategies to manage. I also agree that I am a strong Creative Problem solver. I like challenges and thinking of creative and innovative ways to solve them, especially when it comes to engaging students with learning. My opinion learning should be adventurous, it should motivate and impassion the learner. I love juggling multiple projects and don’t feel as ease when I have nothing to do. At this moment I am studying, working, volunteering and part of multiple committees. I do wish at times that I could have a moment to pause and really just focus on one task without getting distracted by another. I love bouncing ideas around with others and creating displays or actions from those thinking sessions. I am definitely not a Learned Expert or a Practical Manager, I did find it comical that my husband was very strong in those two areas.

= Assignment 10 = **//Assignment 10//** Derrick’s family life was quite disastrous. His father passed at a critical point during Derrick’s development; it seemed that Derrick pulled away from his family and searched for nurturing elsewhere. He didn’t have strong relationship with his younger sister and you could see she didn’t agree with opinions. Usually the language between one another was rude and offensive, they raised their voices and interrupted one another. There was also an air of tension. The two dinner table scenes display the difficulties of communication within the family and the low level of respect that they had for one another. Homer’s family life very steady. Homer argued frequently with his father, they didn’t see eye to eye about Homer’s hobby. The father also didn’t approve with the way Homer stole supplies or took working time away from the employee’s. For Homer’s father it was hard to relate to his son interests because they were unlike his own. This created tension between the two, although it is apparent to see that the father believed in his son’s ability, he just didn’t know how to express it. The mother on the other hand turned her head and let her son explore his interest. She mediated between her son and husband and smoothed conflicts that arose between the two. The role of the mother in the development of both Derrick and Homer, are quite opposite experiences for them. Derrick’s mother was the weaker household figure. She tended to give up and not voice her opinion, an example of this is when the father was talking about social inequalities. It was apparent to see that the mother didn’t agree with what her husband was saying; she could have spoken up and influenced her son’s perspective but decide otherwise, maybe to stray away from conflict. On the other hand, Homer’s mother was the stronger household figure. She encourages her son’s interests. She has say and is respected in the household and this is seen though the mural painting worked on throughout the movie. She speaks her mind and stands ground on her values, for example, when she stood up to her husband and told him reopen the mine to support their son. She gave her husband an ultimatum and her acted and respected her request because he knew she was right. The role of the teacher Murray in Derrick’s life, to me is a bit puzzling. In my opinion Murray didn’t act as a professional. He should have never have tried dating a student’s mother. It was obvious the resentment he had about his past with Derrick, this was reflected on the “relationship” he was forming with Danny. Derrick was rude in the way he shamefully named Murray and that is completely unacceptable but was Murray listening to Derrick. Miss Reilly played an more positive role in Homer’s life. “I have to hope more for these students, because if I don’t than why am I in this profession.” This clearly explains the type of professional Miss Reilly is, she is personal with her students, she encourages them to experiment and take risks with their learning. Imagine if she didn’t accept their interest in the topic of rocket science maybe there could have been a negative outcome, similar to what happened between Derrick and Murray. The role of the two principals in the lives of Derrick and Homer were also important factors in the boy’s lives. Derrick’s principal was very much against the grid of what was socially accepted. He encourages his students to think about their own principles of what is moral to them, you can see is is influential when Derrick discusses the novel of “The Invisible Man”. What was the norm was not the norm for him. Derrick’s principal was patient, trusting, encouraging and consistent, because of his consistency while Derrick was in jail he was able to motivate Derrick to accept himself and change. On the other hand, Homer’s principal follows the flow of what is socially acceptable. He does not encourage innovation. He believed that the only outcome for his students was becoming a coal miner. Why should his student’s work hard if they weren’t going to go to college. It was as if he was purposefully trying to de-motivate Homer think. The role of the community was an interesting factor in the lives of Derrick and Homer. Derrick’s community was a fractured community because of the social inequalities that existed. There were strong social groups that had a negative impact on the emotional health of it’s adolescents. Lots of the adolescents in the film where filled with anger and hatred; the build up of these emotions create a space of impulsive and destructive reactions, such as vandalism, murder, etc. Homer’s community had a strong sense of belonging. They were a tight-nit community encompassed on the values of working in coal mines and playing football. Usually the individuals that were “strong” and well built held a higher social status, like the football players or the miners. Individuals that were different “weaker” or thought out of the box were not valued, Homer and his friends did not hold the same social status because they weren’t athletic. Eventually through the Rocket Boys persistence and progress in rocketry they were soon an interesting topic and became admired in the community. This change grew slowly.