Faivre,+Jessica



=**Who am I?**=

I teach English 10 and IB English A Literature at Kaohsiung American School in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I am currently in my fourth year of teaching at KAS. My husband Victor is the Director of Learning Technology at the school and our 1 1/2 year old son Leo is learning Chinese at daycare, adorably confusing it with the French my husband uses with him and the English I use.

Before moving to Taiwan (and before having kids), my husband and I took a year sabbatical to travel around the world. Our 14 day trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal was certainly the highlight of the trip! Before that, we lived and taught on a small, sunny island in the Caribbean called Curaçao for four years. There, we learned to scuba dive and spent most of our waking hours in or near the ocean. Perhaps this sojourn in the hot sun was an attempt to escape the frigid winters of Chicago, where Victor and I met while teaching at a small all-girls school called Josephinum Academy in the Wicker Park neighborhood. This school was the beginning of both of our teaching adventures, and holds a special place in our hearts as "where it all began."

Currently, I'm taking an unexpected leave of absence from teaching for this semester while I remain in DeKalb, Illinois to care for our new baby, Maël, who graced us with his presence way too early while we were home for Christmas break and is growing stronger every day in a neonatal intensive care unit at a nearby hospital.

Between visiting him daily in the NICU and braving the winter, I look forward to giving peace a chance with EDU 640.

=**Assignment #1:** **What do I expect?**=

As I chose my courses to complete my Master's Degree, this one popped out at me as being the most interesting. As someone who appreciates peace, love and compassion above all else, I think it's necessary to teach conflict resolution explicitly to my students and also to practice what I preach. I assume and hope that this course will provide specific strategies for resolving conflicts in the classroom that can also be applied outside of the classroom. In the classroom, I hope that these strategies can be applied to conflicts between students and between the teachers and students. Outside of the classroom, I hope that my students and I can both use the content we learn in order to live more peaceable lives, understand roots of conflicts and discover approaches for resolving them with compassion and empathy.

Specifically, I can think of a few topics that apply to my school environment and classroom that I hope we can touch upon in this course:

1. Don't play the blame game 2. Avoiding passive-aggressiveness 3. Addressing academic honesty openly and sensitively 4. Recognizing and acting upon signs of tension amongst students 5. Using literature-specific content to teach conflict resolution and peaceable schools
 * Explicit accusatory language can be a problem with my students. I can think of specific cases where students have accused me and where they have accused each other. Regardless of whether these accusations are accurate, how can we teach students to use language that most effectively solves conflicts without causing pain, further misunderstanding, or a larger problem?
 * While explicit accusatory language happens sometimes, my students are much more prone to act passive-aggressively. I know that this term is debatable; I've had conversations with people who believe that the concept and act of being passive-aggressive simply doesn't exist. But I don't know how to describe the tension that my students sometimes emanate in any other way. Since the educational culture in Taiwan sort of mandates that students show respect to teachers at all times and simply do what teachers ask without complaining, fear, misunderstanding, anger, and overall tension can sometimes result. How can I teach my students to be open about their concerns without being disrespectful? How can I teach them that it is okay to have concerns and ask questions in a respectful manner?
 * In the very academically competitive culture in which I teach, students are sometimes pressured to do whatever they need to do in order to get the grade. One of the most prevalent and ambiguous problems of academic honesty is families' employment of tutors for their kids. Parents, tutors, and students often cross the line of academic dishonesty by allowing tutors to do too much of the students' work. This leads to sticky, awkward, tense discussions with teachers, administrators, students, parents, and tutors. How can we teach academic honesty in a culturally sensitive way in the classroom and resolve academic dishonesty problems peacefully and clearly?
 * High school kids are inevitably prone to conflict amongst themselves, both personal and academic. While I've never seen active aggression or violence between students in Taiwan, I do often recognize that it exists. How do I identify the point at which intervention is necessary? And how do I act as a mediator, if required?
 * As a literature teacher, I'm lucky that my content can be used to explicitly teach conflict resolution and peace. What literature and media exist that I can incorporate into my curriculum, and how can I do so? I am also an Advisory teacher for grade 10. What content can I use to teach conflict resolution in Advisory?

I'm very much looking forward to examining these topics and others throughout this course!

=Assignment #2: //American History X//=

I saw this movie once around the time it came out in 1998 and it left a lasting impression on me. I've never been able to rid my mind of the image of Derek Vinyard forcing the Crip member to put his mouth on the curb before smashing his head with his boot. Because of that gruesome image, I must admit that I wasn't too excited about watching it again. But instead of choosing something else, I decided that I would watch it with a new set of eyes and consider the roles of nature and nurture and the influence of teachers and mentors on the movie's characters.

Nature and Nurture
Students and teachers of psychology no longer refer to nature __versus__ nurture, but instead acknowledge that nature __and__ nurture play important roles in one's development. The Vinyard children in //American History X// offer us opportunities to examine both.

Derek, Davina, Danny, and Ally Vinyard are the children of mom Doris and dad Dennis, a firefighter who is killed by an African American person during Derek's teenage years. We see evidence that all three of the older children are thoughtful, intelligent, introspective, and sensitive. Could these characteristics be natural and intrinsic, or are they learned and cultivated throughout their childhoods?

It strikes me that despite the horrible words and actions that Derek inflicts and the resulting strife and pain that his family is left with, they seem strong, forgiving and loving. We see this love and strong family ties being built during a flashback scene when the father, Dennis, first instills his racist philosophy upon his family during a breakfast discussion of Derek's respect for Dr. Sweeney and his interest in Richard Wright's //Native Son//. It's an interesting juxtaposition of love and hate. It's clear that the family loves each other through the fact that they eat and laugh together, but Dennis's hatred and anger towards the Black race rocks the family's strength and we see that Derek's natural compassion and respect are infected with anger and racism, showing that both nature and nurture affect one's composition. Additionally, Derek only truly develops his hatred of non-White races after his father is killed by a Black person. Through his racist rants during the television interview after the murder, we see that he is perhaps emulating his father's views only in support of him and because he's angered and saddened by his father's death. He wants justice for his father and taking his hatred out on the entire race of the murderer seems logical to him.

