McLachlan,+Kirsty

Hi everyone. I’m Kirsty, originally from Scotland, and living in Dubai.
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I’ve been teaching for 9 years as an English and Media Studies teacher and have taught many varying curriculums. The holistic nature of education is what excites me and I feel very strongly that every child should enjoy school, my passion lying in curriculum design. I presented at NESA in March on mindset in the classroom and I have a background in service learning coordination. All of this involves shifting educational views and practices, so this course will help me with the implementation. Also as grade level leader, I have been leading my grade level team and freshmen students through the new online portfolio in our high school which has been met with some resistance. I hope to learn about causes of conflict, the psychology of leading people through mediation, Promoting clear communication between parties, resolving conflicting to best impact student learning and how to support outliers.

On a personal note, I love the outdoors and unless I’m reading or writing, I find it impossible to sit still! Travelling is something we also do as much as we can, but wish we could do more!

__**#2**__ **Reflection: Part 1- Nature vs. Nurture** From the opening scene, one can assume that Derrick is a violent individual and was perhaps born with those qualities given the horrific nature of his actions. However, psychology tells us that children are shaped by the environments in which they are raised most of all. Therefore, if we look at Derrick’s father who is both aggressive and ignorant in his beliefs about the black community, we can begin to grasp where these behaviours have been modelled and learned. To further reinforce this, we also see that Derrick’s close friends, regarded as mentors perhaps, encourage these beliefs also as part of their gang mentality.

It is also important to recognise that people can also look deeply and work on their flaws, if and when they realise that they have them, or can ‘unlearn’ undesirable beliefs and behaviours. This primarily happens in the film when Derrick meets Mr. Sweeney who challenges Derrick’s way of thinking. Soon Derrick realises the consequences of his actions and that equality is important, and something he can teach to others in life also.

Ultimately, although we are shaped by nature to be more open/closed to beliefs, you can nurture someone to alter their path and make better choices. Although it is clear that at first this may be a result of fighting particular innate impulses.

** __Reflection: Part 2- The Role of School, Teachers and Mentors__ ** Education has a huge role to play in the shaping of Derrick’s beliefs as an adult. I do believe that as young citizens we test boundaries, we ask question and challenge adult thinking (often just rebel because we can and feel we should!) and we cave into peer pressure, but ultimately adults have a great responsibility to help produce citizens of the world who embrace equality and empathy. How do they do it? It can be tough but perseverance, trust and patience are seen to work in this film.

Also, another question raised is how do we balance the ideas and behaviours presented to us by educational mentors when family and friends have one belief and education has another? This is the divide that is created for Derrick, and how young people respond to these conflicts is of course important. I think the audience see that it is when Derrick is in prison and the negative model at home, his father, is gone, that he really digs deep into himself and wants to change. Mr Sweeny plays a large factor in that once more when he visits the prison, but so does the black inmate Derrick meets in the laundry room. Without that relationship forming, I’m not sure Mr Sweeny’s words would have resonated as much with Derrick and he would have been able to see these beliefs in practice. I also have to question how much of that comes with maturity also, as it seems that with lifelong experience and more dealings with varied people and situations, we can learn a lot from those too.

** __# 3__ ** ** __Part a.__ ** Additional Oscar Sanchez sources: [|__https://www.peacejam.org/laureates/Oscar-Arias-9.aspx__]  [|__http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1987/arias-facts.html__]

