American’s consider being able to share one’s knowledge and ideas with people an
Important part in our culture. For this reason there are many different ways humans share
and express their ideas. Three mediums that allow the spread of knowledge are online bogs, letters, and fables. A subject that I found particularly interesting was the way trauma, particularly September 11th, effects the development of children. When tiring to educate people about the effects that September 11th had on children I used all three mediums in order to appeal to different types of audiences.
Online bogs are easily accessible and furthermore, they are easily reached by groups of people. Moreover an online blog is instant. Once I post my blog online it would only
take seconds for people around the world to read it. It was important for my research to
be accessible to large groups because it was a large group of children who were affected
by the attacks. Moreover, it was essential that it be easily accessible because this
Research appeals to parents. Parents are usually overwhelmed with having to fulfill
multiple roles: the role of a parent and the role that their full time job requires of
them. It would be hard and stressful for parents to try and acquire this knowledge
themselves since they are already so busy. Therefore, by posting is essential because it
would be so easily accessible.
A letter is a form of sharing one’s ideas that is personal. By writing a letter
one can appeal to a certain person. Moreover, with a letter one can draw the attention of one particular person and the person usually pays much closer attention to a letter because it relates to a person more by being personal. In wanting to share my ideas about how September 11th effects children I wrote a letter to the researcher who studies the way children developed. In this letter I shared how September 11th affected me as a child. Moreover, I wrote a letter to two different 9/11-support groups. In these letters I told them my experience with 9/11. This would be helpful for them because it might give them another idea for a type of support or improve the support they are offering because they might better understand the reactions children had because of September 11th.
It is important not only for parents, educators, and therapist to learn about the effects September 11th had on children but also essential for children to learn about the effects September 11th had on them. Children need to learn about and understand the effects before they can try and tackle the problems September 11th created for them. I created an educational game for 8th grade students to help explain the effects September 11th had on children. In this game children learn about Erik Erikson’s developmental stages. They then read a bunch of fictional stories about kids who experienced September 11th. Children should be able to match the fictional stories, what the main character’s reaction to September 11th, and tell which stage the fictional character was in and what the outcome of fictional characters stage was. Children then could relate to a story and understand their peer’s reactions to September 11th.
Being about to share ideas is vital to education and learning. When one wants to share their ideas it is important to think about who they want to share their ideas with, how they are going to share them, and how to explain their ideas in order to appeal to the their audience. In sharing my knowledge about the way September 11th effected the development of children I used three different mediums: an online blog, a letter, and a fable. By using different mediums I was able to appeal to different audiences.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Game
Here is my game. (It is directed towards the older children). In this game one must match up the stories with Erickson's stages. Moreover, each stage has two outcomes, the player must determine which outcome of the stage the person in the story will develop. *Note: These are all fictional stories that I made up.
Here is the information the children must read/ learn about first. (A.K.A. Erickson’s stages)
Erikson believes that the first stage a person goes through, from about the age of birth to 18 months, is Trust vs. Mistrust. . At this time infants need to feel a sense of safety and love from their parents and know they can depend on them to help them survive.
The next stage Eriksson believes children go through is Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt. This stage takes place from the age of 18 months to 36 months. At this time a child task is to assert their independence without being ashamed.
Erik Erikson believed that children progress into initiative vs. guilt. This occurs from about the ages of 3 to 51/2 years, what Eriksson refers to as the “play age.” Erickson believed that during this stage the child has three tasks, “(1) to imagine, to broaden his skills through active play of all sorts, including fantasy (2) to cooperate with others (3) to lead as well as to follow.” (Robert Myers, Ph.D. Dr., paragraph 5) Teri L. Elliott states, “Play is how they [children] learn about and organize the world and make sense of the new information they are learning on a daily basis. In addition, play allows children to achieve a sense of mastery over imaginary or real frustrations. Consequently, in an attempt to understand a traumatic event, children often put aspects of the situation into their play.” In other words, children learn about social relationships through play because playing allows children to mimic and practice real life and try out different social roles. Children at this age participate mostly in cooperative play (a type of play where children play with each other and are able to mimic the real world).