Danny is a sponge throughout the entire movie. Despite the fact that he grows angrier and becomes more racist throughout his teenage years as he watches his brother become one of the top neo-Nazi gang members in Los Angeles, we have the sense that he's naturally kind and loving. His face reveals this during the aforementioned discussion at the breakfast table. He was certainly not naturally racist or hateful, and while it's clear that his father and brother have enormous influences over him, we sort of know all along that that's not him. He's a good kid, and we root for him throughout the film, hoping that his natural love and compassion can overcome his learned anger and hatred. His affinity for the Skinhead movement is nurtured similarly to Derek's. Because his brother was taken away from him and because he respected and loved his brother, and perhaps because he wants justice for him, he does what he thinks would make Derek proud. We see this development through a parallel family meal scene where Derek takes the role of his father and spouts his hatred and anger to his family, influencing Danny just as his father influenced him.

The Vinyard girls are different, though. We have to wonder why Davina resisted her father and her brothers' influence. She's portrayed as hard-working, studious and intelligent. Are these natural characteristics that overpower the influence of her family, or does she learn something in her studies that makes her overcome their influence?

Little Ally serves as a symbol of innocence. She's a clean slate who is naturally sweet and loving, not yet corrupted by anyone. However, it's clear that her family loves and nurtures her, including her brother Danny, who preaches and practices hatred and racism. This love must certainly contribute to her sweetness, right?

Mentors and Teachers
Derek is most certainly Danny's most powerful mentor. Danny idolizes his brother and will do anything to earn his respect. Perhaps a bit unrealistically, Danny flips from a raging racist Skinhead neo-Nazi (because that's what his brother taught him to be) to an Abraham Lincoln-quoting pacifist (because that's what his brother taught him to be) //in less than 24 hours!//

In addition to their father, Derek and Danny also share two fully contrasting mentors: Dr. Sweeney and Cameron. While both men have enormous influences over the boys, Dr. Sweeney's influence ultimately triumphs. Cameron preaches hatred through brainwashing, group-think mentality, violence, and intimidation. Essentially, he preaches hatred through hatred. Dr. Sweeney preaches love through love. He's an amazing symbol of unconditional love and strength. Even though Derek and Danny both reach a point where they are truly vile in their hatred of non-Whites, Dr. Sweeney never gives up on them and uses love, compassion and support to convince them of tolerance's merits.

After Derek is raped in prison, he is vulnerable and can't answer Dr. Sweeney's question, "Have you done anything to make your life better?" His racist philosophy has been shaken by an unlikely mentor, Lamont. Through kindness, acceptance, and humor, Lamont convinces Derek of his humanity and right to respect. Derek's relationship with Lamont provides him with lessons that are stronger than Cameron's lessons. Both Lamont and Dr. Sweeney actively teach and give respect and kindness, which draw Derek back to his natural characteristics of love and kindness.

In the last scene of the movie, we flashback to the two boys on the beach. Young Derek takes young Danny's hand and we see the absolute happiness and innocence in both of their faces. We're reminded that nobody is born evil; that in fact it's perhaps the opposite, and that we all must actively teach and nurture our children's natural sweetness in order to cultivate love and compassion.

=Assignment #3: Teach Peace as a Value=

I like this assignment. This is exactly what I was hoping to focus on and think about when I signed up for this course. I want to take this opportunity to look at the structures in place in my classroom and analyze how they fit into the elements of a peaceable school that we’re asked to think about in this assignment. In brainstorming, I thought about the following elements of a peaceable school: I decided to open up my class syllabi and identify elements of a peaceable school that I’ve already included, either consciously or unconsciously. So, Hank, if you were to come to my classroom, you’ll see evidence and promotion of a peaceable community in the following ways:
 * what it would look like
 * communication
 * what would be tolerated
 * rules
 * expectations
 * responsibilities

Communication

 * One of the objectives for my English 10 and IB English A courses is to “improve formal and informal oral communication skills." This is hopefully permeated throughout every conversation and interaction that we have. I try to promote this in a few ways. Because we’re an "English first" school, we try to encourage students to speak in English before resorting to their first language. This gives the teacher the opportunity to monitor what students say to each other. When they speak to each other in Chinese, it’s a lot more difficult to know how respectful they’re being. Even though there are pros and cons to the English first policy, this is one reason it’s in place. My students sit in small pods of four students where they have many informal conversations that are hopefully reinforced by the formal discussion skills we practice in class, where they’re graded on the ways that they engage and participate in communication.

Digital Citizenship

 * Respectful communication overlaps with digital citizenship at Kaohsiung American School. Because we’re a one laptop per student school, kids must use their computers each day and are actively taught responsible citizenship. One of the most important aspects of simply having the privilege of a computer in class is being able to balance it with everything else that happens in class. Therefore, during class discussion, students’ hands should be off their keyboards, their screens should be tilted down, and their body language should indicate that they are listening to the speaker and engaged in the discussion instead of engaged with the computer. This is explicitly stated in our syllabus. Students publish to their personal blogs regularly. It is also stated that it’s their responsibility to “practice ethical and moral digital citizenship as a blogger.” While it’s easy to write in a syllabus, finding concrete and effective lessons and strategies for teaching ethics and morals are, of course, more difficult.

Transparency

 * We recently built a gorgeous new campus that promotes transparency, both literally and philosophically. The classrooms have glass windows and the structure of the entire campus is very open, bringing teachers and students together in a healthy, communal environment. But we also strive to teach and model transparency. The philosophy is that we should be proud of everything that we do at KAS, and therefore should have no reason to hide behind closed doors. Essentially, this should promote honesty and integrity. We talk about transparency and use that exact word regularly, especially when it comes to lessons on academic honesty. In our academic honesty policy we write, “Students assume full responsibility for the content and integrity of the work they submit.” Furthermore, we include transparency as the first of three guidelines to assist students in maintaining academic honesty:
 * Outside sources: After a student has consulted outside sources, the student should ask: “Does my submitted assignment make it clear what my sources are and how I used them?”
 * Collaboration: After a student has worked with others, the student should ask, “Does my submitted assignment make it clear with whom I worked and what part each person played?”

