Week 4 - Phil Kleven

           The CBS story “Bullying: Words Can Kill” is a very powerful documentary that details a large problem that plagues students and schools across America. Bullying takes many forms and occurs in many settings, and schools are noticing and intervening in these situations. This essay will provide a summary of the video, discuss how the subject relates to my future career as a public-school teacher, and provide an example of a situation involving bullying that I witnessed in my work as a private music teacher.

            The video “Bullying: Words Can Kill” can be summarized in one word: depressing. The stories and facts presented were very sad. After noticing that the video was roughly 42 minutes long, I wondered, how can there be so much to talk about? It only took a few minutes for me to realize that 42 minutes would hardly be enough time to discuss the many causes and effects of bullying.

            The video began by explaining how every school has a bullying problem. Bullying makes students feel afraid, left out, and alone. At 5:00, we met Johnny, a student who was bullied because of his interests. Rather than play sports like many other students his age, Johnny preferred to make costumes. He said, “If you don’t play sports, you’re weird.” Because of the bullying, Johnny started cutting himself and saying that he hated his life. His mom said that she felt like she was dropping him off for war each day. After school officials became involved, almost 70% of the students came forward about being bullied.

            In a similar situation, the experiences of a student named Jessie were described. I was surprised to hear that other students would tell her to “go drop dead” (9:26). In my schooling, I never witnessed a student say that to another. Sadly, after going to a funeral for someone who killed himself, Jessie went home and hung herself in her closet.

            At 20:00, the narrator mentioned how kids are constantly bombarded with bully-type behaviors. A girl who was harassed from first through seventh grade mentioned how students said so many mean things that she started believing them. A parent being interviewed made a strong point at 26:00, saying “the problems start outside of school, but eventually trickle into the school.” At this point in the video, a panel of students said that reporting bullying only brings on more problems. At 28:00, a student mentioned how reporting bullies only made their actions worse.

            The video ended with a discussion on how to prevent bullying. Schools are getting involved in situations between students, even if the events don’t take place on school property. The narrator mentioned one mom who filed a $12 million-dollar lawsuit against a school and group of students who bullied her daughter to death. Though many schools claim to be making progress against bullying, many students disagree.

            How does bullying relate to my future career as a teacher? As mentioned in the video, schools are ground zero for bullying. Teachers need to be vigilant and observant to stop possible situations before they escalate. Though some students may be smart enough to walk away from a bad situation, it doesn’t mean that the bad situation will go away. As an orchestra teacher, my class will be primarily performance based. As I see daily through my private lessons, some students fall behind. Making mistakes in front of the class can lead to ridicule and bullying. After interviewing a friend who teaches band, he said that a teacher must “flip the switch” and “squash” any situation immediately. He also said that a situation between students has the potential to escalate every minute that it goes unaddressed. I know that these events need to be dealt with swiftly and immediately.

            Finally, I would like to relate the information in the video to my own work as a private music teacher. I see students individually on a weekly basis. After hearing the stories of students who were bullied at school, I immediately thought of a young student I taught several years ago.

This 6^th grade girl had many emotional issues. She would often cry during lessons, one time throwing her violin across the room. I later learned that she was having issues with another girl at the school. The two were having separate counseling with a school administrator, but the effects of the situation were taking a toll on her everyday life. Having no formal training on how to deal with this, I calmly tried to shift her focus to the music. In retrospect, it would have been better for me to contact a school official about the situation. Private music teachers are not often required to be licensed to secure a teaching position in a music store. This means that it is possible for private music teachers to start a teaching position with no experience working with children. I believe this girl was calling out for help, but my lack of training left me feeling helpless and unsure of what to say to her. Being enrolled in the education program at Trinity has shown me the full spectrum of student issues a teacher must be attuned to.

            In conclusion, the video Bullying Can Kill opened my eyes to the difficulties students face at school. Some issues, such as hunger, learning disabilities, or emotional needs have already been addressed by schools.  I hope that schools will continue to actively pursue positive ways to combat bullying. It is truly the biggest issue that students face today. As technology continues to play an increasingly important role in education, teachers must consider the implications of inviting their students onto the internet for assignments. As educators, student safety must be our priority. 

