Q: What do you see as Lucas's strengths?
A: He is really good at adding numbers and he knows good basic strategies for how to solve a problem. He is also very intuitive about other's feelings and is honest with me about his own which is helpful. I always know how he is feeling.
Q: What are some things he struggles with?
A: He has difficulty listening to directions, taking any redirection, and trying something if he does not initially know how to do it. He also struggles with his self-confidence and his ability to stay on task.
Q: What are some methods that you have found that help him concentrate and focus more in class?
A: I have yet to find anything extremely successful. I have tried to give him a stress ball to relieve energy, I provide preferential seating and seat him in the front, I have tried isolating him and seating him with all higher students. I have also tried the rewards system. None of these have given me very consistent results; one day it works and the next it does not. I am thinking, however, to next try motivating him with technology because he really loves playing games on his phone and IPad. We'll see if that gives any better results.
Q: Has his father or grandma given any suggestions that have been of any help on how to handle Lucas in class?
A: Nope, all they have said is to try to remain as positive as I can because he has a hard home life that does not include very many positive role models. His grandma, the main care giver, does not know what motivates him either. He is really passionate about hockey and loves to play, however, even taking away hockey does not help.
Q: How did you go about learning about Lucas's oppositional behavior disorder? Did you do any research of your own or did he come with information?
A: He came with information, all of which was included in his IEP that I received from his case manager. I usually take the information I am given with a grain of salt and I come to class having read the IEP but make my own assessment on the first day/ week to see what things students really do need to be accommodated on.
Q: How do you modify lesson plans to meet his strengths and weaknesses?
A: These students are all a part of my block class and our goal is to get them to grade level, so I do not really change the lesson itself but rather slow it down so that they have more time to understand the content. I do, however, do more of environmental changes like turning off the lights, altering the seating arrangement, and incorporating intervention stations which work on strengthening basic skills.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Looking Back...
I feel like I have read probably more than I will ever need to know about love and relationships. My future husband will be grateful for this project, though, because I will be an expert at love! :) As I look back on my blogs, I know my research is not yet quite completed. I still hope to interview an "expert". I have emailed a pastor about how he views love and have yet to hear back. If I never get a response, I will have to find someone else to take over that "expert" role for my research paper. I do, however, have a fairly clear idea about how I am going to set up my paper. I am going to cut my paper into different sections to make for a more organized final product. I will have:
1. The Definition of Love
2. The Relationship Between Love and Sex
3. Love in the Eyes of Children
4. Love As We Age
These topics are still likely to be altered and manipulated, possibly even added to, but I do feel like this blog has helped me to create a concrete idea and support to begin writing my final research paper. With my research paper, the plan is to also make a short video to show as part of my presentation. My idea is to get as many different people as possible to complete one sentence, "Love is ______." I feel that through this topic sentence I will be able to get answers from people that will be easily comparable to other's answers. The movie will hopefully show, in short, what love is and how love evolves with age. I look forward to the next chapters of this project.
1. The Definition of Love
2. The Relationship Between Love and Sex
3. Love in the Eyes of Children
4. Love As We Age
These topics are still likely to be altered and manipulated, possibly even added to, but I do feel like this blog has helped me to create a concrete idea and support to begin writing my final research paper. With my research paper, the plan is to also make a short video to show as part of my presentation. My idea is to get as many different people as possible to complete one sentence, "Love is ______." I feel that through this topic sentence I will be able to get answers from people that will be easily comparable to other's answers. The movie will hopefully show, in short, what love is and how love evolves with age. I look forward to the next chapters of this project.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Sexual Relationships
Utilizing the article "Romantic and Sexual Relationship Development During Adolescence," by Brent C. Miller and Brad Benson, I found some interesting statistics revolving around the age when sexual involvement first takes place. The article talks about how there are differences between races regarding how early sexual interaction tends to first take place. The article describes how Black teenagers tend to have more sex than White or Hispanic teens. "More than half of Black males have had sex by age 15, but Hispanic and White males do not attain this level of sexual activity until they are 17." For females, the statistics are relatively similar. The authors also discuss the differences found between males and females; "more male than female teens report having had intercourse at every year of age." Finally, the article delves into statistics regarding the age that people first have intercourse getting younger and younger. People who have had sex by age fifteen has risen from 20% of people to 27%. Males who have had sex by 18 has risen from 55% to 64%. Females who have had sex by age 18 has also risen from 35% to 52%.