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

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Here is where my content overlaps exactly with Oscar Arias’s “Teach Peace as a Value” speech. I write in my syllabus that one of our objectives is for students to “Become aware of and think critically about the differences that culture, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, and other social issues have on writing and literature.” Most of the content that my students study explicitly teaches this tolerance and peace as a value, including literature such as Marjane Satrapi’s //Persepolis//, Khaled Hosseini’s //The Kite Runner//, Bernhard Schlink’s //The Reader//, Jon Krakauer’s //Into the Wild//, and Arthur Miller’s //The Crucible//. We spend much time deconstructing authors' and characters' diction, looking at how and to what effect they use their words. I very much appreciated Arias’s plea that we teach our students to become “aware that the language we use shapes the societies we live in” and to “teach students to question the meanings of words in all languages, to detect when the forces of war have invaded a word and are using it for sinister purposes.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">And Most Importantly…

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">My syllabus ends this way: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“We are here to help each other learn. You can learn just as much from your classmates as you can from your teacher. In turn, I expect to learn a lot from you as well. In order for this to occur, respect is not only essential, but mandatory. Please feel comfortable expressing your thoughts and opinions in class. There is an underlying rule of respect in this classroom. Any display of disrespect towards your classmates or teacher will not be tolerated. In turn, I will show you respect each and every day. Any derogatory comments or negative attitudes towards others will not be tolerated. You are not welcome in this classroom unless you respect everyone here. This includes being a sensitive speaker and listener. Everyone is welcome here regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, intellect, or talent.”

=Assignment #4: Violence=

My husband and I live in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where the violent crime rate and homicide rate is practically nil. In fact, Taiwan is the second safest country in the world, and we like it that way. We feel safe. When we discuss the possibility of moving back to the United States, where I'm from, my husband (who is from France) gets really nervous. He's very disturbed about the gun violence in the United States, and so am I. When we watch the Chicago news with my parents during visits, there are at least three murder stories each night, and most involve guns. Earlier this year, there was one gun murder in Taiwan and it was the absolute talk of the country for weeks because it so rarely happens there. The disparity is very real, and even though most of the Americans I know feel more safe on U.S. soil than on Taiwanese soil, perhaps they shouldn't. That's one reason why I found the five-question quiz interesting. Here are my thoughts on the questions I've been asked to answer.

1. Why has the homicide rate gone down over the last 800 years? 2. Did you over or under-estimate violence in the United States? 3. What did your colleagues think about violence? 4. Why? 5. What did you think about this lesson?
 * Eric Monkkonen explains in his essay "Homicide: Explaining America's Exceptionalism" that major reasons for decline in homicide rates over the past 800 years include "the growth of democracy...and the growth of urban societies and uniformed local police throughout the Western world." These are surely key factors in the decrease in homicide rates over this time period. Additionally, more peaceful forms of conflict-resolution are available and wide-spread in the Western world than in the past. Kind-hearted people would rather "talk it out" than resort to violence. Most democratic judicial systems have evolved to the point where violence or death as a condoned conflict resolution is deemed barbaric. We don't want to be barbarians.
 * I neither over-estimated or under-estimated violence in the United States. I've read many times that the homicide rate has actually decreased over the past thirty years, and I was also very aware that the homicide rate in the United States is greater than the homicide rates in similarly developed countries in the Western World. I find it curious that Monkkonen doesn't point to the legality and availability of guns in the United States as a primary cause of this early on in his essay.
 * All of my colleagues got either 3/5 or 4/5 questions on the quiz correct. The statement that they (and I) were most unsure about was number four, which stated, "The United States is in a period of extreme violence."
 * This statement was difficult to evaluate because we didn't know what to compare it to. My dad scoffed and said, "The U.S. has been in a period of extreme violence for the past 300 years." While the facts show us that the rates have remained fairly consistent over the past thirty years, this doesn't necessarily mean that we are not in a period of extreme violence. Any violence is too much violence, and the fact that rates have not significantly dropped in the past thirty years should be a major source of worry for the American people. In the richest and most powerful country in the world, what systems do we have in place that have prevented us from decreasing our crime rates over the past thirty years? The answer to this is clear: the disparity between the rich and the poor and resulting problems with education, gentrification, and poverty mean that violence is still as much of a problem as it was thirty years ago.
 * It was indeed interesting to take a few unresearched stabs at answering questions about violence in the U.S. and the Western World. Like all good lessons, it raises more questions than it answers. It leads me to think about the differences between violence in the classroom in the U.S. vs. the lack thereof in the classroom in Taiwan. (More on that later.)

The video I watched on waterboarding makes me sick. Actually, first it made me incredulous, then it made me angry, and then it made me sick. When the hooded man who inflicts torture is asked whether or not he thinks waterboarding is torture, he says that it's not torture; instead it is "invoking an existing fear." That answer does not make sense at all. Why can't "invoking an existing fear" be torture? He thinks that whipping or other forms of inflicting physical pain are considered torture, but not "invoking an existing fear." This doesn't make sense. Who is to say what would constitute torture for another person? The man who is waterboarded in the video thinks that he can sustain the water for fifteen seconds, but he would most likely be able to sustain whipping for fifteen seconds more than waterboarding. The term "enhanced interrogation techniques" makes me angry. It's simply a euphemism for torture, nothing more. It's torture. Using torture violates laws such as the UN Convention Against Torture and is simply wrong, barbaric, and sickening. The United States, as the most powerful government in the world, has no business using these strategies. Donald Trump, if elected president, promises to bring back "enhanced interrogation techniques." History always does repeat itself, doesn't it. We take two steps forward and now are at risk of taking a HUGE step back.
 * "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" a.k.a. Torture**

