Robert+D.

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


 * What __really__  makes up your identity?
 * I feel like there are many components that make up my true identity. First, I am a father. My daughter truly is the most important thing in my life and is by far the best thing I have ever done. Second, I am a husband. My wife is truly my 'better half' and keeps me going in the right direction of the time. Without her I would still be wandering around aimlessly, and poorly dressed, with no purpose or structure. I owe her almost everything I have have today. The other part I owe to my parents and siblings, as third, I am a son and a brother. I learned how to be a decent man from my family and understood how a person should treat others from a very early age because they all cared enough about me to model the right behavior. While all of these identities coexist I have recently, relative to the rest, adopted another identity that is pervasive into all other aspects of my life; that is being a teacher. It appears to me now that teaching is a lifestyle well above a simple career. That too is anohter part I wouldn't trade for the world.


 * What __really__  makes up your sense of place?
 * My sense of place is a bit fractured. My home, the one I built with my wife and daughter, is in North Carolina. It is where my life is truly unfolding in front of me. However, my parents home, the one I grew up in an was such a huge part of my formative development, is 600 miles away in Pennsylvania. There is a duality of home for me that keeps me torn between the two. There are other places that i feel at home though; the golf course, the RBC center for a Wolfpack home game, Carter-Finley Stadium for a 'Pack football game, the black-jack table...Ultimately, home is wherever I feel the most comfortable and several places fit that bill.


 * What roles do your identity and sense of place play when you work with others in a group project?
 * The answers to this question depends on what role I play in the group. If I am in a leadership role I feel very comfortable and can excel easily because my identity is that of a leader and I have taken that role in every place I've been. I like being in control and feel most comfortable when I am. If I am in a subordinate role I am not as comfortable because it takes that control away and goes against the identity I have crafted over the years and through the places I've been.


 * What are the qualities that you bring to the GLIP conversation that will help you make a contribution to your global group?
 * The answer to this question is simple and succinct. I bring leadership qualities to this project. I have worked in functional groups via distance education means for 3+ years throughout my career at East Carolina University and so far during my M/ Ed at NC State. I also, through East Carolina, have fairly extensive experience working in a group wiki environment.


 * What is one local problem (where you live) that you believe needs to be addressed? Suggest some steps could you take to try to solve it?
 * Where I live, in Guilford County as a whole, behavior is a problem. Students are beyond the rude and disrespectful nature that teenagers generally carry with them. It is an issue that disrupts a teachers ability to teach a class and that hurts everyone involved...especially the students that aren't displaying the defiant behavior. I wish we knew steps to thwart this problem because if we did it would no longer be a problem. Obviously, getting the students engaged is a must but all of the tools and techniques we have tried before have failed.


 * Finally, some problems have been around for a long time. What qualities do you think a person must have to step up and try to solve them?
 * The one quality that must be present in anyone ready to tackle a problem is the willingness to fail at one solution and immediately jump back in to try another solution. Failure is a guarantee when trying to radically change existing problems and if a person is unwilling to fail and try again they will frustrate themselves out of their very sanity.

Phase II: Sense of Place

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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?
 * The two pictures representing the Guilford Courthouse Military park, which happens to be the smallest National Park in America, represent the beauty that the greater Greensboro area - better known as the Piedmont triad - has to offer. Even though this is a metropolitan region made up of 3 cities, Greensboro, High point, and Winston-Salem which together has over 1 million people that make this home, there is an inherent beauty within the natural landscape of rolling tree-lined hills. Even though there is ready access to all the trappings big city life offers there is still a great deal of untouched nature and history placed directly in the middle of the hustle and bustle.
 * Does a picture of a group of people represent and show a warmth and friendliness that your town has?
 * Although some might not look at gun-toting soldiers and think 'warmth and friendliness' the pictures above of the Revolutionary war re-enacters says a great deal about our community. They do the reenactment once a year on the day of the battle and do so to carry on a proud tradition from this region. This was said to be the hardest fought battle in the southern campaign of the Revolutionary war and had great ramifications on our being a free nation.
 * Does a statue or building convey the feeling of history that makes your place important and unique?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The statue above of Nathaniel Greene, the general in charge of troops for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse represents the pride and strength of the southern people who fought vigourously during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. It stands to represent the lives lost in creating our free nation and is a symbol of what our nation stands for.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Is there a cultural event that represents the values of your home location?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The reenactments that take place ever year on March 15th are a culturla event that, if not done in the first place, wouldn't be able to be enjoyed today. The original battle took place on March 15th, 1781 and the british general Cornwallis, who fought in that battle, said of the American revolutionaries, "I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons."

Phase III: Identify Local Issue:

What is your local issue?

What can you do to be address the issue?

What is the global impact of your local issue?

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