I think the part of this class that has stuck out the most to me so far has been the outside guest presenters. Mr. Rueb had quite a background story of moving from a school janitor to principal of Atchison Elementary School. His determination to obtain further education and make effective use of his acquired knowledge renews my belief that any student can succeed. Even if a student has battled the injustices of poverty, child abuse or bullying, he or she can work through and overcome those hardships with the support of figures in his or her life who care, like teachers. I appreciate how Mr. Rueb not only presented the problem of economic disadvantages affecting several of his students, but additionally provided us with possible solutions to aiding students who may be experiencing those difficulties. These ideas included encouraging parents and children to hold family discussions, using storybooks, message reading, utilizing home literacy programs and providing interactions around functional print such as newspapers or magazines. Like he advised, I plan to provide various reading materials for my students in my classroom. Also at his suggestion, I want to look over the student handbook of my school as I prepare to student teach. I may discover some important school-wide expectations and procedures for situations or events that may come up throughout the semester and answer some of my own questions in the process.
Mr. Rueb's talk, the counselor's panel as well as class discussion also led me to consider where children may be coming from at an elementary level. Up until this teaching block, I had never really considered elementary student behavioral characteristics or methods that teachers utilize at that level for helping kids and maintaining order within their classrooms. Although I will not and should not find all of the same techniques effective at the secondary level, I could find myself teaching a sixth grade class or witnessing a child receding back to earlier expectations and should be aware of how a past teacher may have handled or addressed a situation at that age as the student is still transitioning to a higher level of education.
One additional comment: I had not previously considered how bullying behavior is an integral part of a much larger continuum of violence. Professor Bennett's stair-steps of put downs and insults to murder and suicide offer a tragic, but actual visual aid of what may occur in a student's life. Just as we must take note of incidents of children discussing or showing physical signs of abuse before running to notify the SRS, we must keep an eye out for student misconduct that could build up to greater risks and terrifying outcomes for students, which brings me back to the underlying importance of knowing my students.
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
Yeah, I agree. Our speakers have been very informative. It has been nice to get a look at all the interworkings of a classroom, aside from just the viewpoint of the teacher.
ReplyDeleteSince we're both in the same position, teaching secondary English, I thought what you said about getting a clearer outlook into the elementary school age group was really inciteful for me. I have been feeling the same way, especially since I want to teach middle school someday. With middle school, especially, there can be so much variation because children don't develop at a set time universally. We really need to know how to teach all grade levels, even if we specialize.
I agree with Rachel that Mr. Rueb's presentation was very powerful. I really liked his idea of letting families use the resources they have available to them to improve student's reading. Newspapers, magazines, even the back of cereal boxes will at least open these children's eyes to words and sentences. I also was interested in learning that bullying is on the violence spectrum that leads up to such acts as murder. I feel like this is something I had always known, but never really made the connection. We need to stop these bullies while stopping them is still possible!
ReplyDeleteIn relation to your additional comment, I also thought that the continuum of violence was an important visual of how one person's actions can so radically affect another person. So often, people seem to justify their actions by saying that 'it's not hurting anyone else'. But even when you can't see the immediate effects, your actions can have major repercussions. The one girl that is always excluded from playground games in middle school, may be the one who ends up using drugs in high school and losing control of her life once she graduates (if she graduates). The continuum of violence is a wake-up call to all of us as teachers that our actions do make a difference. We have the ability to teach students how to treat one another and nip bullying and other harmful behavior in the bud. This ability leaves us with a dramatic responsibility to do the best that we can to teach our students their inherent value as individual human beings.
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