Because I'm thinking about violence as a means of conflict resolution in the classroom, I'm forced to reflect upon and think about the differences between violence in the U.S. classroom versus violence in the Taiwanese classroom. I've only taught in one school in the United States and one school in Taiwan, so I have a very limited perception. Additionally, the students in those classrooms vary in gender, race, and socio-economic status greatly. When I taught in Chicago, it was in an inner-city, all-girls' school. Most of the girls were from poor families and had difficult childhoods. There was indeed violence in the classrooms on a regular basis, and they also experienced violence at home. In Taiwan, I teach mostly Taiwanese boys and girls who mostly come from well-to-do families and have much support at home. These factors are indeed very relevant. However, we also can't overlook the culture of violence in the U.S. versus Taiwan. Perhaps there is no violence in the classroom in Taiwan because there is very little violence outside of the classroom in Taiwan.
 * What I Learned and Observed in This Lesson**

Wow. The phrase "throwing canned goods at shooters" certainly isn't one you hear every day. I suppose I'm ambivalent about this strategy because school shooting is such a terrifying scenario in which everyone feels helpless. Nobody has taken the logical step towards solving the problem (making guns less available), so now we're forced to come up with weird solutions like giving kids canned goods to throw at intruders. I understand the idea that administrators want to take action in order to avoid making students "sitting ducks." Because students are so helpless in that situation, I sympathize with the idea that actively doing something is better than doing nothing. However, I can't comment on whether or not this is a good plan because I have no idea how it would play out in a real situation. Is there any research at all to show how effective this strategy could be? (Is it even possible to do research on something like this?) I can think of a few PROS to arming students with canned goods: 1) Students might feel a sense of security if they are otherwise scared or nervous about the possibility of school shooter in their school. Even if they don't use it, knowing that they could if they needed to might make them feel more safe. 2) Unlike arming teachers or students with guns to protect themselves, canned goods are less likely to accidentally kill someone. 3) If it works and actually does disarm a would-be killer, then great. I can also think of a few CONS, questions, and also some logistical problems: 1) Do kids keep their cans on their desks at all times? They'd have to, right? Otherwise they wouldn't be able to find it, grab it, and hurl it in time. 2) Would this encourage kids to try to be heroes and actually put themselves more directly in harm's way? Is it safer than "duck and cover"? 3) What sort of training and drills would students go through in order to make this actually work? 4) Is this a lame duck strategy that simply distracts us from identifying and acting on the roots of the problem? All in all, while I appreciate that administrators are earnestly trying to keep their students safe, I'm not entirely sure how effective this strategy is.
 * Extra Credit: Pros and Cons of Throwing Canned Goods at Shooters**

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assignment #5: Get That Amygdala Under Control =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of my favorite things about learning about brain research is that I can then justify pretty much every action or thought I’ve ever had. Now that I know about my amygdala, I no longer need to worry that I’m crazy, irrational, or too emotional. It’s not me, it’s my amygdala!
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Blame the Brain **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In order to understand the function of the amygdala, I checked out a few websites, beginning of course with [|Wikipedia] and then moving to [|Science Daily] and [|BigThink]. According to these sites, the amygdala plays the primary role in processing memory, decision-making, and emotional responses. It’s linked to fear responses and its size is positively correlated with aggressive behavior. Abnormal function of the amygdala can result in anxiety, autism, depression, PTSD, and phobias. The amygdala receives sensory information and connects with systems that output results, for example increased blood pressure or the release of hormones. Therefore, the amygdala forms Pavlovian associations between stimuli and results in adaptive behavior.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Daniel Goleman’s amygdala hijack theory explains why sometimes when we’re so overcome with emotion, we can’t think straight. This strong emotion (fear, anger, joy, or betrayal, for example) trips up the amygdala and impairs the prefrontal cortex’s working memory.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’ll never forget a ridiculous scene that I witnessed at IKEA in Kaohsiung, Taiwan a few years ago. It’s important to remember that in Taiwan, social norms dictate that most people are quiet and respectful, at least on the outside. It’s very rare to see outbursts, violence, or public displays of intense emotion of any kind. My husband and I were in the check-out line and a North American man was checking out in the line next to us. He wanted to buy a simple bathroom rug and presented his credit card to the cashier in order to make the purchase. In her broken English, she very kindly explained that the store couldn’t accept his credit card, pointing to a very clearly written sign explaining just that. The man EXPLODED. He screamed at the poor girl, dropping F-bombs as he insulted her intelligence and the logic of IKEA’s payment system. He picked up the rug he wanted to buy and whipped it at the girl’s face while he stomped off, muttering to himself. Stunned, the cashier quietly picked up the rug and another employee came over to ensure she was okay before they went back to business as usual. All of the employees kept their dignity and didn’t engage the belligerent man in any further conflict. This incident has always stuck with me because I was the only other North American in the store at the time, and I was so embarrassed by his behavior. This guy’s amygdala was clearly hijacked. Considering how ridiculously packed and frustrating the maze of IKEA can be on a Saturday afternoon, it’s not surprising that his emotions were running high, but surely his ability to think clearly was inhibited, resulting in an outburst.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I first saw Amy Cuddy’s TED talk shortly after it was published in 2012, and it had a huge impact on me because I felt as though I could relate very personally to her and her philosophy on the relationship between body language and the brain. Her research proves that just as our brains have an effect on our bodies, our bodies can have an effect on our brains. When I watched her presentation, I happened to be in the middle of teaching my 10th grade public speaking unit. My students and I had just spent a day talking about the anxiety that public speaking evokes for many people, and I shared a personal experience with them.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fake it til you make it. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I was a junior at Illinois State University, I went to one of my literature classes as usual and my professor passed back a short essay that we students had written. In our discussion that day, she praised me for something I had written, and she asked me to read a couple of paragraphs of my essay aloud to the rest of the class. I started reading, and about halfway through, I became absolutely paralyzed with fear. My vision went blurry, my voice became very shaky, my heart pounded like crazy, and I started to hyperventilate to the point that I couldn’t read clearly and had to stop. Still to this day I have no idea why that happened. I had always been a confident persona and student and in this particular instance, I was being praised for something I had done well. From that point forward, I developed an intense and irrational fear of public speaking that lasted for a few years and that became very inhibitive. This was a problem because I was in the English Education program, training to become a teacher. Whenever I was in a situation where I would have to do any sort of public speaking at all, my fear would hijack my amygdala and my fight or flight instinct would kick in. I knew, however, that my fear was irrational and decided to adopt practices and strategies such as exercise and breathing that would act as a therapy, which teaches the neocortex how to inhibit the amygdala. Eventually, even though I was terrified that I would hyperventilate again in a public speaking situation, I was able to regain control of my amygdala and “fake it til [I] made it.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I incorporated Amy Cuddy’s presentation into my speech unit back in 2012 and have shown it to my students every year since. The kids at KAS love the idea of power poses and they often ask if they can go outside to the hallway before presentations in order to pump themselves up.

