Tracey+C.

= = toc =Phase I: Who Am I? What's My Place?=

MY IDENTITY
My identity is made up of **my values** as well as ** my roles in society **.

**My values**
My values fall into two categories: personal and cultural. I have explained them below in writing as well as using a concept map.


 * In terms of personal values, I thought of those behaviors and qualities I find exceedingly important in myself and others and which I try to maximize in myself and encourage in my son and my students. Those values are timeliness (being on time), literacy (being a good reader, writer, communicator, and thinker), family first (putting my family before all others), loyalty (being worthy of the faith others put in me), honesty (always telling the truth and revealing my thoughts to others when it's appropriate), trustworthiness (being worthy of being held in the confidence of others), appreciation of art (recognizing the importance of personal expression through art forms), and putting others before myself (selflessness).
 * I separated my cultural values into two categories: American and liberal political beliefs.
 * My American values are based upon those basic values which were used to found our country: democratic ideals that can be found in the United States Constitution (such as the right to free speech, freedom of/from religion, the right to vote, the right to a trial by jury, etc.) and those exhibited by the Bill of Rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). I also included in my American values two concepts: (1) Everyone is created equal and deserves equal treatment under the law, including rights and opportunities; and (2) Everyone can be successful with hard work (the American Dream.) I include my American values as ideals that I believe our country should strive for, not a statement that America always embodies these values. (In fact, I believe that most of the time the United States should do a better job of following its own value system as put forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.)
 * My liberal political beliefs are those which most members of the so-called "left-wing" parties believe in, the most important of which I have included in my list of values: being pro-choice (in terms of abortion rights), promoting safe and sane government oversight of corporations, civil rights for all groups (including the right to vote, own property, get an education, marry who one chooses, etc.), helping the poor and disenfranchised to have a voice in the government and to improve their lives economically and socially, an increase in education funding, speaking up for marginalized groups who are underrepresented in the government, and a smaller military with less overreaching evident in foreign affairs.



**My roles in society**
My roles are twofold: mother and teacher.
 * As a mother to my 5 year old son Trevor, I am responsible for passing on my values system but also helping him to grow into an independent, freethinking and successful young man. My role as a mother is practical in terms of daily activities, such as feeding, clothing, and providing financially for my son. It is also a role in which I provide moral and ethical guidance, teach lessons about the world, provide opportunities for growth, set up structure and policies to learn from, etc.
 * My role as a teacher is strangely very similar to my role as a mother in that I provide guidance for my students that will (hopefully) affect the rest of their lives. I see myself as a teacher of communication rather than the English/Language Arts; I want my students to be thoughtful and effective readers, writers, thinkers, speakers, and listeners. I design activities and classroom interactions so that my students can practice their skills in those areas and also develop the talents and interests they are born with.

MY SENSE OF PLACE
My sense of place is comprised of the places I have lived as well as the place where my family comes from, and their various cultural attributes. Each of these unique geographical places have had an impact on me and my worldview and hold special meaning for me that is connected to their role in my life story.

Click the links for more information about each of the geographical places that have shaped my sense of place:
 * Portland, OR, USA
 * Fresno, CA, USA
 * Lecco, Italy
 * Cambridge, MA, USA
 * Raleigh, NC, USA

I've depicted my sense of place below in the form of a timeline:

More about my sense of place:
I currently live in Raleigh, NC, and am truly enjoying the downtown area where I live for its appreciation and support of the community. One example of such support is below. The following are images of a mural in downtown Raleigh, entitled "The Fantastic Sky Race," described as "an imaginary journey around the world as seen through the eyes of a child." The mural was created as a partnership between NC State graphic design students "The Balloon Boys," the Wake County Public Library system, and the City of Raleigh. I see this mural every day when I drive to work and school, and I think it embodies the multifaceted approach Raleigh takes when supporting the arts and education.

More information about the mural







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THE ROLE OF IDENTITY & SENSE OF PLACE IN GROUP WORK
My identity is a culmination of my roles in society (teacher, mother) and values (personal, cultural.) It can sometimes be difficult for me to work with others in groups who do not understand or identify with my roles and values. For example, working with someone who has never been a parent or teacher might create a situation in which the other person doesn't understand where I'm coming from. My values are similar, and if others have differing values, problems could occur. For example, if a person I am working with does not value timeliness, I might perceive that person as not caring about the project or the group when such perceptions are not necessarily accurate. Similarly, if other group members don't have experience with the places and cultures which have shaped me and been integral in my life story, it could be difficult for us to get to know each other and initial work might be slow.

