Weaver,+Bradden

My Biography
After majoring in Political Science and German Studies at the College of William and Mary, I became an administrative staff member for US Senator John Heinz (R- PA). After several years on Capitol Hill, I entered a MA program at Yale University and went on to complete graduate degrees in International Relations and Political Science. Because of my interest in Germany, I applied for a fellowship with the Robert Bosch Foundation and subsequently held internships with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Bundestag (Federal Parliament), the Senate Chancery of Berlin, and the US Embassy in Bonn. My research led me to also work for an international academic research center in Berlin where I stayed for a few years before returning to the United States. Shortly after moving State-side, I received an offer to help with the start up of an International Relations Department in a recently opened American university in Thailand (Webster University Thailand). I stayed there for seven years before taking my present position as a Registrar and European history teacher at an American international school (New Sathorn International School) in Bangkok, Thailand. I am presently working toward my Masters in International Education with the SUNY Program in Bangkok, however, I will be in PA on a leave of absence from my job till January 2014.

This is my favorite icon, since it perfectly entails the values of my own Unitarian Universalist world view.



History of the Discipline-- State to state, labor, civil rights and public protest movement, police

Theory- Models and Concepts

Strategies and techniques applied to schools

__Prologue__
Viewing this film was a first time event for everyone in my discussion group. The group was comprised of a retired secondary school principal (my father), a retired district superintendent (my former high school psychology teacher), and a currently employed high school social studies teacher (a long-standing friend of my family). Despite the many decades of teaching experience pooled between us (spanning 54 years), we admitted that we were amazingly naïve and inexperienced in facing the type of conflict shown in //American History X//. Because we had served in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania public schools (or in my case, Bangkok, Thailand international schools), we had never remotely faced a student conflict emanating from racially based gangs consisting of lower socio-economic urban groups. Our schools and classrooms had been racially homogenous, comprised of youth from the agricultural working class. Ethnic minorities were/are few (still mainly Asian and Latino, not African American), and though these student may have faced bullying to some degree, planned violence between a racial-political group (akin to the Skinheads) and a racial-economic group (akin to the Crips) was unknown. So we watched this film for a first time just to familiarize ourselves with its unfamiliar content and to absorb the shock of the raw feelings on the screen.

Once the emotional hurt and sadness of the film's first viewing had passed, our discussion group watched it a second time, often pausing and reviewing. This second viewing permitted us to think objectively and draw parallels between the film's underlying themes and key events in our own frontline experiences in classrooms and hallways of high school. Indeed, //American History X// affirmed the basic truths we had derived about the "nature" of angry teens and their violently aggressive acts as well as the "nurture" required to peacefully and productively resolve their tension and move them forward to well-balanced adulthood and life-affirming, meaningful existences. The following list is a compilation of "lessons learned" by our group of educators about the "hardwired" nature of adolescent behavior and the types of "adult" nurture best suited to coopt, steer and utilize teen energy for acts of creation.

__Nature versus Nurture: Some Truths__

 * //Teen Nature:// Truth #1-** As they confront the loss of childhood and the rapid introduction of new thoughts, feelings, and issues from the adult mind, body and world, adolescents are understandably confused, disoriented, or "lost." Furthermore, their limited life experience and ongoing brain development means that they will lack a sense of broad perspective and reasoned judgement as they seek to undertake three complexly intertwined life tasks, namely: the forging of a new, independent identity separate from the parents, the negotiation of (their) life's meaning and purpose, and the determination of possible appropriate responses to the motivations and behavior of others in adult society.

//**Teen Nature: Truth #2-**// Adolescents still hold firmly to the values or equality, fairness and justice that were so important to their childhood. Their maintain an idealism and "black and white" thinking that can seem naively simplistic or utopian to adults. From the prism of their perspective, however, the adult world-- which is so close but yet so far out of reach-- appears phony, jaded, and cynical.


 * Teen Nature: Truth #3**

feelings of alienation, withdraw and introversion.

nsecurity, frustration and introversion anger.

**__Assignment #3__**

 * __Observable Elements of a Peaceful__ Community**
 * //Mission and Vision Statements//**

humanist values. Backed in //class room across grades. Classroom management techniques, classroom culture (norms, rules, behavior modification. discipline tactics, peaceful conflict resolution, displays), lessons planning on peace and good citizens, In hallways, dining hall,//
 * //Comprehensive Elementary School Character Development Program-//**


 * __Evidence of a Peaceful Community__**


 * __Personal Contribution of a Peaceful Community__**