I received several positive comments about my "Teacher's Toolbox" presentation so I thought I would share it on the blog for all the "Future Teachers" among us.
Childcare is a problem that cannot be fixed over night. As professional educators, it is important to look at such hard to fix problems and ask, "How can I make a difference?" This approach will keep us from chasing rabbits and fix our attention on specific tasks that we can do in order to make a difference in the lives of children and their families.
One way to approach a problem like child care is to create a "Teacher's Toolbox" (resource file). As you run across information that you think will be helpful, place it in a manila folder and file it in your toolbox. For Chapter 5, I chose to make a folder on the following topics:
1. Childcare Ratios - containing a ratio comparison of minimum standards for the state and NAEYC teacher-child ratios.
2. Childcare Centers with NAEYC Accreditation - containing a list of NAEYC centers in the area.
3. Quality Child Care - containing a DVD that shows practical advice for parents searching for child care.
This information could be used in the following examples:
1. During meet the teacher night, a single father explains that he is looking for quality day care for his 2 year old child. Because of the information in my "Teacher's Toolbox," I am able to share information on minimum standards, NAEYC accreditation, and provide him with a list of local child care centers that meet NAEYC accreditation.
2. While having coffee with some of my coworkers, I learn that they have several parents that need information about finding quality child care. I suggest that we organize an information night and allow the parents to view the DVD on quality child care that I have filed in my "Teacher's Toolbox."
As professional educators, we will come across many large problems that cannot be solved over night by one person. It is important to remember that information is a great "tool" when it comes to helping others. A simple task of collecting and sharing information really can make a difference in the lives of others - especially with the big problems!
I was struck by the stat. that 60% of African American homes are single parent families. I know of a support group for single African American women parents, "Mocha Moms," NPR checks in with them weekly. In the link below, the "Mocha Moms" are talking about the role of "extended family" care vs. professional childcare. All of these moms ofcourse had to work. They described how their family members where not always their first choice, usually because they either lacked other capable family members, or the family members did not have similar parenting philosophy. However, they also mentioned many ill-equiped childcare facilities including one that as a rule when a child cries "refuses to hold and nurture" them but rather lets them "cry it out," the Moca Mom ofcouse pulled him immediatley out. I honestly, can not even imagine how a single African American women raises a child or even multiple children while holding a steady full time job. The text talks about the impotance of intense nurture the first three years of a childs life, I went to a daycare as a litte kid and I personally believed it did inhibit needed early nurturance. Ideally, in my own life I want to stay home with my kids until they are old enough for pre-K. The moms even mention a written contract with family members! LINK: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14151163
One of the topics in unit 4 that I found particularly interesting is the issue of socialization of children. Socialization is a very important aspect of the child’s development and begins at a very young age. Many agents such as the school, the peer group, the church, and especially the media are involved in socializing children. These agents each play an important part and have powerful influences on the process of socialization.
The family has the primary responsibility for beginning the process. Parents have an enormous nurturing responsibility that entails emotional and social development of the child. The book states that socialization of young children involves learning to relate to a variety of people in varying circumstances and modifying behavior in different environments. This is an important step in the socialization process because this will predict how they will behave in their adult life and how they relate with others. It has been stated by different psychological theories and research that a child’s experiences will predict their behavior and emotional state as an adult. Nurturing parents need to teach their children these necessary characteristics because it will affect their ability to be a successful individual functioning in an adult life. Parents do indeed have a significant and profound influence on the child and how they will function throughout their life. However, as the child begins to mature and grow they come in contact with different agents of this socialization process.
An author named R.M. Berns in 2006 stated that today, when children enter the school and community life, these other agents begin increasing influence on their socialization. In earlier periods of history, parental influence was the main socialization factor in children’s lives but as the differences in mores and values increase in accordance with the communities increasing, the parental influence has declined and the community influence (peers, schools, media etc.) has risen. We need to realize that parents instruct their children differently, and that the different ways the children are instructed will influence how they learn in an educational setting. Therefore, we need to be aware of this decline in parental influence and also the increase of heterogeneous societies that have become more prevalent today.
OK I AM NOT SURE IF WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A COMMENT, BUT I JUST WENT AHEAD AND MADE AN ACCOUNT AND DID A BLOG! AND YOU SAID IT COULD BE OVER ANYTHING FROM THE CLASS! I CHOSE FAMILY DIVERSITY! HERE IS THE LINK TO MY BLOG!
