Ireson-Valois,+Julien

=** Julien Ireson-Valois **=

ASSIGNMENT #1 Here I am with my student Ceci, proving I am a teacher.

Hello everyone, my name is Julien Ireson-Valois. I am from Montreal, Canada, and I currently reside in Mexico City, where I have been teaching at the American School Foundation for the past three years. I teach French classes down here, which I love doing. Before that I worked as a teacher in Montreal and Vancouver, and am now in my seventh year as a high school teacher; I really do love what I do, and love getting better at it too! I am almost complete with my masters studies, and I am interested in how technology is shaping learning, particularly in language courses.

Meanwhile, I love spending time with loved ones, staying active and exercising, reading when I have free time and of course traveling around when I have the chance. I consider myself very open-minded, easy-going, somewhat mature/hard-working, entertaining and generous. I have a few passions, such as hockey of course, but also geography, literature and languages. I am proud to say I am almost trilingual at this point, picking up spanish has been truly life-changing.

Now for a few random things. I am the proud care-taker of a couple of turtles who are totally in love. I am a big fan of nature, and living in a megalopolis has prevented me from remaining close to it; therefore my turtles provide for me! I also like scuba diving, snowboarding, beaches, hiking and camping in nature. Sometimes, spending too much time on the computer hurts my brain and soul, but at the same time, I know the work I do for my students and for my masters is driven by love, determination, and a firm belief that I am bettering my practice.

Take care!

I believe a peaceable school should take the form of a place of learning, and a place where it is ok to make mistakes. First and foremost, a place where students and teachers can enter and feel safe from physical, verbal and psychological harm. Imagining any social group void of conflicts or miscommunication is a little too utopian and unrealistic, that is why I believe the school should also be a place of understanding, forgiveness and compassion, where if someone makes a mistake or is hurtful to another person that that pain can be healed and the individuals can reach peace among each other.
 * How does a peaceable school look like? **

Also, I believe a peaceable school should provide students with curricula that both is global in breadth and diverse in spirit, and that encourages community outreach and service projects, both in the local community and throughout the world. Exposing students to different travel and service projects vitalizes students and creates encounters for learning from other perspectives and traditional models. Once a student has learned to appreciate their neighbours, respect their surroundings and recognize that all people value the same ideals and feelings, then I believe that that student can feel and contribute to peacefulness in their lives and touch the lives of others around them.

In this course, I hope to learn (more) about: - What is a peaceable school, what responsibilities do stakeholders have and how can it all be implemented? - What are different ways and strategies to help resolve conflicts and how can they be avoided in the future? - What kind of curricula can be designed to encourage peaceable behaviour? - What kind of non-school professionals can contribute to a peaceable school and it what ways? - To what extent should a school be reaching outside of its doors to serve other to be truly acknowledged as a peaceable school?

ASSIGNMENT #2
__Discussion on "American History X"__ I watched the film with two friends, Tania and Lucila, and we had a pretty deep discussion on the roles of nature vs. nurture prevalent in the school, mentors and teachers in the film. In sum we noted that there was a lot of instances of hatred and anger being passed on by one person to another, often from an older person onto a younger more impressionable person. I believe this was the point of the film, that we as humans, when we are angry, can shut off the brain. I believe in order to peacefully resolve conflicts, we have to be in control of our emotions in dealing with those situations, but also recognizing that for lasting, positive outcomes, hatred is baggage and enjoy life.

