Something Super Exciting !

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This week I noticed something specifically with the Hunahpu tribe, wearing blue. I feel like this episode was full of conflict and high pressure, in the end Drew was, thankfully, voted out; a concept called groupthink mentioned in our book that essentially means the group is thinking way too hard about how to solve their issues that real solutions don’t seem as applicable. The Hunahpu tribe really showed symptoms of developing this problem. There were three aspects that really surfaced this episode which I aligned with our book; To develop groupthink the “group is highly cohesive…as a result members could discourage disagreement , or perceptions of rightness or their competence…”(187). The Hunahpu tribe has been trying to be alliance the whole time, at least the consensus was to try to be honest etc. However some of the team members overestimate how well their teammates get along and Drew completely has dubbed himself “King” by telling not asking everyone that they will vote Kelley out, which trying to tell people what to do gives them two options, to not fight or to fight. So people who are usually passive wouldn’t feel as comfortable speaking up as others willing to fight.

The blue team also has structural flaws that “…inhibit the flow of information…” meaning that because Drew thought that the girls created an alliance they didn’t use their perspectives when making decisions. All the boys thought they were the leader and essentially lost potential to pool from different experiences and knowledge banks as I call them. Lastly, the situation that these groups deal with is extremely volatile . Essentially because they are on TV, millions of people are watching them, their teammates are counting on them the stakes are unusually high and mistakes are more likely to occur. Members, like Keith made rash decisions because he thought Jeremy took the Idol before he could get to it first. He lost an ally and it could possibly have a critical chance of getting him kicked off.

I feel like there were also some symptoms that were expressed more individually mainly came from Drew, but also Jon and Dale. Drew had these symptoms which led to his vote out: invulnerability(he said if you want something done right you got to do it yourself), rationalization(no on else had the balls to ask a stupid question so I will), stereotyping outsiders(he said he didn’t trust the girls to make a good decision), pressure on dissent(when he try’s to force everyone to vote for Kelly and that’s it.). Others like Jon were under and illusion of unanimity thinking that everyone liked Drew because he did.  Lastly Dale expressed Self Censorship because he felt because he wasn’t in the same social group as the younger competitors he needed to agree with them and build some sort of trust otherwise he would get voted out. Even if he agrees with the group plan. He essentially censors himself from possibly giving the group another perspective or solving their issue.

Episode 3.

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As the season is progressing, it is clear that there is a lot of tension occurring, but also, more alliances are forming. From the previous episode, there was clear tension all because of John. He said some things before the show that made him show his true colors. Since Val was kicked off, he wasn’t in a good position with her husband.

When it comes to the challenge, Wes wins and his team is impressed with them. It was strange to see that John didn’t win on purpose. He lost because he wanted to be able to kick out a weak in their team.

When connecting this to conflict, there are obvious examples that go with the chapter. First of all, John tried making an alliance to keep his wife on the island. When this plan didn’t work, there was tension between John and his wife. She doesn’t think that she could trust him. Since the season is getting tougher, you can tell that people are getting more competitive than ever. I do think most of the conflict that happened in this episode was affective. After all the arguing, both teams are able to make decisions.

Blog Post 3 episode 4

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This week’s episode of survivor was not too intense, everyone was relieved that John was voted off. Julie was a bit upset but she just shrugged it off because she knew she still had to be apart of the Hunahpu Tribe and keep her game face on.

There were really no problems going on, even when Jon beat his girlfriend Jaclyn which got her sent to Exile Island (he was confident that she could handle it), except when Tribe Coyopa was desperate to win something because Hunahpu kept winning.

