Youth Development run down

       Youth development voluntary engagements with youth. Youth develop workers covers the informal teaching to balance out the academic teaching that young people are accustomed to. Youth Development is a commit to be a positive role model, leader, and advocate for youth who  may need it.  They work in communities to changes lives and also stand for justice against prejudice, and discriminations  for all young people no matter the young person's sex or race. Y dev stands for unity and tolerance,  for all young people as well as guiding them in a positive direction.

   Y Dev breaks down into three categories including social work and nonprofit studies. Y Dev uses the social worker classes to teach Y dev.  majors how to advocate for people, relate, handle people's problems. The nonprofit class teaches how an organization/agency that  work with youth might operate. Youth development is about understanding and relating to the future of the world. Like in the article This is Youth Work: Stories of the Practice said in so many words it is too essential  to be overlooked by government.

No such thing as a bad child

    I went to a very interesting seminar called "No Such Thing as A Bad Child" This was held at my job and was part of my training for work. It was held by Charlie Applestein who is well known for  working with  trouble youth in foster care, residential settings and psych hospital settings.  He speaks at these placements to teach ways of interacting with youth and handling challenging behaviors.  He first spoke about his experience in the field of residential work and some things he had to go through. Dr. Applestein was very funny having us laughing to things that only a residential workers can relate to. Dr. Applestein explained how it all starts with making the young person we care for feel good about themselves. He said its starts the moment that we walk in the door and see the kids that are "troubled". we treat them like we haven't seen them in a long time and we are enthusiastic about working with them make them feel good about themselves. He said later down the line it would help  when they are in crisis because the  present of someone who made them feel good when they weren't in crisis trigger a feeling of things being better. He had a few silly songs about following the rules that he suggested that he said works to help remind kids of rules and acceptable behavior, He has these tapes for free if you email him.

   I believe this article relates to our discussion about resilient kids. I believe that Applestein would like the job that the school is doing to deal with behaviors. Both Applestein's seminars and what was said  on the videos about resilient kids put powerful emphasizes on the positive behavior and teaching kids about proper ways of dealing with challenges and stress in different setting. Both models should be used in  the classrooms, residential treatments centers and foster care enviroments. I would recommend Charlie Applestein to speak to the class in one the Y dev classes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR_CoL5_TGs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGnZMGuV0LM


http://www.charliea.com/charlie.html

http://www.charliea.com/images/NoSuchThingAsABadKid.jpg

Psycho Academic Holocaust

     In September I went to a seminar that talked about the continuing  misdiagnose of  African Americans and Latino students in public schools. It was hosted by Umar Johnson  who is a School Psychologist and advocate  for African American and Latino students and their parents who are often negatively targeted in school systems. It was held at Dr. Jorge Alarez   High School in Providence. Before Dr.Johnson spoke, there were a few people who told poems, sang songs, and spoke about issues in the African and Latino communities. When Dr. Johnson spoke; he discussed how African American and Latinos  students are disproportionately put in special education because of cultural differences between the students and the teachers. He said most teachers who are middle age white women who give cultural bias standardize testings set the students up to be put in restricted environments and are given mediocre education. Poor standardize testing is blame on students inability to pay attention which causes the poor testing.  the school system make parents believe that their children need to be on dangerous medications that they don't really need to treat ADHD or other disorders. He said that teachers who have students that they find difficult  including African American boys who are stereotyped to act out in class more than others, are  funneled unnecessarily into special education because schools take in more federal money for each special ed student  that they identify.  in addition to that the money should go to their budget but Unfortunately at times the money is not used to provide the student with the resources he/she needs to perform. He discuss how he is a school psychologist for many  schools in Philadelphia and  attends other schools across the countries and sees this practiced more and more.
   
     Dr. Johnson gave advise to parents about how to protect their children from unnecessary being put in specials educations and given dangerous  medication by school psychologist  that could affect a student's educations and life.   He recommended reading every piece of paper in school meetings and parents knowing their  children's educational rights. He said if something is unclear, have someone else look over papers before signing papers about providing special educations service. This is especially true before parents sign to have their children  medicated. He talked about having a support hotline and a committee for African American and Latino parents to have advocates in cities across the country to make sure the proper legal process is being done.  He is also opening up a school that he is trying to raise money for.