during adolescence, ages 13 to 20, children face the task of Identity vs. role confusion. When a traumatic event occurs during adolescence this can be particularly detrimental to development because during this time adolescents are transitioning from being dependent to independent. Adolescents are learning how to be reliant on and think for themselves. This is an important part of an individual’s life and requires a lot of work. It involves formulating how one perceives the outside world and the way one perceives oneself. It also involves learning how one thinks and feels, learning how one reacts under stressful situations, which then requires one to create his or her own emotional coping skills. . Since September 11th required such a high-efficiency coping skill, many adolescents turned to insufficient coping skills resulting in a disorder. This can be seen in adolescents engaging in drugs or sexual relationships, feeling depressed, somatization disorders, withdrawal, and apathy.
Here are the stories:
Julie is an infant. Her mom, Amanda’s, best friend was badly hurt in the attacks on sept.11th. Amanda spends lots of time alone in her room crying and at the hospital away from her daughter Julie. Amanda often stays late at the hospital. Since Julie is breast-feed sometimes Julie does not get feed when she is hungry because of Amanda’s late nights at the hospital.
Julien's father was a police officer in downtown New York City. His dad broke his arm in the commotion during September 11th. Julien feels bad that he was not at the buildings helping his father. Julien feels that if he was at the WTC cite he could have protected his father and his father would have not been hurt.
Hayley's family lived in Brooklyn but her father worked in Manhattan at the twin towers. On September 11th, Hayley's dad had to walk from downtown Manhattan to his house in Brooklyn, which took him several hours. Hayley did was worried that her dad was hurt because it took him so long to get home. When Hayley arrived back at school two of her classmates, Annabel and Dylan, played a “make believe” game called "house". In this game Annabel and Dylan pretended to be Hayley's parents. Annabel and Dylan started off the game by pretending to wake Hayley up for school. Hayley then pretended to wake up and started to scream, “Dylan don’t go to work because I am scared that you will not come home.”
Erin lived just a few blocks away from the twin towers. On September 11th Erin was on her way to her high school when she saw the plane hit the first tower. After seeing this happen Erin was very scared and upset. One day her best friend Kathy told Erin that she tried a drug, which made her feel happy. Erin wanted to be happy so she tried the drug. Erin liked the happy feeling that the drug made her feel so she started using it more and more. Soon Erin became addicted to the drug.
Ms. Greenburg is a pre-school teacher. After September 11th Ms. Greenburg had her class do an art project about how they felt during Sept. 11th. Jenny painted a picture and asked her teacher, Ms. Greenburg, if she could share it with the class. Ms. Greenburg was very pleased and the class enjoyed her project very much.
Ethan was very popular. He loved going out with his friends and having a good time. After September 11th Ethan realized he wanted to spend more time with his infant son Ken. Ethan now feeds, bathes, changes Ken's diapers, and plays with Ken. Ethan and Ken are a lot more close now.
Here is the information the children must read/ learn about first. (A.K.A. Erickson’s stages)
Erikson believes that the first stage a person goes through, from about the age of birth to 18 months, is Trust vs. Mistrust. . At this time infants need to feel a sense of safety and love from their parents and know they can depend on them to help them survive.
The next stage Eriksson believes children go through is Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt. This stage takes place from the age of 18 months to 36 months. At this time a child task is to assert their independence without being ashamed.
