Counselors Panel

I found the counselors panel very interesting and I was surprised by some of the issues that counselors deal with each day, especially in middle school. The fact that one of the counselors at AMS had the experience of sitting in with a girl as she told her mom that she was pregnant blew my mind. I had not realized until this class how sheltered I was in school because I just had very little idea how much counselors dealt with in school. I was struck by the level of confidentiality and trust that the counselors would have to have and how open they would have to be to the needs of all of the students in the school. They truly would have to be open to constant change and always be joyful so that those who came to them would be comfortable to share what they need to share.

I found the contrast between what the counselors at the public school deal with and what the counselor from the private school dealt with very interesting. There are many issues that overlap between schools but the way that the counselors would deal with them are different because of the vision of the school. I was struck by the importance of the communication with the parents that is necessary for the counselor to be effective, but it seems that this would be even more important in a Catholic school where the teacher (or counselor) is seen primarily as an aid to the parent and lets them do most of the caring for the child.

I was concerned as I heard more about how counselors handle problems because I think it is so important for the parents to be contacted whenever there are problems and I hesitate to think that sometimes the preferences of the child would be put above keeping the parents informed. Many of the issues that counselors are dealing with are issues that will have effects on the life of the child for years to come and it makes be nervous to think that the parents would be left out of helping their child to deal with the issues they are struggling with. Again, I realize that I have never been in a situation where I have had to deal with the struggle with a personal issue like this, but I still think that the parents should be involved along the whole way.

Blog #2

While there have been a variety of helpful topics our class has gone over recently I though one of the most helpful in getting a greater insight into the school atmosphere was the counselors panel. While as a teacher you won't always run into every situation, a counselor tends to run into all sorts of different issues and can be a bank of knowledge. Being able to pick the brains of seasoned counselors was an opportunity to see exactly what goes on in schools today. While I didn't have much contact with my schools counselors it was interesting just how much each of the three counselors were involved in the school community. Maybe the most helpful object that I was able to pick up was the fact that as a future teacher it's important to build that strong relationship with your counselors and to not simply forget about the fact you do have that extra support system in place. Simply it's important to not be afraid to go looking for help and going along with much of the themes in this class is that it's essential to continue to build strong relationships with everyone in the school as you'll never know when you will need that extra support in class.

While I wasn't able to be in class when the paras came I have gotten the opportunity to see paras work in class. While I was completing some of my past field experience I got to see a para come into our class and work more of a one on one with a couple students. The paras for the most pat seemed to be a great resource for the students as children who needed that extra assistance wee able to have their needs meet. One of the greatest benefits I saw was for the students with disabilities were given extra attention during tests. Three of the students were taken out of class to get into a more productive environment for each of their successes. Hopefully in my future class I won't be afraid to build a strong working relationship with any paras who are there to help my students succeed. One of the biggest issues I would want to critique with the working relationship with paras I saw is that even though you want to give freedom to paras to work one on one with students it's still essential for you to help out paras with the content material. Since paras pass through a variety of subjects it's important to create an opportunity for the para to receive any assistance with the material and for the teacher to also be there to help educate the para when needed. Creating that working relationship with the para can only better prepare your students with disabilities to succeed in school.

Spooning is to Sex as Marijuana is to Crack: Spooning, the Gateway Drug

Spooning is to Sex as Marijuana is to Crack: Spooning, the Gateway Drug
As Erin pointed out today in class, marijuana has become the gateway drug that lends itself to the ease of its users to experiment with other more “hardcore” drugs. It’s not just in the drug scene that we encounter this cause and effect relationship, though. Start small with anything and there’s no telling what consequences could lie ahead. The same is true for public displays of affection (PDA). One day the kids are holding hands and next thing you know, they could be partaking in spooning, which as we know is very suggestive of the phases thereafter. The ever so scholarly and reliable UrbanDictionary.com defines “spooning” as: “A horizontal hug where the friends/lovers lie back to chest, and fit into each others nooks. Like little spoons in a drawer.” (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spooning)

For those visual learners who need a picture, look no further:






Of course I’m exaggerating on the aftermath of what is to come from spooning, but I think the realization is that students start out very shy when it comes to experimenting, but once they find something that brings them pleasure, rarely true happiness, they have little difficulty in expanding their experimental procedures. A key for us teachers is to realize the importance that achieving “happiness” is to our students, especially the upper grades.