In Derrick's case, we noted cases when the nurturing was taking place such the conversation around the dinner table when their father was trying to discourage Derrick from liking Dr. Sweeney's course and when Derrick's African-American laundry room partner was obviously trying to look out for Derrick and coach him about prison conduct. Derrick's love for his father and wanting to please him in accepting his racist discourse, along with the subsequent trauma suffered from his father's murder, provoked him to lose rational thought and operate purely on anger and fear. The nurturing at home had conditioned Derrick's worldview to blame his problems on what his father had taught him, and as such become and extremist and polarized thinker. Conversely, Dr. Sweeney offers some nurturing upon his prison visit with Derrick: "Has anything you done made your life better?". That seemed to be the question that got through to Derrick because he was at his weakest and most vulnerable moments, desperate for some crumb of peace. In Daniel's case, we saw him as a highly influenceable young man, who looked up to his two male role models, his father and his older brother. When both were taken from his life, the void was filled by Cameron and Seth, who in a similar nurturing form, taught Danny a life of anger and discrimination. We can tell how much his older brother meant to him from his return from prison and how he already began to understand and listen to Derrick's changed course of life, and was ready to see a new dawn. One other interesting scene we discussed was when the car rolled passed their residence with Daniel's eventual killer, and an older male role model figure in the driver seat, passing on the instructions to do the deed. We therefore see how nurturing from a top-down authority can be loving or hate-filled. We as teachers should be mindful of how important these relationships may become between you influenceable students.

Nature, or chaos, was also seen to have shaped the course of events throughout the film. Within two days of incarceration, Derrick already felt broken by this new environment. The racial segregation and tension, the work, the cafeteria and workout area social situations and cell life must have all eventually helped Derrick develop different perspectives on his own problems. They were tough, broke him down, made him deal with the consequences of his actions and made him reflect on his thinking. The school also served as an arena from which similar racial tensions and social situations interplay with one another over physical space. Ultimately, through Dr. Sweeney's commitment to his own character, it became the place where Danny completed an alternative, introspective course on himself. In a sense, this is like nature because it allowed Danny to explore a deeper, more unknown and less chartered realm of his brain, feelings and understanding. This self-exploration allowed Danny to be shaped by his own inward-looking.

In the end, we really believed the film was much more about nurturing relationships than about the outside environment influencing learning, just because there is so much knowledge, aggression and pain being passed on between the characters who interact. The younger people take it in because they look up to those who nurture them. Always a classic to revisit this film!

ASSIGNMENT #3
__Peaceable Schools__: A peaceable school or community would basically have its constituent members feeling and exuding happiness. Happiness is of course achieved through the preserving of a safe and healthy environment. This means having conflicts resolved by communicating effectively, openly and clearly, where people can feel safe to express themselves whilst still considering the respect owed to every individual member of the community. What would be tolerated would be respect, honesty, appreciation, personal growth, selflessness and teamwork. What would not be tolerated would be disrespect, dishonesty, negative vibes, selfishness, discrimination and especially violence. The guiding rule which I believe the members of this community should adhere to would be the golden rule, 'to do onto others as you have them do onto you'. All other rules would be derivatives of this main guiding goal. The expectations would be for each member of the community to contribute to the community by being respectful, helpful, understanding, compassionate and empathetic. Even the teachers and staff should model these behaviours to students, and be understanding that mistakes are ok as long as we learn from them. The peaceable community members would be responsible to complete their work, be open-minded to others and ideas, and to work together in a variety of situations. A peaceable community requires each of its members to contribute and look after each other.

__Oscar Arias__: Oscar Arias Sanchez was President of Costa Rica in the 1980s and was instrumental in helping negotiate a peace treaty in Central America to end the civil wars affecting Nicaragua and Guatemala in 1987. The civil wars had claimed thousands of lives, and caused tension and instability in a number of neighbouring countries, including Honduras and El Salvador. He was recognized with the [|Nobel Peace Prize] the same year. From [|reading up on him], it seems as though he was successful at achieving peace because he stood up to the USA who was trying to modify the peace treaty and interfere in the sovereign affairs of Nicaragua, and because he was able to force the Sandinistas to act in a more transparent and democratic manner. His stance of neutrality gained him the respect of the bordering nations. I believe that Arias was successful in establishing a peaceable region in Central America because as a leader, he had shown himself as neutral, fair and committed to peace. I n reading his Tri-Association speech, it seems as though Arias is a man committed to helping people, not defeating people through war and military. Furthermore, in order for there to be peaceable communities and schools, leaders must stand up to injustice and imply that all members to do their part to be respectful, honest and contributive to the community as a whole.

