Monday, December 22, 2008
the taxonomy of my winter "vacation"
It's all or nothing around here. I'm either wrestling with defining and reproducing the necessary elements of the portfolio and the instructional unit I'm preparing for next term, or I'm whizzing away with the designing (backwardly, of course), developing, and creating of what I'm sure will be mind-blowingly fabulous pieces of pedagogy. For real.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
what a relief!
good to know...
You Passed High School with an A+ |
 You have the brains of a high school graduate... at least! |
Saturday, December 6, 2008
focusing on poverty issues in education
I've been researching the effects of poverty on young children in terms of their experiences in school, academic achievement, and the correlations between low socioeconomic status and low achievement/graduation rates overall. This issue is of great importance to me because my community is not a wealthy one, and my children attend one of the region's highest poverty schools. That said, a warm, inclusive, and intellectually rigorous and stimulating atmosphere exists at that school; that's why we send our girls there.
As a soon-to-be teacher, I'm very interested in finding ways to address the needs of children from low income (and perhaps high stress) homes. There are as many reasons for the lack of intellectual stimulation and overabundance of stress that we commonly see in impoverished populations as there are families living below the poverty line in our country. This is not a blame game; this is about acknowledging difficulties in our own communities and identifying the tools needed to address them.
Recent brain research suggests that best practices in education, including as much family involvement and communication as possible, can stimulate young brains in productive ways to compensate for early years in which children may not have been read to or talked with as much as is needed for optimal neurological growth and development. Dramatic play, plentiful access to books, and ample opportunities for verbal self expression in the classroom can begin to rewire the brain; these are obviously conducive to enhanced further learning. In other words, we as teachers can somewhat make up for some of the deficits with which our neediest students come to us.
I can't do much of anything about a family's financial situation. I can, however,positively impact the mental and emotional resources of my students. I can offer them a positive relationship with a nurturing and productive adult. And I can help them learn the implicit rules, basically middle class values, that too often go unspoken and yet to which students are held accountable: rules about volume and violence and mental focus and taking turns, for example.
I really want to offer a rich environment to the children living in poverty in my community. I want my classroom and my techniques to stimulate their brains while establishing foundations of knowledge and skill upon which they will then build more and more understanding of their worlds. Because the tools exist to do so, and because educators can make up for an understimulating environment at home, I have a duty to use those tools and do that work. And it will be a joy to do so.
As a soon-to-be teacher, I'm very interested in finding ways to address the needs of children from low income (and perhaps high stress) homes. There are as many reasons for the lack of intellectual stimulation and overabundance of stress that we commonly see in impoverished populations as there are families living below the poverty line in our country. This is not a blame game; this is about acknowledging difficulties in our own communities and identifying the tools needed to address them.
Recent brain research suggests that best practices in education, including as much family involvement and communication as possible, can stimulate young brains in productive ways to compensate for early years in which children may not have been read to or talked with as much as is needed for optimal neurological growth and development. Dramatic play, plentiful access to books, and ample opportunities for verbal self expression in the classroom can begin to rewire the brain; these are obviously conducive to enhanced further learning. In other words, we as teachers can somewhat make up for some of the deficits with which our neediest students come to us.
I can't do much of anything about a family's financial situation. I can, however,positively impact the mental and emotional resources of my students. I can offer them a positive relationship with a nurturing and productive adult. And I can help them learn the implicit rules, basically middle class values, that too often go unspoken and yet to which students are held accountable: rules about volume and violence and mental focus and taking turns, for example.
I really want to offer a rich environment to the children living in poverty in my community. I want my classroom and my techniques to stimulate their brains while establishing foundations of knowledge and skill upon which they will then build more and more understanding of their worlds. Because the tools exist to do so, and because educators can make up for an understimulating environment at home, I have a duty to use those tools and do that work. And it will be a joy to do so.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