It has become so natural in this materialized culture to accept the flawed view of happiness that is present in all of the typical areas such as media, music, etc., and to see this slowly become more highly and quickly accepted is just sad. It seems as if students lack a way of reasoning that used to come as second nature to previous generations. Instead of analyzing any situation, they’ll take the opinions and promptings of others at face value and adopt the beliefs as their own without thought of any consequence. This can have a lasting impact on the level of their true happiness.

Some may say that the level of true happiness of our students is not the responsibility of the teacher. I will not say whether I agree or disagree, but if it is, some very practical measures should be taken to try to teach happiness to our students. I firmly believe that pleasures such as drugs, alcohol and sex can take away, or at least cloud or cover up the happiness that students could experience. They can form a mask that, after a period of experimentation, the student is not easily able to take off. We as teachers need to be able to recognize the subtle yet prevalent signs of these abuses and take practical measures to counter act the lost feelings that students experience.

How are we to accomplish this goal to an extent that we can impact the lives of the students? Like I stated previously, I think we need to find the problems at the root and take necessary measures to fix them. I know I'm being kind of vague and jumping around the ideas of exactly how to do this, there's a simple reason as to why- I just don't know. Maybe there are some sort of intervention programs that can be implemented in the schools or maybe it's to be taken case by case. I think in private schools, specifically religious schools, it can be easier to take a wide spread intervention approach to teach the fundamentals of what brings happiness and how they are different from the false happiness that our culture promotes. In a public school, this may be a more difficult feat to accomplish. In class meetings, if appropriate, teachers and students can address the issues that the students encounter everyday and how they affect their daily lives and if it makes them more "happy."

Blog 2

I have found the topics we've been covering lately extremely informative. I have also realized how important the counselors and paraprofessionals' roles are in aiding in educating children. I truly enjoyed and learned a lot from the counselor's panel and the paraprofessionals that came into our classroom. As a future teacher, I believe that I willbetter be able to utilize and build a positive relationship with the couselors and paraprofessionals that I may be working with, now that I have a better understanking of what they do. Together we can work to educate the students and find ways to differentiate my instruction to better aid the students understanding of the subject matter.

As far as my thoughts on specific types of sexual issues and how I will handle them, I believe that the parents are the first educators and that they should really be the ones to educate their children about sexual issues, however, I do understand that some parents do not want or feel comfortable educating their children about this topic. I think if the school has a program on sexual issues; the parents should have the opportunity to view it and decide if they want their children to go through it or just discuss the subject matter with the students themselves. Another idea that I think would be good is if the schools gave the parents information about sexual issues and encouraged the parents to discuss the subject with their children.

On the topic of foster care students, I believe that it is extremely important to treat them like everyone else and build a positive relationship with them. These students really need to know that we care and believe in them. In the summer, I work for a Summer Recreation Program and at this program the majority of the students are either in foster care or both the parents are working parents. One day one of the kids was sitting by themselves, so I went and sat down by him and started to play a board game with him. While we were playing he told me many issues that were happening in his life. Sometimes these children just need someone to talk to and need to know that someone truly cares for them.

Alcohol and Drugs

Today's discussion really got me thinking about how and when to educate students about alcohol and drugs. There was a comment made about parents setting a good example when drinking alcohol. For some children this might work, but I think for the majority it will not. My parents and aunts and uncles drank responsibly in front of my siblings and cousins but that did not stop some from misusing alcohol. Then, at one family party my youngest aunt said that she is educating her youngest child (the youngest cousin) about alcohol. My cousin just turned eleven but my aunt has been educating her on the topic since she was about 7 or 8. My aunt believes that teaching my cousin at a young age about misusing alcohol will be more effective than doing it when my cousin is a little older and wanting more independence. I think this is a smart move on my aunt's part and that we as teachers should educate our students, even as young as 7 or 8, about alcohol and drugs. I do not think it will hurt students by making them aware of the dangers, effects and consequences that can accompany the misuse of alcohol and drugs.

