Please post the date and your name for the session you will be responsible for facilitating. When you are done, post a summary of the session and how someone can contact you to get information on the session they missed.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1998

Answers

Shelly Kunst and I would like to be responsible for facilitating the session on November 4, 1998 on Family Systems: Specific needs and Clinical Issues of Children from High Risk Families. We were told that this could be a team effort. If that information is incorrect please let me know as soon as possible. Thank You!! Nicole White

-- Anonymous, October 12, 1998

Sondra Dolentz and I would like to facilitate the session on November 18, 1998 Brain Development....etc.

-- Anonymous, October 14, 1998

I would like to facilitate the session on December 2, 1998 Kids Without Conscience and Hate Crimes.

-- Anonymous, October 14, 1998

Diane Hedburg and I would like to facilitate the November 11th Cohort class (Computer Lab SBE 45, and ITPS Preperation)

-- Anonymous, October 15, 1998

The date I signed up to facilitate is on March 24, 199.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 1998

Jen Harnell and I would like to facilitate the October 28, 1998 meeting on Alcohol and Drug Use.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 1998

All cohort students were present at the October 14 session. The first part of the evening Scott Fitzsimmons presented information about the Internet. Folks worked at computers to practice accessing information using a variety of search engines. Helpful handouts were distributed with sites to visit for "Lesson Plans", Educational "Newsgroups" and "Listserv" email discussion lists. Thanks, Scott, you are a valuable resource.

The second part of the evening was divided into two sections. First, Tom Boman gave the group information about the Meyers-Briggs profile. Two handouts were distributed: the short version of the profile and a brief discription of the various personality combinations.

The second part of the evening was spent in dialog about the responses to last week's journal question and in choosing a class session to facilitate. Cohort members will submit their facilitation dates to the Cohort 3 Discussion page. Finally, the discussion questions to be reflected upon for next week are:

What computer competencies do you alread have and can use in this course? What competencies will you have to learn and practice? How will these skills assist you in your classroom?

Responses to these questions will be addressed on Oct. 21.

Karen

-- Anonymous, October 19, 1998

Facilitator's Notes from M.Ed. Partnerships Cohort 3 Class on 10/21/98 Submitted by Marcia Gurno/Mary Jean Menzel

The Cohort III class participated in the Toxic Child Series titled Alcohol and Drug Use Part I. Following the presentation, we returned to Mont 111 for the last hour of class.

Announcements:

If you haven't already signed up to facilitate a class, please do so and enter the date on the WEB site or e-mail Mary Jean Menzel at mmenzel@d.umn.edu

The Saturday class on November 14, 1998 has been cancelled.

Grading contracts are due November 15, 1998. They should be posted on the Web. The Governance Team will respond via the Web. Students interested in serving on the Governance Team to fullfill a requirement for a B grade need turned in their names to Karen. A lottery selection system identified the 2-3 students per semester to serve on this committee. Students selected for Term 1: John Bergum, Cindy Claviter and Heidi Mylarnarzyk. Term 2 Members: Barb Olson and Diana Vanasse. Congratulations! Please contact our representatives with your concerns and suggestions. The next Cohort 3 Governance Team meeting is scheduled for November 9, 4-5:00 p.m. at UMD in 251 Darland Administration Bldg.

Notes from the October 20, 1998, Governance Team meeting will be posted when approved.

Students will receive an Incomplete grade for this quarter, since the grade contracts are due for completion January 30, 1999. The grades will be issued in early February for Fall Quarter. The second grade contract covers February through May 30, 1999. Grades will be posted in early June for Winter Quarter and Spring Quarter. Students who need a grade immediately due to financial aid or Duluth Public Schools' requirement should contact Tom Boman or Karen Keenan.

The Toxic Child Programs will be repackaged in the Spring and available to Cohort 3 members to take for 1-2 credits (Cohort 3 members are only eligible to take the class sessions which were not part of the syllabus). If you have already registered for a credit or two you will receive a refund and a notice of registration cancellation.

Students need to change their passwords for computer access ASAP. Labs open for use are located in SBE 45, Library Comp. Lab, Mon 239, and BOH 117. Lab assistants can help if you need it. If you want your UMD e-mail forwarded to another location, you can e-mail GBennett@d.umn.edu with the e-mail address where you want your UMD e-mail forwarded. (On a personal note, I did change my password. It took 2 lab assistants to help but in the end I was able to figure it out. Now if I can just get to the discussion page I will have earned myself a pocket protector!)