This article helps readers to understand that romantic and sexual involvement is influenced and effected greatly by social and cultural norms. As a society, we judge ore harshly females who have had sex at a young age more so than we do males. This is one of the reasons why at every age, more men than women have already had sex. I found that statistics such as these were important for me to understand as I look at the development and evolution of love. Love is often characterized by romance and passion that two people share. From a past article, I remember reading that sex does not always include love but love always includes sex. In order to understand why high school sweethearts and young love are so common, it is important to reflect on the data behind sexual involvement within our nation.
This article helps readers to understand that romantic and sexual involvement is influenced and effected greatly by social and cultural norms. As a society, we judge ore harshly females who have had sex at a young age more so than we do males. This is one of the reasons why at every age, more men than women have already had sex. I found that statistics such as these were important for me to understand as I look at the development and evolution of love. Love is often characterized by romance and passion that two people share. From a past article, I remember reading that sex does not always include love but love always includes sex. In order to understand why high school sweethearts and young love are so common, it is important to reflect on the data behind sexual involvement within our nation.
Furman, Wyndol, B. Bradford Brown, and Candice
Feiring. "Romantic and Sexual Relationship Development During
Adolescence." The Development of
Romantic Relationships in Adolescence. New York: Cambridge UP, 1999.
99-109. Print.
Romantic Love and Adolescence
The article entitled "Measuring Passionate Love in Intimate Relationships" discusses passionate love, mostly as it relates to teenagers/ adolescents. The paper goes in to great detail about the definition of passion and how a person can measure passion within a relationship. However, one of the most interesting parts, as it relates closest to my research project, discusses the development of love in teenagers and when a person is most capable of falling in love emotionally or becoming sexually active. One quote from the article reads, "Adolescence is also that period when we generally fall in love with a willing partner for the first time. Kephart, for example, found that "infatuation" generally occurred for the first time at age thirteen and "love" at age seventeen." This quote shows a general prediction for when a relationship or emotions for a person become more "real" and genuine. I also found it interesting in the article how the author continued to, almost with out notice, switch the words romantic love and adolescence within the paper. He mentions several times how the two words are defined extremely similarly: "intense, overwhelming, passionate, consuming, exciting, and confusing." I find this view point to be very unique and interesting. It makes love out to be this invigorating time in a person's life full of youth, many changes, and some confusion. It, honestly, makes quite perfect sense. I also find that this point of view makes the relationships people have in high school seem more serious. If love can be had at seventeen and adolescence and love mirror each other, love becomes more for the young than the old. This article answers many of my questions on the development of love, especially in the teen years. This article proved to me that love at a young age is not only very possible, but seemingly more likely.
Hatfield, E., and S. Sprecher. "Measuring Passionate Love in Intimate Relationships." Journal of Adolescence 9.4 (1986): 383.ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2015
Hatfield, E., and S. Sprecher. "Measuring Passionate Love in Intimate Relationships." Journal of Adolescence 9.4 (1986): 383.ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
May I Ask You a Few Questions About Love?
The Saturday Evening Post has an article written by Sandford Brown entitled "May I Ask You a Few Questions About Love?" which I found to be extremely interesting and relevant to my topic. Elmo Roper's interviewers asked a sampling of Americans seventy-five questions to collect data on how our nation views love. The article discusses lots of data that was found after analyzing the questionnaire, but one piece of data I found to be especially interesting was when husbands and wives were asked if their love has grown, faded, or stayed the same over the years. 38% of women and 34% of men stated that their love had stayed the same, 36% of women and 32% of men stated their love grew, and only 14% of men and women stated their love had faded.