Is 7 too young to start discussing and educating children about alcohol and drugs? I don't think so. Especially if you begin the education with the students identifying what foods and drinks are healthy, let them make choices and solve their own problems. This will help build their knowledge of what is healthy and what is not and build their confidence in making their own decisions. Throughout all of their education students need to be reminded of what is healthy and what is dangerous, illegal and life-threatening. Whether it is with food, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, basically anything that can have an unhealthy side; students need to constantly be made aware of what is healthy.

That leads me to another point. We cannot tell students that food, alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sex are good or bad. For example, "Good people don't go out and drink, have sex, do drugs, smoke, over eat, purge, ect...", "Sex is bad, drugs are bad, drugs are bad". These kind of statements do not explain anything about risks and such. I think those words are all together the wrong words to use. The words good and bad should be used to describe how something tastes or smells or something along those lines (in conversations that are fluffy and not serious) . I do not believe they belong in conversations that are as serious as food (eating disorders), alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sex. The one word that should be used is health/y. Students should learn to think about what is healthy and what can hurt their bodies. If I said, "students should learn to think about what is good and bad for their bodies" it would be too vague whereas health/y and other words are more descriptive and positive.

Counselors & Building Community

Where to begin...well let us start with the counselors panel. The first thing that I learned from the panel is that I want my class to know and utilize the counseling services provided by the school. I want my students to feel close enough to not only me but our school counselor and to know that both of us are their for them no matter what they need. A lot of people view counselors just as someone who puts students schedules together and is only there if need be. Well that is definitely not true, counselors are placed in schools for way more then just that. Counselors are great because when you are teaching and you know that one of your students is having a tough time and you do all that you can, but you still have to teach the rest of the class. Well that is a great opportunity to call in the counselor so that student can have someone there with their undivided attention. Yes as an educator I want to be there for each and every single one of my kids but it is not realistic I can only do so much. But that is why the school systems are set up for to have multiple resources for the students and teachers. All this can also be applied to paraprofessionals as well. Both paras and counselors are wonderful resources and as future educators we should definitely be grateful for them in our classrooms and schools.

Okay now onto Shelby, first of all loved his talked second of all he is way too funny! But honest at the same time which I think we all needed with the foster care subject. Its a tough situation for the kids, the foster parents and teachers. I liked how Shelby told it like it was and did not hold back. He admitted that ya its hard and you have kids you hate and that have bad attitudes. But on the other hand you have kids you adore and eventually make your very own one day. I think to build community with foster kids you need to let them know the truth. Admit that you do not know how they feel exactly and you do not know what the are going through, but you are there for them to listen to them and be whatever person they need you to be at that moment in time. I truly believe you need to know and address that student's particular situation, not to the whole class but let the student know that you know what is going on and will be there for them. I think that will give that particular student a comfort and trust with you and will allow bond to form with not only you but the class as a whole. Which in return forms a community!

Pregnancy, Drinking?

I am so overwhelmed right now, that it is hard to write about one thing that we have talked about. So many thoughts are running through my head during class and after class that it is hard to get it down to a few paragraphs. However, I will try.

I wanted to focus on two topics that I felt the most passionate about, so I chose teen pregnancy or sex ed, and drinking. These were the topics that I wanted to share my opinion and my thoughts about in class the most.

My experience with teen pregnancy is probably different from most. I had 7 friends/acquaintances in high school that got pregnant. A few were pregnant more than once. So, I know first hand the effects, and troubles that come along with having a baby in high school. So, I got to thinking... Why are we, as teachers, not being educated about dealing with girls who get pregnant in high schools. Yes, we got one lesson on it our last semester of college. But what about dealing with young single moms who have strong beliefs about their child? How do we deal with that? I have no clue, because we don't talk about it. Teen pregnancy is taking over the country. Ok, that may be dramatic, but it feels like it with shows like Teen Mom and the celebrity that those girls have found. So, I wonder is everyone else freaked out about dealing with these moms? or reacting to these girls? Also, another question why don't we ever talk about the dad? We go on and on about the troubles the mom faces but what about the dad?


Now when it comes to drinking I might have a different view than others, surprise surprise. I grew up in a house that let me drink a glass of wine at dinner and a beer at the lake. I strongly think that it is because of that, I can drink socially without getting smashed at an event. I however think that it is never the right of the teacher to support underage drinking. I agree that it is the role of the PARENT NOT THE TEACHER. We have to be role models for our students not support illegal things. It is not our job to push our beliefs and judgments on our students, it is to steer them in the direction that isn't illegal. Even though I will raise my future children to drink responsibly, I will not speak of that with my students because it is not my place.