Many students received their UMD Library PIN (personal identification number) slips/cards at class. Use your PIN when accessing the Library's collections online and surfing the catalogs of the world for potential research resources. The remaining PINs are ready for distribution at class on 10/28/98.

Discussion

We broke into small groups to answer the discussion questions posed last week. Answers to the third question: How will computer competency/skills assist you in your teaching environment? were listed by each group for the benefit of the entire class. The list included: research, accessing current and up-to-date information, networking with other professionals, extra curricular activites such as an on-line school paper, pen-pals, games, access to statistics, grant packages, communication with other teachers in the building, research with students exp. a treasure hunt on the internet, lessons plans, subject information, grading, teaching tool, making graphs and charts, making greeting cards, polished presentations, slide shows and communicating with parents and teachers and experts in other locations. There was agreement that some of us must first overcome fears and frustrations in using computers and technology. One student said it quite profoundly that we have to "run to meet the future or the future will run over you."

Discussion Questions for October 28, 1998

1. What was new drug and alcohol information for you tonight?

2. How does this information relate to your work or family experiences?

3. What are the implications for you as an educator when you consider the application of this information in your work environment?

Submitted By:

Marcia Gurno Class Facilitator 10/21/98

-- Anonymous, October 23, 1998

Marcia Gurno will be the student facilitator on March 10,1999.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 1998

Sue Lalama, Brenda Bender and Barb Olson will be facilitating on April 14 and April 21.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 1998

Sue Hendricksen and I (Christine Osthus) will facilitate the discussion on Feb. 10, 1999. The program is called "Psychiatrist is IN" by Dr. Elizabeth Reeve, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 1998

October 28, 1998

Cohort III began in Chem 200 and focused on the second section of Peg Molds drug and alcohol abuse presentation. Peg explained that four factors are associated with addiction: 1. Physical 2. Psychological 3. Spritiual 4. Environmental She also talked about the four stages of addiction: 1. Learning 2. Seeking 3. Harmful Dependency 4. Escape

The presentation moved into a discussion on psychoactive drugs and their affect on the neurons of the brain. Peg mentioned that the two major drugs of choice are marijuana and alcohol.

Although alcohol is a serious drug, Peg emphasized that marijuana does serious damage to thinking, learning and conscience. However, society believes marijuana is not a serious drug because the effects (and attitude toward it) are subtle. Using pot three or more times a week is considered abuse.

After a short break, drug counselor Jim Hampton spoke about drug abuse. He introduced Gina and Christina  two students affected by drug use and abuse. Their conversation was extremely candid and interesting. Both girls are proudly drug free.

After the presentation, the Cohort met in Mont 111 and discussed the presentation while eating pizza. A few major points discussed: Lack of communication between administrators and staff on student activity, drug policies and drug incidents in classrooms. The class wrapped up at 8:20p.m..

Student facilitators Jen Harnell and Jodi Smolnikar-Joki provided a few handouts on drug use and policies from the Proctor School District. Please let us know if you need detailed notes on this night or have any further questions.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1998

On November 4, 1998 Kelly Ravenfeather gave a presentation on Family Systems and Family Roles. Kelly stated that the dynamics of a family is continuously changing in search of equilibrium. This occurs in healthy families as well as with families in distress. Each person in a family system has a role that they play. In a healthier family there is movement between the roles, but an unhealthy family has very defined roles for each family member. A handout was given that defined these roles along with the feelings, behaviors, and needs that go along with each role. These roles include; the dependent, enabler, hero, scapegoat, lost child, and mascot.

During the second half of the presentation we watched a movie called "Soft is the Heart of a Child". The movie showed a family in distress due to alcoholism and how the members of the family fell into his/her defined role to cope. After a short discussion of the movie, the class broke into small groups to role play a school situation where each participant had to act out a role for a member of the family. The activity led to a discussion on ways that we can assist these children in the classroom. 1. Help students identify feelings and what they are. 2. Give permission to use feeling words and it's O.K. to feel negative emotions. 3. Learn the difference between what you feel and what you're going to do about it. 4. Model how to handle feelings. 5. Be a good listener. 6. Teach problem solving skills and flexible thinking. 7. Allow kids to make mistakes. 8. Have low stress routines. 9. Teach ways to sooth themselves (breathing, music). 10. Affirm kids.

After pizza back in our Cohort group, Tom Boman discussed the registration and grading protocols for Cohort 3. A handout was given. If you weren't at class, make sure that you get a copy of this handout. The information is somewhat different from what we've been told before. Also the Utne Reader assignment has been postponed until there are enough copies of the magazine for everyone.

A short discussion about the presentation followed. Below are the discussion questions that were given to reflect on for next class.