Source

Bullying: Words Can Kill [Video file]. (2011, September 17). Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/bullying-words-can-kill/

Week 3 - Phil Kleven

Pregnancy, birth, and newborns, what a coincidence! My wife and I have experienced all of these things recently, and are awaiting the birth of our son sometime in the next few days. This week’s reading material was divided into three areas - pregnancy and prenatal development, birth and the newborn child, and infancy. I’d like to share some of the things I learned from the reading, and apply them to my life over the past year and a half. 

Lisa Fiore begins chapter three, Pregnancy and Prenatal Development, by giving a bit of a science lesson on the physical process of reproduction. On page 55, we see a basic cell structure, as well as representations of chromosomes, DNA, and genes. I learned the difference between a Genotype (Genetic makeup of an individual), and a Phenotype (Observable characteristics). The section concludes with an explanation of two types of cell division, Meitosis and Meiosis, and mentions a few genetic disorders on pages 58-59. 

The chapter continues, moving to prenatal development on pages 64-65. Three main periods of development are mentioned. The germinal period, seen during the first two weeks, is recognized by the creation of a ball of cells called the blastocyst. The embryonic period, from 3-8 weeks exhibits cellular differentiation. Finally, we can observe organ development during the fetal period, lasting from the third month through birth. Our son is certainly in the fetal period, as his due date is Saturday!

In chapter 4, Birth and the Newborn Child, Fiore outlines several methods of childbirth and includes a nice chart about sensory competence in newborns. As childbirth becomes near, the mother experiences Braxton hicks contractions. These contractions simulate real birth contractions. My wife has been having many of them this week. Dilation also begins and the expulsion period can last between 1.5 and 6 hours. 

Fiore also points out several methods of childbirth a mother may choose on pages 82-85. These include natural, midwife/doula, home delivery, and cesarean section. My wife chose to have a natural birth for our daughter is planning to do so again with our son. She is also having a midwife and doula deliver the baby. I’ll spare you the details, but she had a very argumentative doctor last time, and is avoiding the entire hospital! 

This section ends with a nice chart on pages 91-92 that shows sensory competence through one month. This is something I’ll be paying attention to over the next few weeks. 

• Vision - Least developed of all senses
• Smell - Seen in reaction to breast milk
• Taste - Make faces and develop tastes
• Hearing - Immediate response
• Touch - Skin to skin very important

Finally, chapter 5 discusses infancy and four major subjects are covered. 

Nutrition - Breast milk is ideal for up to six months. It fights disease, and children are less susceptible to allergic reactions (page 104).

Brain Development - Something known as “Infantile amnesia” results in an inability to remember events from early life. On page 107, motor development is mentioned, explaining head control, crawling, standing and walking.

Perceptual Development - In first year of life, infants discern patterns, depth, orientation, location, movement, and color

Visual Perception, p. 111 - Infants are down able to see and exhibit a preference for patterns.

I found the reading to be more interesting and applicable to my life this week. I would have considered the reading to be a bit dry, but having kids allowed me to relate concepts to my own life. As I look ahead in the book, I imagine that future chapters will be similar. Perhaps I will learn about all the things that are happening to me in adulthood!

Week 2 - Phil Kleven

In chapter 2, we learn about a range of theories that offer insight to human development. Linda Fiore opens the chapter with an interesting quote: “In a society that relies on scientific fact as truth that guides our behavior, what’s the point of studying theories that suggest only “Maybe” and “Perhaps if…” are answers to the “Why?” of lifespan development?”. Theories are essential for constructing meaning out of facts. On page 28, a helpful bulleted list details some qualities of good theories.

Good theories:

1. Help to organize a huge body of information
2. Help to focus our search for new understandings
3. Help to explain how findings may be interpreted
4. Help to identify major disagreements among scholars

Next, pages 29-33 discuss the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. Freud believed that we possess powerful ideas and the impulses of which we’re unaware but that exert a strong influence on our behavior. Detailed on pages 30-31, Freud’s theory can be broken down into five stages:

1. The Oral Stage (0-1.5 years old) - Sucking, eating, biting
2. The Anal Stage (1.5-3) - Successful toilet training
3. The Phallic Stage (3-5) - Unconscious sexual desire
4. The Latency Stage (5-12) - Sexual desire becomes dormant. Physical and social skills dominate
5. The Genital Stage (12+) - Sexual hormones surge. Relationships outside family develop.

In contrast, Erikson lays out psychosocial theory of development that emphasizes the impact of social experiences on stages of human development.