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

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**What is conflict?** There are plenty of versions of the definition the noun and verb forms of the word conflict, including but not limited to the following: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Noun: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Verb:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6A **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">“a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one” (Google definitions)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">controversy; quarrel (Dictionary.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">a striking together; collision (Dictionary.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">incompatibility or interference, as of one idea, desire, event, or activity with another (Dictionary.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">competitive or opposing action of incompatibles : antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) (Merriam-Webster)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance,or in opposition; clash (Dictionary.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">to be in opposition (Merriam-Webster)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of all of these definitions, the words that have the most meaning for me are “collision” and “clash.” No one is immune from conflict; everyone has to deal with collisions or clashes in one way or another, whether they are external or internal. The ways that we resolve those conflicts differentiate us from each other.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**What is conflict resolution?** I happen to be the sort of person who tries to avoid conflict as much as possible. Conflict makes me uncomfortable. That’s not to say that I don’t stand up for myself or communicate my thoughts and opinions clearly or forcefully, but I often find that I try to do so in a way that will minimize conflict, especially in the workplace. After heated or emotional discussions in faculty meetings, I often replay the discussions in my mind and second-guess the way I came across to my colleagues. In doing a bit of internet research on conflict resolution, I’m reminded that “conflict is a normal part of any healthy relationship” ([|www.helpguide.org]) and that “conflict is an inevitable part of work” ([|www.mindtools.com).] There are plenty of internet resources that give us general guidelines on the best ways to resolve our conflicts, and there are a few ideas that I think are important in defining and understanding conflict resolution:


 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conflict resolution should be peaceful
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conflict resolution should help both or all parties come to an acceptable understanding or result
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conflict resolution should be approached with respect and empathy.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If handled well, conflict resolution can even help improve relationships, bring people closer together, and provide us a better understanding of ourselves.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Some observations:** Whether you love him or hate him, it’s a fact that Donald Trump conjures up pretty strong emotions in the American people (and plenty of international folk, as well). This primary election season has provided us with plenty of conflict to observe and analyze. I’ve watched in horror as protesters and supporters have clashed at Trump rallies across the United States. Since I’m currently living in northern Illinois, the violence that erupted in Trump’s March 11 rally in Chicago has been the talk of the town. Both sides are full of emotion. Trump supporters truly believe that Barack Obama has ruined the United States and that Donald Trump will “make America great again.” Trump opposers are angry at pretty much everything Donald Trump stands for, including his views on immigration, race-relations, domestic and foreign policy, healthcare, and the way he communicates his opinions. When 10,000 people congregated at the Trump rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago, their emotions overtook them and violence ensued. According to [|CNN.com], Maria Hernandez, a protester at the rally, said, "I'm protesting because I'm black and Mexican and I'm not sure where he wants to deport me to, but I deal with racism daily in Chicago and I've had enough.” These words, “I’ve had enough” show how strongly Donald Trump affects her emotions. On the other side, Trump supporter Debi Patrick said, “This is scaring the hell out of me.” The clash at the Trump rally escalated because of very real, very inflamed emotions and amygdala engagement from both supporters and protesters. I hate to say it, but conflict resolution doesn’t seem to be on the horizon for these two groups.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Do involvement of emotions and amygdala always hinder conflict resolution?** It definitely depends on the people involved. Some people are better at balancing their emotions and keeping their amygdala in check than others. It’s important to remember that the amygdala is not only involved in negative emotions such as anger, sorrow, or fear. It’s also responsible for our actions in moments of intense joy. People often act based on the accumulation of their experiences, so perhaps it stands to reason that people who manage their emotions and amygdala in a positive way are better at conflict resolution. People can learn to control their amygdala through therapeutic, intentional methods, which teach the neocortex how to inhibit the amygdala, therefore helping us to keep the amygdala from hindering conflict resolution. Also, conflict resolution is learned skill that can get better with practice. Therefore, because I’m a positive person who has faith in the survival of humanity, I do not think that involvement of emotions and the amygdala always hinder conflict resolution.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**6B**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Art of Swearing **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My cousin swears like a trucker. She’s super intelligent and super sweet, but she swears so much in her Facebook posts, that she actually drove me to stop using Facebook. I’m no prude when it comes to swearing, but for some reason her swearing turns me off. I think it’s because it seems superfluous and unnecessarily aggressive. It makes me cringe.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just like all forms of communication, the use of swear words have a time and place. They’re appropriate and perhaps helpful in some situations and certainly a hindrance in others.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I appreciate the study that shows that cursing can reduce pain when the pained person yells one out when stubbing a toe, for example. (It gives me a bit of justification for doing it.) Another argument for swearing can be found in studies that show a link between a person’s use of swear words and an increased vocabulary ([|sciencealert.com]).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The use of cursing becomes relevant to our topic of conflict resolution when we consider the effect that it has on our stress levels. It appears as though studies show conflicting results about whether or not swearing makes us more or less stressed out. While the Huffington Post video we watched for this assignment argues that it’s good for our stress levels, a [|study by Professor Jeffrey Bowers and Dr. Christopher Pleydell-Pearce] shows that swearing actually stresses our brains. Dr. Bowers explains, “We argue that taboo words generate emotional reactions in part through verbal conditioning, that is through a simple form of learning, the sounds of taboo words become directly associated with emotional centres in the brain.” Additionally, swearing is often interpreted as being aggressive or offensive, and therefore has no place in peaceful conflict resolution in schools.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assignment #7: When you give me an assignment like this, it helps me communicate more effectively, which makes me feel more confident. =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I’ve recently had a major life event (the premature birth of my son while we were in Illinois visiting my parents for Christmas) which has required me to move back in with my parents for a few months. Families are complicated, as we all know. And regardless of how much we love each other, it is not always very easy to communicate exactly what we want to say. A passage in Chapter 5 of Staying In S.T.E.P.P. reads, “The issue isn’t failure to talk, or that the words fail us. The issue is often that we fail to send the message we had hoped, or that the message that was sent went un-received or miss communicated.” There is so much history and emotion embedded in family dynamics that this failure of sending and interpreting messages properly is a major hindrance in discussions amongst family members. For this assignment, I said three “I statements” to my parents. One of the “I statements” was a negative/corrective I statement that I said to my mom the day before I read that it was a requirement for this assignment. Then I said one positive/rewarding “I statement” to my mom today and one to my dad.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Negative/Correcting **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Context:** My aunts, uncles, parents, sister, and a few cousins were sitting around the table at Easter dinner yesterday. The topic of conversation turned to me and how I’m handling the financial strains of my baby’s stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Note: Every member of my family has an opinion about absolutely everything in the world, regardless of whether or not it is relevant to them, and they will voice that opinion regardless of whether or not anyone else wants to hear it. (Aaah, families.)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**The statement:** I felt as though my mom’s words in particular were too aggressive. I did not want to be having this conversation with everyone. I was sitting next to her, and while everyone else at the table started jabbering on about the topic, I turned to my mom and quietly, so that no one else could hear, I said, “Mom, you’re talking so aggressively and everyone is getting too involved in my business. It’s making me feel really uncomfortable.”