A peaceable school is not one that avoids the topic of conflict- it is one that highlights its roots, preventable measures that can be taken, and uses the consequences of real conflicts to allow others to learn from them. As Sanchez suggests in his speech: “Delve into the treaties. Assign students parts of the actual documents to read, help them understand the motivations of the principal actors, stage mock negotiations and have them draw up treaties of their own. Only then will they learn just how difficult peace is, how the doves, and the hearts, and the olive branches they see on the logos of non-profit organizations disguise a process that is not only intellectually demanding but physically draining as well”. Students need to learn to talk with “I feel” language to solve their problems, and avoid blame or aggressive conversations. Turn-taking/listening skills would also be essential to allow all parties to contribute to a discussion and feel ‘heard’. Sanchez also raising an interesting point about teaching peaceable language in other languages other than student’s mother tongue to create a sensitivity and questioning about language perceptions in various cultures. Aggressive/violent actions and language would not be tolerated, but feelings of sadness and frustration should be openly expressed in constructive ways. It would be expected that adults model this method of communication and that there is a shared community language for all. Students would be explicitly taught this, and would be expected to also model and mentor for younger peers. The adults would need some training and that would be the responsibility of admin. Also parents would need to be coached and that could be done through workshops or time spent in the class lessons given to their children. Then the teachers are disseminating and creating role play for students in guidance lessons and praising students when they see or hear something throughout the school day. ** __Part b:__ ** Part of my classroom ethos is respect. Oftentimes when students are asked to speak out their is a social threat: ‘What if I say the wrong thing?’, ‘What if I get it wrong?’ and so forth. I teach my students about being respectful listeners through reference to body language, eye contact and facial expression. furthermore, I also speak to how to give constructive feedback- both effective and precise praise, and detailed and specific feedback, taking personal judgement out of the process of peer evaluation, otherwise insults can escalate and weigh heavily Examples of phrases students can use are always displayed on the projector when we peer review and rubrics are given in a structured way for students to give written feedback. I also model language in the way I speak to my students, and will try to help students repeat their opinions in other ways when needed. I feel that peace is maintained by clear communication and non-judgmental/blaming procedures in everyday interactions- whether between adults or students. Equality is fundamental to a successful, motivating and safe environment for students, and therefore the primary promotion of peace is treating others the way we wish to be treated and keeping that high level of expectation; holding people accountable is paramount. ** __#4__ ** ** Why do you think the rate of homicide violence has gone down in the last 800 years? ** 800 years a large span to be calculating as it opens up many lenses through which to view- historical (political/geographical), economical (industry/population/unemployment), education (development of more regulated systems and testing/laws), health (people live longer and perhaps there is more value to life).
 * __** What would a peaceable school or community look like? **__
 * __** What elements of communication would be included? **__
 * __** What would be tolerated and what would not be tolerated? **__
 * __** Would would the expectations be? **__
 * __** What would the responsibilities be? **__
 * __** Describe how if Hank (your professor) came to your classroom or community he would observe the elements of a peaceable community. **__
 * __** What evidence would he see? **__
 * __** How will you promote peace in your community? **__

Overall, I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the organisation of people into specific roles in society and less division of the classes.

** Did you over or underestimate violence in the United States? **  Because I’m not from the States I really didn’t have any basis for my answering the quiz. The media are always going to report the harsher realities of society even if it is a minority action on a daily basis, so yes I think the U.S. can be violent but there are more brutal countries for sure.

** What did your 4 subject colleagues think about violence in general? **  Everyone agreed that they though violent crime was decreasing and that the U.S. is not, overall, a hugely violent place. Most feel safe when they travel there.

** Write a brief comment about what you think about using torture or other "enhanced" interrogation techniques. ** I do not support torture of any kind. Violence is not a conflict resolution- you do not cure poison with more poison, nor violence with more violence. However, again I have no background in this area and find it difficult to understand how that would relate to conflict resolution in education.

__**#5**__ ** __Social Intelligence__ ** It is interesting that at times we have this conflict between what Daniel Goleman calls low road (amygdala) reactions; often this can be driven by cues we don’t pick up on consciously (the way someone looks at us, the speed at which they approach us, their tone of voice), and the high road which stops to read the situation and make sense of what's happening. Some people can be driven by their amygdala and are more impulsive in their responses. I’ve always felt that teaching students about the brain is vital to them understanding the way humans interact and how we can appreciate why others behave or say what they do and how best to respond- in fact, promoting peace in the community through an awareness. I am currently reading Goleman’s book ‘Social Intelligence’, in which he also states, “ three kinds of empathy are important to emotional intelligence: cognitive empathy – the ability to understand another person’s point of view; emotional empathy – the ability to feel what someone else feels; and empathic concern – the ability to sense what another person needs from you. Cultivating all three kinds of empathy, which originate in different parts of the brain, is important for building social relationships.” **Part 1: Reflection about the Amygdala ** The amygdala’s job is to keep us safe. It helps us to know when we are in danger, and it essentially helps prepare us for the triggered “fight or flight” when needed. However, this impulsiveness can stop what Goleman calls our ‘high road’ from working- the part of our brain that uses information to make decisions. Logical reasoning can be completely stalled in some people. What’s also interesting is that our brains cannot differentiate feelings from real-life scenarios and fictional- when we watch film we feel just as sad watching someone cry, as someone directly in front of us in the flesh! So can humans react in life, based on something they ‘watched’ previously on screen? When overrun with emotion stemming from any source, can it trigger undesired behaviours? These intense emotions that the amygdala deals with can also be triggered from everyday hurdles in our lives- traffic, family conflict, stress at work and so forth. Which leads me to think about my freshmen and why sometimes I struggle to comprehend their actions- logic did not seem to exist at all, and it seems like that is in fact very much the case! **Describe a time when you saw someone's brain get "Hijacked" by their Amygdala. ** ====A student of mine surprisingly broke down in tears when I asked him for his homework last week. Upon removing him from class and chatting with the student, he told me he had broken up with his girlfriend. Since then he hadn't been able to concentrate and was falling behind in class. His mind at this point was so overwhelmed with emotion that simple logic of explaining he did not have it, or coming to see me prior to class to preempt me, had completely taken a back-seat.====

__**Part 2: After watching the Cuddy video:**__ It has been known for many years that body language is a fundamental part of primate communication, and essentially creating status.

