Eddie+Dwelly


 * Record of Assignments **
 * Name of Student : Eddie Dwelly**

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** Adolescence **

** W : What you want to know (curiosities/inquiry questions) **
1. **How are same-sex couples accepted in different parts of the United States?**

** Resource #1 **

 * Read:**
 * I did my research on similarities between            high school             relationships and gay/lesbian. I found that a lot of times teenagers their relationships from family and some people because they do not want to be made fun of for being with that person or if it doesn't work out and looking like a failure . This is similar to homosexual relationships because it isn't the "norm" of society to date the same-sex. Some people think if other people found out, they feel like a failure to society and also don't want to be bullied about who they are with.
 * Respond:**
 * This is how I used to think when I was in         grade school          through high #|school. I changed this way of thinking because it would put me in a state that I thought everyone was against me and I was doing something wrong. Once I had changed the way I thought to "I don't care what others think", it has been a lot easier to be happy and more myself. So all in all I believe once you stop caring about what other people think of you and you just be yourself, you become more successful at the things you do.


 * APA            Citation             :**
 * []


 * Read:**
 * "Studied the relationship quality of 44 married, 35 heterosexual cohabiting, 50 male homosexual, and 56 female homosexual monogamous couples. Each couple lived together and did not have children in the home. Relationship quality was dimensionalized as love for partner (LP), liking of partner, and relationship satisfaction (RS). Cohabiting partners had the lowest LP and RS scores on a #|questionnaire assessing relationship quality. Differences were found among partner types on barriers to leaving the relationship, alternatives to the relationship, a belief that        mind reading         is expected in the relationship, masculinity, femininity, androgyny, dyadic attachment, shared         decision making        , and perceived social support from family. The 4 groups did not differ in psychological adjustment. For each type of couple, LP was related to many barriers to leaving the relationship and high dyadic attachment; liking of partner was related to few alternatives to the relationship, high dyadic attachment, and high shared decision making; and RS was related to many attractions, few alternatives, few beliefs regarding the destructiveness of disagreement, high dyadic attachment, and high shared decision making."


 * Respond:**
 * This page that I found shows results of a #|questionnaire that all relationships have the same problems. This surprises me that cohabiting partners had the lowest scores because I would figure that if they moved in together they would love each other to move in together, I am a person that would wait and process if I truly do love my partner and based on my opinion I would make my decision on cohabiting. I believe it really isn't "mind reading" that is expected but you should know what the other one wants or is expecting.


 * APA #|Citation :**
 * Kurdek, Lawrence A., and Patrick J. Schmitt. "Relationship quality of partners in heterosexual married, heterosexual cohabiting, and gay and lesbian relationships." //Personality and __   Social Psychology    __ // 51 (1986). __             Print             __.

[]

** Resource #3 **

 * Read:**
 * "A #|study was conducted to generate a model of power strategies used in intimate relationships and information regarding the associations between gender, sexual orientation, egalitarianism, and power strategy use. There were 200 #|university students (100 homosexuals and 100 heterosexuals) evenly divided by gender. A 2-dimensional model was devised based on the strategies written in open-ended essays. These 2 dimensions concerned the extent to which the strategies were direct (ranging from direct to indirect) and interactive (ranging from bilateral to unilateral). Gender differences were found only among heterosexuals, with males more likely than females to report using bilateral and direct strategies. The effects of gender among heterosexuals paralleled findings concerning the balance of power in the relationship: Those who preferred and perceived themselves as having more power than their partner, such as heterosexual men, were also more likely to use bilateral and direct strategies. No differences in power strategy use were found between homosexuals and heterosexuals."


 * Respond:**
 * I found this article very interesting because the differences were only found in heterosexuals and not in homosexuals. I instantly thought why wasn't there a difference between the men and women of the homosexual students? I think the way this model was set up isn't the best way to view the differences in power strategies because there is not going be gender differences in the same-sex couples because there isn't a different gender. So if they could find and do a different model to show the distinctions of the power strategies used in an intimate relationship would be better.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Falbo, Toni, and Letitia A. Peplau. "Power  strategies    in    intimate relationships    ." //US: American Psychological Association // 38 (1980). #|Print .