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Behavior: “...you’re talking so aggressively…”
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Consequence: “...everyone is getting too involved in my business…”
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Feeling: “It’s making me feel really uncomfortable.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**The result:** My mom just totally stopped talking. And it wasn’t in a good way. She was angry. I had offended her. Even though this was an “I statement,” there was certainly an emotional tone in the way I delivered it, and because I was angry, it was not an effective method for resolving the conflict.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Positive/Rewarding **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Context:** Even though my family and I have unsavory discussions like the one I explained above, we also love each other immensely and my parents do very, very kind, loving things for me that I appreciate with all my heart. In order to fulfill the second part of this assignment (two positive/rewarding “I statements”, I decided to essentially thank my parents for nice things they did for me this weekend.


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


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Dad, when you checked the tire pressure and added air in my tires, it made the care safer to drive and made me feel really thankful.”
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Mom, when you ironed all my clothes yesterday, it took something off my list of things to do and made me super relieved because I hate ironing.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**The result:** To be honest, both of my parents kind of laughed at me because it sounded so scripted. But they also, I’m sure, were genuinely touched that I thanked them. My dad’s reply was, “Well, that’s good, because putting air in the tires did make the car safer to drive.” And my mom’s reply was, “Well, I’m thankful that you’re thankful.” I think that the key to delivering effective positive/rewarding “I statements” is to do so naturally and comfortably, so that they don’t sound scripted. Of course, the pre-existing family dynamic that I have with my parents probably also contributed to the awkwardness of these interactions, but I do think that’s surmountable if the statements don’t sound too forced.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Gigi the Home-Invader **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dear Abby’s got it all wrong. Asking Gigi to return the key would just make her cry again. She needs to receive an assertive “I statement” that is sensitive but that still clearly communicates how her behavior affects her friend. The friend already talked to Gigi and that did not solve the problem. Gigi became emotional and continued to invade her friend’s home. So the words the friend chooses have to be very carefully constructed. There seem to be a few different things that Gigi’s doing that annoy the friend, and I think each behavior requires a different “I statement,” otherwise Gigi might get overwhelmed and have another meltdown, resulting in her husband becoming “irate” again.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One behavior that Gigi does is coming over and borrowing things when her friend isn’t home. What if the friend says something like, ”Gigi, when you come to my house when I’m not home and borrow things without telling me, I can’t keep track of all my belongings, which makes me feel really disorganized.” This is not aggressive or accusatory. Instead, it points out Gigi’s incorrect behavior while focusing on how the behavior affects the friend without making the situation too emotional.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The other behavior that Gigi does that irritates her friend is that she goes through her friend’s personal things. This one is a little bit stickier. Clearly, Gigi must feel that their friendship is close enough that she has the right to do so for some reason. The friend must choose her words carefully, without being too aggressive. How about this: “Gigi, when you go through my personal belongings, you invade my personal space, which makes me feel uncomfortable.” She has to tell Gigi that her behavior is unacceptable, and unfortunately she has to use some language that might feel awkward to say. However, in order to be an assertive communicator, one must be honest.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let’s assume that these “I statements” led to an effective discussion and Gigi changed her behavior. The friend, in order to show how much she appreciates the change in Gigi’s actions, should say something to show her that she appreciates it. A kind and honest positive/rewarding “I statement” could focus not on the change in behavior, but the fact that their last communication was a positive one, resulting in change. How about, “Gigi, since you respected my feelings in our last conversation, our relationship is a lot stronger, and I feel really thankful to have a friend like you.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now as long as Gigi’s husband doesn’t get too involved, this could potentially work out...