1. How do you cope with the wide variety of family systems that your students are experiencing?

2. What resources does your school have to deal with families at risk?

3. What can you do as an educator to identify and help students at risk?

If you have any questions or need any handouts, please let us know by email. Submitted by Nicole White and Shelly Kunst.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 1998

APRIL 9 1999 Rick Lyle and Glenn Tracey will be facilitating the St. Paul Expo field trip. 7:00am to 6:30pm...What's up with that???

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1998

The session on November 18 was held in the computer lab, Montague 220 Scott Fitzsimmons walked us through the changes on the discussion page. We each have our own sight to go in and answer questions and post our assignments. This makes it easier for the administration to find our assignments and to respond to them. The class had a supper break from 6:00-6:30. We returned to the lab and Tom Boman taught us the five parts of a Masters Thesis. Question,Design,Research, Results, Summary and Conclusion with an all inclusive Bibliography and Appendix.We will be receiving several texts to guide us through this process. A time line was given to us. Karen then told us to come next week with areas we would be interested in. So we can start looking at possible teams to work with on our Masters Thesis. Some things to consider are areas of teaching and learning,consider issues that you can influence and only issues that you are deeply interested in. The goal is to have teams formed by Dec. 16. There were several handouts issued if you have any questions please contact Dianne Hedburg or Scott Fitzsimmones.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 1998

The "Toxic Child" topic on Nov. 18,1998 was "Brain Development, Brain Neuroplasticity, and Plasticity after Trauma". DR. RICHARD KANOFF, a Duluth Clinic Child Neurologist, discussed origins of brain injury, degrees of injury, and mechanisms of recovery. DR. EDGARDO CRISOSTOMO, Medical Director of St. Luke's Hospital Rehabilitation Unit, discussed various ways the brain handles the recovery process. Exercise and stimulation are crucial elements in recovery. The first six months after injury is when the majority of improvement occurs. Progress continues but becomes quite slow after that. The earlier in life that the brain insult occurs the more damaging it is in most cases. Recovery for children depends a lot on how the child was functioning before the injury. The Cohort 3 members discussed the three assignment questions following the meal: 1. Share any experiences you have had with children recovering from brain injuries. 2. What school services does your district offer a child with brain injuries? 3. What support could you offer a child with brain injuries in your classroom?

The Cohort 3 group spent the rest of the time in groups discussing possible research questions and the members' areas of interest. Two questionaire-type sheets were handed out by student facilitators Linda Hart and Sondra Dolentz. These will be collected at our next class session and will be compiled to let the group know of some of the ideas that are being thought about at this time.

Winter quarter registration sheets were also handed out. Educ 5600 (Section 401) Models for Staff Development (1 credit) and Educ 5159 (Section 401) Improving Educational Productivity (3 credits) are our classes. At $155/credit, the total tuition is $620. Winter Quarter begins December 2 and ends March 3, 1999.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1998

Class summary for Dec. 2,1998 Toxic Child Presentation- Robert Lloyd, PhD, U.M.D. Judge Dale Wolf Dr. Lloyd discussed at length the theory that it is the limbic system of our brain which controls our emotionality and our ability to empathize and sympathize with each other. He maintains that if this system of our brain is compromised in some way, we will have more of a tendency to behave in anti-social, even sociopathic ways. He said that damage to this limbic region can occur as a result of genetics, teratogenics or environment.

Judge Dale Wolf spoke about our juvenile judicial system. We heard about kids who have spent nearly all of their lives in foster care and treatment facilities without any improvement in their behavior and also a story of a boy who, with the help of the system was able to turn his life around for the better.

Our class time was spent continuing our discussion of possible research topics. Questions? Contact Tim White or Kris Downs

-- Anonymous, December 08, 1998

Class Summary for January 20, 1999

During the first part of class, Tom went over the timeline for the remaining year and a half. Our goal is to have our research paper done and in by April 2000. To meet this goal, he established the following timeline:

January 1999 - Research Question

March 1999 - Turn in Research Proposal to Master of Ed. Office. (This includes Chapter 1 - Statement of the Problem, Chapter 2 - Review of the Literature, and Chapter 3 - Design.)

June, July, August - Carry out the design.

October 1999 - Chapter 4 - Results and Analysis

January 2000 - Chapter 4 and 5 completed including Summary and Implications.

February, March 2000 - Fine Tuning your paper

We got together in our research groups and finished our research questions and turned them in. The UMD librarian will help us with some key words and research.

