Blog 5

Getting used to new ways of learning and advocating for myself.

I was so used to having teachers help me and now I had to go ask for help.

My first two weeks at Twin Grove Junior High was crazy.  Transferring from Cove School to Twin full time shocked me so much; it was as if a thunderbolt struck with no warning. The shock left me feeling scared and very unsure of myself.   I was the new kid at the school, not knowing what to do, who to turn to or who to seek help from.

This new kid had spent the last six years attending Cove and receiving special services for my language learning disability. Now, it was my time to come back to my district school, adjust to junior high expectations and prepare for the transition to Stevenson High School.  Talk about high expectations for a 14 year old! 

When I was at Cove I had no homeroom, stayed in one room for most of the time, and the classes were small.  At Twin I had a homeroom, traveled class to class, and sat in larger classes.  Traveling from class to class took longer and I had to get used to walking up and down stairs. That took awhile to get used to because walking up and down the stairs so much got me winded.   Traveling and the noise of tons more kids in a crowded hallway was a new experience at first.  I got used to this part of junior high after the first month of school.  It didn’t seem to be much of a shock once I found my classes and had a traveling buddy to talk to.

I got past this experience and then needed to get used to the classrooms.  At Cove we had technology to help us concentrate. There were speakers in some classes to amplify the teacher’s voice.  At Twin there wasn’t any speakers in the rooms and I had to change my learning style to concentrate when the teacher talked.

Again, I had to adjust to this new set up and again I adjusted over time.  Things were starting to settle in, but still crazy.

We go to school to learn.  Both schools valued providing a good education for all of the students. How I received the instruction to learn was different in both schools.  Cove valued learning through assistance and one on one attention during all classes.  Twin valued independent learning and encouraging more peer help or seeking help on your own.   For me, it was hard to advocate for myself and it took me longer to get used to asking.  I was unsure of myself and how to ask for help.   I was scared to ask on my own and I felt that the teachers would look down on me. It was easier to be quiet than to ask a question.  I felt if you knew the teacher, it would be easier to ask for help.  Some of other students knew the teacher from previous years and were able to ask for help.

At Twin, we had groups of people with similar interests due to sports and extra curricular activities.  At Cove, we didn’t have as many choices.  I had to figure out what I could do to fit into a group.  I chose to participate in Band and Cross Country and Track.  I felt that I had to fit in and tried out new activities.  Twin emphasized extra curricular activities and getting involved.  I had to balance this with keeping up with my homework.

 The norms were different between the schools.  I was used to having reminders to do my homework and help with my homework f I needed help without asking. While at Twin, it was up to us to do the homework on time with no reminders. Because we had no reminders at Twin for homework everything was graded.  At Cove my progress was measured through my individual learning goals. I felt pressure to keep up with the work to get good high grades.

At Twin the emphasis for success and achievement was receiving high letter grades and at Cove your success showed up when you had a meeting and talked about your progress in your goals.     

            The difference that I saw was at Cove I was getting help on an individual basis. When I was at Twin I saw that I needed to get more help from the teacher or ask for my accommodations.   Good grades were seen as rewards or sanctions for your work at Twin while progress at Cove was sanctioned.

             Both schools had behavior expectations and guidelines to follow.  We needed to behave in class at both schools.  While at Cove, behavior was a learning goal for some, there were some that received a form of punishment when misbehaving during lunch or recess. For those that have the behavior goals needs to be in a separate room for the lunch/recess. It is not for punishment; it is more for their benefit if they stay in that room because they might hart somebody if they get out of control with their behavior.  At Twin, you knew there were rules and if you chose to disobey, there were detentions.

By the middle part of the year, things were going better for me.  Looking back, I could see there were more similarities than differences between the schools.  Students went to school in a building with several classrooms divided by grade or subject. The same instructional language was spoken, we raised our hand to speak in class and we addressed the flag each morning with the Pledge of Allegiance.  There were no different symbols to understand.  The only difference was how I needed to fit in with the norm with my learning disability.  The skill to self-advocate was one that I was not entirely prepared for and something that I had to learn.  I had great experiences with most of my teachers as I could see they valued seeing success for all.  The shock of the thunderbolt wore off and I enjoyed eighth grade. Looking back, the transition to Stevenson started a little easier for me.  Instead of a thunderbolt, I got hit with a snowball. 

blog4

A winning sports team works together to win. Winning requires teamwork to complete a play or win a game. Last year, the SHS Boys Varsity Water Polo team didn’t work as a team that much and we lost more games than we won. We did not communicate with each other on the field and it resulted in frustration each time that we lost.

 Structure Functionalism is the theory that states all aspects of society serve a function and are necessary for the survival of that society. Each structure has a function that contributes to the continued stability or equilibrium of the whole. Any disorganization or dysfunction in a structure must lead to change.   In my opinion,   last year, the SHS water polo players were dysfunctional.  We had players out of position and players that did not know where to go.  The dysfunction on our team was due to the lack of communication between players.

We lost our sectional game to Mundelein and everyone was down because of it. But I can tell that we weren’t playing as a team at first. I saw some people calling for the ball when they weren’t even open to shoot the ball into the goal but the person that had the ball had an opening to shoot. Instead of shooting it they passed it to the person that was yelling the loudest. Usually that person ended up missing the goal or the shot was blocked by the goalie.

In a regular season game, we try to give the ball to the Hole (the position in the front of the goalie about 2 meters line) to let him shoot but each time he gets dunked and had the ball stolen.  Even when he didn’t get dunked he usually shot it blindly and it either hit the goal or went out of bounds. We were relying on the person in the Hole to get us a goal but we weren’t relying on each other to get the goal from the outside. And we weren’t working as a team.  Dysfunction can lead to change. I recognized that we needed to communicate better with each other on the field. 

As a team, we wanted to win. We had our own goals to win but needed to realize our team goal was to win together.  In structural functionalism, you need to realize goals and have social cohesion. Our team needed to come together and work towards the same goal and win for the team and our school. 

Our main focus on the team is to work together to win. Also there are the fun things about being on the team.  We get to know each other, form friendships, keep fit through all the exercise, hang out together and have fun at team meals. Some of us have known each other for four years because we participated in the sport for our whole high school career.  These are the latent functions of being on a team.

This year the team will be different. Our coach has planned to have more time get together to play. We will learn to play as one and not play on an individual basis.  By having class work (watching tapes that my dad video taped) and on late arrivals having team breakfast at a restaurant that we choose to go to after practice, we will grow as a cohesive group and become a team, We will learn from each other and adapt to each other’s style of communication and play.  And if we need more time to bond the coach may let me organize events on the weekends.

Structural functionalism talks about passing along traditions.  We have a water polo tradition to teach and mentor the newer members of the team. We teach them from our experiences and serve as role models so that they will carry the team on next season when the seniors are gone.  Go PATS!

Blog3: The sociological imagination

I think that the sociological imagination is the reactions of others for an example, jobs are always looking for people who can do the job and not slack off. When they are hiring they will hire an Eagle scout verses some one who is not. In that perspective Eagle scout will find a way to finish the project and see it through. In my mind it is like the case and effect, first something happens than there are repercussions will be coming after the incident. An example of case and effect is, one person dose something and others react to it and the person will have consequences, good or bad, in the future.