My Motivation

My Motivation
The Joy of My Life

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Reflection 15-The Holocaust

The question of did the Holocaust even exist is the thought that ponders in the minds of many. Like many other major events that has happened to other cultures such as the African American race, I do believe the Holocaust is a tragic event that happened to the Jewish people. These people experienced starvation, lethal injection, and gas chamber killings. It all began from one man’s superiority of power and hate towards a nation of people. There were well over six million Jews that went through a tragic period of total destruction during World War II. That is well over two out of three people killed because of their race or ethnic group and many others such as Jehovah’s Witness and communists were ill-treated for what they simply believed in. Numerous Jewish businesses and properties were put out of business and forced to sell at low dirt prices. I cannot imagine someone working for many of years to build a business all to lose it for a small amount of nothing. Highly trained college professors and people of civil social work were forced to quit their jobs because the Nazi’s felt they were second-rated and mediocre to them, so they had to get rid of them. Other people such as homosexuals were also persecuted and imprisoned. The section where it explains how the Germans took over the Polish people because they considered them of lower class began with the Polish leaders. Then they moved on to kidnapping the innocent children which was well over 50,000 to be adopted by German families which later was sent to concentration camps and later died. What is the saddest and most disturbing of all is when handicapped people were labeled as not being able to function and was terminated because of the burden they bared on the amounts of money it took to care for them. Innocent people died and were driven into starvation. This event does seem unrealistic because some may think of how one man in his own power can destroy a whole nation of people. As I was reading the article I do believe the Holocaust happened because it reminds me of current events such as the earthquake in Haiti. Even before this occurred, how their political leaders killed people all for what reason? It may not be to the full extent of the Jewish people, but is very similar. Many people in Haiti died of starvation and infectious diseases eating throughout their bodies. The Jews throughout time was compensated for their tragedy and loss, but in my personal opinion money cannot make up for the memories of what those people had to go through. No, we do not understand why things happen to us a people, but I do believe we should take these events and grow and learn from them.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Reflection 14

Reading the article about understanding prejudice is important in knowing how prejudice can be developed known and unknown. As humans, we don’t focus on ourselves and ways we display discrimination towards another culture or race. I’m not saying that it’s done intentionally in most cases, but we could be doing it unaware by our actions and/or words. You know, I think to myself because one day on my way to class it was a group of students in the elevator. The elevator apparently had some minor dysfunctions and all of a sudden one of the African American student blurred out with such a racist comment that offended some of the other students that were in the elevator. I was not only embarrassed for the other students, but for the lack of knowledge the student had displayed on cultural awareness and prejudice. In my opinion being prejudice is thinking that you or your culture is superior over another. I have actually heard people from other cultures refer to their people as being better than others. In all reality we are all human beings and the only difference is how we view things and live our daily lives. I believe that prejudice is something that is seen and taught either by our parents or someone who has a major influence on our lives. Most of the people that show discrimination usually have experienced some sort of childhood hurt, neglect, or anger. When injustice or unfairness is being played out it shows a lack of respect from one person to another especially if it’s done intentionally. Intentional prejudice is when someone purposefully in their hearts and mind do things to offend and hate another person. Honestly, I believe that intentional bias is just an outward behavior of some sort of pain that was never dealt with from within. For example, if I dislike people who does not speak fluent English, I can easily post judgment on them and assume certain problems of comprehension and ignorance. Prejudice is just another way that one can conclude is narrow-minded and plain out immoral. We all have been post judgmental in some sort of way and I should believe it was unintentional. We all must live and learn on a daily basis to expect people for who they are and learn how to deal with their way of living.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The most important concepts I received from the article is how an individual grows from birth to adulthood. Even before birth takes place, I believe an individual is perceived and certain developmental characteristics are formed. For example, the eye color, how wide or narrow the nose may be, and even the looks of the embryo. Then after which the child is born personality and personal development is put into place even more. The article was very appealing and informative because it helped me understand stages of my own child’s life. Even throughout my pregnancy, people would always tell me to rub my belly and talk to the baby because it understands through auditory cues. At the current age of eleven months, my daughter properly recognizes her name, words and signs. When someone calls her cute or adorable she understands that because that is what she is told day in and day out. What a child hears daily is very significant throughout their early years of learning. If I constantly use profane language in front of my child, she will go on to repeat what she heard. A child also develops by physical awareness (touch, smell, taste, hear). Some physical developmental stages may include but not limited to sitting up on their own, crawling, and walking. In the article it further addresses how a child is held and interacted with. As mentioned earlier, my daughter even at her young age can pick up on a person mood and vibe. She knows when a person is not so nice because when they hold her she tends to get very fussy and cries for no reason. Babies to toddlers have a keen sense of the physical which also includes touching. What really struck my attention about this particular article is when it was discussing the self as the object which is the known and self as doer which consists of the knower. Self as object in my opinion is what is learned and taught by an individual’s parent or caregiver and whatever is learned it is up to the individual to do. When I look at self the doer it basically reminds me of how one makes rational judgments based on what is known. The doer plays an important role in our lives because what we accomplish is based on our knowledge and perception of life. Self grows not only at birth but until childhood, and is a lifelong process that never ends and once we feel as though we have stopped growing we have truly stopped learning.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Reflection 12-Sigmund Freud's Theory