If Hank were to venture into my classroom one day (door is always open), I think he would find a peaceable community. It's not perfect by any manner, but there is peace. Peace because I as the leader of the classroom, accept nothing short of honesty, friendliness and respect between my students. I believe I try my best to model these values, and create an environment where positive attitudes and actions are acknowledged, and negative behaviours and interactions are not tolerated. I do not have rules written on posters on the wall; however I make it clear to my students the behaviours I expect of them, and respectfully deal with situations I find inappropriate and not aligned with my expectations. For instance, there was one student this year who for a few classes I felt had a poor attitude: She was resistant to participating in the class, she was rude with me and some of her classmates and had a body language that was overall negative. I spoke with her outside and let her know that her attitude had to change because it was affecting me. I told her that above all else I expect positive personal relationships in my class, even more important than turning in the best work. She seemed surprised and I told her we can forget about what has happened but we need to move forward together and correct the negative attitude. Since then she has been amazing, and contributes to the class dynamic by being respectful and being active. A number of similar situations have occurred over the years in my teaching, and I feel like students get it when they are dealt with honestly and made clearly aware of what personal expectations I have of us. As the leader of the classroom, peace is ultimately my responsibility. I deal with my students fairly, respectfully and appropriately. Obviously, the end goal is that they bring what they have been carefully taught, through words, actions and interventions, into society at large and promote a more caring, inclusive and open society.

ASSIGNMENT #4
After completing the quiz, and gathering the results completed by four of my friends, I can remark that generally our perceptions of violence in the United States are pretty comparable. Firstly, it should be noted that this quiz was taken by 2 Canadians, 1 American, 1 Mexican and 1 Frenchman, therefore our views and cultural experience with the United States are varied. As a whole, we assumed that the rate and number of violent crimes in the United States have risen proportionately with population, and that although we believed that in the western world homicide rates have decreased, that the United States has remained just as, or more, violent. The latter statement because of widespread availability of firearms, discrimination and social conflict. After looking at the answer key, the statistics show that the crime rate in the US has decreased steadily over the past forty years, and that in general we have come a long way in the West in regards to violence over the past 800 years. I believe that this has a lot to do with a rise in the quality of life and meeting human basic needs (food, water, access to health, ...) and better education in regards to respect, tolerance and inclusiveness. If young people are taught different strategies for dealing with emotions and encouraged to talk about problems, we can assume the result will be less violent tendencies.

In Monkonnen's article //Homicide: Explaining America's Exceptionalism//, the author compares the history of murders and murder rates from the United States with other parts of the modern world. Specifically, he is trying to determine what could explain the USA's higher murder rates. Firstly, he reminds us that murder rates are national statistics, and that there is a huge disparity between regions, such as North Dakota versus Louisiana for instance. This means the national statistics don't always hold true depending on what part of a given country one might be in. He points out that the availability of guns in the United States over time, a racially-segregated and class-fractured society, has definitely had an influence but cannot be claimed as the determining factor in the disparity between the US and other modern states. In fact, there was a greater percentage of households with guns before 1850 (~60%) than there are today (~40%). Also, he points out four major factors that could influence the murder rates in nations such as federalism, mobility, slavery and tolerance. I think this was a great source of information and ideas into the discussion on violence in the US and elsewhere. I agree with a lot of what the author has said, except I really do believe the presence and availability of guns is the determining factor in a higher murder rate in the US than elsewhere. Violence breeds violence, and guns are inherently a source of violence. The discussion, since the horrible events of Sandy Hook elementary school took place, has turned on whether to arm teachers in the classroom. Is this a valid response? Does this mean students will feel safer?

Similarly, waterboarding, a controversial torturing technique practiced by the CIA, and torture as a whole, is not a productive, ethical or fair use of our energy. It is violent in every way, and can include some of the four more serious crimes mentioned in this assignment. Although there exist some discrepancies in what those in command of the CIA claim, waterboarding is a form of torture as it gives the victim the sensation of drowning. It has been used for hundreds of years and to me looks identical as it was 500 years ago. [|Proponents of torturing techniques and waterboarding claim it can help us breakup the threat of terrorism]; but how can we say that the world is safer from terrorism? That torture doesn't just breed terrorism and galvanize its members? That other options are not being considered?

