Foxdale trip integratoin

The person who I spoke with at Foxdale Village is Jean Smith. She was very generous to share her stories and personal life there, so we found many things in common each other. For example, we talked about her yard sale committee activity there, art project, quilting, cooking and her friends and family. Especially, she is a quilter and I'm interested in learning it, so I could get a lot of information such as where to buy quilt fabrics around State College area. Also we talked about each other’s career. She did not go to university, but she had worked as a nurse until she had her baby. I heard that there were not sufficient daycare program at that time.        I looked up Daily Collegian to see how people thought about women’s career at that time, and I found one article back in 1942 which explains that there would be more demand on trained women in work force, especially in government service. Also the writer predicted that college graduate women would have more opportunity to rise in executive position. The prediction had became mostly true, however, in reality there was not enough support in public sectors such as daycare for women to continue their career after having a birth, because women like Jean and I both had to give up our career in order to take care of kids. I think the lack of daycare program is one of the most common obstacles for women to pursue a career all around world even these days.

   

"Brill Explains Women’s Job." The Daily Collegian [State College, PA] April 22nd, 1942:7. Retrieved from http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RENHLzE5NDIvMDQvMjIjQXIwMDcwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

How Children Succeed 8

     At early adolescence year, what motivates children most effectively is not hugging and grooming-style care, but a very different style of attention. What middle-school students to concentrate and practice as maniacally is the experience of someone taking them seriously, believing in their abilities, and challenging them to improve themselves. Sometimes it's necessary to give honest critique to middle school kids on their failure, rather than to offer comfort by saying "you did a good job."  

Trip to Foxdale

1. How did this trip compare to the expectations you had before we went?
     It might be difficult to find a thing in common to talk about with the elderly people there, so I thought I might resort to the question lists I made ahead of the visit. But Jean, who was my partner on this visit to Foxdale, was very generous to share her stories and personal life there, so we could many things in common to continue talking. For example, we talked about her yard sale committee activity there, art project, quilting, cooking and her friends.

 2. What did you enjoy?  What was challenging?
     She is a quilter and I'm interested in learning it, so I could get a lot of information where to buy quilt fabrics around State College area. Also she showed art room and her art project there. It was very touching to know that she made her mosaic with the her daughter's picture which she drew when she was 7 or 8 years old.
     I had no difficulty talk with her. She spoke very slowly and if necessary, she drew a picture to help my understanding.

 3.  What advice do you have for future IECP students taking a trip similar to this one?
     I think we do not need to worry about how to lead conversation with an elderly person. I guess they have more experience in talking with a person who just meet. We just need to speak a little louder than usual, considering that they might have weak hearing.

How children succeed 7

Summarize it!
Spiegel, a competitive chess player her self, is a chess teacher in IS 308 school in low-income neighborhood.  Most of the kids in chess team are black and Hispanic, but she led the team to win the chess tournament which whites and Asians dominate usually.  Many think the chess ability is related to IQ, but it is actually about a thinking habit, like how to understand your mistakes and how to see alternative solution to problems, and to think outside the box. All those thinking process is possible to be trained or improved like other habits.

How children succeed 6

     "Sure, a trait can backfire," Witter said. " Too much grit, like Okonkwo, you start to lose your ability to have empathy for other people. If you're so gritty that you don't understand why every one's complaining about how hard things are, because nothing's hard for you, because you're Mr. Grit, then you're going to have a hard time being kind. Even love- being too loving might make you the kind of person who can get played."(p99, para2)

       I think it is universal wisdom that reaching out too much is worse than reaching little short off.  Even though it is said that too much of trait can backfire, I wish my sons live with full of grit till their 30's or 40's. Hopefully, they can learn loosening down the tension later when it's necessary.

How Children Succeed 5

Intelligence is malleable. It can change as per how you do mindset. One experiment prove it. One student group in low-income neighborhood was matched with a college student as a mentor who regularly communicate with students to build growth mindset, such as "Intelligence is not a finite endowment, but rather an expandable capacity tat increased with mental work."
Another group was regularly heard from their mentor fixed mindset such as that drug use could interfere with academic achievement. A year later, the test score and GPA of a growth mindset group rise significantly.
I felt little nervous about this identity and mindset theory, because I'm not sure what kind of mindset message I've been sending to my kids. I certainly need to be more conscious about it.

How children succeed 4

Affluence...
     I had wished my parents had been very rich when I was young. But I learned from this book that wealthy parents can help kids not failing, but cannot make them succeed.
    An interesting fact is that teenagers from wealthy suburban used alcohol, cigarettes,marijuana, and harder illegal drugs much more than low-income teens. 35%of suburban girls had tried those substance, compared with 15% of inner city girls.
     Why wealthy kids fall into drugs?
     Wealthy parents are more likely busy for their career, and so more emotionally distant from their child, but at the same time, insist on high levels of achievement from kids. Excessive achievement pressures and isolation from parents make them depressed.

How children succeed 3

Summary of extensive reading on Feb 17,2014

Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed. N.p.: HMH, 2012. 70-80. Print.

I like the idea of "Grit". That's the most needed trait that I think successful people have, as I'm watching the Olympics these days. I think those athletics are fourtune by the fact that they have the passion on life and the sports, whether they win gold medal or not.

How children succeed 2

  This book shows several case of charter school and their student, some of them continued to succeed in college education, but some of them were drop out.  From many studies and cases, it is already proven that what make a person live a successful life is not high IQ or GPA score. Character Strengths, such as motivation and volition is necessary to achieve long term goals. Then how to build these characters? I will read more about it.

Extensive reading - how children succeed 1

   There has been increasing number of students who studies well and finish high school early with GED certificate. They go on to college or other post secondary pursuit faster than their same age group.
   How those kids life turn out? Succeed or fail?
   Amazingly, only 3% of them were enrolled in a four-year university, compared to 46% of high school graduates. Their good test score did not seem to haveany positive effect on their life.  
   Then, what traits should children have?

Book Choice

     I chose "How Children Succeed", because I, as a mother of 2 kids, am always interested in learning about kids and what kind of value I need to help them to build. Answers for 'what' might be obvious and things that we already know, but the answer for 'how' is always difficult. I wish this book can provide me some clear ways how to help my boys to succeed in lives and be happy.

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people’s lives. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

“Illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it’s a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall.”—New York Times

“I learned so much reading this book and I came away full of hope about how we can make life better for all kinds of kids.”—Slate

Class Observation Choices

	Class #1	Class #2	Class #3
Class name and # (for ex.: Ag 113)	LARCH 060 History of Design on the Land	E C E 479 The Young Child's Play as Educative Processes	KOR 002 Level One Korean B
Days and time it meets  (MTWRF,  2:30-3:20)	M W F 12:20 PM - 1:10 PM	T R 9:45 AM - 11:00 AM	M W F 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM T 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM R 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM
Classroom	105 Forum Bldg	113A Chambers Bldg	309 Boucke 308 Boucke 308 Boucke
Professor’s name	BONJ SZCZYGIEL	KAREN M JOHNSON	HEESUN CHANG
Professor’s email	bxs28@psu.edu	kmj2@psu.edu	huc165@psu.edu
Reason you’re interested in observing it	I'm interested in landscaping style in the U.S.	I'm interested in how child develop in early stage and what make it effective.	I'm interested to know what types of students want to learn Korean and for what purpose.

Hello

Hello,
I'm Haesun.K. I'm from South Korea.
I majored in Japanese Literature in bachelor, and had worked for Banana Republic as a souring merchandiser for 9 years.
Now I'm on my 2nd phase of my life trying to make a new journey of my life in here, Penn State...