Foster Children and DARE

I really enjoyed hearing Shelby's talk about foster kids. This is a topic I had never really given much thought to. I hadn't heard about them in my last 3 years of school. I guess I just assumed they would be like all the other students. I am so glad we took a closer look, because I feel like I am more prepared to have them in my classroom. I think it is a great idea to match these new students up with a student you trust to show them around. If they come in in the middle of the semester, as a teacher, I wouldn't want to spend 30 min going over all my rules and procedures again. I think that's a great thing for the "buddy" to do. Not only does this person have someone to show them around, but now they have a friend. They know there is at least one person in the cafeteria that they know to sit by. I feel like this would help the transition period go a lot smoother. We also need to treat these students the same as the class. They need to be pushed, if not more than the other students. They are probably behind because of all their moving around, but they now have an opportunity in your classroom to close that gap.

The second thing I want to talk about is the drug and alcohol prevention programs. I think that students will remember things that make them feel emotion. I think when speakers come in and are all preachy about the stats and saying no to drinking, student turn a deaf ear. I think speakers that have an emotional story to tell, that makes a difference. It will catch student's attention. I am not saying that it will stop everyone from drinking, but it will hopefully make kids stop and think twice before they do something. In class, I said that you need to know your students to know when to start talking to them about drugs and alcohol. One way to do that could be with the bead box we did today. During the first month of school you could do different survey's, and one could be about drugs or alcohol. Hopefully the students would answer truthfully and you could get a slight idea on where they are with this topic.

Blog, The Second

Both the counselor panel and the our discussion on paras and their roles within the school community gave me a better insight into the student and teacher support systems.  I found it interesting that the counselors dealt with such a range of topics.  Knowing that I can refer students to the counselor is very helpful.  As I prepare to student teach a section of music appreciation for students in the special education program I found it very helpful to hear how paras interact with students and the teacher, this gave me a very realistic view of what I can expect from the paras, and they will expect from me, as I work with them.

As to the issue of sexuality in schools, I find it very sad that today's children are being forced by society to grow-up as fast as they are.  It is lamentable that innocence is no longer valued as it had been in the past.  As teachers I think it is important to model appropriate speech and behavior in this regard.  I also wonder how I, as a teacher in a public school, will be able to discuss matters of sexuality with students from a non-religious stance despite my own religious convictions, and how the schools sex education program will support/came into conflict with my own beliefs.  

Finally, with regards to building community with foster children in my classroom, I hope to nurture a strong community within my classroom that will openly welcome new-comers from any background.  If the chance is presented I hope to talk with the student one on one and ask him or her what I can do to help their progress.    

Valuable Resources for a New Teacher

We have touched on many issues this past week.  I found both the counselor and paraprofessional panels to be particularly interesting.  Having never worked with a counselor and a paraprofessional, I found these sessions to be quite informative.  Prior to the para discussion, I didn’t really have a very clear idea of what a para was or what they did.  It is reassuring to know that teacher’s have such valuable help as counselors and paras available to them.  I will definitely make use these sources of support when I am teaching.  Having another person to talk to and bounce ideas off of will be so nice, especially during the first year of teaching.  Both counselors and paras interact with the students in a different way than I, as a teacher, will.  So having their advice and help will be great.  They will have a different perspective on my students and the learning environment.

I think the issue of sex ed will be a difficult one for me to tackle.  I believe strongly that human sexuality is a sacred gift from God and as such, we ought to respect it.  Also, I believe that kids should be allowed some degree of innocence.  We don’t need to teach young kids (grade school) everything about human sexuality in order to protect them from sexual abuse or harassment.  What we should be teaching kids is that all people deserve respect; we need to teach them that every person is unique and has an innate dignity just because of who they are.  Each person has value and worth, not based on what they can do, what they think, or how they dress, etc.  If kids perceive themselves and those around them as individuals with dignity who deserve respect, they will be less likely to get involved in harmful activities.  We also need to teach kids how to control their actions.  Self-control is possible for children; it just takes a lot of practice.  If you raise the bar, kids will rise to the occasion.  When we make excuses such as, “well, they’re just going to do it anyway”, we send kids the unspoken message that they can’t do any better.  We are telling them that we don’t trust them.  This message needs to change.  Kids are capable of controlling themselves.