The world's superpowers invest heavily into weapons, defense and military intervention, whilst investing a tiny fraction of those sums into conflict prevention and resolution. The resources in this post have shown us that whether it be homicides, other dangerous crimes, torture or weapons production, that we are constantly replying to violent threats with violence, and I believe this is turning our backs on real healing and evolution, and not effectively solving some of the most serious challenges modern states face today. If other methods, such as non-violence, conflict resolution, cooperation, meditation and diplomacy are dismissed in preference of aggression and retaliation, I don't believe we will prosper in the end. Education has a role to play in changing the status quo and I believe that we are capable of effecting that change.

ASSIGNMENT #5 In researching the [|amygdala], I learnt that it is like the person's alarm system. The amygdala perceives a threat and can cause the person to act irrationally or destructively - this is what Daniel Goleman means by the [|hijacking of the brain], that the brain can be taken over in a millisecond. I tried to think about when I saw such an event unfold and I was having trouble. Then, I remembered an event in a grade 9 spanish class. The teacher had good intentions but unfortunately she had pretty poor management skills with a classroom of only boys. We were excitable, going through puberty and basically viewed the class as an opportunity to fool around. One day, I guess she had had enough. I can't remember the exact cause of provocation, but likely it had to do with one of the students acting immaturely and inappropriately. She screamed out: "You know what?... All of you are f&*%ing a#^@oles!". She then stormed out of the class and rushed to the principal's office. We sat there stunned that all that had happened in such a quick moment. We knew we had gone a little too far but were confused why she had reacted like that. Now it makes sense to think that something set her off where she was in 'fight or flight' mode. She expressed a strong emotional reaction in a sudden onset, even though the stress had been piling on throughout the class I am sure. She took off out of the classroom to run from this beast we had created.

In watching Amy Cuddy's TED talk on the power of the body to shape the mind, behaviour and outcomes, I was reminded of the beautiful potential we have between the mind and the body, and the abilities within us to affect change. Two of the greatest lads you will ever meet, Trent and Kal, were shown this video because we are firm believers of the body's ability to change the way we think and act after catalyzing it with something. In Amy Cuddy's talk, she emphasized the importance of high-power stances to stimulate testosterone, confidence and influence outcomes. A few times a week, when we are spending quality time together, the three of us and special guests practice a number of yoga poses, stretches, tae kwon do and most importantly, meditations. We have become more aware that we can influence the way we feel and think about ourselves, through within. Cuddy also mentions certain ways of thinking positively, such as if you don't feel you belong, fake it. This risk-taking behavior is like self-coercion, I believe mainly sapped from concentration. It is interesting to have listened to this speech at a time when I believe I have been able to learn about the power of concentration and meditation. I have even developed a unit on meditation with one of my classes this year, because I truly believe that it is worth the students' time to relax and set intentions to chose to live a better day, week, life. Concentrating on positive thinking, actions and behaviour is key to a healthy living, and when you're feeling good about yourselves, you're feeling good about the world around you. Special thanks to my friends Trent and Kal for going on this journey with me!

ASSIGNMENT #6
 * What is a conflict?** A conflict is when there is a clash, either verbal, psychological, social or physical, between two or more entities. Examples could range from a dispute in a sandbox to a nuclear war, and can vary in intensity. Conflicts are not irreparable, and indeed are sometimes necessary and unavoidable, but they can still have lasting effects. I often tell my students that conflict is ok, as long as respect is maintained and there is listening on both sides.
 * What is conflict resolution?** History, and our own personal history, have shown us that conflicts can have devastating consequences and result in serious pain and suffering. Conflict resolution is an approach to quell and deal with conflicts by allowing a forum of respect in which the stakeholders can express their grievances and work towards peace, often with the help of a third party mediator. This can be accomplished at the international diplomatic levels, to a classroom incident between a handful of students.