Freud’s theory on personality is important due to many reasons and thoughts. My conclusive opinion about his theory is pretty much based on or influenced by how we make decisions. Our personality is based on our foundational bring up from our parents. Then proceeds into whether we could make good decisions that are not powered by impulse. Now, Sigmund Freud’s theory is kind of bogus in my opinion. I truly do believe that our intellectual being is driven by sex and aggression (being able to produce and reproduce), but is also based on Eros and Thanatos which means life and death. Now, Freud’s Theory is thought out and very simple. He simplifies the way we decide on things which is based on our id, ego, and superego. Our id is sought out in the infant/newborn stages of life. A child is born and has needs that are not based on how others feel. When the child is hungry, uncomfortable, or not feeling well it cries unaware of how the parent is feeling at the time. Its wants are pretty selfish and self-centered, but a newborn cannot identify this at this stage of life. Now, as the child gets older its actions are based on the ego stage of life or doing things from a realistic point of view. Both ego and id stages of life are co-parts. One feed two, two proceeds to grow, and then three is developed which is called the superego stage of personality and can be defined as our beliefs, morals, and attitudes. This stage in my opinion is developed by our parents and what they install in us. It can also include our cultural background and knowledge. This stage of personality teaches us how to maintain ourselves in the world and how to make rational decisions in life. Yes, Sigmund’s Freud theory does not work for all people, but when you really sit down and read it, it gives you a better understanding.

Reflection -Beliefs, Values, and Attitude

Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values strike me to be very important especially as a future educator. Beliefs reflect a level of commitment and obligation that we build our values on which is formed either by our culture or society. I believe beliefs are what make you into a civil human being who’s able to function in the world. It’s how we live our everyday life. When we believe in something or someone we stand and affirm what is before us is the truth and therefore we will stand for it. Regardless, if the belief is true or false it’s what we deem to be right and we act upon it. When we focus on attitudes, it’s basically how we look at life and how we view ourselves and the things around us. For instance, if I have a negative outlook towards a person how I feel about them will result in negative things occurring. What I’m trying to say is our attitudes will make or break us. It’s always better to have a positive attitude because when we start to focus on the negative we start to get negative results. This brings me to our values. Our values are what we are taught and things we learn that builds our beliefs and attitudes. If we don’t value certain things or people we tend to take advantage them. Values give us the reassurance of what we believe in and how we perform on an everyday basis. Our attitude is the foundational stone on how we see ourselves in our cultural surroundings. It doesn’t not necessarily mean that’s the way people view us, but we become what we think about ourselves. Dealing with our cultural beliefs, attitudes, and values indicates our overall well-being. In the reading pertaining to the man who in anger and wrath curses his gods and change the structure of his cultural beliefs is an ideal example of our beliefs can change. Even though our parents and family values are important honestly it is up to us to make informed decisions for ourselves based upon actual facts. Now from personal experience I do believe some beliefs and values can be formed through others, but shouldn’t be our overall base on how we make decisions. What we believe can be changed by life experiences or merely what we heard someone say and believed it to be true. Our sole purpose as an educator is too educate and inform students on certain issues and allow them to make rational decisions on their own and based on their experience and knowledge they will come to know what’s important to them. It is also up to us to guide them to know what is truth.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Teaching in Inclusion