"Responsible Drinking"

Nothing much to say here that everyone doesn't either know or can find out easily. What I find fascinating, and sometimes depressing, is when I see grown adults encourage kids to experiment with alcohol and tobacco. Usually illegal drugs are out of the question, but so many adults and parents encourage what they call "responsible" drinking to their children. The news comes out with new stories all the time about parent sponsored parties for minors, where the parents provide boose without letting students drive afterwords. Teachers say to their students to "Don't drink, but if you do, do it responsibly." How can responsible adults behave like this?

First of all, as teachers, we are taught to hold our students up to high expectations. How is this doing that? We expect them to fail. We say to ourselves, "It is inevitable that they will drink underage, so lets help them do it responsibly." We don't just expect them to fail, we HELP them fail. We set them up to fail by our actions that say, "We know you'll do it anyway, its normal to do this, this isn't that important, this isn't WRONG." But it is wrong. We are encouraging them to partake in a pastime that is, at their age, damaging to their future health, addictive, dangerous, and ILLEGAL! That last one might not mean much to others, but it sure means a lot to me.

A responsible parent or teacher would not do this. We need to take a stand, make them know through are words and actions that it is wrong to drink underage. It will damage your developing body and brain, it has greater chance to cause addiction at this age, and you will be breaking the law. Take a stand as teachers. Let students know that underage drinking anywhere is not "responsible", it's the very epitome of an irresponsible person. Any adult that encourages it is not only potentially causing their children or students great harm, but if they provide alcohol they are breaking federal law and run the risk of losing everything in civil court.

When did we start treating the word 'illegal' as if it meant 'discouraged'?

Let's See........

I find myself pretty lucky to actually be learning how to handle all the issues we've discussed so far. As I look back to my elementary school years and even middle school, I wonder if my teachers had to go through something like this as well. I say this because I must have been totally oblivious to what was going on around me (either that or I'm missing like half my memories). I don't recall having fancy programs that teach students about how to react to situations that could be potentially dangerous (those that include drugs and alcohol). Sorry, but D.A.R.E didn't seem that great to me when I did it in fifth grade, mainly because all I had to do was fill out a workbook which I can't even remember the details of. I hope that since my time taking the program it would be more interactive.

Now, we hear of programs that have students role-play scenarios that involve how to react in situations where either alcohol or drugs are present (kind of what we touched upon in class 1/24/2011 towards the end...you know, that really awkward situation Tom put me and Ellen in...). That is such a creative and cool idea. I wish I had gone through something like that at some point earlier in my life.

A point I would like to make also involves our Sexuality topic. We've been talking about how to develop a program to inform students on the topic, but we should remember that we need to encourage students to ask their parents. We need to develop the relationship of not only the teacher/student, but also between parent/child. If a child has a better relationship with the parent, then the child has a better self concept (remember the video we watched in classroom management...yea, I just tied that in).

So what I'm really trying to get at is we, as teachers (the most important factor to keep in mind), need to find ways to help students bond with their parents. I think the most effective way we can do this is to have programs for these "tough to talk about" issues that, for some reason no one ever wants to touch upon, bring students and parents together and talk. I think that is what is really lacking in many aspects of the education system today. I will say this though, my fellow students, things have definitely shaped up better, I mean did you read what I said before? I had to fill out a workbook!!! Who does that anymore?!?!??????

Here we are...

I found the counselor's panel both informative and overwhelming. I just can't get over my inadequacy to really help our students. I knew before that students had those struggles, but not that it was so common. I'm glad we have the counselors to help us help the students.

Regarding paras: I'll admit that I have very little knowledge of how to work with special ed students. I believe that a para in my classroom would be a godsend. With him or her, I would collaborate, but make it clear that I am the authority in the classroom. Their help would especially be appreciated in making accommodations in lesson plans.