Well, as mentioned earlier in my entries, I am Canadian and so as such was born with a hockey stick. It is indeed an aggressive sport, one in which emotions can run high and events take place so quickly that tempers can flare pretty easily. Sometimes it can get out of hand. One game, we had a 3-goal lead toward the end of the game. I returned into my zone to retrieve the puck and was shoved hard from behinds into the end boards. As I got up a little woozy, a few individual skirmishes were taking part as a result of the hit. I slowly got up and made my way to my adversary who had committed the infraction, which can sometimes lead to very dangerous injuries. As I approached him, he began laughing at me and calling me a few things. As you could imagine, I was in no mood for his antagonizing. As he was laughing I 'unconsciously' prompted him to throw the first punch. Which he did. I went into a rage and within a few seconds, we were tangled up and his helmet came loose. I punched him in the face and he fell. It was at that moment that I knew I had gone over the edge and that I wasn't able to think rationally: I was overrun with emotions, and my brain was hijacked. It was clear my amygdala was preventing me from thinking clearly or rationally, and the conflict erupted into violence as a result. Almost immediately after it had happened, I skated to the bench and began taking in everything that I had done. I felt so guilty, and embarrassed. I thought in the moment that I would feel better by hitting him, but I felt just the opposite. I began to thinking bigger too, "How could I call myself a pacifist, and oppose the Iraq war, when I am doing these kinds of actions on the ice". Based on what I have seen and experienced, including that moment on the rink, I can definitely say that the involvement of emotions and the amygdala can definitely hinder conflict resolution, although I am not 100% sure that they always do all of the time. I can say that for conflicts to be resolved, there need to be cooler heads, and that clam, respect, understanding and listening should be demonstrated by each party. That is why a mediator, such as a referee, should always be present to be the arbitrator, the guardian of fairness and control whose turn it is to speak.

ASSIGNMENT #7 After reading the section from the InSTEPP document, I was reminded about the power of listening and using words to formulate the most desirable expressions to alleviate conflict and produce positive changes in relationships. I especially liked the Chinese character "to listen", because it shows how much listening involves more than just the ears. I think that "I messages" are simple yes, but as mentioned int he document, less words are better than more words in almost every similar situation.

In the clip from "American History X", I am pretty sure I was able to detect the "I message", even if the 3-part formula was not expressed verbally. I believe Derrick was communicating to Lamott that "When you expressed yourself and talked to me in prison, you kept me alive in one piece, and I feel grateful and thankful for all that you have done". Immediately following that exchange, they both look at each other and although Lamott is dismissive and telling Derrick to just leave, you can tell than Lamott knew exactly what Derrick was trying to convey, and then Derrick seemed to know that Lamott knew. Derrick then says "That's what I thought, I owe you man". I agree this is a powerful scene considering Derrick's previous views on race and how he managed his feelings in the past.

Here are some examples with "I messages" that I'm sure people can relate to: 1. I spoke with my roommates the other day about their cleanliness. I know I am not the cleanest person, but I make sure to clean up the public spaces I use within a day or two the latest to make sure that everybody can you the spaces and dishes like we should be able to. Several instances occurred when they left dishes for 4, 5, 6 days, attracting bugs and disrupting cooking plans: //"Hey guys, when you leave the dishes lying around, it attracts bugs and prevents me from starting supper, and I feel like it is unfair"// 2. To my friends Kal and Trent, who are awesome: //"When you guys spend time with me, we meet great people and have a great time, and I feel joyous and loved"// 3. To my mother, who is unconditionally supportive and loving: //"When you support me in my decisions, such as moving to Mexico, I feel like I make smart and positive choices, and this makes me feel valued and confident"//

As for the Gigi article, here's how I would have approached the situation to help correct her behaviour: //"Dear Gigi, when you enter my room and go through my things, some of my belongings get misplaced or missing, and this makes me feel invaded and disrespected."// After the behaviour improves over time, I would positively reinforce her behaviour by saying: //"Gigi, when I spoke to you about our issues, and you worked on them, I felt respected and valued, and appreciate our friendship more than ever."//

ASSIGNMENT #8 In one of my classes, I have a student, let's call him Randy. Randy is 15 years old, and incredibly bright, I would say that he is gifted. He works hard, wants his work to be perfect, is very knowledgeable in many areas and generally enjoys being in my classroom. However, Randy has two fairly obvious defects. One is that he is constantly try to show his peers and the class as a whole just how bright he is by correcting people and going out of his way to sound smarter and it repels students from wanting to be his friend or work with him in group contexts. Also, as many gifted students can show, once they have finished their assigned work, they have trouble sitting still and not disrupting others around them. Both of these behaviours we have worked on over the past few months. In designing a behavioural contract with Randy, here's what it turned out to look like:

RANDY'S BEHAVIOURAL CONTRACT

I Randy Studenson agree to the following terms: These are my goals: Goal #1: To learn when it is appropriate to politely correct another student and to become more aware of my words, that they are always in the interest of contributing to the learning of the whole class Threshold: Think before I speak, never cut off a student and even if I do know the correct answer, put up my hand and wait to be called on.

Goal #2: To not distract others from doing their work when I am done with mine Threshold: Any form os distracting students who are on task

These are my rewards/reinforcers if I meet my goals: For the first goal - I will earn friends and learn valuable social skills that will last me my whole life For the second goal - I have the right to work on any other assignment when done with my classwork for French class. Also, I have the right to leave class and work in the library, under the condition that I return to French class with the librarian's initials on a note written by Mr. Valois saying it is ok for me to be there.

These are my consequences if I do not meet my goals: For the first goal - I will continue to not earn the respect and friendship of members of my class For the second goal - I will have to complete my assigned work with the behavioural specialist - or - I will receive extra work to keep me on task

My contract will be reviewed on the first class of every month

Signatures Student Date _ Teacher_ Date _

In designing this contract there were a number of specifics and issues we had to consider. Firstly and foremost, the good news is that we do have a very positive relationship together. He knows I care for him and am happy to see him succeed in class. He respects me and enjoys being in my classroom environment. This contract is to tweak his behaviour, allow him to grow socially as a person and to mitigate his negative behaviours which are affecting more people than just him and I. I sometimes involve parents in dealing with student behaviour, but in this case, my professional judgement told me it was unnecessary, because it is fixable between the student and I. I did involve another teacher colleague and the vice-principal at one point and his behaviour did improve since then. Also, let's just say Randy's parents are not the most cooperative and believe their son is invincible. Involving them make actually help to reinforce his negative behaviours so I figured probably best to keep them out of this contract. In designing this contract, I considered extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. For the first goal, I decided there should be no extrinsic motivation in the form of a reward. Earning friends and feeling respected and part of the class team is a reward in its own, extrinsic in some way, but primarily intrinsic in that once you earn friendships and develop your social skills, you will be driven from the inside to want to treat other people in other classes and contexts similarly, because if you know the result can be more lasting and meaningful friendships, which is a part of our needs of feeling loved and belonging. The rewards for respecting the second goal are extrinsic mostly. This student does want to learn and work on other classes, and the opportunity of being released from class to go work in the library offers him a greater sense of freedom. Admittedly, these rewards are practical for me as a teacher but also definitely benefit his learning. The consequences of not respecting the goals have been effective. The first goal's consequences are simply a maintenance of the status quo, that other students do not want to associate with him. In a discussion we had, he admitted that this was not a favourable situation for him and he felt sensitive about it. I told him if he disrespects the goal, that this would be maintained and that no one would feel happy. He agreed that this wasn't desirable and that he began to see this as a consequence in its own. The consequences from goal #2 are meaningful because he does not want to leave my classroom to work in a more rigid and strict environmental with the behavioural specialist. Although he is gifted and enjoys learning, assigning him additional work has been shown to be an effective consequence because he would rather have more time to himself. By cutting into his time, it has deterred him from disturbing others. Overall I agree with the article "Giving Students What They Need" because I feel like my class is all about relationships. I rarely have discipline problems because I give students freedom, I let them eat, drink, use the washroom, I remind them I love them often, I get to know each of them, I empower them by giving them the choice of working with teammates, sitting where they like, selecting creative projects, giving them second chances... Basically there was very little in there that I disagree with or don't already do in class. This was nice because it made me feel like other educators think like me and operate in a style similar to my own. In relation to the idea of freedom in Choice Theory, I often use the expression "I give you all enough rope to hang yourselves with" in my class. What is meant is that I am pretty hands-off with my students, I do not create an atmosphere where no one can talk or have fun; I let them socialize and remind them of the deadlines and let them know I am available to help them. If they miss a deadline, it is their mistake, and it's ok to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. Next time, they will remember the mistake they made, and learn to take advantage of their time and concentrate on producing a better effort.