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assignment #8A: Behavior Contract =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My English 10 students are a bit all over the board in terms of maturity. 10th grade is one of those transitional years, where students make huge strides from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Many students begin the year disorganized, shy, and generally confused about life, and end the year with a bit more confidence and self-awareness, ready to enter 11th grade as an IB student.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In creating a behavior contract for my English 10 students, I identified three behaviors that I think make a huge difference in the way the classroom functions and maintains organization: 1) being ready to learn, 2) participation and 3) responsible use of technology. If students can perform these three behaviors (and all they encompass) well, the classroom should function properly.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My students keep logs of their work and assess themselves regularly. I figure that this sort of behavior contract can be a part of their all-over self-assessment portfolios. Therefore, the contract is for the student and the teacher. The idea is that students will rate their three behaviors daily, write a brief commentary of their performance of each behavior weekly, and then conference with the teacher quarterly. As long as there are no problems, the discussions end there. However, if necessary, the logs can be used for discussion with administration and parents. I think at the high school level, it is only necessary to involve parents in signing off on these sorts of documents when there really is a problem of which the parent needs to be made aware. Most parents aren’t really interested in keeping such close tabs on their kids behavior by signing off on documents daily or weekly and students need to be able to be responsible for their own behavior and learning by this age.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Giving Students What They Need” by Jonathan C. Erwin identifies five elements that we should give students in order to help them become intrinsically motivated learners: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. I think that the behavior contract that I’ve created allows students power. It gives them a voice, pulls them into discussion, and asks them to be self-aware, all in a non-threatening way (which also taps into the elements of survival and love and belonging). This sort of self-assessment, over time, could increase internal motivation. I’m leery of providing external motivation such as rewards and punishment for the very reasons that Erwin outlines in his article: positive rewards condition students to think they should be rewarded for every little action and negative punishments often tend to turn students away from learning. However, my students are very much motivated by their grades; it’s a part of the culture at the school where I teach. Therefore, I think it would be appropriate to make the behavior contract a small portion of their semester grades. It would be just enough motivation to make it worthwhile and a good grade should be something that all students can attain easily enough.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Without further ado, here it is: English 10 Behavior Contract <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Please click the link to view.

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

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Baum-Nicols Personality Prototype Profiler provided good fun at the Faivre family household on a lovely Sunday evening in April when the weather was finally warm enough to enjoy a glass of wine on the patio. After taking the test myself, I administered it to my mom. Soon after, my sister Katie and my dad arrived home and they both decided to take it as well.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My results were pretty accurate. My scores were as follows:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Practical Manager: 33 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Creative Problem Solver: 26 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">People Person: 21 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Learned Expert: 20

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As much as I hate to admit it, I am indeed a practical manager. I thrive on organization and need my personal space to be very clean and clutter-free. I panic and stress if I don’t know where things are. As a teacher, I create very specific rubrics and guidelines for assignments. I try to be as specific as possible and pay attention to all of the little details in order to communicate my message clearly and exactly.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I do think that I am more of a people person than the profiler revealed me to be. I am a very social person and enjoy being with friends. I’m outgoing and talkative. However, I also enjoy time to myself and with my close family.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The results for my sister, mom, and dad were absolutely spot on. I owe every tiny ounce of my practical manager personality to my mother, and sure enough, the profiler revealed her to be one overwhelmingly. Just before she took the test, she was sitting on the patio and noticed that the steps to the sliding back door seemed off after my dad had moved them to pressure-wash them earlier in the day. She got up to measure, and sure enough. They were one inch off. She half-jokingly said to me, “It’s a sickness!” So it’s absolutely no surprise that she scored highest in that category.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Similarly, my sister is very overwhelmingly a learned expert. The profile describes her perfectly, as she always has her nose in a book, knits during family get-togethers, enjoys her subscription to Games magazine, and loves to investigate facts and tidbits of information. We all nodded in agreement as I read her profile out loud.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My dad is a people person, and that’s exactly what the profiler revealed him to be. He loves to talk and is just about the friendliest person you could ever meet. He’s genuinely interested in everyone he meets and will gladly listen to all you have to say or will talk your ear off if you let him. No surprise there, either!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I return to the classroom in August, I think this could be an interesting activity to have my students do during the first week of school. It would be interesting for me to keep their scores in my records so that I can try to understand their strengths, limitations, and personal learning styles.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assignment #10A: Nature and Nurture, Part II =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While //American History X// and //October Sky// are ostensibly polar opposite films in terms of plot and character development, they actually share a very similar thread for pontification: the idea of how nurture affects one’s character, aspirations, and outcomes in life.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Assignment #2, I analyzed the ways in which Derek Vinyard is shaped and influenced by the mentors and other nurturers in his life. It’s clear that his parents, teachers, and community have an enormous influence on his beliefs and actions. Derek was taught to hate and then love by these outside influences; likewise, external forces influenced Homer Hickam to achieve his goals of building functioning rockets, winning the national science fair, going to college, and working in the field of aeronautics.


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

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both Derek Vinyard and Homer Hickam have strong familial ties with their fathers and brothers.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dennis Vinyard is clearly the patriarch of the family, respected by his children and wife. They eat meals together and Mr. Vinyard explains his philosophy about race relations and social structure in the United States. He love his children, and his children love him. Because Derek respects him so much, he is completely influenced to become a skinhead in order to seek his form of justice for the murder of his father at the hands of a Black man.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Similarly, John Hickam is the proud, hardworking father and patriarch of the Hickam family. In addition to ruling his roost, he is also the boss at Coalwood’s coal mine, where most men in the town work. Both his family and all of his employees respect his fair and logical leadership. But Mr. Hickam doesn’t initially approve of his son’s dream of working with rockets. He dismisses him as flippant and fickle; a boy with pipe dreams. His love for the coal mine is so ingrained in him that he can’t imagine another life for his son. Homer’s brother, Jim, is the high school quarterback who also earns his way out of working in the coal mine. He wins a football scholarship, which is the only acceptable way to be able to go to college, in the eyes of John Hickam and the rest of Coalwood. Homer struggles deeply with his father’s attitude towards his dream.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The major difference between Dennis Vinyard and John Hickam and their influence on their children is love and hate. While both men love their children, Dennis Vinyard actively teaches hatred and John Hickam, while stubborn, actively teaches love. Hickam models love and fairness through the way he treats his employees, Leon Bolden and Ike Bykovsky, by the fact that he literally risks his life in order to save his brothers in the mine, and eventually, by supporting his son’s ambitions. As a result, Dennis teaches Derek to hate members of his own community while John teaches Homer to cherish every member of his community.