I will help to discourage teens from being sexually active primarily by teaching them about the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of marriage. I think teaching them a little philosophy would help, summarized by "You are human, not God and not a dog." For teaching about this, I am a big proponent of Theology of the Body. It is a program that is real and honest about the human person and the role of chastity and sex. As a French teacher, it would be odd for me to this unit on my own. However, I would be glad to team teach it with other teachers.

Foster students will be accepted in my classroom just like any other student would be.  I will give them a brief pre-test to see whether they are behind, ahead, or at the same level as the rest of my class regarding academic knowledge. Working with foster students is all part of differentiating instruction.  I will ask the rest of the students to help welcome the new student. Shelby's visit was very insightful for me, as I have little personal experience with the foster care system. The vast number of kid she has housed (52 in 15 years) really speaks to how unstable and difficult the life of foster kids can be.

No one can escape life

This week has been another blur and I don't even know where to start this blog. Everything again has hit me hard and to be honest I get more scared and more excited to start teaching next year. I can't wait to get started and see if all of us can make the impact on the students that we all desire to.

I have a brief story that I'd like to share from my observation last semester that's related to everything we've been talking about. I was sitting in on an ISS session at Leavenworth high school when this young girl came up to me and the three teachers I was with, “Do you think it’s OK if I eat these (a bag of cheese nips)?” The faculty is almost thrown back wondering why she would even ask, but then she says, “Ya know.... ‘cause of the iron and everything…” And then continued, as she cupped both hands over her stomach, “Ya know because I’m pregnant.” The faculty roared, “Again?! Again?!” The young lady said, “Yeah, same guy! I couldn’t believe it! I was not happy when I found out. I was pretty disappointed and it’s the same guy.” Again and again, she noted that it was the same guy. She acted as if this was surprising. She simply was not excited that she was pregnant again. The faculty said to her, “Girl, you need to practice some abstinence?” She laughed and was un-phased. It seemed that abstinence was not really an option. Another faculty member said, “Yeah you get more action than I do.” The young girl burst out in laughter and walked back to her table with her open cheese nips in hand.

When this happened I couldn't believe it, she hadn't even graduated high school yet and she was pregnant for the second time. It truly awwed me. It makes me reflect what truly is our role as a teacher, what are we really supposed to do if someone comes up and is pregnant for the second time, or is a foster child who has been beaten the night before, or a student who just doesn't know that they have worth and are loved?

After everything we have been talking about, it has become a reality that next year we are going to be facing these students no matter where we are at. No matter what, every student we face will be dealing with some type of issue, even if it is small. I once heard in a talk, that "no one can escape life" No one can escape life! No one! I think as future teachers we need to remember this next year. Every student will have struggles throughout our time with them. Every student we look at needs love, every student we see needs a mentor and someone who they can come to in the midst of these struggles. No matter the problem we truly do have to be a light in the darkness. We truly do have to be an inspiration, no matter what or how we teach, I believe our goal should be to help these students live a better life. I have heard people say that teachers can be the difference, and I never really believed it until now. We can be the difference in a students life, and quite frankly we HAVE to be the difference for so many lives. I think as we go on to next year, no matter what the students exterior potrays, no one can escape life, and no matter the problem we, along with the counselors and paras can help. We need to utilize use both of these people because if we truly are going to have an impact on anyone's life we can't do it alone. We have to be the miracle in their life, and I truly believe that that is our role as teachers.

Blog #2

I am very glad that we were able to discuss students in foster care through this class. The effect it may have on students often seems to go unnoticed in the classroom as they are moved from one household to the next. In high school, I actually held an event for fifth through eighth grade girls to learn about foster care while making tie blankets to donate that babies and small children could keep when they had to move during the winter. A woman from Health and Human Services who frequently worked with students in foster care spoke and answered the girls' questions. She also expressed her appreciation for the blankets that they would be putting together. She told the girls how it would show other kids like them that they care. It was a great learning experience for all. I hope to offer a caring outlook to any foster students I may have in my classroom through building a solid relationship with them.

As for sexuality issues, my role as the teacher could range from consoling a pregnant student to having to deal with two openly gay or lesbian students displaying their relationship. I think my best policy will be to follow the school handbook and my administrator's advice when it comes to situations such as public displays of affection. I feel that the school counselor(s) will also play a crucial role in assisting me assisting a student or in receiving a student that I send directly to the counselor.