In the classroom I often talk to students about how to use this method of ‘looking the part’ and thinking ‘I know this!’ to appear confident when giving presentations, being part of discussions and showing attentiveness when listening to others. I see now how this could also be talked about in terms of conflict resolution. Although Amy Cuddy’s TedTalk was not related to this topic directly, several of the poses she suggested portray confidence I felt were actually representative of arrogance when adopted in the wrong context- feet on the desk or placing hands behind the head when leaning in a chair. how we interpret people’s gestures towards us can either escalate feelings or appease them. Alternatively, a lot of people do not handle conflict well (or avoid it completely) as they lack the confidence and tools to take on those with whom they have issues; providing them with this sort of technique may well provide them the opportunity to stand up for themselves in a constructive and confident manner. I also feel that an awareness of disarming body postures would be a useful technique for students, and adults alike, to learn and may actually lead to less ‘confrontation’ in the long run, and create more structure conflicting engagements. Essentially this would make for a great role playing task during guidance class of professional development days! **__#6__ ** Define: **__What is a conflict?__ ** Conflict can be as simple as 2 things opposing one another. **__What is conflict resolution?__ ** Seeking to understanding and find an element of harmony or understanding: being able to co-exist. __**A Conflict I Observed:**__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Today during lunch I unfortunately had to deal with two freshmen boys who were play fighting. The ‘rough and tumble’ of boys is normal of course. Within 5 minutes of them ‘messing around’, one slaps the other in the face and the latter boy hits him right back.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">Within seconds these actions had gone from physical fun and escalated to physical lashing out. The boys had lost all logic as their brains were ‘hijacked’ by the adrenaline of their ‘man-on-man’ test of strength. **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Do the involvement of emotions and the Amygdala always hinder conflict resolution?__ ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">It wasn’t until I shouted both of their names and called them to our high school office to talk, that logic began to return the consequences of such rash behaviour set in. It leads me to question at what point do we or can we expect people to find a balance? Having some sense of control over triggers seems to be important, as I wonder just how far the boys’ behaviour would have escalated and at what point, if any, the fun would turn to something more sinister.

__**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">#7 **__ **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__‘I’ Messages__ ** **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Take Aways from the reading:__ ** “The Four Rules of Active Listening 1. Seek to understand before you seek to be understood. 2. Be non judgmental 3. Give your undivided attention to the speaker 4. Use silence effectively” “Walk & Talk Rules • Only two people do a Walk & Talk • Avoid eye contact • Interruptions are allowed. • Tangential discussion is allowed. • Questions are allowed. • The conversation isn’t over until it is over. • But either party may request a delay of Walk & Talk” __**Corrective**__ Yasmine, when I saw you roll your eyes while Gaby spoke, it made me feel like you disrespected her opinion. ** __Rewarding__ ** Mackenzie, when you stopped to help pick up the keys I dropped, I felt grateful. Luca, when you handed your homework in on time this week, it made me proud of your organisation. ** __Response to Gigi__ ** Gigi, when you come to my home without my permission and have access to my personal belongings, I feel uncomfortable and that my privacy is being compromised. Gigi, thank you for asking me if you could go to my home and borrow my blender. It made me feel happy and that you respect my things. ** __Two Final Messages__ ** When your meetings last much longer than what you schedule them for, I feel frustrated. Thank you for making sure the meeting ended on time today, it made me feel like you respected my time. ** __#8__ ** ** __Behaviour Contract Example__ ** Date Dear, At the conclusion of the 2013-14 school year, it came to the attention of the middle school administration that John Doe was involved in a behavioral incident that violated the ASD Core Values. As stated in our Core Values, we believe that integrity and honesty are essential to a safe and trusting community (Integrity) and every person has equal inherent value (Respect). At ASD, we take the Core Values and behavioral incidents that are not aligned with the Core Values very seriously. Therefore, in order for John Doe to return to the high school for the 2014-15 school year, he will be subject to a contract of behavior probation until October 30, 2014. Students in the high school are given greater degrees of freedom because we believe that students of this age are capable of making good decisions, decisions that contribute to the school community and do not disrupt the learning environment. When students make decisions that violate this level of trust, there are consequences for those choices. As John Doe begins his high school career at the American School of Dubai, based on the events of the end of the 2013-2014 school year, he needs to reestablish the level of trust that is integral to his being a member of the high school student body. Students on social probation are placed on a behavior contract, and the terms of this contract are as follows:

1) John Doe’s school day will be limited to the regular school hours of 7:45 – 3:15.  2) John Doe will not be allowed to participate in any extra-curricular programs or become a member of any teams, or to attend any school events outside of regular school hours during the period of social probation. 3) John Doe will be expected to meet with his counselor a minimum of once every two weeks to discuss how he is reestablishing trust among his classmates as well as how he is applying what he has learned from this incident to his transition to high school.  4) John Doe will be expected to demonstrate positive behavior both inside and outside of the classroom. This is in regard to all behavior at school. 5) If John Doe has another serious behavioral infraction resulting in a suspension from school, it will result in a pre-expulsion hearing.   I believe that John Doe is capable of learning from this incident and making behavioral choices that reflect the Core Values. I also believe that the learning to come out of this incident has the potential to lead to his being a very positive member of the ASD school community.    Please sign the bottom of this letter to both indicate your desire to continue enrollment under the terms of this contract and your commitment to the ASD Core Values. I’m looking forward to John Doe having an excellent 2014-2015 school year.    Sincerely,

Mrs. Panza ** __#9__ ** ** __Personality Test__ ** My results:  PP- 20LE-29CP-24PM-27 I was not surprised to see that one of the highest results was a learned expert as I pride myself in making informed decisions and being a trustworthy source when leading others- whether in the classroom, adult working environment, or trying a new activity and travelling to new places. It certainly relates to my role as an English teacher (reading, synthesising, debating) and as grade level leader (having to communicate information clearly). However, I do need a lot of sleep and I absolutely prefer to experience things than read about them! Also, I was surprised that being a people person came in with the lowest points as I am naturally a people person and I spend a lot of time fostering/maintaining working and personal relationships. This could be result of m really focussing on myself at work when answering the questions on the quiz, so I feel if I were given one that was targeted more at my personal life, this would likely be a high scorer too. At work I do feel attuned to other’s feelings, but for the most part, a lot of the things needing done in a day are in spite of how one might feel about doing them. I gave this to my husband who is a counselor and his top score was people person, so again I feel we both answered when thinking about our working roles. His result was no surprise there. But out of work he felt that his creativity would be the top scorer, which was third in this case. **__ #10 (I already use an online portal for this so to save time creating one I wouldn't use, I pulled the sources from my Haiku class page. I hope this is suitable.) __** Noun- serious disagreement or argument Verb- be incompatible or clash The lessons I have been working on for freshmen this quarter are around cyberbullying: Video- labelling others [|__https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=76&v=_sOK-HW8tWA__] Survey- perceptions of cyberbullying Guided Questions- <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ed02f2; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">I am freshmen teacher leader, and I work with the IT coach and other grade-level leaders to develop the digital citizenship part of our advisory program. These activities are for high schoolers specifically and can be tailored by the advisory teachers to suit their collection of advisory students. We develop the curriculum on our class Haiku pages, and all resources are stored there for teachers, students and parents. -Students watch a video as a stimulus of the conversations they will be having. teachers can watch prior to the class and have some guiding questions for when it’s finished. The real-world connection often engages the students and gives a sense of the reality around online conflict. -The survey is then taken (the results are discussed at the teacher grade level meeting the next week to gain perspective and identify further work needing done to combat this conflict) and classes then have some focussed discussion around the results. The important part is that the results are anonymous so students tends to be very honest about the conflicts they face/create. -Students usually feel that their voice has been heard and as this class is given later in the year there is a trust that allows some sharing of experiences. The harsh realities of online bullying become apparent and create a lot of empathy. Putting a face to victims makes this conflict all the more ‘real’. Strategies for coping, looking at how the school, and the media portals where this can take place, can help are important in the resolution element of the lesson.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">** A definition of conflict **
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">** At least 3 resources that are grade specific to your teaching practice that could be used in conflict resolution. **
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">** Identifying information to tell us who you are and for whom the weebly is intended to be used. **
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">** At least 2 conflict resolution activities that are grade specific to your teaching practice that could be used in conflict resolution. **