     This event  relates to what we discuss about single stories. I believe that so many teachers and people in the school system have presumptions of what African Americans and  Latinos are like before getting to know them which leads to them  giving up on them easily. If some teachers were able to see pass some of the preconceived notions about students of colors and recognize that there is more to them, then maybe there wouldn't be so many students in special ed.  There is a system of injustice  for students of  color and the single stories that perpetuates images of students of color as worthless. The ones  who suffer the long term affect of being on meds that they really don't need and miseducation are the African American students and Latinos/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4WTkw-EGt4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxfKDKxU0Y0&index=2&list=RDZ4WTkw-EGt4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ779V1JEjQ

Resilent Children

      This video seem to be right down my alley of what i want to do when working with youth.  I lost interest in teaching  partly because i felt bored teaching a redundant curriculum that helps with their academic but don't look at other factors that can help kids.  There is not enough focus in schools dealing with conflict solving and in other areas of life skills . I started to see that somehow  i would have to teach students who struggle in and outside of class  how to read and write while their skills to work through problems may not never flourish. I decided that i wanted to focus in this area as i became a child care worker working in residential treatments. Just like the principle in the video I wanted to teach young people  how to be resilient and work cope with stress. I believe having at least some type of thinking of how to go about dealing with daily conflict is an important skill that should be intertwined in the daily curriculum. Since it's not, i felt if I was a teacher I would probably have daily disruptions in my  classroom which sets everyone back in the learning environment. If the students are not where they need to be academically,  I would look bad as a teacher which i don't find fare  

       I watched both videos and looked at their website interested in the method used to lower youth stress. The first video labeled "what i think of resilient " talked about teaching conflict solution and how lowering stress helped make one school in Providence lower their  use of discipline actions  in schools. I only wish that the guy in the video elaborated more  on what is needed to create an environment where the children can be successful in managing their  emotions. I would love to learn this and apply it to the youth at my job who are in residential care. Just like in the classrooms in the video,  I would like to have the kids at my job focus in on solving conflict  skills and appropriately dealing with stress.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

single stories

    I have heard of single stories of certain people growing up. As i grew into a career of being a teacher  i was told of stories of students who were in urban areas around the country. I heard stories of violence and disrespect in the inner city schools and how much more dangerous it is to work there. All this was coming from one of  my professor from CCRI. She seem to speak from experience and i soaked it all in but at the same time I was conflicted due to have been in inner city schools and feeling like it wasn't all that bad  the schools I was in.  By mid semester i was second guessing my own experience like "that fight between  Bo and Andrew was pretty bad.. maybe I been in a violent environment and been immune  to how bad it was  the whole time."  This teacher's perception of what inner city students had me think different about my own environment and had me want to teach in other types of schools.  This perception changed when I snapped out of my trance and said "these are my people who grew up similar to me and  I owe it to them to give back." I had a chance to do my classroom observation in Warwick or in Providence  when i came to RIC one semester later.  I chose Providence to prove to others and tell the story that working with the youths in the inner city would not be as bad as some professors in college classes made them seem. Let me tell you i had a blast working in the schools!! it was the best experience i ever had. I worked in the preschool and kindergarten class at John Hope. I easily related and found that the "violent inner city youth were no more than age appropriate tantrums that a student in a school in the suburbans would have. I chose my path from that moment on. I didn't hear the other side of the story i lived it.

here a pic for your

 

context Mapping

Context map is the different social components and relationships  of one's  life that is separated but overall make up who the person is. People can somewhat adapt to different social settings in their life to fit in and be accepted. There are some conflicts when the different relationships and social component entwine living the person stuck on who they want to be.  this was the case for Julian. Julian had a hard time being in different roles in the  social environments that were parts of his life. Mitchell had Julian write  down the relationships in his life and what each relationships expect out of him which is pretty much a context map.

context map has 4 identities

forclose

achievement  

Diffused Identity

moratorium 

My context map

My family

the Elder and decision maker for young siblings and family members at times. 

Abide by culture 

Educator and career oriented 

I have to be mature responsible one in this role 

Friends

Advisor

Joker

Drink
have fun

goofy
I am laid back more open and playful

Work

teacher

role model

serious
I am focus and requires a lot of planning and organization, i'm serious in this role

Sports fan

Maniac

Loud

Semi aggressive
I am loud and in people's face, i can be more competitive and wild 

construction of Adolescence

(late to due to assignment listing late and it was hard to read)

Context that i learned 

Theoretical thinking

Constructional of Adolescence 

authorship

interpyschological development

interpersonal development

reciprocal coauthorship

what i found interesting

author of our own story 

scaffolding 

meeting of the mind

zone of proximity development

5 people who coauthored my life (Could only think of 5)

my mother Phebean

my sister Bunmi

My brother in law Reggie
My 3rd and 4th grade teacher Mrs. Leduc

My uncle Sina

My cousin Kenny

The person that co authored my life story is my teacher Mrs. Leduc. When I was in the 3rd grade i couldn't really read. Mrs. Leduc didn't only help me learn how to read but helped me enjoy it. I believe that she bettered my life story and I believe that her teaching experience with me was beneficial to her self-esteem on how she felt about herself as a teacher, considering the other classmates i had.  We had a very respectful relationship which helped me gain confident in knowing  people and try to be able to trust other. 

color blind color brave response and YIA

   There have been times  both in my past and present  time  that I felt invisible. I have felt it among family, friends, co-workers and in classes.. Sometimes  I'm around people but I feel like like i'm not actually among the other people there because i'm reserved in the background not really interacting with the group. There could be several reasons for  me feeling invisible including being shy,  I wasn't included in the conversation, or because I felt i didn't fit in.  The video and tweet helped me think about being in a group setting where there might be some people who are not engage but may have something important to say so I  should try to include them.  The video brought up a good point about expanding who  I talk to;  from every background because I could learn a lot from different people.

