“Assuming the best is essential for long term learning and positive connections to take place in our classrooms.” (Smith & Lambert, 2008, p.16)
This quote is short, but I think it speaks strongly and is a fitting end to what we’ve spoken about throughout the semester. Every one of our students can learn. Every one of our students deserves an equal education. And every one of our students should be looked at for the best that they are. Continue reading Let’s see the best in them
“Moreover, a supportive, collaborative environment leads to collective efficacy among teachers, which has been shown to lower the level of stress that teachers experience in response to students’ challenging behaviors…We argue that in a system where the caring feel cared for, exhibiting strength and positive attitudes in the face of stressful conditions becomes the norm.” (Weston et al., 2018, p.117)
It is no doubt that being a teacher means being there for our students. Our job is to help students succeed academically, but we also have a responsibility to ensure that they are thriving socially. Of course, although we may be considered an “expert” in math or ELA, we are definitely not an expert on what each individual student needs separate from an academic context. Our students all struggle with different things, and it is our job to pay attention to our students to notice if there is any “off” behavior. Continue reading Feeling Supported in Order to Give Support
Drawing from years of research, Eliot concludes ‘infant brains are so malleable that small differences at birth become amplified over time, as parents, teachers, peers, and the culture at large unwittingly reinforce gender stereotypes . . . Girls are not naturally more empathetic than boys, they are just allowed to express their feelings more.'” (Way, 2011, p. 28)
This quote really highlights how from a very small age, children are psychologically impacted by the culture that surrounds them. As discussed in the article, boys are just as in need of male friendships as girls are in need of female friendships. They provide security, stability, and an outlet for students–whether they need to confide in someone, let out steam, ask for advice, or just have someone to talk to and laugh with, a friend can provide this support. Continue reading “Man Up”: When Culture Messes with Basic Human Needs
“Transgender students themselves may struggle with a variety of issues in seeking to be authentically seen, including the fear of social rejection and mistreatment or abuse from peers. As a result, many of these students hope to escape notice and to simply survive rather than flourish.” (Orr & Baum, as cited in Kurt, 2017, p. 7)
I found this quote to be important because it not only highlights the social challenges that transgender students, or any students of the LGBTQ community for that matter, may face, but it hints at how these challenges may impact their learning and education as well. We, as teachers, are first and foremost there to help students learn. It is our job and responsibility to provide each and every one of our students with equal education, access to the same resources to enhance their learning, and support their learning in any way that we can. Continue reading We’re not here to survive. We’re here to thrive.
“Mexican and Central American women are among those who risk crossing the border illegally to take on this work and are expected to form close physical and emotional bonds of affection with their more privileged employers’ children or elders in their care, while relations with their own children let behind grow weaker…These complex family circumstances put immigrant children in the difficult position of experiencing two breaks in emotional attachments: first when their parents leave them for America, and second, when they leave their caregiver and extended family, to whom they have grown close, to be reunited with their parents.” (Goodman, 2018, p. 63).
This chapter was filled with an abundance of eye-opening recounts and communications, but this quote really struck me emotionally. It really put into perspective what these students are going through: first, they experience their parents leaving them (in this case, their mothers), often times when they are little, to make money by taking care of other children their same age. In this time, the children form close bonds with their other family members or caregivers, growing up to know them and not their own parents, and forming close parent-child-like bonds with them. And then, all at once, this relation is ripped from them as they leave to reunite with their biological parents, even though little or no relationship may exist between them. Continue reading You Don’t Know What They’re Going Through