This piece of data I find to be extremely hopeful for our nation. As I look at the relationships in my life, it seems really hard to find a married couple that is genuinely happy. I have three best friends, and out of the four of us, my parents are the only two who are still married. Divorce seems so common in my world that to hear that in America, there are still over two-thirds of the people that feel that their happiness since getting married has at least stayed the same, revives a sense of optimism towards love. Not all marriage ends in divorce. In connecting this article to my research paper, it is easy to see how it will fit in. I have read another article about the effects of age on a marriage which was rather negative, stating that there is a period, especially when a couple has kids, where their love and passion falls considerably. However, this article gives an alternative view point and shows the pros of getting married and living with your best friend forever.
Brown, Sandford. "'May I Ask You A Few Questions About Love?'." Saturday Evening Post 239.27 (1966): 24. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
Review Thus Far...
Review of my Position Statement:
As I am a little over a quarter of the way through this process, I think back to my original position statement. My purpose has been to decipher if a person's definition of love evolves with age. As I am writing this post, I feel that I can completely declare that the definition of love is a lot more complex than a person would think. If I had to say right now either way, yes it evolves or no it does not, I would say no. There are changes that are made along the way. As you grow up and mature, love becomes less about the material objects and more about words and actions. I would not consider this a change in definition though. The meaning of love is still consistent while how love is shown changes and becomes more sophisticated.
Review of my Notes:
Some of my main topics are the connection between love and sex, how experience defines future relationships, the effects being together a long time has on a couple, and the characteristics of a happy, "master" couple. I find that my past blogs are helpful to me as I am making my argument on love. I have several blogs that support my position that the definition of love does not change but rather how we show our love does and several that would probably more easily support the other side. I do also have several blog posts that go outside of my main focus and bring in information that helps to define love in itself. Although they do not all explicitly support my argument, I find that having a well-rounded grouping of resources will help my research paper to be more impartial.
Considering my Purpose and Role:
I find that neither my purpose for writing about this topic or my role to solve a problem has changed since I began writing this paper. I feel that I started out interested in the topic of love because of the very diverse examples of love I have had all around me as I have grown up. I still hope to find some sort of an answer for why a couple who once thought they were soul mates has come to hate each other, while another couple is still going just as strong as when they were married. I also find that my paper is still heading in the direction of answering and solving the question of whether love evolves with age.
Reflecting on my Readers:
I would hope that anyone would be interested in reading my paper. Love is a universal feeling and an emotion that every single person on this planet has felt or will feel. Knowing what love is and how love changes as you do, is a topic that effects people across the board. Who will actually read my paper? I would assume that my audience is more female dominated with women who are seeking some sort of answers for why their love has failed and how they should adapt and change their views to fit some sort of ideal image. I do not know that my paper will be able to answer every question on love, but I think it will work to answer questions on the correlation between love and sex, what the definition of love actually is, and, most importantly, the evolution of love with age.
One of the possible positions that could come from this research for my final paper is love and how a person's definition of love does not change with age, the only aspect that does change is how these feelings are shown to the loved people and things.
As I am a little over a quarter of the way through this process, I think back to my original position statement. My purpose has been to decipher if a person's definition of love evolves with age. As I am writing this post, I feel that I can completely declare that the definition of love is a lot more complex than a person would think. If I had to say right now either way, yes it evolves or no it does not, I would say no. There are changes that are made along the way. As you grow up and mature, love becomes less about the material objects and more about words and actions. I would not consider this a change in definition though. The meaning of love is still consistent while how love is shown changes and becomes more sophisticated.
Review of my Notes:
Some of my main topics are the connection between love and sex, how experience defines future relationships, the effects being together a long time has on a couple, and the characteristics of a happy, "master" couple. I find that my past blogs are helpful to me as I am making my argument on love. I have several blogs that support my position that the definition of love does not change but rather how we show our love does and several that would probably more easily support the other side. I do also have several blog posts that go outside of my main focus and bring in information that helps to define love in itself. Although they do not all explicitly support my argument, I find that having a well-rounded grouping of resources will help my research paper to be more impartial.
Considering my Purpose and Role:
I find that neither my purpose for writing about this topic or my role to solve a problem has changed since I began writing this paper. I feel that I started out interested in the topic of love because of the very diverse examples of love I have had all around me as I have grown up. I still hope to find some sort of an answer for why a couple who once thought they were soul mates has come to hate each other, while another couple is still going just as strong as when they were married. I also find that my paper is still heading in the direction of answering and solving the question of whether love evolves with age.
