Everything in this class has hit me much harder than I thought. However, I've loved it and even though we are discussing issues that touch us all they are challenging me to become a better person and a better teacher. The purpose of this blog is to challenge myself and you to truly reflect on our role as a teacher and as a human. I want to address some ideas from the class that have been in line with realizations I have had since I got back from a trip on break (ask me about it, it was incredible).
As I look back on my life, I have honestly had everything laid out for me. I have had a great family, great friends, a bed under a roof to sleep in, and three meals a day. I mean we all have our hard times and I did, but it doesn't change the fact that I have had a great life in which I have had the opportunity to live my life to the fullest everyday. However, if I was a student who didn't have three meals provided every day, who didn't know where I was going to sleep at night, or who was constantly worried about coming home and watching my dad beating my mom, or worried that I was going to get hurt again by the bully, do you think I honestly would have time to worry about the math homework due the next day, or the spelling test on Friday? There is no way!! The reason I am able to succeed in school is because I do not have to constantly worry about finding food that night or where I am going to sleep. I have time to strive for A's or time to apply to colleges, I am able to write a two page reflection on an article because I do not have to worry about living in poverty, being abused by my father, or the school bully who is sending me into an emotional spiral downward.
My point is that if we do not do something as educators, than quite frankly there is no room for effective learning. If our main goal is to educate these children in a healthy environment then our first goal needs to be to help these students live a better human life. If we do not help them with whatever they are going through than there is no way that they can even begin to worry about school. It needs to be our priority to help these students become more human before we can help them with their school work. As educators we need to address these issues first; if we have a complete genius in our class, but who is struggling finding a place to shower then they will never be able to reach their fullest potential and lead the best life they possibly can.
If a student is suffering because they are abused, they are homeless, or they worried about walking home in the streets because they might be jumped or shot, or has been wearing the same socks all week then a radical transformation needs to take place in their lives before we can expect them to reach their fullest potential in school.
I have been able to lead a good life, I have been able to succeed and I truly have had the opportunity each and every day to live my life to the fullest a human can live. However, that is because of what I have been given, if a child in our classroom is not given that, then we need to meet them where they are at and help them achieve the next level of living life to the fullest. We need to help them live a better life, a more fullfilling life and help them become more human no matter where they are at no matter what they are struggling with.
I know where you are coming from, Sean. And I completely agree. As teachers we need to take students where they are and than help them reach higher, and not just in education. I can only hope to be a positive role model for them and use my life as a witness for the Truth.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is really easy to take things very hard in this class. All of the topics we have covered are very intense. And, it is even easier to compare the things that we have had in our lives that our future students may never have.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said that there won't be time for effective learning if we don't do something about the needs that these children aren't getting at home. Yes, it gives us added pressures but that is the field we chose.
"A more fulfilling life" These words really made me think about the effects of getting all the opportunities in life. We have to show our students that they can have a more fulfilling life, if they make certain changes and if we help them.
Yea Margarett I completely agree, I know it's the field we chose and I can't wait. All I think that if we don't help these students with these issues then they really won't be able to learn to their fullest potential. We play a role in the change we are not everything, but we have to do something because I think for them to effectively learn then we have to help them with these issues so in turn they can afford worry about there school work instead of there survival.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very good point with this post, Sean. It is so important for our students to understand the inherent dignity in being a human. In a culture where people are being valued more and more for what they can do and not who they intrinsically are, it is so important to remind our students that they have an inherent value and dignity. Even if a student has a disability, is living in poverty, or is being abused, that student needs to know that they are loved and valued as a person. We as teachers have a powerful ability to demonstrate this inherent value to our students by the way that we treat them. We can help them get through their struggles by the little things that we do: providing a safe and positive environment, giving words of encouragement, even having food on hand to give to students who didn't have anything to eat that day. We can follow the example of St. Therese of Lisieux and do little things with great love for our students.
ReplyDeleteSean, I love all of the points your hit on, but the biggest challenge to me is seeing outside of my own life and remembering that everyone has a different human experience. In this, it's hard for me to truly relate to people of different circumstances. It'll be especially hard for me to understand and really grasp what students are going through in their home lives and general lives outside of the school. I'm a constructivist, so I hope I can adapt the experiences of my students to the reality of my own experience so that I can more fully understand their struggles. I want to help students live their own human experience without imposing mine upon them. Hope that makes sense. Basically, meet them where they're at and try to open myself up outside of my own selfishness.
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