I also never really recognized the helpfulness of a para in a classroom environment. The only time I saw them growing up was during my years in elementary school. I think there was one observation experience a few years ago in which I encountered a para as well. After researching the topic, I find that getting to know any paras I may have could be a great learning benefit to me and my students. I look forward to making modified assignments or completing other classroom tasks with a para on my side despite what may seem as an initial awkwardness before we get to know one another.

I have a question, more so for the elementary majors. Say you have a student who is in foster care that becomes very attached to you to the point that she asks if you would take her home to live with you. We can't all be like Miss Honey from Matilda and adopt each child who says this, however. How would you respond?

Reality Sinks In

I have been very lucky in my life. Many of these issues that we have been discussing have seemed distant to me because of how few encounters I have actually had with these issues. However, reality came screaming in for me just this weekend and what is still very surreal to me is slowly but surely sinking in.

I am going to discuss this for the educational value it has for this particular class. I think that it will help us to see how much baggage some of our students will bring in to our classrooms.

Almost twenty years ago now (too long ago for me to remember) my aunt conceived out of wedlock. For this reason she married a man who turned out to be very abusive and mentally unstable. Since that time they have had eight more children (a total of nine all together).

Over the course of the last twenty years we have certainly seen signs of abuse coming from this family, but all of our efforts to help my aunt or the children get out of this situation have been met by our families being pushed away. For years at a time we would have no idea where this family was, or even if all of them were still alive. However, money eventually ran out for this family and they moved back by my grandparents. My grandparents, being the amazing people that they are, tried to support the family in any way they could. They knew that this was the only way that they would have contact with their grandchildren.

In the last month, the oldest of the children turned eighteen and moved out of the house as soon as he could. When he did this, he reported his family to SRS. SRS came in a took the remaining eight kids from the home. With the insurmountable evidence against the father of these children incarceration would have been unavoidable. However because of the impending incarceration this man took his life in front of my aunt.

All of this is just a brief description of the situation. There are countless other factors, known and unknown that have led to this. If you are wondering how you may be able to help, prayers would certainly be appreciated. We can only hope and trust in God that this family gets the help that they need.

Counselors and Paras

I was glad to hear the panel of counselors and the teachers who spoke about paras.  I think that was a new teacher it will be essential to learn about the different resources in the school, and how as a teacher, I can best utilize them to help my students.  It was interesting to hear what counselors deal with, and the way they help students work through the different type of issues that they face. 
I think the way I will best utilize these two groups in my school, is to one, build a relationship with them and understand exactly what they can help with.  By understanding exactly what they helped with, and what they can do, I will best be able to ask them if I think there is a way my student can benefit from them.  I in that way, will need to advocate for my student if they need help.
Sexual Issues, and how to handle them as a teacher was a hot topic in class this week.  This is a situation that will be difficult to handle at times, being as there are so many variables, and so many different opinions.  I think that it is likely that my school will have guidelines on how to handle situations that have to do with difficult subjects, and as a new teacher it would serve me well to familiarize myself with them.  Not that this will alleviate every judgment call i would have to make, it may offer me some direction. 
Of course I will need to follow the guidelines set up by my district, but as for my opinion, I feel that we need to offer students a comprehensive sex education with all the information possible.  It is not necessary for me as a teacher to offer morality advice.  I do not feel that informing about birth control is advocating they use it,  or that saying the condoms protect is encouraging premarital sex.  But unfortunately, some students may make choices that we would not, but if they are informed about what are the options, and understand the consequences they may face, that we are educating them, which is our primary purpose.  We need them to understand what they face, and it is not our position to moralize for them, as many students may have different values than we do.
Students in foster care face many issues, and often have an extra bit of baggage to deal with at an already difficult time in childhood/adolescence.  Getting to know these students as individuals may be even more essential that other students.  Although it is imporant to get to know all students, we may be the first person to show an in depth interest to these students.  I also will want to build a relationship so that these students may feel comfortable with me should they have any problems that they need to confide in me for.

As others have said, so much of this comes back to building relationships with students.  No matter what it is they face, and every students faces something, they will be more likely to trust in us as teachers, if we have taken the time to get to know them, and care for them.   

