The University of Manchester Basking in Rare Sunshine
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The NBA Sent a Powerful Message By Drafting Isaiah Austin
Adam Silver and the NBA made an incredible gesture by drafting the former Baylor Bears standout center, Isaiah Austin. Austin has been rated quite highly by NBA scouts and was expected to be picked last night. However, a few weeks ago, he was given a career-ending diagnosis of Marfan Syndrome (what is Marfan Syndrome?).
The NBA draft could have carried on without Silver’s tribute to Austin, but he did it anyway. Silver and the NBA has at least fulfilled Isaiah’s dream of being drafted, even though he will not be able to play a single competitive basketball game again. It speaks volumes on how the NBA wants to be on the forefront of promoting positive attitudes towards everyone in society. We can all remember Adam Silver’s press conference during the heat of the Donald Sterling controversy, right? That and last night’s gesture is an amazing display of compassion, inclusion and a move away from the old, horrible attitudes.
I love it.
Thank you, Mr. Silver!
The best teachers may not be millionaires but they get the best rewards
Why do people teach? It cannot be because the money as teachers across the world, particularly in developing countries, do not get the highest salaries. Why do they stay in the profession, especially when the kids they teach are unruly? Why, why, why?
Most teachers teach because of the challenge they face day in, day out. They don’t see naughty, dumb kids. They see potential. They see young people who need their help to succeed in life. They see rooms full of future lawyers, doctors, athletes, artists and academics. Everyday, they see opportunities to help make this world a better place. They reap their rewards when they see these children blossom and become well-rounded people.
In the video below, teacher Sabsy Ongkiko discusses the struggles and triumphs she had experienced through her journey from attending a high-profile university to teaching in a very low-paying public school in the Philippines. Since she graduated from a high-ranking university, her parents expected her to get a well paid job after university. Since public elementary and high schools in the Philippines are known (unfortunately) as the last resort schools for poor people, which produces graduates with very little chance of succeeding, Sabsy was criticised for her decision to teach in one. Her father, an economist, has often asked her what the return of investment will be, since he paid a lot of money for her education?
Nevertheless, she carried on. She challenged the negative stereotypes surrounding public schools, their teachers and students. As with every other teacher, she saw potential and hope in the eyes of her students. She has helped a lot of her students reach their potentials. She is one of those teachers who genuinely believes in her students’ abilities. And as for the return in her investment of working in a low-paying public school, she constantly refers to the success of her students as the best return of any investments.
She is a true inspiration!
Exploring Autism – A conversation with Uta Frith
Why I liked BBC 4’s Growing Children, Autism
Last week, BBC 4 aired a documentary wherein child psychologist Laverne Antrobus interviewed researchers in Cardiff and Nottingham Universities about recent neuroscientific research findings about Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However instead of focusing mainly on the research findings, the film centered on three cases of ASD- Tony, Jake and Michael. Tony is a teenage boy who is in the severe end of the Autism Spectrum. According to his mother, he is sensitive to a multitude of sensory inputs particularly to sound. He is very fond of youtube videos of cartoons and repeats their dialogues after watching them. Jake is younger than Tony and is on the higher functioning end of the Autism Spectrum. The film showed Jake exhibiting behavioural difficulties such as resistance by shouting at his mother. As it was explained in the film, Jake usually misbehaves at home after school. The third case focused on a 19 year-old Physics student, Michael, who has published a book about metaphors (it should be noted that people with ASD often struggle to understand metaphors).
Having worked with young people with Special Educational Needs for more than 6 years, I observed that professionals (teaching staff, etc.) and students still lack the basic knowledge about what Autism is. Research such as that of Tobias (2009) has also shown that this lack of basic understanding often lead to negative attitudes, and often, bullying, towards individuals with Autism. As a result, I am actively searching for books, documentaries, films and articles which I can recommend to people in order to increase their understanding of ASD. In my opinion, BBC 4’s ‘Growing Children- Autism’ is a good start for people who want to know more about ASD. Here’s why:
- It showed the heterogeneity of ASD. Autism is a complex disorder which affects individuals differently (APA, 1994). Francesca Happe recently stated that ‘when you meet one person with Autism, you’ve met one person with Autism’. Books, websites and articles about Autism often define the condition as an impairment of social interaction, imagination and communication. However, in my experience of working with young people with ASD, I can say that individuals affected by the condition can interact with others, have imagination and can communicate, but sometimes not in the way that we are used to. In addition, I have never seen two people with ASD who have the exact same sensitivity; who respond in exactly the same way to stimuli and have the exact same background. Even though BBC 4’s documentary showed only three cases (4 if you include Jake’s brother Zane), it captured the differences between each cases.
- It showed how important the families/support networks are to those with ASD. Perhaps the reason why this sticks out to me is due to my knowledge of the ‘Refrigirator Mother Theory’ which states that Autism is the result of bad parenting. Having been around families and carers of people with Autism, I can genuinely say that these families deserve more credit than they normally get. These families/care-givers are the ones who are with the people with ASD more times than teachers and psychologists. They are with them when they eat, sleep, go to the toilet, early in the morning, late at night, during the weekends and school holidays. As I’ve mentioned, the documentary showed how Jake misbehaves towards his mother when he comes home after school. This aggression is often built up at school during the day and is usually vented towards the students’ parents or caregivers- people who are at times, not very well trained at dealing with these behaviours. The documentary also showed how understanding the parents of Jake and Tony are and how their attitudes help these individuals. It should be noted that these parents’ cases can be seen as cries for help since not all parents of people with Autism receive the help and support they need from professionals.