ASSIGNMENT #9 I always enjoy taking these personality tests because generally the results are consistent, and I agree with the fact that I am more people-oriented and enjoy thinking creatively and designing projects for my students that involve creativity and different alternatives for learning. My critiques about this personality test would be that it is fairly simplistic and there are too few questions in my opinion. Also, for some of the questions, I felt that either all answers could apply, it just depends on my real life constraints, demands and mood at the time. For instance, on a day off, I could definitely see myself networking with my friends, but I could be organizing my personal and professional realms, or I could be reading. However, a personality test will obviously have to be general and not cater to every 7 billion individual personalities on the planet. On the positive side I found the questions were entertaining, required some reflection for the most part and it can easily be administered to other participants. It's also nice there is a student version, in that way these personality tests are accessible and can therefore gather a larger sample, important for data purposes. It would also be interesting to examine the data on a regional scale, for instance to see if some schools or neighbourhoods are 'factories' for certain kinds of thinkers (among the four personalities examined in the questionnaire).

I gave the test to my friend Kal, and he scored the exact opposite than me, which is interesting because we have talked about collaborating on certain ideas, and it's nice to know that we complement each other. As mentioned before, I am a People Person (32) and Creative-Problem Solver (28). I scored a 19 on Learned Expert and a 21 for Practical Manager. Meanwhile, Kal scored a 19 for People Person, 23 for Learned Expert, 26 for Creative Problem Solving and a 32 as a Practical Manager. He works on the internet and has programmers around the world working and so he does manage a number of people and projects. I on the other hand am a teacher who believes strongly in forging relationships with the students and creative problem solving for issues that come up on the fly and designing curriculum and projects. This is another value of doing these kinds of tests with other individuals because you can see in which areas one can compliment the other.

