Journal Information

-- Anonymous, November 13, 1998

Answers

October 7, 1998 First night of class. Ben Wolf Presentation. This was a very sad, but very poignant presentation. Throughout the night, Ben presented obituaries from widely published deaths. I was amazed at how sad I personally felt when they died. Even though I did not know the people who died (i.e. Paul Antonich, Jarvis family) I have a great amount of empathy for what their family and friends went through. Obviously, death affects everyone in the community -- including those that do not know the individuals.

October 14, 1998 Questions for discussion were based on the computer competencies we possess and those we would like to improve upon.

October 21 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Presentation I: I have not considered alcohol a drug in the past. Peg Mold stressed that this is an overlooked drug because it is socially acceptable. One class question: How does this information relate to your work or family experiences? Personally it does not. My family has no involvement in drugs, minimal involvement in alcohol. Professionally, I have heard student talk about drinking over the weekend. I find it really hard to condemn them when that is something I did in high school. Obviously, my thoughts on this are mixed.

October 28, 1998 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Presentation II: 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. One thing I did not realize is how powerful marijuana has become. It is generally thought of as a lesser drug compared to cocaine or heroin.

November 4, 1998 Kelly Ravenfeather Presentation: The information on family roles was very interesting to me (i.e. family hero, scapegoat, lost child). Out of class, a few of my friends were talking about family roles and how funny it was that they actually fit  even in families who are not alcoholics. One thing we noticed is that the roles changed as we changed. We may have started out being the lost child, but ended up being the family hero (or scapegoat). I usually do not put a lot of faith in labels. In this case I was proved. After the class on death/dying, two weeks of drug use and now family roles, I think most of the people in the Cohort are very depressed.

November 11, 1998 We reviewed more Internet stuff the first part. I am very glad that we have assignments or the grand scheme for our assignments. I there such as thing as submitting half a thesis?

-- Anonymous, November 17, 1998

December 2, 1998 - Judge Dale Wolf presenter. This night was about kids without a conscience and the behavior students may exhibit in and out of the classroom. There are a lot of students who needs some sort of guidance that I have seen. So many of them will not pay attention or listen to a simple direction. The scariest thing is the total lack of respect towards authority figures. The majority of students are good kids who are just trying to complete what they need to do to graduate. There are others that you sit back and wonder, how in the heck are they going to survive when the structure of school is gone?

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1998

December 9, 1998 Duluth Superintendent - Julio Almanzo. This was an interesting topic from a administrative point of view. After leaving the Cohort last night, I definitely believe that the teachers, administrators and staff working in the public school system must have a degree of accountability in their professions. Instead of saying, "Hey 30% of our children are failing because of ___________"(fill in the blank with the proper suggestion: their environment, the high number of students in class, lack of support staff, lack of training, etc.), the educational system needs to take a hard look at itself and acknowledge both its successes and its failures. Business-based workers are accountable for their failure in the workplace -- why shouldn't educators be? If tests, performance packages and grad standards are needed to prove to the general public that educators are educating -- then so be it, they should be implemented.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1998

December 16, 1998 - This class focused mainly on the Chester Part School and the grant money they received to improve technology. A lot of the projects and ideas looked great and it sounded like they have a great deal of staff enthusiasm. I do wonder what will happen when their monetary base is no longer there. Will the district commit to technology and hire the staff needed to support technology growth? Now the equipment is purchased, who will promote the growth and use of technology and demonstrate innovative ways to use it for all grade levels?

January 6, 1999 - This focused on Glasser's Quality School. The main components from the book were lead/boss aminagement styles and choice theory. For the heck of it I tried choice theory with a few students. Needless to say, they made the wrong choices (hopefully detention will not result from this little experiment). I did like his boss/lead management theories. A combination of the two (not either separately) would probably provide the best results.

-- Anonymous, January 12, 1999

January 13, 1999 - Teen/Adolescent Sexuality -- Presenter: Dr. Paula Pedersen-Randall. This topic dealt with the issue of teen sexuality and teen activities. A group of students discussed the issues they face: drinking/drug = sex, lack of peer pressure - everyone stays in their groups, the need to talk to peers re: sex, the need for fact based info and classes on "real life" sex topics. They also stressed that everything should be covered: homosexuality, shame of having sex at a party while drunk, STDs, etc.

It was interesting to hear their perspective. Sex is an uncomfortable topic. I really liked what one kid said -- he said something to the effect that make sex a smaller word. Right now it is a huge powerful word -- if you desensitize it a bit it will not be that big of a deal.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 1999

January 20, 1999 Maria Gurno spoke about abuse and neglect. One question posed was, "Describe a time in your life when you experienced trauma and who or what made a difference?"

I have never experienced that type of child abuse or neglect. I always had two loving parents at home who were in love with one another. I have experienced what I believe to be other traumas. Quite frankly, the only person who helped me through those was myself.

On the issue of neglect, it is unbelievable to realize the roots that people grow from. People who rise up from that and break the cycle of neglect should be applauded. I have to believe that bad things in life happen to make us stronger and perceptive people. Maybe that is the role of trauma in our lives  to make us understand our fundamental self.

January 27, 1999 I did not have any questions from this class session.

February 3, 1999 Questions/topics: Sexual prevention trauma, adult vs. child abuse survivors and intervention. I will comment on the first question "Do sexual abuse prevention programs work  pros and cons?"

This is not even a question. If I were sexually assaulted I would like to have the option of having some place to go. If a person is violated in such a horrific way, our society is responsible for setting up a place to go. After all, it is our society who allows criminals to flourish  we are ultimately responsible for the havoc they wreak.

February 10, 1999 This class session was about ADHD. I just do not get into the labels. A lot of the students that cannot accomplish their work seem to be behavioral problems. I know that argument that their inability to concentrate is because of whatever label is attached. Maybe for a small number of students that may be true. I think a lot of the labels are excuses for allowing people to do substandard work.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 1999