Thursday, December 10, 2015

This is youth work

Over the course of the semester we have been learning about what youth work is and how to affectively talk to others about the work that we are doing and plan on doing in the future. In this weeks reading, I gained further knowledge and information about youth work and how to talk about it. I read a chapter out of the This is Youth Work text.

Setting the scene: this chapter really solidified a lot of the things that I believe in, and gave me more information about how I feel about youth work.

 
"We see ourselves, whether paid or
 
voluntary, as informal educators
 
contributing to ‘the common good’"
 
This is the thing that I always try to say but can never find the right words to explain!!! I see myself as an educator in many ways, but I am not a teacher. I think that there is a significant difference between being a teacher and an educator. I think that as a teacher, there are many lines that you are unable to cross and many things that you are not allowed to educate about due to policy and practice issues.
 
 

"A commitment to valuing and
attending to the here-and-now
of young people’s experience
rather than just focusing on
‘transitions’."
 
This is SO important. So many people focus on the futures and transitions of youth instead of focusing on whatever they are going through now! Things that are happening to youth should not be dismissed as not important enough, because at the time, the issue could be the most important thing in that persons life. I think it is so important to focus on the present and the future, not only what is to come next.
 
 
 
If someone were to ask me about YDEV and what it was, I would be more informed now to reply in an authentic way.
 
Youth Development is a major for those who want to educate, but do not want to do so in a traditional classroom. With a mixture of education, social work, and nonprofit studies classes YDEV will expose you to educating the way you want to. Being able to pick your own concentration, and choose a mixture of classes that you think make sense for you is also very rewarding. I aspire to make a difference in the lives of youth, and YDEV is making sure that is possible for me. With a concentration in child advocacy, I was able to take classes in Gender Studies, Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Psychology to make me more well rounded and a better advocate for all types of youth who have many different experiences. 
 
 


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