Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Blog #4: Developing Your Group




The Breakfast Club takes place at an Illinois high school, where five dissimilar students are sentenced to spend a Saturday detention session together. In attendance is a "princess" (Ringwald), an "athlete" (Estevez), a "brain" (Hall), a "criminal" (Nelson), and a "basket case" (Sheedy). These titles identify the roles the students play during the school week. Because of stereotypes and status levels associated with each role, the students want nothing to do with each other at the outset of the session. However, when confronted by the authoritarian detention teacher (Gleason) and by eight hours of time to kill, the students begin to interact. Through self-disclosure they learn that they are more similar than different. Each wrestles with self-acceptance; each longs for parental approval; each fights against peer pressure. They break through the role barriers and gain greater understanding and acceptance of each other and of themselves. They ultimately develop a group identity and dub themselves, "The Breakfast Club."





1. Discuss the group's developmental stages.



The developmental stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing can be seen in the movie. The group is formed because each student has broken the school rules; they are together because they are all serving detention (except for Allison, who at day's end admits she is there because she had nothing better to do). During the storming stage, both types of social tension are exhibited. Primary tension can be seen in Claire's statement that she doesn't "belong here." It is also evident when Brian gives up his seat to Bender and in Allison's nail biting. Examples of secondary tension include Bender's antagonistic exchanges with Claire, the shouting matches between Bender and Andrew, and Allison's strange outburst during Claire's disclosure about her parents.



Mr. Vernon attempts to set explicit norms by stating that there is to be no talking, no moving, and no monkey business. However, this attempt to establish norms is unsuccessful because the norms are not accepted by the group. Implicit norms develop in the group, such as yelling, questioning, disrespect for authority, and, most notably, self-disclosure. Many of these norms are initiated by Bender, which points to his power, status, and leadership in the group.



Regarding performing, the group ultimately accomplishes its explicit task--writing a detention essay--by assigning it to Brian. The group also has a number of less-explicit goals that it achieves. The most obvious is that they successfully kill eight hours of detention with a minimum of boredom. They perform many of the functions of an encounter group, learning about themselves and each other through intimate self-disclosures. They also band together in a variety of rebellious acts, from roaming the halls to smoking pot. All of these acts suggest a level of "groupness" that develops in a few short hours.



2. What factors contribute to the group's cohesiveness?



The first factor leading to the group's cohesiveness is the amount of time and interaction they have with each other. While time alone does not insure the development of cohesiveness, the group has nothing else to do and plenty of opportunity to talk. After weathering some primary and secondary tension, the group starts to congeal when it identifies a mutual enemy: Mr. Vernon. An early indicator of group identity emerges in Bender's use of "we" as he asks, "Why don't we close that door? We can't have any party with Vernon checking us out." They begin to perform as a group after Bender removes the screw from the door leading to Vernon's office. The other students cover for him when Vernon comes back asking, "How did that door get shut?"



Cohesion is further developed through self-disclosure. Bender gets Claire to self-disclose about her feelings toward her parents. Andrew then turns and asks Bender to tell about his parents. This discussion is critical to the development of cohesion because the group members begin to see the similarity of their struggles and they identify with each other. Later, the group pressures Claire to confess her virginity. An embarrassed Claire calls Allison "bizarre" for lying to force the confession. Andrew replies, "We are all pretty bizarre. Some of us are better at hiding it, that's all." This marks another point of similarity: they all protect their self-concepts by putting on faces in line with the expectations that others have for them. Andrew describes his struggle to live up to his father's athletic expectations and Bender tells of his father's abuse. Thus, two very different characters find common ground, typified by Bender's comment to Andrew: "I think my dad and your dad ought to get together and go bowling."



As they band together to fight against mutual enemies--parents, peer pressure, authority figures, stereotypes, boredom--the Breakfast Club develops into a highly cohesive group.

QUESTIONS!

What stages do you predict your group will go through? How do you see your group developing group-cohesiveness? Do you think self-disclosure will help your group bond? What about the class as a whole?

RESPONSE REQUIRED!

Disclosure is important in team building. Disclose 5 things about yourself that you feel are important about you to your group members. It does not have to be something confidential, just something unique and special about you!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Blog #3, Does it Still Happen Today?




Nearly all of my student papers on the Lack's story implied that we have made progress and this could never happen in our day.
Check on this story from the 1990's about lead dust and children. It has all the same issues: families did not know what the danger of participating in the study was, poor black subjects, lack of medical treatment, and guess which medical institution in Baltimore is named in the suit. The Maryland Court of Appeals compared this study to the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment.



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/us/suit-accuses-baltimore-institute-of-exposing-children-to-lead.html

Can you find other examples of this. You may be very surprised with what you find. We must become aware of what goes on in our world today. Awareness gives us power to make a difference and then we can bring change. Post an article that you find that is similair to our book and this article above. Comment on what you think we need to do in our communication to be sure things like this are no longer allowed to happen.

I look forward to your comments.

~m

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Blog #2: First Impressions




First Impressions


Within the first three seconds (not 30!)of a new encounter, you are evaluated… even if it is just a glance. That is as quickly as you take a picture! People appraise your visual and behavioral appearance from head to toe. They observe your demeanor, mannerisms, and body language and even assess your grooming and accessories – watch, handbag, briefcase. Within only three seconds, you make an indelible impression. You may intrigue some and disenchant others.

This first impression process occurs in every new situation. Within the first few seconds, people pass judgment on you – looking for common surface clues. Once the first impression is made, it is virtually irreversible. Interesting huh? Lets think about what we did in class and reflect about it a bit.

In class you met all of the students and spent only 1 to 3 minutes with them. How quickly did you know if you wanted to be in a group with them or not? How did you make this decision? Was it a feeling or a thought? Was it hard for you to go back after you meet everyone and select 5 people out of 22 that you would want to be in a group with? Was this harder than when you had to decided immediately after meeting them? Did your thought process get in the way?

Have you heard of snap decisions and thin slicing? These are speaking about one's adaptive unconscious. These are decisions that we do not ponder over, but may make as quickly as a blink of an eye. I want you to think about how these decisions may be every bit as good as cautionously deliberated decsions. Second, I want you to think of some examples of when you thin slice and make snap decisions. Should we trust those thin slices and snap decisions? How do they affect how we communicate? Support your responses.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

What Does Dignity Mean to You?






"Education can give you a skill, but a liberal education can give you dignity" Ellen Key


"What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose the dignity if we tolerate the intolerable." author unknown


What do these quotes mean to you? What do they say about dignity? Give an example of how these quotes can be applied to your everyday life. What have you done today that shows dignity?


Dignity....

All people are created equal
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity
Communities transform through partnerships, not handouts
Human dignity is paramount in relieveing human distress.

What do you believe?
What does Dignity mean to you?
What would you add to this?


Listen to this song and reflect on what it means.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tms-ayMYzb8

How does it protray dignity?
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Reflect and respond in a short paragraph or more.