[]

** Resource #4 **

 * Read:**
 * [insert 1 paragraph summarizing what you read here]


 * Respond:**
 * [insert 1 paragraph response/reaction to what you read here]


 * APA Citation:**
 * [insert APA citation]

** 5. Sexuality Activity **
(@http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/educator/index.html )
 * Describe your resource:**

This article talks about school being connected for LGBT youth. Feeling like a valued and accepted member of a community is important for adolescents and is related to positive education and psychological outcomes. However, many LGBT students attend schools that are unwelcoming to them. In a national survey, 73.6% of LGBT secondary school students reported hearing homophobic remarks. The majority reported being verbally harassed. The presence of school-based supports like supportive staff and student clubs like GSA can improve the school climate as well as act as a safe haven for youth. The article stresses that LGBT students having access to institutional supports can make a positive difference in their lives.

**Observation Site Information**
Im going to go to three different cities and see how these cities have similarities and differences on view same-sex couples.

** A. Site details: **

 * I did my observations at multiple places viewing how different parts of the country view same-sex couples. I'm going to Logansport, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio. I chose these cities because I live in Cincinnati, my partner lives in Chicago and Logansport is halfway between us.

__** C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting) **__

 * __ 1st visit: Logansport, Indiana __**
 * I'm going to first talk about Logansport, Indiana. This city about an hour north of Indianapolis is a small city where nothing really goes on besides Friday Night High School football and then church on Sunday. When we first got there, our reactions were this could be quite interesting because its a small Catholic city and catholicism do not accept same-sex couples. A lot of people looked at us and gave us snide remarks about our lifestyle.
 * We went out to eat everyday since we didn't bring any food to eat inside a hotel room. We went to a couple restaurants While we were eating, people were viewing us and saying things they didn't think we could here but we could easily make out what they were saying. Some people just looked and went back to their own business while others decided to stay in our business. People even came up to us and said some hurtful things I didn't people would say to someones face. This surprised me but I didn't want to make a seen so I just ignored what they were saying and kept eating. So overall Logansport is not that open to same-sex couples.
 * We went out to eat everyday since we didn't bring any food to eat inside a hotel room. We went to a couple restaurants While we were eating, people were viewing us and saying things they didn't think we could here but we could easily make out what they were saying. Some people just looked and went back to their own business while others decided to stay in our business. People even came up to us and said some hurtful things I didn't people would say to someones face. This surprised me but I didn't want to make a seen so I just ignored what they were saying and kept eating. So overall Logansport is not that open to same-sex couples.


 * __2nd visit: Chicago, Illinois__**
 * When I went up to Chicago, it was nice to go to his house finally. He just recently told his family about him being gay so it was quite special for me being the first person to bring to his family. The weekend I went up there was the weekend of his going away party because he was leaving for Marine Boot Camp soon.
 * He has told me that his family is open to being gay and all besides his grandparents. He has a half-brother and a half-sister who are gay/lesbian so they are used to it but his grandparents are not open to it. They wouldn't say anything about us but they know just how they look at us that they're not open to it. This made things a little awkward because it was all about my boyfriend and so all eyes were on him and I. The night went well and his family and friends were really nice and I could tell that all they really cared about was whatever makes him happy made them happy. I think everyone's family should be like this because it isn't their place to judge someone on who makes them happy.


 * __3rd visit:__**
 * While my boyfriend and I were here in Cincinnati, we also went out on dates to restaurants and other places. When we were at a haunted house attractions, you could tell people were staring at us. Some people were actually making fun of us by doing stereotypical gestures and sounds and also by saying stuff to our face. Others were so outraged by others reactions, they were defending us and sticking up for people trying to bully us. This is how Cincinnati resembles both Chicago and Logansport in some ways.
 * While we were at UC for my classes, people would look at us while we were eating or walking and holding hands. Some people had a smile, some didn't have an emotion, and some had a disgusted face but wouldn't say anything. This opened my eyes to how sheltered people were but also how open people are to same-sex couples.

** Physical **
What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)? With my experience there wasn't any similarities on how the males and females who were accepting or not accepting of same-sex couples.