Later on in the episode, Drew starts getting a little frustrated and just wants to win the whole competition already, so his plan is to get rid of all the girls because he thinks that they are bringing the tribe down. Then when Coyopa wins its first challenge, Hanuhpu started to think of who they should kick off the tribe. At first they weren’t too bummed, but once they started to hear Drew talk about his idea of kicking off the “useless” people, they all had different thoughts about him. Hanuhpu couldn’t really decide at first they wanted Julie to go because her loved one wasn’t even in the competition anymore and then they decided that Drew should be the one who leaves. Drew was being selfish, even though yes the whole game is to win money, but first you have to work together as a group and he didn’t really do that. In order to have a good working team or tribe, you must work together, think on the same level, support and help each other (even though you know one person will win this competition) and to cooperate and avoid pointing fingers because you are all in the competition together.

Three Strikes

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As a first time viewer of survivor, or reality TV in general. I am just beginning to understand how the game works and why it can be entertaining.

The first thing that struck me about the episode was Dale ( i believe that is his name) discussing his position within his group and evaluating his personal game. He feels that if he does not gain some trust from the group, that he will definitely be the next to go. It is exciting to see the inner workings of his game and view his hidden agenda.

Also i enjoyed to see Drew be kicked off the show and the way he played his game, i was not at all surprised. In the last episode and the beginning of this one we watch him trying to command his group. Even pulling an ignorant argument when he attempts to return the flynt that they had previously lost.

We see him sleeping at the beginning of the show and being a resented member of the group.While he may be athletic, confident, and capable. We see that he is overly confident and makes the rest of his group uncomfortable. It makes me wonder whether he was kicked off early because they feel he could win the overall game, or because they purely do not like him.

Slowly the members of the show are dwindling down and i am looking forward to seeing the overall strategy of the show change. I have not watched survivor previously but i imagine the game will be a lot different when there is only a couple members left.
May the best man or woman win

Blog #6

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Julian started of Friday’s class by taking us through the process of constructing an outline for any type of paper we may have to write in any of our classes. I found his tips very useful, especially since I have a couple of papers coming up due pretty soon. I will most definitely use the outline he provided us with on my papers. After Julian’s presentation Jaimie had us broken up into groups and had stations set up that let us experience what it would be like to have different types of disabilities that we learned about in the readings. All of the different activities truly stressed the fact how much of a challenge even everyday activities can be for those people who do suffer from those specific disabilities. The two activities that truly stood out for me in a personal level was the activity of trying to read the colors and the wheelchair activity. The color activity came off as an easy one when I was reading the instructions, but when I actually tried to read the color that was inside of the word instead of reading the word itself was very challenging for me. It was crazy to see that something as simple as reading a color was so hard to do it that particular situation, it really made me feel for those who truly suffer from learning disabilities. Even I get frustrated at myself when I can’t seem to get an assignment, but then after time I end up understanding the material. I can only imagine how much harder it has to be for them, and the fact that it is not because they are any less smart than anyone else, it’s just because that certain disability does not allow them to process certain things the way they would like to. The other activity that also stood out to me was the wheelchair activity, although I did not spend as much time on the actual wheelchair, just looking at how my classmates struggled was enough to see how much of a struggle it may be for an individual who is on a wheelchair. At the end of the day we all got to walk away from that wheelchair, but they do not get that chance. It was also surprising to see that the actual university was not at all equipped for people in wheelchairs, and that is probably the case with not just many of the schools but just buildings in general. Although these activities might have made me a little depressed in a way I still really enjoyed being a part of them.

 