ASSIGNMENT #10
Fortunately, I worked at a summer camp for many years and October Sky was a perennial classic. We used it because of the good values and lessons inherent in the film, and also as a hook to prepare the campers for building rockets on a rainy day. We discussed the film at length over these years and the line "this one is gonna go for miles" became a bit of a daily saying between us camp counsellors. 1. It is clear that both Derrick and Homer were raised in very different families, although there are some similarities between both home environments. Before Derrick's dad was murdered, we see a stereotypical white american middle class family. The dad pretty much calls the shots, and the mother is there to keep the family together and support the father. We know both Homer and Derrick really respect and listen to their fathers; even though John Hickam has issues with his son's interest in rockets, Homer still respects his father greatly. The differences between both homes are that obviously they are set in different times and places, and the social contexts within which each film takes place are different. The primary difference is that in both families' cases, the dad tries to nurture his children by having them adopt and believe in what each of them believe (Derrick's dad trying to instil that immigrants are trying to ruin America, Homer's dad trying to convince Homer to give up on his dreams and get to work). 2. It is pretty horrible to witness Derrick's mother's fall from grace after her husband is murdered and she has to raise a family of traumatized and angry children. We see the scene when she is dressed up, looked confident and is obviously the woman of the home, when the family, with their late father, are eating at the dinner table. After she is almost helpless to prevent Derrick from attacking his sister and verbally assaulting her Jewish guest, Mr. Murray, at the table. I think that she is helpless to stop her son from thriving in the White supremacist movement, and this is revealed when Murray, after the big fight at the table, tells her "you don't know the world that your children are living in". Meanwhile, Homer's mother Elsie, is a loving and tender mother, and always there to support her husband and children, until a significant moment in the film. After John wouldn't reopen the welding shop during the strike, Elsie threatened to leave him because she felt as though he was never supporting his son, who was reaching for his dreams. I think although the characters of both mothers may have been similar, their roles in nurturing their children differed. It was not Derrick's mother's fault that her husband died, but she struggled to raise them afterwards. 3. Miss Riley challenged Homer to grow his character; Murray spoke up on behalf on justice at the dinner table, but seemed powerless to stop Derrick. Without judging him, Murray abandoned Derrick's mother because of Derrick's intense and violent behaviour. I wouldn't say that Murray had an effect on Derrick, even though he was able to control his emotions and amygdala in a very tense situation. Miss Reilly plays an enormous role in Homer's life, however more as a nurturing, compassionate and inspiring teacher. No doubt if she wasn't there, this movie is never made. She continues to encourage Homer to follow his dreams and work hard to achieve them. We see that she is probably the most important role model he has in his life. These teachers each played a role in the films, however Miss Riley deeply influenced Homer, whilst Murray did not do the same with Derrick. s 4. It becomes clear throughout the film that Dr. Sweeney is a compassionate, fair, selfless and strict teacher. At the dinner table conversation with his father, Derrick praises Sweeney as a good teacher, and Danny begins to feel similarly when Derrick returns from prison and when he begins to put some serious reflection and thought into his American History X paper. He returns to visit Derrick in prison when he is at his most vulnerable and alone, and shows that he cares and wants to help Derrick, and challenges him to work on his anger and reform himself as a person in a multiracial society. Even when his own father is trying to convince Derrick of his views, Derrick seems reluctant to trust his father, showing that he admires Sweeney, his intellectual capacity and teaching styles. Similarly, no Sweeney, no movie. Mr. Turner, although not to the same extent, played an important role in influencing the course of events in the film and helping support Homer and his rocket friends. I feel like a very important moment in the film was when Mr. Turner approached the police with information regarding the forest fire written by Homer, to prove his innocence. This helped inspire and support Homer to continue his work and reach for his dreams. Each principal played roles in s haping the courses of Homer, Derrick and somewhat Danny's destinies, because they encouraged them to do better with their lives and showed unconditional support. 5. I believe the community determined the two young men's actions, behaviour and character. Such is environmental determinism. In the case of American History X, Derrick is schooled in a high school with many races, and with palpable tension. The basketball court I believe was the most important setting in the film after the prison. The racial rivalry on the asphalt is symbolic of the war between races in L.A.. They viewed the Venice Beach courts as being overtaken by blacks and hispanics, just like Derrick's father had viewed the situation in his community, and the USA at large. Prison however, with racial gangs, hostility, social norms and laundry duty, definitely shaped Derrick's growth and eventual 'coming of age'. Once he had been raped and read into Sweeney's books, he was able to see racism through a different lens. Lamont's teachings indirectly helped Derrick see the backwardness of racial inequality and how it had affected his lives and others. Lastly, the community of white supremacists and the party scene are key in understanding how Derrick began to believe this was initially a good place for him to develop a world view. He felt as though Cameron replaced his father figure, and once all the madness was said and done, Derrick realizes actually how much of an asshole the man really was, and how he was rotten for his life. Meanwhile, Homer's community is actually the kind of community Derrick's father would have been proud of coincidentally: blue-collared, mostly white and conservative. The community was mostly dominated by the work of the mine, and the outdoors whom played host for the boys to fool around and test their rockets. I think the fact that it was such a hard-working down, that the community and Homer's father were mostly resistant to thinking outside of the box, and straying away from having family generations working at the mine as his older brother did. This proved to be a great challenge for Homer because the community conditioned Homer to feel like what he was doing was perhaps wrong and left him with little support. Meanwhile, the outdoors allowed Homer and his friends' spirits to soar. They could test their rockets in privacy, imagine endless possibilities, and learn valuable life lessons like not stealing steel from a railway track. So it can also be argued that West Virginia served as the determining backdrop for Homer to become a NASA engineer whilst at the same time a deterrent form reaching his dreams.

In sum, both films underlined the value of influences, both positive and negative, in young people's lives. As teachers, we know we might sometimes be at the top of the list. We have to be cognizant of our actions and teaching styles to inspire our students to be better and make something meaningful of their lives. As Sweeney challenged Derrick "Has anything in your life made you feel better?", let us remind our students that they have vast power to make their communities a better place where we can feel secure and happy.