Life Crisis: (p. 32-33)

1. Basic trust vs. mistrust (Ages: 0-2)
2. Autonomy vs. shame (2-3)
3. Initiative vs. guilt (3-5)
4. Industry vs. inferiority (5-12)
5. Identity vs. confusion (12-18)
6. Intimacy vs. isolation (18-25)
7. Generatively vs. stagnation (25-65)
8. Integrity vs. despair (65+)

After reading through the above list, I though about my private string students, and tried to connect their personalities to the associated Life Crisis as detailed by Erikson. It was interesting to reflect on their individual struggles and difficulties, and I was surprised how correct Erickson’s list was in predicting various age-based crises. 

Fiore next discusses cognitive theories on pages 34-38. I learned about two major theorists: Piaget and Vygotsky. On page 34, Fiore says of Piaget’s theory, “development occurs as we develop increasingly effective cognitive structures, mental representations that enable us to organize and adapt to our world”. 

Finally, on pages 38-42, Fiore describes the behavioral approach, focusing on the work of Pavlov, Skinner, and Bandura. 

Pavlov

• Classical conditioning - Involuntary response elicited through a learning process
• Dogs salivate with bell

Skinner

• Developed an explanation of learning that stressed the consequences of behavior
• Reinforcement - makes a response more likely to happen in the future
• Operant conditioning - refers to our behavior or actions we do voluntarily, and how the use of consequences can modify or shape such behavior. 

Bandura

• Observational learning - Bandura showed that learning occurs through observing others, even when the observers do not imitate the model’s response at that time and get no reinforcement.  
• In my own group classes, I use Bandura's strategy of observational learning to create student drive for progress. Nothing gets competitive students working more than thinking they are falling behind their classmates!

Through my teaching observations, I’ve seen all of these theories in action. Successful teachers need to draw from a range of ideas and strategies. In my own private teaching, various students benefit from different types of learning, reinforcement, and conditioning. I look forward to transferring this skills to my future classroom!

Week 1 - Phil Kleven

The Möbius Strip. What an interesting word, but what is it? A Möbius Strip is a surface with only one side and only one boundary. An example of a Möbius Strip can be created by taking a paper strip and twisting it in half, and then connecting the two ends to form a loop. In a video by Parker J. Palmer, we learn that this Möbius Strip can be a representation of our lives. The two sides of the paper represent our “On Stage” life, where we are concerned with looks and ego, and our “Back Stage” life, which involves instinct, value, faith, and soul. The narrator of the video claims that we are born with no separation between our inner and outer lives, but by stage 2 of our development, we start seeing the effects of mixing our backstage selves with the onstage world. 

Lisa Fiore notes on page 10 of Lifesmart, “As is true for all periods of the lifespan, the physical maturation of human development initiates the process, but social and emotional adolescent experiences strongly shape the nature and direction of behavior”. Through her strong words, Fiore illustrates how events in our adolescence powerfully shape behavior throughout the rest of our lives. 

Sometimes we reveal too much of how we feel and the world seems to become a dangerous place for our inner feelings. As a violin teacher, I work with students of all ages, and see this all the time. Many students struggle with expressing their feelings, and seem worried about discussing their struggles. The disconnect between our inner and outer worlds can become painful, so we become centered - allowing our external life to revolve around our inner values. These feelings make it easy to exclude those who don’t share core beliefs. Just look at our last two Presidential election cycles. Our country has become so polarized by differing beliefs that cooperation between our two major political parties has all but ceased to exist. 

Further reading in Lifesmart illustrates that the direction of our lifespans can change, which is also discussed in the Möbius Strip video. Fiore notes on page 16, “Continuities and discontinuities appear in each of our lives because the term development implies change. Puberty, leaving home, marriage, and career all serve to shape psychological functioning” (Fiore 16). Although our lives are affected by life events, these very events add to the maturation of our individual human development.

To conclude and to connect this all to my own career as a musician, I’d like to leave you with a video of J.S. Bach’s canon on a Möbius Strip. The music represents our inner and outer lives, shown in the video as music written on two sides of a pice of paper. This is quite possibly one of the hardest types of music to write, as the composer must know how the notes played forwards at the beginning of the piece will interact when combined with notes played backwards from the end of the piece. Enjoy!

(skip to 1:43 to see the depiction of music as a Möbius Strip)