    In the video  "Color Blind or Color Brave?" I feel like i can relate to what the Mellody Hobson spoke on about race and dealing with it head on. I am very outspoken about racist issues but because I talk about it, people shy away from talking to me about it because I bring up facts, I have views when ever I feel like my race is being misinterpreted, or discriminated against people roll their eyes and may think that what I'm saying is annoying but its actually true. An example is when my brothers and I were walking to a park at night in Warwick. We were in predominated white neighborhood so I knew from my own experience that people in the neighborhood might find 4 black men walking down their street suspicious. I was proven right when a Warwick police officer stopped us walking to our car and asked where we were going along with our IDs. My brothers willingly gave their IDs but i was hesitate because i knew we didn't do nothing wrong and he had no right to. After when the officer allowed us to leave, i ranted about how it was not fair and how we were racial profited. My brothers shunned me out and kept talking about other things ignoring what just happen. They learned to shy away from talking about racism and discrimination and i felt left out at that point. i felt left out because i was the only one concerned and had all these emotions about it. They played video games and laughed forgetting what happen and I just sat down not really in the mood to talk. I learned because my generation was more outspoken about it and their generation avoided it at all cost that I couldn't really engage with my brothers about it and felt like an outcast.

i'm glad there is YIA because they can be the ones to close the gap between people who want to talk about race and those who ignore it. Their program creates the opportunity to have deep discussion and it seems like most of them respect one another enough to listen. They can be the model for the community to follow so it can spread beyond YIA and into other community centers, and on street corners so race does not have to be an invisible topic. YIA can also role model how having a diversity program in all position is beneficial to an organization. I will continue to support YIA so they can show communities how important it is to have diversity in their program.

Ideology Inventory Test

     When I did the  idealogy inventory test I found out that i am strong in  Risk, Resiliency and Prevention. The second area that i am strong in is the positive youth development, followed by critical youth development. I believe this is a fair represent of me as a youth worker. I am more of having the youth tackle their problems head on and coach them to help them succeed. I am all about preventing foreseeable events and try to have the youth make calculated decisions for themselves so that they can lean how to also try to prevent unnecessary problems.

I can see why Positive Youth Development came in a close second place on the Ideology Inventory Test because as of late i been working on how I can empower young people. Usually i guide them through their situation but now i am seeing the importance of having them understand that they have strengths that they need to focus on for their self-esteem. By focusing on their strength, they can have the confidence to believe that they can do more. Building their self worth will also help them be more independent instead of relying on others to fix their problems. I learned in a social work class about the eco system map which shows the external support a person may have and also let them know that they are not alone. This is help for the children who are visual learners.

Youth in Action

The Youth in Action article describes what the the program is about and how they redefine working with the youth. The first thing that stands out is that the youths are a major contributors to the organization's business and management. The youth are able to make decisions for the organization such as budgeting and planning their events. The adults center everything around the youth to empower them making their relationship a partnership more than just adults working  with the youth. The adults and youth in YIA are both learning form each other . Youth in Action believes that  changing  communities happens through reaching the youth. This is different from other agencies that works with the community.  They have an exercise that i like called “Plus Delta Hot Seat” where the youth in the chair is given positive feed back and also things that they can work on. I feel like this is important because it helps the youth to be able to receive good  feedback and also give them an opportunity to work on areas of their lives that they may not have known they needed to work on. YIA is everything i want my dream career to be working for an agency or having my own that empowers the youth. I feel like there's not enough program that let the youth lead, probably because most adults don't have faith that the youth can create and maintain things. I believe that the youth can even if they need a little guidance. YIA can be the start of the trend of entrepreneurship among  the youth  the way they are heading. '

    I wish this was around when i was young because it could have helped with alot issues i dealt with growing up with low self-esteem. The concept of  being heard without judgment is something that could have changed a lot of experences in my llfe. Reading about YIA made me think of how i can change things on my unit at my job to have them start leading events and have say in what goes on.. It was great to hear about the collaboration between the youth and adults compared to the traditional authoritative  adult and the powerless youth dynamic . YIA maybe what the youth worker field needs to transform most careers that work with the youth into an empowering partnership  instead of power positions between two people. 

characteristic of a youth worker

I enjoyed how the article broke down the seven characteristic of what youth worker is. The seven characteristics captures the work that we do for the young people that we work with. The article said that youth work is an educational practice which is very true. It is non formal and is in a diverse setting. Just like the traditional education between the teacher and student it is based on rapports and relationship to make the education work. One of the differences between the formal educations and the services that youth workers provide is that youth workers can help with academics taught in schools and also teach things that are outside of the academic lessons like relationship, and handling life problems. Youth workers purposely intervene in young people's lives to create change. YOuth workers provide social practices that may not be taught in the classroom. Below is a pic of me in the classroom with a student of mines. I did my Americorp at Jon Hope doing activities outside the classroom with the students there. I had a ball while there. 

