Week of 6/15

This week we spent a lot of time talking about things that are really hard for me to understand and to comprehend. These things are also very sad and aren't very fun to learn about. This week we learned about poverty and abuse.
We spent a lot of time learning about poverty and how it negatively affects the development and growth of students along with their ability to learn. I was not aware of how big of an effect poverty has on student success. This week I have come to understand that poverty causes major stress in families and students and that when students are continuously stressed out then their ability to learn really suffers and they become less successful. Also because of poverty children are less likely to see their parents and are less likely to learn from them. I also watched Dr. Mike Edwards video Saving Brains, A Grand Challenge which talked about how a having a relationship with parents where the students are offered support helps them to develop better. When families are in poverty they are a lot less likely to have that relationship. Because of these factors then the students are likely to be less successful.
We also talked about abuse a little and what our role as a teacher in that situation is. We talked about how if we learn about abuse first hand by a student telling us or seeing marks on the student then it is our duty as teachers to tell someone. We also talked about how if we are reporting first hand signs of abuse then we as teachers are protected. Today I also had an experience that made it very real to me, Brother Cloward came into my other class with him and told us that one of the practicum students had first hand been told about abuse. To me I hadn't ever thought much about it, but this helped me to realize that it does really happen and that it is our duty as teachers to help our students the best we can whether it be through abuse or poverty or whatever their specific needs are we should be there to help them.