Elton Magazine Cover

This Magazine cover shows the postmodern world. First the idea of a gay couple being public is something that wouldn’t have been tolerated before. To modernist, a couple was a man and a woman and a man and man couple would be looked down apron. Second the idea of a gay couple with a baby, this idea would have been an outrage to many people years ago. There are still people in this modern world who don’t tolerate this type of family, but it has become much more accepted in today’s society. This current magazine cover defiantly shows the acceptability of this type of postmodern family.

The institution of marriage

When surfing around the internet about families and marriage I came across a new concept called “starter marriage”. This type of marriage is a marriage the lasts less than 5 years and ends before having children. Some will upgrade to a better marriage. Pamela Paul wrote a book on this phenomenon. “Paul's thesis that although these marriages are entered into with the best of intentions, many are doomed from the start, due to unrealistic expectations of marriage and relaxed attitudes toward divorce. Ultimately, the majority of these failed marriages can serve as dress rehearsals for more stable marriages down the road.”

Now days it is not uncommon to come across people who have been through divorce. It is like the institution of marriage has become almost a joke to many. The ease it takes to get divorced has made marriage seem so easy to get out of which makes marriage more appealing to couples. I believe that if you are marrying someone you are making the commitment to be with them for the rest of your life and if you are not serious about this commitment a couple should not go through with marriage. Marriage in society should be taken much more seriously and cautiously than it presently is.

To find the article on this topic visit: http://www.divorcesource.com/NJ/ARTICLES/jessani16.html

Features of Other Families

I have seen many family’s I see in my everyday life that I look up to, while there are many families who I don’t look up to or don’t aspire to have their characteristics. When judging these families per say, we are all judging these families relative to our own. A specific family, which I do look up to and hope to find similar characteristics in my future family, is my auntie and uncles family. They are so close to their children, they take every second out of their day to spend quality time with them, are always there to listen among many other things. Personally, in my family I had wished that I could have spent more quality time and I think this is why I look up to their family. The families which I look down upon are families which the parents are more concerned about their own lives than their children’s. There is a family I am close to in Whitecourt that go bars every weekend and the child is constantly left at home with a babysitter. When judging other families I often have the tendency to compare and contrast their family lives to my own.

As a teacher, I need to be more open to the ideas of different family dynamics. I can’t look down on a family because it is “lesser” to mine. I have to work with the parents for my students to gain the most out of their education. I have to respect the decisions their family’s make and ensure my teaching is still to the best of my ability, regardless of my thoughts and judgements.

In response to Shyness

In schools there should be tests such as the sociometric test shown in the movie Shyness. There are very often kids who are shy and the teacher may not particularly notice this and having a psychologist come into the classroom can address these problems. If a teacher does notice the shyness in some students they may not be able to identify the type of shyness the student may have or how to help them address the issue. Some students, as shown in the film Shyness, can be shy due to a child with a mental “sickness”, a want to be alone or a typical shy child who wants to be involved with the other students but lacks the confidence to be a part of their activities. Whatever the matter may be, these issues must be addressed for the child to have a healthy social life within the classroom. Having the psychologist come into the classroom and identify the children with shyness as well as identify the type of shyness they may have, the children will have a much better chance of becoming more social throughout their entire life.

My Family

To start I would like to introduce and explain the family setting that I have come from. I come from a very close four person family. I have a younger brother named Justin (17). He will be graduating this year from Hilltop High School in Whitecourt. He is very involved in hockey during the winter and golf during the summer. My parents are still together 19 years. My mom and I are best friends; we are very open and honest with each other. She has been doing payroll at ANC (Alberta Newsprint Company) for about 3 years. My dad and I are also very close. We have the same personality, joke around lots and get along very well. He has been a plant operator at Pengrowth for as long as I know. My auntie is the most influential person in my life. She had a big part in raising me when I was a child and instilling morals in my life. She babysat me when I was very little and grew into a somewhat second mother to me. I am also very involved in my grandparent’s lives. My family is the most important part of my life.

Because I had lived in this “typical” family, I hope to get a better understanding of the other types of family’s my future students might be immersed in. I personally don’t know what it would feel like to be in a broken family, have a teen mom or same-sexed parents. I know with the times today this is the family many children will be born into and having a better understanding of this will make me a better teacher and a more understanding person in general. This class will greatly influence my abilities of being a teacher.