This week’s readings focused on Gender and Sexuality in higher education. I found both of these topics very interesting, especially the readings that had to do with gender. The topic of gender mainly focused on how the success rate and choice of continuing on to higher education is more commonly seen in women than in men. The readings made it clear that there is a very recognizable gender desegregation not only in the actual attendance but also in certain fields that students choose to major in. A couple of the readings focused on the gender desegregation in the STEM fields, which include: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These type of fields are for the most part considered to be that of men chose to major in, although some women are seen in these classes they for the most part feel unwanted or out of place. Many of the women also feel like they have to down-play themselves in order to be in a sense “accepted” by their fellow men classmates. This was very surprising to me to see that women are feeling unaccepted in these fields and go on to down-play themselves just to fit in. I feel like women who are smart enough to be in these programs and enjoy them should be proud to show off their intelligence and boost those numbers up for women everywhere. The other subject focused on was sexuality and the LGBT community and their campus life in higher education. It focused on the points on how just 50 years ago someone being openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender was not at all accepted. Although now it is becoming more well-known it is not completely accepted. In one of the articles the focus was on transgender diversity and how specific individuals took on the role of being a transgender in this society. It is great to see that people do choose to be whatever they want even if they may not be totally accepted in this society. I think that some people will always have a problem accepting people who look or act differently and sadly that cannot be completely rid of, but there is a great progress that can be made so any person can feel comfortable and are able to be who they really want to be.

Just Joined

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woo-hoo.

Mrs. Andrea Carrillo

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I am a senior at CSUCI, expecting to graduate this December. My major is Early Childhood Education. I will then continue to pursue my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with the Bilingual Authorization. My ultimate goal is to be an elementary school teacher (2nd or 3rd grade) at a bilingual school. My passion for bilingual education began with courses taken at CSUCI. Professor Matera and Professor Quintero have inspired me to teach more than I thought possible! They are true educators with a huge passion for teaching. Professor Contreras really motivated me to pursue bilingual education. A course I took with her made me realize how much the Spanish language affected me as a child, and how I would love to make other English Language Learners feel comfortable with their education in their language. Not only children, but their parents as well. I want to create a positive, engaging, welcoming, warm, familiar and familial learning community in my classroom that makes students and parents feel welcomed into this world of learning. Join me in my journey to becoming a bilingual teacher! 

Blog#6

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I sometimes wonder about people with disabilities, and  I think about their lives. It most happens to think about them when I interact with them, or see a movie about their lives. At that moment, I think about their obstacles’ in daily life. How do they handle it? How is it like to be  a physically or mentally ill person?  How about their love one who interact with them everyday? I have been told that I have a good imagination, but whenever it comes with people with disabilities, I use my imagination to put my self in their positions, but it is hard to understand what they have been experienced. In last class, it was a good practice to understand the difficult life of these people. We divided in 3 groups, and each group had certain tasks to understand the difficulty of disable people. We examined people who had dyslexia and vision impairment. I have never had any ideas that how it is difficult to have dyslexic disorder unless I was reading some sentences. It took me few seconds to understand the words which normally I just read them without any pauses. Although it was funny, but I did not want to accept how hard it could be for them to read. That especial glasses stroked me very hard. I had really difficult time for reading. The words were blurring, and made me difficult to read. If I had to continue reading more, I would feel pain in my eyes. The most striking part was when we had to sit on a wheelchair. When we were doing it, I was laughing because, I think, I did not want to believe that how hard it is, or it never happens to me. I laughed because I was in the presence of others, and I did not want to  think how painful and hard that could be. Thus, although that was a good insight to understand people with disabilities, but I am still having hard time to understand them, and I am ready to help them if they need my help.

Historically, men had better positions and opportunities than women in higher education in the U.S. Before 60s, many prestigious universities and colleges, only admitted men. This inequality could be seen everywhere such as work place and household; not only at higher education. In the late 60s, women in colleges had to major in narrow subjects such as fine arts, English, nursing, and history. However, men could major in anything that they wanted. This gender gaps in higher education and workplace happened because of the potential impact of on labor markets and family formation. For example, when girls and boys come and live from the same household, family resource did not distribute equally among boys and girls and boys, obviously, had more favors. Recently, we are facing that women have more degree education and less dropout rate than men. These changing are also happening in the workplace as well. These changing indicates that women made a huge progress in order to understand their place in higher education and workplace. Moreover, women’s effort made men to understand gender inequality and broke down gender  inequalities.

