M. Suggs- Module 3
Michelle Suggs
Module 3
February 23, 2022
After reading chapters 6-10 in Lenses on
Reading, I think that this week’s reading assignment highlights the
standard and component 6.4- Candidates advocate on behalf of students.
Starting with chapter 6, it is evident that learning and
teaching standards is more than just the academic work. Maslow through his
Hierarchy of Needs Theory discusses needs that go well behind the actual
curriculum. Children need to know that they are safe, wanted, loved, and cared
for- stressing that there is more to teaching than just the academic work. A
student who is hungry is going to be unable to focus on the lessons, as well as
a student who feels unsafe. Unfortunately, many students are not safe, wanted,
loved, and cared for outside of the classroom/school setting, which is what
makes it so important that they have these needs met at school. The researchers
of brain development state that the before the neocortex was developed, the
limbic system developed. The neocortex deals with higher-level thinking skills,
and the limbic deals with emotional needs, such as fear and desire, which
points to the need for emotional issues to be met before higher learning can
occur. This chapter also discusses the need for adequate nutrition, sleep, and
exercise. Teachers and the school system often stress these things around state
testing, but all three are important to learners at all times. Unfortunately,
many children do not get proper nutrition on a daily basis; also, due to phones
and technology, they often lack in sleep and exercise. Teachers have to
advocate for students because they generally do not come to school with what
they need most to learn.
Chapter 7 mentions something that many schools are focusing
on at this time, and that is student-teacher relationships. At our school, we
are stressing PBIS, which basically means that we are rewarding good behavior
in hopes to decrease the bad behavior. According to Bernstein-Yamashiro and
Noam, high quality teacher relationships are associated with multiple types of
positive student outcomes, but a lack of connection to caring adults at school
cited as a major variable of students alienation, failure, and disaffection
from school, and finally dropout. A positive relationship with a teacher or
many teachers may make all the difference between a child’s success or failure.
Chapter 8 explains Bandura’s Social Learning Theory.
Unfortunately, teachers can do very little about what is modeled for children
in their homes, and what happens in the home is often the predominate factor
with children. However, we should do what we can to model appropriate behavior
to our students. My middle school students used to joke with me telling me that
grammar was not nearly as exciting as I was making it out to be! I would tell
them that it was exciting to them too! I almost had them convinced! Truly, if
we are boring and dragging as we teacher or barely teaching, that conveys to
our students that our students that our subject/work is boring and unimportant.
We must love what we teach or at least make our students think that we do. They
are not going to love something we do not love.
All of these are examples of us needing to advocate for our
students. Many times, education is not stressed or emphasized at home. Also,
students often have a less than desirable home life, so they want to be loved,
care for, and successful at school. I had a child last year who was in the
foster care system. I worked with her foster parent at that time. The child
gave the foster parent an absolute fit; she was terrible at home, but she was
fine with me. It was as if she just wanted to please me. I did notice that the
foster parent did a lot of threatening to attempt to control her behavior, and
I am not a fan of threatening children ever, especially when the adult has no
real and immediate intention of following through with the threat(s). The child
and I formed a relationship from the beginning, so she would do anything I
asked her to do. That relationship made all the difference with her behavior in
my classroom.
Whew! Advocating for our kiddos is my passion! Teaching students with disabilities has taught me that many students have not been advocated for in the past. Many parents have not stood in the gap for their kids (which is completely sad). Many parents, unfortunately, are not actively involved in their child's education. The focus of education starts in the home.
ReplyDeleteThe key to a successful classroom is definitely relationships. If there is a mutual respect between the teacher and student, the year will be a whole lot smoother. To be honest, as teachers we see our kiddos more than the parents do. We learn their quirks, just as they learn ours as well. Many students just want to feel loved, safe, and accepted. The classroom should be their safe place.
Alan Maples comments: Though we may learn as educators that reading is not encouraged at home, we must provide that opportunity. In the 7th grade social studies standards, there are reading standards. These standards include:
ReplyDeleteResearch to Build and Present Knowledge
L6-8WHST7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues
of exploration.
L6-8WHST8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
L6-8WHST9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research.
I plan on creating assignments for reading and writing using these standards to encourage more reading and writing in the classroom.