Reflecting on my Readers:
I would hope that anyone would be interested in reading my paper. Love is a universal feeling and an emotion that every single person on this planet has felt or will feel. Knowing what love is and how love changes as you do, is a topic that effects people across the board. Who will actually read my paper? I would assume that my audience is more female dominated with women who are seeking some sort of answers for why their love has failed and how they should adapt and change their views to fit some sort of ideal image. I do not know that my paper will be able to answer every question on love, but I think it will work to answer questions on the correlation between love and sex, what the definition of love actually is, and, most importantly, the evolution of love with age.
One of the possible positions that could come from this research for my final paper is love and how a person's definition of love does not change with age, the only aspect that does change is how these feelings are shown to the loved people and things.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
What do four year olds think about love?
Today I went to Traylor Academy and talked with 12 four year olds about love. Their answers to my questions were so sweet, made me giggle, and perhaps some of the most straight forward answers I have received throughout this entire process.
What does love mean to you?
"love your kids"
"a boy gives flowers, ring, and necklace to a girl and then she will say "Oh that's lovely," that's love"
"when you give something for Valentine's Day"
"when your mom says, "I love you kid, you're the best!""
"hug someone when they're sad"
"kiss someone on their cheek"
"when they buy you a pretty thing"
"you give love to other people"
What do you love?
"mom and dad"
"sister and brother"
"unicorns"
"cat"
"flowers
"grandma"
"chocolate sweets"
"dog"
"all of my toys"
"watching cartoons"
How do you show the above things that you love them/ it?
"give them hugs"
"give them kisses"
"give them a tissue"
"pet and feed your cow"
"you give a heart print"
"give them flowers"
"give someone a wing"
"buying them jewelry"
"telling them you love them with all of your heart"
Many of the above quotes were said by multiple students. For example, loving their moms and dads was said in each of the four groups that I talked with, however, I just wrote it down once to save space and show the variety of answers I got from the kids. After interviewing the students, one of the main things I noticed was how they attached showing the people and things they love to giving them something, usually something material. In each of the four groups, the main discussion on how to show their love revolved around giving hugs and kisses or giving something material. This is one of the main differences between young kids' definition of love and a person's definition of love when you get older. With age, material objects tend to become less meaningful and it is the actions and words that are the true indications to someone that you love them. I really enjoying talking with all of these students. As I was there, I got to thinking about the final presentation I will be making and I got to thinking, a video with some of these students, and older candidates as well, would really help people visualize what love is.
What does love mean to you?
"love your kids"
"a boy gives flowers, ring, and necklace to a girl and then she will say "Oh that's lovely," that's love"
"when you give something for Valentine's Day"
"when your mom says, "I love you kid, you're the best!""
"hug someone when they're sad"
"kiss someone on their cheek"
"when they buy you a pretty thing"
"you give love to other people"
What do you love?
"mom and dad"
"sister and brother"
"unicorns"
"cat"
"flowers
"grandma"
"chocolate sweets"
"dog"
"all of my toys"
"watching cartoons"
How do you show the above things that you love them/ it?
"give them hugs"
"give them kisses"
"give them a tissue"
"pet and feed your cow"
"you give a heart print"
"give them flowers"
"give someone a wing"
"buying them jewelry"
"telling them you love them with all of your heart"
Many of the above quotes were said by multiple students. For example, loving their moms and dads was said in each of the four groups that I talked with, however, I just wrote it down once to save space and show the variety of answers I got from the kids. After interviewing the students, one of the main things I noticed was how they attached showing the people and things they love to giving them something, usually something material. In each of the four groups, the main discussion on how to show their love revolved around giving hugs and kisses or giving something material. This is one of the main differences between young kids' definition of love and a person's definition of love when you get older. With age, material objects tend to become less meaningful and it is the actions and words that are the true indications to someone that you love them. I really enjoying talking with all of these students. As I was there, I got to thinking about the final presentation I will be making and I got to thinking, a video with some of these students, and older candidates as well, would really help people visualize what love is.
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