What did you notice about the adolescent’s mood (p. 289)? The moods changed based on the geographic region we were in. Kids in Chicago and Cincinnati were happy and peaceful about us but in Logansport the kids once they saw us got irritated and angry with two guys being together.

What did you notice about the adolescent’s relationship with adults (p. 289)? Majority of the kids respected their parents when they told their kids what to do. Some had a little resistance but then slowly did what their parents told them.

What did you notice about the role of body image in adolescent behavior (p. 290)? The kids really didn't care about how others viewed them.

What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)? Mostly the boys hung out with other boys and the girls with other girls unless they were #|playing soccer where they mixed to have even #|play and they wanted the best players so they chose who was better over the sex.

What did you notice about eating habbits (pp. 291-292)? Since I wasn't observing others eat, I don't know how their eating habits were.

What did you notice about issues around sex (sex __education__, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299) The kids really didn't have an issue with same-sex couples in Chicago an Cincinnati but in Logansport the kids were thrown off and confused on why two guys were holding hands and kissing. Some got offensive and verbally expressed their feelings to us.

What did you notice about __substance abuse__ or substance related references (pp. 299-300)? From what I was noticing there wasn't any substance abuse with any kid.

** Cognitive **
Some people were confused on how people could date the same sex because their religions have brain washed them into believing that it is wrong and people who do date the same sex are sinning and are going to hell for doing so. When people say that to me, I am dumbfounded that people can believe a book saying people

** Emotional **
I really didn't get any emotions from kids that didn't care who I was or who I liked but the kids that had a problem with it, their emotions were full of confusion and anger.

** Social **
There were a lot of social aspects of my observations. Since I was observing how are kids viewing same-sex couples, I had to integrate communication with them and see what they were thinking of this subject. I would talk to the parents and ask them if it was okay if I would talk to their kids. While I was just playing with the kids I opened up a feel free zone where they could ask me any question and I would answer the best I could. The most common questions kids would ask "are we friends", "what does gay mean", "how do you know you're gay", and "have people made fun of you for being gay". Or if kids didn't want to talk to me they would say "idk" a lot or if they didn't like who I was they would tell me to leave them alone. That only happened in Logansport, Indiana. This surprised me because I didn't think kids would be so closed minded to a thing they know nothing about.

** Revisiting Your Curiosities **

 * W : What you want to know (inquiry questions) **
 * 1. [insert your top/bolded inquiry question from above]**


 * How are same-sex couples accepted in different parts of the United States?**


 * 2. [[file:Same Sex Couple Project.pptx]]**


 * Revised Powerpoint Project**

I made my posters like a flag for gay pride. I painted the rainbow on it to show that my project is about LGBT community. I also put in small phrases to show my assumptions before I started observing.
 * 3. Creative Presentations**

How can I as a teacher have the students to trust me and the other students to be themselves and not fear of getting bullied for their sexuality?
 * 4. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?**

Late Adulthood

Describe your Older Adult Project:
 * Over Thanksgiving break, I spent a couples hours spending quality time with my grandma. I haven't really spoken to her since the summer so catching up with her was really nice. I haven't really talked to her about me being gay because I know she is a strict catholic with very traditional values of how life should be spent. She would go to mass about 5-6 days a week and also go on retreats with the people from the church.
 * I was driving her to our family Thanksgiving party at my Uncles house In Colerain. So we had about 45 minutes each way from her house to my uncles house and back. She is my only grandparent I have left on either side of my parents. Her husband died a few years ago and my dads side passed away when I was a little kid.

Describe your experience:
 * My experience with my grandma over the break was very helpful and touching. When I told her about my sexuality, she told me that she doesn't care who I like and who I marry but as long as I was happy she was happy. This made me tear up a little because I was so afraid that she wouldn't be open to it. She said she might put Catholicism ahead of a lot of things but family is what comes first and she would never let a religion tell her or anyone who they are allowed to love.
 * We also talked about who my boyfriend was and how we met. She was really open to everything I had to say and is really wanting to meet him when he is in town next. I was so thankful for her being okay with who I am and who I like. She also said "it will take time for my whole family to get used to it but if anyone can get through it, I know you can."