Being a future educator this article was very informative and educational. It has widened my thinking in many areas and has allowed me to see how I can become influential and effective in my classroom. I would like to start this reflection off with one personal experience I encountered. As a student I was one that always made good grades and tried to over excel in all my endeavors. My teacher was discussing an issue in class and it was a very sensitive issue to me. I then asked can I be excused to the office so the class would not see go through an emotional breakdown. Well, the teacher went on and on about the subject and I suddenly found myself crying an endless river of tears. The least to say the teacher never let me go to the office and ever since then I felt as if she had a sense of rejection towards me. Making a long story short, on the day all the students received their awards for perfect attendance, honor roll, or best behavior I received not one. This issue was bought to the principals attention and was later reconciled. I was never comfortable speaking in class or expressing myself because of this personal experience, but I had to come to the realization that I am a person and my voice should be heard whether anyone loves it or hate it. Past, present, and future educators must realize and understand we deal with a wide variety of races, cultures, and backgrounds and it should be our number one priority to make all students feel welcomed and enforce that their opinion and feelings are important. Now, I am not saying that we allow students to say WHATEVER comes to mind, but set guidelines and orders in doing so. We must also teach students to be open to what others say regardless if they agree or disagree. In my opinion, teaching with inclusion is a role that both teachers and students must take on. I have been in many classroom settings such where there are students with disabilities, students who are gay and/or lesbians, and come from a whole other part of the world. It is up to the educator to gain the respect of these students and keep in mind that they are humans too. Being able to teach a specific topic or organize a classroom well is not what it all takes to be a good teacher. In my opinion, an educator is one who is dedicated, able to accept differences, and have the rigorous agility to listen and influence the lives of students. When a student leaves out of our classroom they must feel enlightened and confident in the lesson they learned, but not only that they are able to take the view points of others and begin to transform themselves.

Awareness and Consciousness-Reflection 9

Awareness and consciousness in my opinion are both similar and different in many ways. Being conscious is an inward state of being, an inner feeling or spirit that tells you what’s right and wrong and once your conscious makes you aware of that your state of being and environment can change. You can fully understand and accept things around you and when change can take place. For example, if I am in an abusive relationship, my conscious will alert me on what I need to do to get out of the situation or let me know this is not a healthy situation. After which I must make a conclusive decision on what needs to be done. The greater your chances are of becoming conscious of what is going on (what you hear and see) you become more aware of what needs to change. I also believe your consciousness or being conscious of something is an inner spirit or notion that allows our brains to function and make rational decisions. As I was reading the article, I thought about dreams and visions. From my own understanding dreams occur through our subconscious and give us insight and direction on what roads we need to cross or steps we need to take. I can take some personal experiences of my own. I was dealing with a major situation in my life and was very depressed within. I was not aware of what I needed to do for my future to make a better life for me. One night I went into a deep sleep and that’s when my life was played out before me. I actually felt as if I was awaken and living out my dream. When I woke up, I then knew what to do. This has occurred on numerous occasions and has helped me understand many things in my life. As mentioned early, I stated awareness and consciousness is both similar and different. Being aware of something doesn’t make you consciousness of what’s going on. Your consciousness is a deeper feeling that actually guides your thoughts. Awareness is just being able to see and hear things around you. Just being aware doesn’t mean that transformation can take place, but your consciousness will not only make you aware of something, but help you. Throughout my life I have learned that mediation and concentration helps develop your inner being. It helps you think on a higher level and help you understand facts from faith. This is a very good article when people wants to development more in thinking and have a deeper meaning of cultural awareness. In closing everything has to begin within a person and once it is empowered we will be able to be effective and influential not only in our own lives, but in the lives of the students we teach, and the everyday people we meet. Our conscious will allow us to be aware of things and it should be our sole purpose in life to make the right decisions.