Erik Erikson believed that children progress into initiative vs. guilt. This occurs from about the ages of 3 to 51/2 years, what Eriksson refers to as the “play age.” Erickson believed that during this stage the child has three tasks, “(1) to imagine, to broaden his skills through active play of all sorts, including fantasy (2) to cooperate with others (3) to lead as well as to follow.” (Robert Myers, Ph.D. Dr., paragraph 5) Teri L. Elliott states, “Play is how they [children] learn about and organize the world and make sense of the new information they are learning on a daily basis. In addition, play allows children to achieve a sense of mastery over imaginary or real frustrations. Consequently, in an attempt to understand a traumatic event, children often put aspects of the situation into their play.” In other words, children learn about social relationships through play because playing allows children to mimic and practice real life and try out different social roles. Children at this age participate mostly in cooperative play (a type of play where children play with each other and are able to mimic the real world).
during adolescence, ages 13 to 20, children face the task of Identity vs. role confusion. When a traumatic event occurs during adolescence this can be particularly detrimental to development because during this time adolescents are transitioning from being dependent to independent. Adolescents are learning how to be reliant on and think for themselves. This is an important part of an individual’s life and requires a lot of work. It involves formulating how one perceives the outside world and the way one perceives oneself. It also involves learning how one thinks and feels, learning how one reacts under stressful situations, which then requires one to create his or her own emotional coping skills. . Since September 11th required such a high-efficiency coping skill, many adolescents turned to insufficient coping skills resulting in a disorder. This can be seen in adolescents engaging in drugs or sexual relationships, feeling depressed, somatization disorders, withdrawal, and apathy.
Here are the stories:
Julie is an infant. Her mom, Amanda’s, best friend was badly hurt in the attacks on sept.11th. Amanda spends lots of time alone in her room crying and at the hospital away from her daughter Julie. Amanda often stays late at the hospital. Since Julie is breast-feed sometimes Julie does not get feed when she is hungry because of Amanda’s late nights at the hospital.
Julien's father was a police officer in downtown New York City. His dad broke his arm in the commotion during September 11th. Julien feels bad that he was not at the buildings helping his father. Julien feels that if he was at the WTC cite he could have protected his father and his father would have not been hurt.
Hayley's family lived in Brooklyn but her father worked in Manhattan at the twin towers. On September 11th, Hayley's dad had to walk from downtown Manhattan to his house in Brooklyn, which took him several hours. Hayley did was worried that her dad was hurt because it took him so long to get home. When Hayley arrived back at school two of her classmates, Annabel and Dylan, played a “make believe” game called "house". In this game Annabel and Dylan pretended to be Hayley's parents. Annabel and Dylan started off the game by pretending to wake Hayley up for school. Hayley then pretended to wake up and started to scream, “Dylan don’t go to work because I am scared that you will not come home.”
Erin lived just a few blocks away from the twin towers. On September 11th Erin was on her way to her high school when she saw the plane hit the first tower. After seeing this happen Erin was very scared and upset. One day her best friend Kathy told Erin that she tried a drug, which made her feel happy. Erin wanted to be happy so she tried the drug. Erin liked the happy feeling that the drug made her feel so she started using it more and more. Soon Erin became addicted to the drug.
Ms. Greenburg is a pre-school teacher. After September 11th Ms. Greenburg had her class do an art project about how they felt during Sept. 11th. Jenny painted a picture and asked her teacher, Ms. Greenburg, if she could share it with the class. Ms. Greenburg was very pleased and the class enjoyed her project very much.
Ethan was very popular. He loved going out with his friends and having a good time. After September 11th Ethan realized he wanted to spend more time with his infant son Ken. Ethan now feeds, bathes, changes Ken's diapers, and plays with Ken. Ethan and Ken are a lot more close now.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Letters
AVALON GOEBEL
172 East 4th St.
New York, NY 10009
Goebelac@eckerd.edu
December 2, 2007
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Bldg 31, Room 2A32,
MSC 2425 31 Center Drive Bethesda,
MD 20892-2425
Dear Ms. Maholmes,
My name is Avalon Goebel. I am a Psychology major at Eckerd College. I am really interested in children, the way they think, learn, and develop. Recently, researched the effect that September 11th had on children. This was especially interesting to me because I was greatly affected by September 11th. I came across your writing on the NICHD website and was engrossed in your section about personality development.