Link

Here is a link to that specific article. There were several articles about it from different newpapers, but this is one of them. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2009/dec/09121108

The Great Unknown

For me, there are a lot of things I still feel like I do not know because I am such a new teacher. Luckily, I do not have to be an expert about everything all at once. I was glad to be able to learn how to share the burden of teaching my students with others. When I feel unable to handle a situation, I could always employ the help of a counselor, paraprofessional, or other professional to answer their questions. I have never had a paraprofessional in class before, and I was very glad to learn what roles and benefits they provide from the classroom. I have also realized the value of networking with the outside community as a teacher to be able to bring interesting people to my class. For instance, Shelby Ross is such an asset to the Benedictine Education department, and Mrs. Bennett mentioned that there was a guy from the orphan train in Atchison that went around speaking about it. It will be helpful to develop positive relationships with all sorts of interesting people to bring into my classroom. In Wausau, where I will be working, there are a lot of companies that harvest cranberries. Cranberries are unique in that they grow in few places around the world. It would be neat to take my students to see this process and have them learn an interesting form of "expository writing," or following directions, that way.

It was very nice having Chris come along with Shelby to hear his side. His whole attitude and the way he interacted with Shelby showed me another method of relating with students from disheveled backgrounds. I liked seeing how Shelby used "tough-love" tactics with his kids to let them have choices, but using logical consequences. It reminded my of our Love and Logic book in Dr. Osborn's class. I think I would use that technique in class, too. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to get away with as many things as he does, though. :)

I feel sexuality education should be something parents are intricately involved in. I am fairly concerned about whether or not I will have the ability to address sexuality issues or even morality issues in the future. My friend made me aware of a new law signed by every country in the UN, except the United States and Somalia thus far. It was called the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). From what I read, it would give our sovereignty over to a committee in Belgium and would remove all parental rights in public and at home. Many homeschooling groups who chose to homeschool because they wanted to educate on their own terms were concerned about their ability to teach values to their children at all. There was a case in one of the countries where 8 dads were thrown in prison because they refused to let their elementary school-aged children participate in a school sex education play that demonstrated various sex positions. This greatly disturbed me. I think parents should have the right to monitor what and when their children learn about sex. To learn more about this cite and read for yourself, go to www.parentalrights.org. I thought it was really interesting, and I thought I would get the word out because I hadn't heard anything about it. It would be very hard for me to teach a curriculum I thought was harmful to my students or to never be able to guide them toward ANY type of virtue. My philosophy of education is very opposed to this kind of education.

Communication and Relationships

Communication and relationships. These two factors are extremely necessary in running an effective classroom. Teachers need to communicate their thoughts with the class, parents, and other adults in the classroom. If the teacher does not have good communication or her students do not understand her there is going to be a massive separation between students and teachers. They also need to form relationships with these the students so bonds and trust can be formed. Teachers need to put forth the extra effort so students feel comfortable in the classroom.

These factors are extremely necessary when a class is dealing with sexuality, STD’s, and foster care. All of these contributing factors can make a class go from responsible to chaos in a matter of seconds. Therefore it is the job of the teacher to prepare her students before chaos multiples. The most important idea the teacher needs to have is all students are unique, and that their uniqueness does not give her right to downgrade a student. A teacher may have different beliefs than the student, but the teacher still needs to show the upmost respect for the student. This is especially necessary when dealing with students who are Gay, Lesbian, or transgender. The teacher needs to support and love each child she encounters.

One concept that was debated in our class was how to teach students about sex. In school I was taught that sex could lead to unplanned pregnancies, STD’s and relationship loss with friends. I was a public school child who was lucky enough to have my religion to fall back on. I was able to reason that sex was a gift and should wait. However, most of the people I went to high school with engaged in sex. As teachers how are we going to stop kids from having sex? The answer is we are not; they are still going to do it. I believe we need to teach students the good, bad, and ugly about sex. Some students need to hear what can happen if they have sex, but others need to hear that it is a sacred gift from God. I thought as a third grade teacher I was not going to need to deal with teaching this, but I now know I am going to need to be prepared for all types of questions that students may ask. It all goes back to communication and relationships. If a teacher has good communication with her students she is going to know how to vocalize the topic of sex. If she also has a relationship with her students she is also going to know which students will handle the topic and which students she will need to work with on a more one-on-one basis.