10/18 Making Youth Have a Voice

There is a lot of things in this world that warrant change. Most of the time it truly doesn't matter where or when the change starts but that change is eminent. Youth Development Workers are the front runners to change in the Youth and their future but how about the voice of the Youth we are looking to help develop? We spoke in class with Youth in Action about how they establish the voices of the Youth in Providence. It is very inspiring to know that we as YDW has the same structure of what a leader can be and how they accomplish their own leadership skills. We have the linear thoughts about how we want Youth to be and those thoughts are outside of the societal norm. Being outside the societal norm causes friction and limits how we can become mobile in accomplishing what we set to accomplish. Give Youth another outlet to use their voice. They have great ideas that many people will never hear because “adults” carry the adolescent stigma that youth don’t have the experience. Their once was a time before child labor laws when youth worked like adults. It seems as though people tend to have a short term memory when it comes to drastic events that change lives. The perfect comparison goes back to the Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants and what we know as the have and have nots. Youth need to have a way to expressed these great ideas dormant within the confide society we live in. As a Youth Development worker that will be one of my many goals to accomplish.

YIA and the service we as Youth Development Educators strive for!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAeb5jV1O2w&feature=player_detailpage Youth struggle to be heard. We as YDW need to give them a voice of their own. Teaching youth how to advocate and promote their ideas that get lost in the shuffle. YIA does just that for youth. Their non-profit is run by a group of youth and a board that controls the financial base of the organization. People have the misinformed notion that experience and knowledge is gained by age. When in fact great ideas just need others willing to help you execute the task. Fifteen years of youth educating youth. In the non-profit courses we have learned that non-profits struggle to stay afloat. YIA is run by youth half the age of most members of non-profit organizations. I believe we need to learn more from our youth by learning more about YIA. Youth in Action has developed youth ideas and made them a reality. Youth get to advocate for themselves and open the floor with their own personal opinions. Marlie Chatelain age 17 YIA class of 2012 says that “I like that I’m part of a place where there are so many different opinions. The trust, respect, and openness make us stronger.” Miss Chatelain is gaining experience that most people don’t gain till college and most people don’t get the privilege to gain that experience. Reading the experiences that these great people have gained by having a great resource like YIA. This makes it easier to be an YDW. It gives a fire that people lack about their work. Knowing that positive youth influence can create a critical development environment while also alleviating the risks of young teens in this every changing society. YIA makes life as youth easier because you gain the responsibilities, encouragement and resources that many youth need to grow, develop and strive. Thank you Youth in Action for giving Providence and abroad the opportunity to learn from you and everything the organization has achieved. The first video Youth's View, Voice and Vision in Society is about the education process and development through skill building and strategic plan development. Youth get the opportunity to take leadership roles to help in their own education process. I used this video to help build off of the YIA mission. They are not the only ones striving to innovate education and help change youth's educational development. I followed with a second video of Michael Jackson's We are the World to show that diversity is every where and that is truly what being a YDW is all about. We want youth to gain experience, motivation and critical free thinking. We are going to change education because we are taking the standardized testing and creating an environment that teaches the youth in a way public schools have not. The Youth Development Majors of Rhode Island College's Class of 2014 following will change the way youth is seen and create a new stigma of great knowledge and learning!

Youth Development Research

Act for Youth's power point on Youth Development Research was very insightful. “We need to provide opportunities to all young people.” I found this to be very insightful. Observing in classrooms I have noticed that educators have a different approach to student’s that are above the normal academic level compared to low below the academic level. Students above the academic norm get special treatment of choosing to and how to complete assignments. Students below the academic norm are expected to complete the assignment even if they don’t meet the academic level the assignment entails. Through the Youth Development Research provided by ACT we as Youth Development educators can help use positive Youth Development. Positive Youth Development doesn’t focus solely on the youth but the environment the Youth is involved in. The community and adults also influence the Youth’s Development in positive and or negative. We as YD educators promote “competencies values and connections that will build up strengths.” ACT’s research finds that we are switching from troubled youth to all youth and that is truly the most important information. Having the understanding that academics can always be improved by any student’s level. We as YD educators need to make sure we let the individuals we are educating be involved in how they learn and develop. We will help develop positive opportunities for youth’s and their community. YD educators will always help Youth in the community to grow positive relationships, values and develop skills that the student will utilize for the rest of their lives. As YD that will be the goal to help youth long after you are no longer educating.

Blogging about Blogging

Why do we blog?

We blog to help others view our ideas. The Wesch video shows us that the "machine" is us. We are the technology we use. Our Blog, Facebook, Twitter or even Myspace is how people view us! Having these social media resources help others understand our view points, ideas, concepts and have the potential to view it at a later date. I define blogging as an outlet to relieve the inner most thoughts that others may feel the same way about. Why should we encourage youth to blog?

Youth will be connected to technology as an outlet. Youth at PASA during the Summer Scholars learned how to develop and wrote blogs. Blogs are the new diary of ideas that may be a struggle to be heard. People during this technological age find themselves "alone but together (Dr.Bogad)." For Youth social interaction is minimal and blogging can help them express their ideas and thought to the community of the internet world.

Chaning my response

I changed the length of my response for these articles because I didn't follow the rubric completely. I feel as though I followed the bloglog rubric for this response and I feel good about!

Mark Prensky Do They Really Think Differently? and Wesch The Machine is Us/ing Us

It is interesting to look at technology as a second language. My generation of the early 80’s have grown with the new age. The generation of the 90’s don’t know anything different than technology. If their computer goes down, register, calculator, phone or Ipad then that individual finds themselves lost without a prayer. Marc Prensky’s Digital Natives Digital Immigrants proves this statement to be true. Students have found Wrench Monkey to be amazing to learn new tools and strategies instead of the traditional lecture. The reading that followed also by Mark Prensky Do They Really Think Differently? Talks about the cultural environment can mold the thinking of one’s environment. So people who experience the same situation in different parts of the world will respond to the situation in different ways based on the “different” thought process. Further example would be the cultural difference of people which causes questioning of one’s decision making because that is what values have been instilled. Wesch The Machine is Us/ing Us dives into the idea that we as a society become the technology we use daily. The example that comes to mind is texting in which auto-correct will learn what you normally type whether it be an acronym or a blend of words that you tend not to separate. My view point on the reading of Prensky was mid blowing. I found that I didn’t view our technology as a language but it truly is. I was thoroughly intrigued by the concept that teachers struggle to move with the times. This reading is the outline of how the older generation prior to the digital age feel. Wesch youtube made me a little confused by how fast the video went. I found myself a little lost throughout the video to keep up with the computer scripts. Things that were demonstrated in the video distracted me from the point they were trying to make.

Argument Gwen Sharp's Child Labor and Social Construct of Childhood

The author Gwen Sharp wrote about child labor and how the past has effected adolescent development. The pictures depict the children working at an early age to show the harsh environment they worked in. The descriptions made the article more real by talking about the amount, time and what type of work these children had to do at such an early age. Children had to be more grown up because they had “adult responsibilities.” I feel as though children could learn from responsibilities to build character, work ethic and accountability. These working conditions have been removed from the current American society because of the change in politics and cultural evolution of our modern society. Question: How do you regulate and say a job is against the child labor laws that jeopardizes an adolescent’s “growth?”