I noticed a personality change in my self after September 11th. I changed from an extravert who freely expressed my ideas and put a lot of trust and hope in people to becoming very skeptical of people, especially when it came to their opinion of me. I only believed the negative things people would say to or about me and disregarded and became upset by the postive things because I felt I was being lied to. I was wondering if you have any information on how a traumatic event, such as September 11th effects a child’s personality. Furthermore, weather a child’s age when they experience a traumatic event affects their personality differently.
Sincerely,
Avalon Goebel
AVALON GOEBEL
172 East 4th St.
New York, NY 10009
Goebelac@eckerd.edu
December 2, 2007
Dear World Trade Center Survivors’ Network,
My name is Avalon Goebel. I am a Psychology major at Eckerd College. I am really interested in children, the way they think, learn, and develop. Recently, I have been exploring the effects that September 11th had on children. This was especially interesting to me because I was greatly affected by September 11th.
I did not receive any form of therapy or treatment after September 11th and therefore was left to ponder weather it was the terrorist attacks or the onset of adolescence that caused me to become depressed and act out soon after the attacks. After September 11th I not only became depressed but also developed a low self-esteem--I questioned life, was it worth living? Would it be easier to die? Would anyone notice or care if I was to die? Since my life did not matter nor did the things in it. School was just another annoyance, my parents were just more people who I would disappoint, and my friends were all so much “cooler” than me it only made me jealous resent them.
As a psychology major, Eckerd students learn about the insecurities that typically come into effect during adolescence, especially in females. Therefore, I always attributed my behaviors due to do my age, since I slid into my teenage years turning thirteen on September 12th 2001. However, in view of the fact that I have been researching September 11th and the effects it had on children I have realized many of my behaviors and emotions were similar to others around my age at the time of the attacks that had too experienced September 11th . Hence, perhaps my behaviors were a reaction to experiencing the pain September 11th.
Consequently, I think it is extremely important for people to be able not only to share their experiences and reactions to September 11th but for people to be able to read about others experiences which would allow people understand their own reactions to September 11th . Thank you for having programs that do this.
Sincerely,
Avalon Goebel
VALON GOEBEL
172 East 4th St.
New York, NY 10009
Goebelac@eckerd.edu
December 2, 2007
Dear World Trade Center Survivors’ Network,
My name is Avalon Goebel. I am a Psychology major at Eckerd College. I am really interested in children, the way they think, learn, and develop. Recently, I have been exploring the effects that September 11th had on children. This was especially interesting to me because I was greatly affected by September 11th.
I did not receive any form of therapy or treatment after September 11th and therefore was left to ponder weather it was the terrorist attacks or the onset of adolescence that caused me to become depressed and act out soon after the attacks. After September 11th I not only became depressed but also developed a low self-esteem--I questioned life, was it worth living? Would it be easier to die? Would anyone notice or care if I was to die? Since my life did not matter nor did the things in it. School was just another annoyance, my parents were just more people who I would disappoint, and my friends were all so much “cooler” than me it only made me jealous resent them.
As a psychology major, Eckerd students learn about the insecurities that typically come into effect during adolescence, especially in females. Therefore, I always attributed my behaviors due to do my age, since I slid into my teenage years turning thirteen on September 12th 2001. However, in view of the fact that I have been researching September 11th and the effects it had on children I have realized many of my behaviors and emotions were similar to others around my age at the time of the attacks that had too experienced September 11th . Hence, perhaps my behaviors were a reaction to experiencing the pain September 11th.
Consequently, I think it is extremely important for people to be able not only to share their experiences and reactions to September 11th but for people to be able to read about others experiences which would allow people understand their own reactions to September 11th . Thank you for having programs that do this.
Sincerely,
Avalon Goebel
172 East 4th St.
New York, NY 10009
Goebelac@eckerd.edu
December 2, 2007
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Bldg 31, Room 2A32,
MSC 2425 31 Center Drive Bethesda,
MD 20892-2425
Dear Ms. Maholmes,
My name is Avalon Goebel. I am a Psychology major at Eckerd College. I am really interested in children, the way they think, learn, and develop. Recently, researched the effect that September 11th had on children. This was especially interesting to me because I was greatly affected by September 11th. I came across your writing on the NICHD website and was engrossed in your section about personality development.
