Hello all. Today's lesson was on Chapter 9, Facilitating Learning. I believe this is a very important chapter because being able to make something happen or making something easier isn't always easy. Carl Rogers's three core conditions include realness, acceptance, and understanding. Learning and adapting well to these three conditions will allow you as well as help you establish credibility and influence your students. This is just one component of many more to start your journey towards achieving the ability to facilitate learning. There is much more to facilitating learning, but today I went to a diversity event about immigration called Debunking Myths on Immigration by the Iowa Immigrant Education Coalition so I would like to talk about that for a bit today.
There are currently around 11.5 million undocumented (a.k.a illegal) immigrants in the United States today. There are many myths out there which are currently very wrong for the most part. Some myths that were discussed today were those like: immigrants don't pay taxes, they take up many jobs, they don't want to learn English, they don't even want to become citizens and they only bring about higher rates of crime are only few of the many myths about immigration. Immigrants and immigrant labor are actually vital towards Iowa's economy. The Iowa Policy Project estimates that undocumented immigrant families pay between 40 and 62 million dollars in state taxes per year. Many small businesses depend on immigrants for intense labor such as farming industries. The sad part is many can be considered better Americans than a lot of people today; we as Americans take for granted our citizenship and the services offered by our great country. America was built on mulitculturalism, yet many immigrations policies defer or make it almost impossible for immigrants to become legal Americans because it takes to much time and money. There are currently five to eight thousand immigrants (born in America automatically U.S. citizens) in accredited high schools and we have to think of them as potential assets to our country, yet we are still trying to deport them when all they know is what is in the U.S. There are millions living in the shadows of our lives today and have to put up with horrible work conditions, but are unable to go to authorities because they have no legal documentation. If you are reading this blog, take it and pass it on or even attend a different lecture on immigration to learn more and pass it on once again to decrease these myths.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Week 9 Blog
Hello again everyone. Hope all are enjoying the rain and snow that we got last night. I sure did. I enjoyed this weeks class on chapter 8 about communicating effectively. Brandon and Chelsee did a great job facilitating the lesson and got everyone involved as well. I especially liked the activity that we got to do. The activity went to show how we all look at things differently and coming from that, how we all communicate differently. I thought Chelsee and Brandon also did a great job on elaborating more after the activity and creating a great discussion afterwards. It really got my attention as well as giving me a chance to learn from previous peer mentors about their last year experiences. Communication is key in today's society and if one cannot communicate effectively, it is hard for that person to let others know how they feel about certain things.
One of my favorite ways to communicate is just straight up talking to someone. I feel as though that is the only way to get to know someone for who they actually are. Texting is another way of communication use that has skyrocketed over the past few years. Texting for me is another way to communicate to people without having to go through email or some other communication tool. Coming to college has changed the way I communicate greatly. I use email much more now (pretty much have to), I am much more open to people that I do not know and have also become a much better listener over the years. I have always treated my family differently than my friends, my boss differently than friends, and since coming to college I treat my professors differently as well. I treat certain people much more professionally while treating my friends and family more on a casual side and this has come to work for me. I know my boundaries as well has having to stay professional when needed.
I did kind of enjoy the twitter activity or I at least thought it was useful. Making students do stuff there not normally comfortable with or I guess getting them to try something new can open them up more to other new things. Twitter for example has some interesting people that you can follow as well as keeping tabs on friends or other important people in your life so it can become beneficial. I feel as though twitter is a way to keep more professional while facebook is more for keeping up with your friends as well as family. For next year I plan on using email mostly and if urgent or unresponsive to that texting or using a social network could also come in handy.
One of my favorite ways to communicate is just straight up talking to someone. I feel as though that is the only way to get to know someone for who they actually are. Texting is another way of communication use that has skyrocketed over the past few years. Texting for me is another way to communicate to people without having to go through email or some other communication tool. Coming to college has changed the way I communicate greatly. I use email much more now (pretty much have to), I am much more open to people that I do not know and have also become a much better listener over the years. I have always treated my family differently than my friends, my boss differently than friends, and since coming to college I treat my professors differently as well. I treat certain people much more professionally while treating my friends and family more on a casual side and this has come to work for me. I know my boundaries as well has having to stay professional when needed.
I did kind of enjoy the twitter activity or I at least thought it was useful. Making students do stuff there not normally comfortable with or I guess getting them to try something new can open them up more to other new things. Twitter for example has some interesting people that you can follow as well as keeping tabs on friends or other important people in your life so it can become beneficial. I feel as though twitter is a way to keep more professional while facebook is more for keeping up with your friends as well as family. For next year I plan on using email mostly and if urgent or unresponsive to that texting or using a social network could also come in handy.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Week 8 Blog
Hello once again everyone. Nice weather we are having today. I enjoyed this weeks class on developing cultural sensitivity. I would like to congratulate Cory and Jenna on the great job they did getting the class involved in the activity. I thought the activity did a great job showing us how society along with we ourselves unconciously stereotype and label people without knowing how we affect certain people. I figured out for myself anyway that I do it a lot more than I know. What I learned Tuesday night in class will make me think about how I can become a better person by just getting out there and meeting people with differnt backgrounds and cultures that don't relate as well to mine. If a person can begin to familiarize themselves with the general characteristics of different diversities and cultures then they can more successful establish and maintian relationships with different people.
The dimensions for me that I chose as being important was being country raised growing up on a farm. I believe this is important because it is what shaped me to become the person that I am today. It also showed me that in order to get what I want and who I want to become as a person it takes hard work and a persistant effort as well. The dimensions you choose as well as the ones other's choose affect how they judge people due to the different backgrounds and cultures that they are grown up on. The one dimension that I shared the most with the group was being farm raised. I saw a lot of similarities with this and not so much differences. We all grew up with a farm background and a good number of the group explained how this has shaped the way we are today. One good example of stereotyping that I believe Amy brought up was a student in her class who was hispanic, yet lived in Iowa his whole life and could speak perfect English, but still many labeled him as unable to speak English. This goes to show that even people that have grown up in America all their lives still get stereotyped by their race or the color of their skin.
The dimensions for me that I chose as being important was being country raised growing up on a farm. I believe this is important because it is what shaped me to become the person that I am today. It also showed me that in order to get what I want and who I want to become as a person it takes hard work and a persistant effort as well. The dimensions you choose as well as the ones other's choose affect how they judge people due to the different backgrounds and cultures that they are grown up on. The one dimension that I shared the most with the group was being farm raised. I saw a lot of similarities with this and not so much differences. We all grew up with a farm background and a good number of the group explained how this has shaped the way we are today. One good example of stereotyping that I believe Amy brought up was a student in her class who was hispanic, yet lived in Iowa his whole life and could speak perfect English, but still many labeled him as unable to speak English. This goes to show that even people that have grown up in America all their lives still get stereotyped by their race or the color of their skin.
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