The history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) are sad in higher education and workplace, and there is little understanding of knowing (LGBT) historically and recently. Historically, LGBT were oppressed in any places, and they were invisibles. Although American Psychiatric Association considered LGBT not mentally ill persons in 70s, but discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is legal in much of the U.S.  In 29 states, it is still legal to fire LGBT from their job and take away their children. As a result, it is hard for these people for continuing their education or working without being discriminated. Unfortunately, LGBT have been living, working, and studying in college campus and workplace, but little is known about their lives. I hope with a good research, we might understand how gender identity and sexual orientation affects LGBT lives in higher education and workplace.

Actions vs. Accusations

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Episode 3 of Survivor goes along with the conflict chapter perfectly!

In the beginning, Drew becomes frustrated with making a better roof that does not have holes and decides to take a nap instead of helping the rest of the tribe. There is affective conflict between Missy, Natalie and Drew because Drew does not think he needed to contribute to weaving leaves for a roof without holes because he can do better things.

Jeremy’s wife Val was voted off and when Jeremy realizes that, he feels betrayed by John Rocker who agreed to watch over Val. This is a form of competition conflict. Jeremy sees it as John did not do what he agreed to, but John did what was best for his tribe and Jeremy focuses on the personal goal if it. In turn, Jeremy tells everyone the truth about who John Rocker really is: an ex baseball player who made racist and homophobic remarks.

Later, Baylor tries to remind everyone that this is just a game and really everyone is just out to get each other and there area no real alliances. Baylor also tries to convince the boys to vote John Rocker out. Alec thinks Baylor is at the bottom and is trying to get John voted off, to save herself from being eliminated.

Members of Hunahpu are trying to convince Coyopa to vote Rocker off their tribe this week because now they know about his past. Now there is conflict between both tribes especially because of the way John responded to Natalie’s rude remarks about voting him off. John goes to the girls and tried to get them to vote Dale off because to him, Dale is useless, when in reality he’s just trying to save himself. After the girls agree to this, John goes against it and votes Baylor off. Now everyone is going against each other and not keeping their word.

If I were in their situation, it would cause conflict for me that no one stays true to their word and I would never trust anyone.

In the end, John’s plan backfires and he is voted off even when he has an immunity idol because he thought he was safe.

Episode 3

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In the last episode, it ended with the orange tribe at tribal council with Val being voted off. However, Baylor was close behind in votes. In episode three, Baylor expresses her anger about almost being voted off and instead of talking to her tribe about it, she uses avoidance and says she will fight for herself.

With the blue tribe, they realize their roof needs some work and they come together to weave a new roof. All except Drew, which leads to conflict. With his decision to take a nap instead of helping, the tribe begins to get frustrated leaving Natalie to, in a constructive way, confront him about his behavior as a procedural conflict. There will not be good group cohesion if Drew continues to do his own thing.

Jon and Jeremy last episode agreed to look after each-others girls. However, Val was sent home leading to frustration from Jeremy. With his anger, he took to bad talking Jon to his tribe. Jeremy is showing competition conflict style because it is more important to him to release his anger  about John than being a good group member and letting the tension leave. He causes a destructive conflict and upsets Jons girlfriend and makes her feel like she is alone in the tribe.

There was major conflict between the two tribes during the immunity battle. With Jon, in the orange tribe, showing some aggression, Natalie, blue tribe, decides to take a stand and begins to talk bad about Jon and toward Jon. Jons girlfriend tries to stick up for him but then backs off when he shows more aggression. The orange tribe stuck up for Jon saying that as a member of their tribe they have his back, but you could tell they were frustrated with his actions. Both Josh and Baylor admitted their frustration after going back to camp.

The orange tribe ended up losing the challenge so they had to go back to tribal council for the third time in a row. Jon tries to manipulate the tribe to get Baylor out but ends up being voted out. The tribe decided behind his back in a collaboration conflict style, they wanted to change how they have been doing things and vote out the male even though his strength is helpful to the team. They took time to plan a way to get him out without him noticing to be able to get rid of his negativity.