GOODIE VIBEZZ

 I really enjoyed the readings this week because I could connect to them while learning a ton of stuff. In the first article written by Henry Jenkins, I felt like it really broke down how play can be the best way to learn sometimes. Growing up I went to a summer camp that taught many lessons through play and felt like they always resonated with me more then anything in a classroom. When Jenkins was talking about pleasure and the semantics of "play" vs "game" it really resonated with me. Youth usually view games with a winner and loser which can cause tension in groups or obstacles for youth but, If we think of it as play it can be lighter for kids and put less pressure on them which can help the individual and the activity.  In the reading discussing the "New Urban Arts" program I could connect to many things. In the beginning there was a girl named Alicia who was being interviewed on her painting and she talks about how it was a Kanye West lyric. I also l...

 I personally don't know of any organizations that have social justice youth development but i have heard many classmates mention "Youth In Action". I would assume that social justice youth development sites strive to make change in communities or schools. I think policy change, discrimination, mirror and windows, and mental health are some examples.  I really like this approach because I believe real change comes from this social justice perspective. Many individuals are not given the same rights and are constantly bring profiled for their skin color or ethnicity. I think that this approach is amazing but more effective with an older group of kids (middle school/high school). 

"  In the end, students come away from the program able to situate their own beliefs about youth work in the context of both established theories and practice in the field. " I really like this quote because Its so important to situate your own beliefs, once you grasp these beliefs you can truly start your work and have more of a direction. Everyone in youth development has their own interests but we stick together and understand each other. "Through investigating social issues from an intersectional perspective, young people, alongside adults, work to transform themselves and society by developing critical consciousness and engaging in social action." I think its important that we always see young people with adults . Making the change together will only give the organization or group more opportunity to prosper. We should always have questions of why we do certain things or why we were taught a certain way, once we see all sides it helps us become more understand...

 Since I started the youth development program I have learned so much about my identity and the racial identity of others. In my social work class we would talk about privilege, and it was interesting to see everyones prospective. I sort of understood what privilege meant when I entered the classroom but it was hard for me. I had gone through a tough childhood that had many obstacles and was a little offended that people would assume I had privilege. I soon realized that I confused the word privilege with experience . Even though my childhood was intense i still got certain privileges just because my skin was white. It was hard for certain people in my class to understand this and many reacted out of emotion, feeling as if there struggles weren't real or accounted for but, eventually the class had a great discussion and listened to everything everyone had to say. We treated everyone with respect and listened to their words and responded with facts and compassion. A quote from the r...

 Three stereotypes of youth.  1. Black girls are often looked at as older and have more serious punishments.  2. Youth are already a problem needing to be fixed, adults often fear the youth 3. Media portraying the "good girl" and the "responsible boy" 1. Race is a huge factor for this stereotype and is called adultification bias. The video explained that people think black girls need less nurturing, protection, and support.  2. I think that class and gender play a huge part in why adults are scared of the youth. Many times i think adults think of themselves and what they did as a kid. You should think of every child as an individual.  3. Media plays a huge role in our society and makes people think and act a certain way. It can have many pressures on an individual and make them think that they are not welcome.    In my experience, many teachers would often assume that I would want to play sports so they would offer these options to me. I like to play s...

 Knew: Before reading this article i had an idea of what the deficit approach was but not fully. I saw a study before that showed kids who have more after school activities had less of a chance of getting into things they shouldn't.  Learned: This approach didn't work at all. As stated in the reading "they began to show that single-issue programs rarely achieved success in eliminating or even significantly reducing problem behaviors over time." Another reason this program didn't work is because it put kids into two separate groups, kids who needed help or "high risk" and kids that don't.   We should also offer all activities to every single school. It isn't fair that some schools have more resources.  Thoughts: I loved reading this and learning about youth development history.