- Lastly, it showed that there is a lot of things we don’t know about ASD. I am not denying the fact that Autism research has rapidly moved on over the past decades. However, we still don’t know what causes ASD, as a result, we don’t know how, if possible, to prevent the condition from occuring. I also believe that diagnosis can be improved in the future.
References:
American Psychiatric Association (1994). DSM-IV Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Tobias, A. (2009). Supporting students with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) at secondary school: a parent and student perspective. Educational Psychology in Practice, 25, 151-165.
For more information about the programme, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lyczl
For more info about Autism, visit www.autism.org.uk
Bug Art: Manchester Museum’s Big Saturday
Since I was a kid, I was always fascinated with science. As I got older, one of my wishes was to work in a museum because I’ve always thought that museum workers are really clever and they know all about science. Today, thanks to the British Science Association, I had the opportunity to fulfill my dream, even for just a very short time. Along with other volunteers, I helped set-up a stall that aimed to explain the process of pollination to children. We also gave the kids the chance to make their own bees to take home.
This is the model bee that one of our colleagues made for us and the kids to copy:
Looking at the picture below, we aimed to explain pollination through the use of visual aids. The flowers of the left contained little soft balls that represented the pollens. The bee takes them to a different flower for pollination or to its beehive (which is where the bee is sitting):
These are my colleagues in action:
Look at all the people having fun:
There were also some other exhibitions and activities during the day. Here are the pictures of some of the insects on display:
But I guess the best part of the Big Saturday is the maggot painting. Maggots were placed into trays with paper and paint and were guided by the one painting either by brush or by torching them. (Any reader who can explain this better please comment, as I have only caught a glimpse of this).
These are the maggots:
And here are some of the paintings. Can you see the maggots?
For more info about Manchester Museum’s upcoming events, visit: http://events.manchester.ac.uk/calendar/tag:manchester_museum/
My 2011 in pictures
I spent the first hours of 2011 with my partner, our family and friends.
A few weeks later, my partner celebrated her birthday again, with friends and family…
In April, me and my friends played a benefit gig for the people suffering Aplastic Anemia, which sadly was the cause of why one of our friends is no longer with us.
The gig was a success as it raised quite a bit of money and the people seemed to have had a good time.
We also said goodbye to two of our friends who moved to Den Haag. These guys warmed our hearts with their generosity, whilst inspiring us at the same time with their continuing success in their lives.
Dr. North is a magician on the grill
One of the prettiest moms-to-be I’ve seen:
I visited Pistyll Rhaeadr falls in North Wales during the spring. This place was breath-taking. I didn’t realise that there is such a lovely view in Wales!
A milestone has been reached by my partner in 2011. After 3 years of hard work and dedication, she graduated with flying colours!
I then went back home to the Philippines for a while with my partner. One of the first things we did was watch basketball- courtside! This game between UST and Ateneo was a really good one.
We visited Singapore, the tidiest and one of the most friendly cities I have ever visited…
Look at this for food choices:
And of course, we shopped at Bugis Street:
We then went to Boracay, Philippines, the greatest, most beautiful and relaxing beach I have ever been into…
When we got back to the UK, we moved to Manchester in preparation for the start of my Master’s Degree. Manchester is amazing. The city feels so alive and vibrant. I love how multi-cultural the city is. I also like how the buildings look.
This is a bonus: Old Trafford Stadium, the home of Manchester United Football Club:
Made new friends in uni…
Friends visited me for my birthday…
Remember our friends who moved to Den Haag? We visited them just before Christmas, and look, they have a baby! Thanks again for letting us stay at your place…
We then visited Amsterdam. Most of the pictures we took may offend people so, these are the only ones I will show you…
PS. Thanks, honey for the birthday gift!
My girlfriend and I spent Christmas at our place with our families. Our parents ended up cooking everything and doing everything for us, which was great! Family times are the best times!
Lastly, we had a meal at Wagamama on New Year’s Eve. We decided against cooking and staying in because that’s what we have always done for the past few years.
All in all, 2011 was a fantastic year for me. This is the reason why I do not have a New Year’s resolution this year. I think all I have to do is carry on what I have done. Here’s to another year of awesomeness!!!
New course, new city, new hopes!
I’ve recently moved to Manchester to start my MEd Psychology of Education course. Having moved to a new city, it would have been ideal for us to get to know the city first before anything else but we did not have the time. I started my course two days after we moved and my girlfriend started work a day after.
The city’s fabulous. The architecture is mostly old school but modern buildings an infrastructure are also present. As expected, since there are too mny people, they are not as friendly as those in Abergavenny or Cardiff.
I know I would nit be able to survive without my girlfriend who does everything for me. She keeps me calm and she never complains about anything.
Going back to my course, I feel confident about the workload and the deadlines. I believe that if I keep mu motivation as high as it is now, I would do as well as I am hoping. I just need to keep my head down and maintain my focus.
Things are looking bright and I am definitely looking forward to everything!
Understanding and Embracing Diversity 