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

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Doris Vinyard and Elsie Hickam influence their sons just as much as their husbands do.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While Derek strays from his family’s love during his years as a top leader of the skinheads in Venice Beach, he eventually returns to them for forgiveness. The family bond amongst the Vinyards is a major factor in Derek’s redemption, and his mother Doris’s unconditional love helps Derek find his intrinsic kindness and capacity for forgiveness. When Derek attacks his sister at the dinner table during his racist rant, Doris vows to disown him. She says that she can’t believe that she gave birth to him. However, even after he commits an atrocious crime, she forgives him and proves that her love endures.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Elsie Hickam is her son’s number one fan. She supports him fully throughout his endeavors and understands how important it is to him to be able to work towards his passion and find a way out of working in the coal mines. When John is unsupportive, she stands by her son and urges him to continue to work towards his goals. Even though Homer’s ambitions cause unrest amongst the Hickam family, her unconditional love for her son is unwavering.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both boys have more complex relationships with their fathers than they do with their mothers, which is not uncommon. They strive to earn their father’s respect and have to actively work for it, while their mothers love them no matter what.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers and Principals **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both Derek and Homer reach their outcomes through major influences by teachers and principals.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Principal Turner’s influence on Homer is similar to Murray’s influence on Derek. Principal Turner tries to maintain order in his school. He is content with the status quo and tells Homer that there is no shame in dropping out of school in order to work in the mine. He believes that it’s okay that most of the boys will work in the mine and doesn’t seem to encourage them to strive beyond that future. He’s even quick to accuse the Rocket Boys of wrongdoing and actively inhibits them from progressing in their rocketry by helping the police to wrongfully arrest them for starting a forest fire and by trying to disallow them to bring their rockets to school. Eventually, the boys prove to him that their work is worthwhile and he comes around to their side, but he is a reluctant supporter.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Murray has a similar half-hearted approach to Derek. He becomes romantically involved with Doris and tries to challenge Derek at the dinner table during Derek’s rant, but eventually decides that it’s not his place and he seems to not have the energy or inclination to effect change in the family or persuade Derek that his views are wrong.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both Principal Turner and Murray mean well, but their hearts just aren’t 100% in their jobs; there seems to be a limit to how far their teaching can go.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Miss Riley’s support for Homer is similar to Dr. Sweeney’s support for Derek. Both mentors believe in their student’s ability to rise above and out of their position in life.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Miss Riley clearly loves her job and loves her students. Unlike Principal Turner, she wants her students to be able to work their way out of Coalwood by means other than a football scholarship. Even when Principal Turner makes it difficult for Homer and the Rocket Boys to achieve their goals, Miss Riley actively sticks up for them and encourages Homer to achieve his goals. She roots for Homer when he proves to Principal Turner through mathematics that their rocket did not start the forest fire and she demonstrates not only her talent for her job, but her love and compassion for her students as individuals.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dr. Sweeney proves through every action and word that he won’t give up on Derek. He has every reason in the world to hate Derek and have no respect for him, but he doesn’t. He believes that it is his responsibility to continue to actively push Derek to reexamine his opinions and views, and teaches Derek to love through love, even though the odds are against them both.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Miss Riley and Dr. Sweeney show us how educators’ impact can transcend school walls through their inexorable efforts to nourish their students’ potentials.


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

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Derek Vinyard’s community in Venice Beach, Los Angeles and Homer Hickam’s community in Coalwood, West Virginia both influence the way that the boys behave, treat others, and view the world, but with very different results.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Derek Vinyard’s Venice Beach is a community that has become increasingly violent and poor over recent decades. It is home to people of all races, and segregation is very much alive there. Lack of equality and segregation fuel the fire for Derek’s hatred toward non-Whites. Tension between Blacks and Whites is made clear to us during the scene where Derek and his skinheads play basketball against Black players; the stake is a claim to the court; the loser is not allowed back. Sharing or integration is not even an option. Space either belongs to Blacks or Whites, but it is never shared. Derek’s gang of skinheads is a strong community in itself. Led by Cameron Alexander, a raging fire of hatred and anger are stoked by Cameron’s violent parties and racist teachings. During this party scene, we can again see how this community believes in an “us vs. them” mentality. You’re either with us or you’re against us, according to the neo-Nazis. When Derek returns to one of these parties after having a change of philosophy in prison and tells Cameron how his views have changed and to stay away from his brother Danny, the gang that once worshiped him now believes that he’s a traitor and thinks he should be killed. There is no room for discussion or reflection; anyone who doesn’t agree with this community must be expelled from it.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Homer Hickam’s small town of Coalwood is tight-knit and its inhabitants share similar values. They are hardworking and proud of the work they accomplish. They are united in that they are mostly from a lower socio-economic status, but they support each other and care for each other nonetheless. The men who work in the mine look out for each other’s safety and celebrate successes and mourn losses together. At the school, students share their enthusiasm and support for the football team, which also serves as a unifier for the entire town. When Homer needs help, his entire community steps up to help him; his fight is their fight. When he shoots off powerful rockets and wins the national science fair, they celebrate; his success is their success.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course, these communities are vastly different. From what we know of Coalwood, it is predominantly white and working class. This homogenous group of people is unified, but the film barely acknowledges the existence of other races, except for giving us a brief glimpse of the fine line that Mr. Bolden, a Black man, has to walk in this white community. It’s safe to assume that in a small town in West Virginia in the 1950s, Black people are very much segregated, marginalized, and discriminated against. And surely, racist violence must exist, just as it does in Venice Beach in the 1990s. But that’s not what the movie is about.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However, if we look only at the communities that these two films present, we see that one is portrayed as segregated and full of hate while the other is unified and full of love and support. The communities’ inhabitants learn what their community teaches, and Derek and Homer are very much a product of them.