Poverty is a hard concept for me to grasp. I went to a school where I did not see a lot of poverty; everybody I interacted with appeared to have anything and everything they needed or wanted. For that reason it is hard for me to know where poverty stricken students are coming from. However, that does not mean I can slack off. Instead it should make me work harder to understand my where my students are coming from.
The saying that keeps coming up in every class is, KNOW YOUR STUDENTS and FAMILIES. Teachers who know their students and have a strong desire to see them reach their full potential have the opportunity to help a child get out of poverty (among many other things). That is a simple, but daunting task. It’s hard for me to believe that I can get a child out of poverty. However, by helping that child set goals and feel apart of the classroom community will help that child have a better future. Knowing your students also goes beyond poverty. Knowing the child can help you help the student. A child needs to know they can trust them and that you are going to listen to them. Knowing the students can also help you determine if a child is being abused or bullied.
Proactive. This simple word can change the life of one child or better yet can change the curriculum of a school. According to the Merriam –Webster dictionary, proactive means acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes. Are schools taking the necessary steps to be proactive in the prevention of bullying? According to the movie we watched, many schools are being reactive. Schools are attempting to fix a problem after it is to late. A school that only reacts to a problem is only going to fix the problem for a short time. They might start a new program, but that does not mean it is going to stick. However, if a school is proactive, bullying ceases to exist. One thing that really struck me was that the students are the main contributors as to if an anti-bullying program will work. If the students are aware of what bullying is and know that it is not allowed in the school. I know it will be hard to implement a program, but being proactive seems like the only way to go so that all our students will be happy and successful.
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'm going to just stop and comment on your first sentence/paragraph- "Poverty is a hard concept for me to grasp." I completely agree. Mrs. Bennett mentioned a blind side that we may have when it comes to certain issues that we have never personally encountered. I feel as though I have never been exposed to true poverty as much as this education has tried to subject us to it. Sophomore year, my roommate, Nikki, and I tried to do an experiment called the Poverty Project for phychoed. development with L. Hansen. We wanted to try to experience what we could of it. So we made a plan to sleep outside, not use any money, not go to cafe or use a card swipe at any other dining location, etc. It worked for about 2 hours until my roommate couldn't take it anymore, said "I'm hungry!" and ran inside. I feel that even if the experiment had worked for the full length of time, I could still never experience the fullness of poverty because it includes so much more than just physical shelter and food. It's an entire mentality. I hope that through some experience with kids who have this mindset, I can come to a greater knowledge of what it is like for them, while still being thankful for the blessings I have in my own life.
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