I feel as if everything we have talked about so far in class has been quite relevant for us as future teachers to be aware of. These topics are recurring issues that happen to our students very often. As a future elementary teacher, I need to be aware of these issues so I know the best way to approach them. Many of our future students may live in poverty, so it is important for us to know how we can meet the needs of these students. Every child is an individual, so we need to be able to gather their strengths. As a teacher, I will help my students in every way I can to strive for success.
Families in poverty should know there is a lot of help that others are willing to give to them. They are not alone. Poverty can really affect our society as a whole, so it is our job to know what we can do to help those in need. Reub shared with us a lot of useful information for families who live in poverty. He has had a lot of personal experience dealing with families who need our help. He works day in and day out with students who come from families who hardly have enough money to survive.
Bullying is a serious issue that happen to millions of students all over the world. Unfortunately, it drives students to violence. As a teacher, I will address any issues of bullying in my classroom and figure out what the problem is right away. If someone needs to go see a counselor about it, then this needs to be taken care of right away. Do not wait, because we have all seen the affects of someone being bullied. Students should be aware that they suffer the consequences of their own actions.
Child abuse is another important topic that we need to all be aware of in our classrooms. As a teacher, I will be very aware of abusive parents. It can happen to the people you would have never thought it would have happened to. If I see anyone who I feel is suspicious to some sort of child abuse, I am going to figure out the problem more in depth. It is best to pinpoint the problem early on, so it can be stopped! These are our children. Our children are the future!
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.
I like your game plan of dealing with things "right away". Bullying and child abuse are nothing that need to go on. If they are dealt with right away, like you said, hopefully that would stop any escalation of the problem and will prevent anymore pain.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Mr. Reub's presentation was a powerful one. I grew up in a place where there weren't any kids in my class who were struggling with major issues of poverty, in fact, in the school I went to if you were middle class you almost looked poor! I feel somewhat inadequately prepared to help kids who may be living in poverty because I have no experience of it. However, Mr. Reub's presentation helped the problem of poverty become more real to me and also made me more aware of some of the things that I may need to take into consideration when working with families who are struggling with poverty.
ReplyDeleteI also liked your attitude of confronting the problem of bullying right away. I think as elementary school teachers we have an advantage in this regard because the children we are working with are still being formed in what they perceive as right and wrong behavior and we can play such a crucial role in helping them to form these attitudes!
I found your comment about the fact that even parents that you would never suspect are abusing their children might in fact be abusing them very sobering. I think this makes the need for getting to know all of your students and their families very well and early on in the year (before problems arise) is so important!
I agree, that as future teachers, these are all issues that we must familiarize ourselves with, and have "a plan of attack" or at least where we can go for help.
ReplyDeleteTo me, all of this constantly leads back to knowing your students! Knowing your parents! and Knowing your resources!
I know it is easy to say all that now, but I think how busy a first year of teaching will likely be, and I wonder if I will have the same charisma and passion about these issues as I do on this blog. Well, all I can come up with, is I better. This may be the area that takes extra effort: to get to know parents, for me to reach out to them, if they are not reaching out to me. To try to make a connection with one of all of my students interests, even the quite child who barely wants to talk. These are the things that may take extra time in teaching, but they are truly the things that may make the most difference in my opinion. A kid will likely survive if they get a low score on a Kansas State Assessment, but they may not survive if they are a constant victim of bullying or child abuse.
I agree with what you said about Mr. Rueb working tirelessly to help the students in the school. That was something that stuck out to me as well from his presentation. He really put a face to poverty though his stories and personal experiences he had with these issues.
ReplyDeleteThe stories that influenced me the most were of him taking the initiative to actually go to the homes of the children to speak with the parents. He went above and beyond what is expected of a teacher. If he heard that a student was not going to make it into class then he would personally go and pick the student up. He believed that each day missed by a child is a lost opportunity for them to better their lives.
Mr. Rueb's presentation really encouraged me give that personal attention to each of my students.
I really like your take action plan. I think many teachers today and in previous years just let bullying slide until it became too serious. But I think with a take action plan that tries to resolve the problem right then and there will not only be effective at that current moment but for future bullying issues as well.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that we all need to be aware of abusive parents. During our discussions on child abuse, I could not help but think of one of my experiences. While I was in either second or third grade, one of my peers was throwing a birthday party and I was invited. When my parents went to drop me off they heard the parents yelling/fighting back and forth, so they went to the door and told them that we were going to visit my grandparents and that I couldn't stay but wanted to give their daughter a present. Then we left. Two years ago that girl's dad went into a store that her mom was working at in our town and started shooting at her.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of taking quick action against any bullying or other actions which might be occuring in your classroom. Teachers must make sure that students don't feel alone in school but also at the same time teachers must be willing to use their resources as well. I think from listening to the counselors panel its always important to go to your support group with dealing with problems in your classroom. The support might give you new ideas to attack any problems inside your class.
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