I noticed a personality change in my self after September 11th. I changed from an extravert who freely expressed my ideas and put a lot of trust and hope in people to becoming very skeptical of people, especially when it came to their opinion of me. I only believed the negative things people would say to or about me and disregarded and became upset by the postive things because I felt I was being lied to. I was wondering if you have any information on how a traumatic event, such as September 11th effects a child’s personality. Furthermore, weather a child’s age when they experience a traumatic event affects their personality differently.
Sincerely,
Avalon Goebel
AVALON GOEBEL
172 East 4th St.
New York, NY 10009
Goebelac@eckerd.edu
December 2, 2007
Dear World Trade Center Survivors’ Network,
My name is Avalon Goebel. I am a Psychology major at Eckerd College. I am really interested in children, the way they think, learn, and develop. Recently, I have been exploring the effects that September 11th had on children. This was especially interesting to me because I was greatly affected by September 11th.
I did not receive any form of therapy or treatment after September 11th and therefore was left to ponder weather it was the terrorist attacks or the onset of adolescence that caused me to become depressed and act out soon after the attacks. After September 11th I not only became depressed but also developed a low self-esteem--I questioned life, was it worth living? Would it be easier to die? Would anyone notice or care if I was to die? Since my life did not matter nor did the things in it. School was just another annoyance, my parents were just more people who I would disappoint, and my friends were all so much “cooler” than me it only made me jealous resent them.
As a psychology major, Eckerd students learn about the insecurities that typically come into effect during adolescence, especially in females. Therefore, I always attributed my behaviors due to do my age, since I slid into my teenage years turning thirteen on September 12th 2001. However, in view of the fact that I have been researching September 11th and the effects it had on children I have realized many of my behaviors and emotions were similar to others around my age at the time of the attacks that had too experienced September 11th . Hence, perhaps my behaviors were a reaction to experiencing the pain September 11th.
Consequently, I think it is extremely important for people to be able not only to share their experiences and reactions to September 11th but for people to be able to read about others experiences which would allow people understand their own reactions to September 11th . Thank you for having programs that do this.
Sincerely,
Avalon Goebel
VALON GOEBEL
172 East 4th St.
New York, NY 10009
Goebelac@eckerd.edu
December 2, 2007
Dear World Trade Center Survivors’ Network,
My name is Avalon Goebel. I am a Psychology major at Eckerd College. I am really interested in children, the way they think, learn, and develop. Recently, I have been exploring the effects that September 11th had on children. This was especially interesting to me because I was greatly affected by September 11th.
I did not receive any form of therapy or treatment after September 11th and therefore was left to ponder weather it was the terrorist attacks or the onset of adolescence that caused me to become depressed and act out soon after the attacks. After September 11th I not only became depressed but also developed a low self-esteem--I questioned life, was it worth living? Would it be easier to die? Would anyone notice or care if I was to die? Since my life did not matter nor did the things in it. School was just another annoyance, my parents were just more people who I would disappoint, and my friends were all so much “cooler” than me it only made me jealous resent them.
As a psychology major, Eckerd students learn about the insecurities that typically come into effect during adolescence, especially in females. Therefore, I always attributed my behaviors due to do my age, since I slid into my teenage years turning thirteen on September 12th 2001. However, in view of the fact that I have been researching September 11th and the effects it had on children I have realized many of my behaviors and emotions were similar to others around my age at the time of the attacks that had too experienced September 11th . Hence, perhaps my behaviors were a reaction to experiencing the pain September 11th.
Consequently, I think it is extremely important for people to be able not only to share their experiences and reactions to September 11th but for people to be able to read about others experiences which would allow people understand their own reactions to September 11th . Thank you for having programs that do this.
Sincerely,
Avalon Goebel
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