In general, discrepancies between group members' identities and senses of place can cause misunderstandings. Groups need to spend ample time at the beginning of a project getting to know each other. The same goes for my role as a teacher; the first thing I try to do is get to know my students and help them get to know one another. Once we break down the barriers that are set up between us simply because of our differences in experience, we can get some real work done.

A LOCAL PROBLEM
I am currently living in Raleigh, NC, and a major problem I see is a segregation of neighborhoods based on ethno-racial makeup and socio-economic status. The downtown area of Raleigh is beautiful and its neighborhoods are more diverse than outlying areas, but more diversity is necessary in order for everyone to truly benefit from a multicultural society. Additionally, recent changes in the school assignment policies of the local school district are causing student populations to depend on proximity, and it follows that in coming years the school populations will have less diversity. This backwards movement in desegregation is simply destructive to what could otherwise be a very dynamic multicultural city.

The following local news articles address the school assignment issue:

Wake County parents voice concerns over assignment plan The ugly truth about "school choice" New Dems on Wake school board push to modify assignment plan Iron wrinkles now Parents speak out against school assignment plan

PROBLEM-SOLVING QUALITIES

 * Ingenuity
 * Assertiveness
 * Connections to those in positions of power
 * Social and networking skills
 * A position of prominence
 * Leadership qualities
 * Ability to mediate between disagreeing parties
 * Knowledge of resources
 * Ability to inspire others
 * "Thinking outside the box"
 * Communication skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking
 * Critical thinking skills
 * Technology knowledge and skills

=Phase II: Sense of Place=

This is a picture of the downtown Raleigh skyline that I see every day when I drive home from work. I love that Raleigh is so small, but yet has a "big city" feel. A lot of people say that it's a small town at heart with big city opportunities.

The next two pictures are from Umstead State Park. Raleigh has an appreciation for green spaces, and Umstead is one of them. There is also the Capital City Greenway Trail that connects the immense park system in Raleigh with 69 miles (and growing) of trails.



Use these questions to help you determine which picture shows someone else why your “place” is so special to you.
 * Does a scenic picture represent the beauty you believe that your town has?
 * I think that it's easy to depict the beauty of Raleigh in a photograph or video, but its true nature comes out when one is actually present. After all, I may not know what you, the viewer, appreciates as "beauty." So if I post a photograph, it may not affect you as it does me. If you visit Raleigh, I have no doubt that you will find something beautiful about it (regardless of whether we agree on what that is.)
 * Does a picture of a group of people represent and show a warmth and friendliness that your town has?
 * There is no way that a picture of people can represent the way that people act in the Southern United States. You can't interact with them, so how can you truly know their warmth?
 * Does a statue or building convey the feeling of history that makes your place important and unique?
 * One can read about history and look at photographs, buildings, or statues in Raleigh, but visiting them and the places that have historical context is much more impactful.
 * Is there a cultural event that represents the values of your home location?
 * Raleigh has many cultural events, all of which supported by individual groups and also those of different cultures. It is truly a multicultural city with many people living here from around the world.

What are your initial thoughts about how your image addresses the questions above? Later, you will be working with the members of your group to create a travel package that includes visits to each group member's home location (see Phase II)

=Phase III: Identify Local Issue:=

What is your local issue?
 * Our schools are much too segregated. Even though many different kinds of people live in Raleigh, and even though our school system does its best to bus students to different schools so the makeup of each school will be more stratified, there is still segregation inherent in the school populations themselves. The high school where I teach has many different students from all different types of backgrounds, but often they divide themselves based on socio-economic or cultural/ethnic lines. I believe that the students would greatly benefit from interacting with other groups more.

What can you do to be address the issue?
 * In my classes, I group students in ways that encourage them to work with students who are not like them. I can encourage a positive sense of community in my classroom that will hopefully extend outside its doors. It's a little more difficult to make a school-wide impact, however, because true desegregation requires the commitment of families, students, administrators, and teachers across the board. Some people are not willing to admit the problem even exists!

What is the global impact of your local issue?
 * Students who stay close to a group of people that is just like themselves are more likely to maintain this sort of "us" and "them" worldview throughout their lives. I believe that the "us" and "them mentality is dangerous and at its most extreme can cause what Daniel Goldhagen calls "eliminationism politics," or the idea that another group is the cause of all of "our" problems and thus they must be gotten rid of. Eliminationism politics, according to Goldhagen, cause many more instances of genocide worldwide than the global community cares to recognize. He believes that such a worldview begins within communities that accept what is told to them by people they consider "us," which is a dangerous situation both locally and globally. (Daniel Goldhagen is a Holocaust and genocide researcher; the son of a Holocaust survivor, he recently wrote a book and made a documentary about the process called //Worse than War//. It's available to watch on the PBS website here.

Add these thoughts to your Group's Discussion Forum on Local Issues