After supper, Marcia presented to the class. She spoke about recognizing the signs of child abuse and gave some suggestions for what we as teachers can do. She gave us handouts and showed a video of what neglect looks like in a home.

We wrote the following questions on the board for reflection:

1. Describe a time in your life when you experienced trauma. Who or what made the difference?

2. Can you identify a child in your professional or personal life who may be experiencing abuse?

3. Is there something you can do, a kindness you can show to help make a difference

-- Anonymous, January 24, 1999

Diana Vanesse and I are scheduled to be facilitators for Wed., Feb. 3, 1999. The topic for the "Toxic Child" is: "Sexual Abuse: Prevention, Intervention, Referral."

-- Anonymous, February 01, 1999

The "Toxic Child" session for Feb. 3rd was on "Sexual Abuse: Prevention, Intervention, Referral". The presenter was Candy Harshner. Some of the notes I jotted down during her lecture are as follows: Why Children are Vulnerable: -Children are totally dependent on adults. - Adults are more powerful than children. - Children believe in the myth of the dangerous stranger. - Children believe the myth that child sexual abuse is always violent. - Children are taught obedience to adult authority. - Children are isolated from community supports. - Children are often not believed. - Children often do not trust themselves. - Children are susceptible to gender issues: A. girls are conditioned to rely on adult males. B. belief in the myth that sexual abuse rarely happens to boys. Signs of Abuse: 1. Sudden change in behavior. 2. Inappropriate sexualized behavior. 3. Excessive play with own private body parts. Specialized Issues of Abused Children: 1. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 2. Sexualized Behavior. 3. Dissociative Phenomena. Impact of (long-term) sexual abuse with no intervention: -Low self-esteem. -Depression. -Problems in school. -Relationship problems. -Fears, phobias, hypersensitivity. -Eating or sleeping disorders. -Somatic complaints. -Sexual promiscuity, pregnancy. -Alcohol/drug abuse. Four R's of Prevention: 1. Recognize. 2. Resist. 3. Report. 4. Reassure. If there is a disclosure: 1. Remain Calm. 2. Reassure the child. 3. Seek out help. Call the police, child protection - Initial Intervention.

Candy had three handouts for us. If you would like a copy, please let me know and I can get them for you.

There were four thought questions to go along with the presentation. They are: 1. Pros & Cons of sexual abuse prevention programs - do they work? Should they be part of the school's programming? 2. How do we define "trauma"? Why is sexual abuse so traumatizing to a child? 3. If you thought a child was being sexually abused, what would you base this on? How would you intervene? 4. How do adult "survivors" differ from child "survivors"? What are their special issues?

-- Anonymous, February 08, 1999

On February 10, 1999, Cohort III attended the Toxic Child, at which Dr. Elizabeth Reeve, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist from Minneapolis, spoke. Most of the first half dealt with ADHD (Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder) and ADD (without hyperactivity). Included were how this disorder manifests itself, reasons that family's seek help, how the diagnosis is made, medications that help. The second half of the presentation dealt mainly with depression in children and teenagers: manifestations, causes, and drug treatments. Dr. Reeve mentioned that cognitive behavior therapy is as effective as medication in treating depression, but the CBT is not a "friendly" feel-good get-together with a therapist -- it's homework, assignments, hard work -- and many people just don't follow through. Thus, meds are sometimes just an easier route. She also mentioned that when a suicide of a child or teenager occurs, it is not a good for an entire school to process the event as a group: this might encourage other vulnerable kids to reenact the horror. It's much better for the teachers to get together, and privately discuss which kids are most at risk. She said that medication targets symptoms, not the diagnosis; i.e., hyperactivity is treated with the same group of meds regardless of the cause -- be it ADHD or FAS or whatever. Dr. Reeve was young, funny, dynamic, and the session went right up to 7:30. So, by the time we got to Montague 111, we had just a little time for supper and discussion, which focused on: 1) How might we help kids learn "attention" -- Dr. Reeve had mentioned that this is a societal problem. Children previously had been taught to attend, but we no longer do that -- and it is one of the factors in the rise in ADD. 2) What should you do if a parent doesn't agree that a child should be assessed for ADHD? 3) What are elements of a "structured but flexible" classroom, and how might you implement them? Again, Dr. Reeve had mentioned that this is the best type of classroom for a student with ADHD.

There was a several-page handout from Dr. Reeve, which we can copy if anyone needs it. Also, we received registration forms for Spring Quarter. Please pay now!! Just kidding. I won't be at the Feb. 17th class, so please see Sue Hendrickson if you have questions about the stuff above. Respectfully submitted! Christine Osthus

-- Anonymous, February 14, 1999