A second characteristic is social practice. A youth worker can also work with young people and teach them how to be engaged with others. The article explained how youth works can help shape a youth attitude and behavior through their interaction with other peers. This is also a good way of  finding their values and their focus. I experience this when I’m at work and I have to solve issues between clients and also show appropriate ways of playing due to some kids not knowing how to interact with their peers because of their disability.

                 Youth work is also challenges inequalities and work towards social justice. The article discussed how youth workers try to work with the youth to make sure they are treated fairly regardless of their race, religion, other background. Youth workers also empower the youth that they work with by informing them what oppression and discrimination is and how to enable themselves to appropriately fight through it. I experience this at my job because sometimes we have kids who are wrongfully placed at my agency as  "throwaway children” due to the system not wanting to help them or handle their case. These are children who are usually minorities who have been taken out their homes. As a person who strives for social justice i always strive to  empower them minoritie and  I try to give them options and advocate when I’m allowed to. 

The article discussed that youth  decide to be involved not because they have to but because they want to.  It is not only one setting like during school or after school,  It can happen in their home,   in their communities, church or wherever the youth needs the youth worker   In a  society where the youth have to go to school and maybe placed in certain programs, tt is good for the youth to pick somewhere where they want to be and engage with youth workers because they want to.  I think we have all seen people who work with youth but the youth are sketchy about being around the youth worker. I knew a lady who I use to work with as an Americorp member who did good planning kid s activities and filing the work but she openly admitted that she did not care for the interaction with the children for in the program. The youth do well with knowing who is interested in them and who’s not and that was the case with the lady I worked with.  The youth did really engage her because they felt like she wouldn’t understand them. All the other Americorop members including myself was bombarded with questions and engaged as soon as we entered the building but this lady wasn’t.

Youth workers also empower the youth to voice their opinion and make them influential in their environment.  They move the youth in in a positive way to be leaders through educating them from a position where they are powerless to  them being able to make decisions. Youth workers create an opportunity for democratic behavior to show. Sometimes I advocate for the clients at my program but I talk to them a lot about creating opportunities for themselves. I encourage them to give their social workers and DCYF workers ideas about where they want to go next instead of their placement being decided for them.

Youth workers provide safe welfare practices for the youth.  Youth workers work with young people who may not have access to resources and are deprived from education that most people take for granted, due to their situation. This stops the youth from reaching their full potential. They help with any social and personal problems that may be holding the young person back. Youth workers do not solve problems but enable youths to make good choices.  I believe this true and feel like there should be a place just for children that provides welfare to make up for the students who dont get the proper guidance at hom. Now a days I am trying  to balance the difference between fixing a young person’s problem and helping them come to the conclusion themselves. I am also always  considering safety and what the youths need to progress in life

Youth workers duties can be outside of the normal agency guidelines of working with  the youth. Youth workers can tackle social policies that affect their  youths  and do activities that go outside of what the agency or organization usually do. Youth workers don’t narrow their work down to one objective, but work to with the youth on the whole in all areas of their life. I believe this is true and find myself doing more than what my agency requires. I also look at the young people I work with as a whole looking at all their strength and areas that they need to work on.

My blog about me

                                               I been very concerned about this nation and the directions it is heading. I question a lot of our justice system and this countries true moral standards, especially when it comes to blacks and other minorities. i'm huge on social justice and  I argue civil rights with people who are blinded or ignorant to what's going on.

                                           This is a picture of me at work..yea i work ALOT

                                        I love giving advice and supporting people. I do it all day at work and when people ask me for insight on situations.. I actually have a section in my phone of qoutes and memes of great advice i sometimes  pull from to empower the people around me.

                                         I am the second oldest with my sibling out of 5 shown above. we are first generation  here in the united states whoms family came from Nigeria. this is us at my brother's Seun's graduation party from high school. From right to left is my brother Toyin who is 20, My sister Bunmi who is 32 and the oldest, my brother Seun who is 18, me, and my littlest brother Seyi who is 13.  we had a blast that day. We are wearing native  which is Nigerian clothing

This was back in 2011 my friend Jarvis and I were the super Mario Brothers. We had a ball.. I think we had the best customs  around.. 

                                          I love music.. i try to extend out to different genres. i believe music is therapty