In this class I have learned more than I ever thought that I would. I believe that this class has opened my eyes to how important a community and a family could affect a person. For example, take my brother and sister and I. When we would get ready to go to school my mom would take us to school and my neighbor would bring us home. My mom and our neighbor did not want the children in the neighborhood to have to walk to school like they did so they advised a plan that would have the children brought to school and pick up from school. If our neighbor had not brought us home after school then who knows what could happen if we walked home from school. Also this class helped me realize how effective the media was on adults and children. I knew that the media affected the general public however I was so clueless to see how it affected it. In addition this class helped me understand how expensive day care was and how there was help for the public who could not afford day care. In the end this class has help me become more aware on how the public and media could be good and bad. I am glad to have taken a class that has opened my eyes.
What I have learned from this class is that everyone comes from a different background. We learn different values, morals, and religion from our family, friends,and community . I think that it's great that we are different and we take what we learned from this class into our own classroom. That is, not every child comes from a "Perfect Family". You have to have high expectations for every child, not just the children that have good grades and show an interest in what is being taught in the classroom. And as part of our job is to to keep it interesting, challenging, for every child and unfortunately this is where many of us fail. As future educators we can not do this because we are not doing our job and we are not helping the children exceed. We need to keep in mind that not all children went to sleep with a meal, or mommy and daddy lost their job, or they couldn't afford school supplies this year because only one parent is working. These are some issues that some children are confronted with everyday of their life and children are very aware of their circumstances. So, if a child comes in to your classroom with a bad attitude or is angry, don't assume that this child is a bad child. Talk to the child and see what is effecting him/her in his or her school work. See how you can help him or her. Remember, we are the educators who are educating the future generations to come and I hope everyone goes into the profession with a open mind and see the child for whom he or she really is.
This class was definitely different than I expected it to be. I am not planning on becoming a teacher, this was just an elective for me, but I did learn some things I never would have thought of before. I really enjoyed hearing many classmates perspectives on the subjects and the way they were brought up. I grew up in a pretty ordinary suburb and was not exposed to many people that grew up differently than me and it was an eye opener to hear some of the stories.
The other subject I found most interesting was all that went into defining children with disabilities and the problems they have to go through to get taught properly. I never knew there were so many laws and regulations against it.
But anyways, my experience with this class has been good and I have learned of information that I can apply when I have my own children someday!
I was not sure if we were supposed to create our own blog either, so just in case the comment is not the correct way to do this, here is the link to my personal blog:
This class brought awareness to how different people really live. With this awareness, I feel it to be very disturbing that our text books and trainings are outlined to be fitting for the "normal family" and not only that but it trys to rear us as possible teachers to teach with this "normal" being the only exceptable study. Will we ever realize that we are actually pushing our children out of school rather than in with being so set in our ways with the current text books and teachings? This is 2007 with 2008 approaching and we live in a world full of more chaos and changes so shouldn't our teachings adapt? For example, food high as hell. People not about to go spend their last dollar on something nutritional just to satisfy the teacher's request to help get a good grade. Based on my observations, they're going to go buy them something good and filling like a snicker, study their behind off and show up to take the dog gone test. We so caught up in promoting "No child left behind" and I think its the education system that needs to catch up. These kids smart as some of us these days and it isn't because they sat down and read how to be a good student, it's from playing "Survivor".
It was very suprising to me how different one family is from the next and how important the schools and communities are in raising a child. I have learned so much through out this course with Marin.
In chapter three of Families, Schools, and Communities I learned that the main cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing for very low income families. As a society we tend to think of the homeless as unemployed males who are usually substance abusers that wonder the streets, but this is just not the case. More than 25% of homeless are families and 58% of these family members are children.
In the class text, it briefly list the effects homeless children are prone to such as poor health, anxiety, depression, and poor attendance which leads to low academic achievement. This is really all that the book covers on this issue, but I wanted to know more.
I think it is beneficial as a future teacher to know more in dept the troubles children in this situation face. I feel as though the chapter should answer question like: 1) “How to tell if a student is suffering from homelessness?” 2)“How can counselors, teachers, and communities reach out to assist these students?” 3)“What are the emotional and social effects on students facing homelessness?”
I found an amazing website
www.utdanacenter.org
It expands on this issue and answers these questions and more. From this site I learned in more detail how being homeless strains a child’s learning in more ways than one, it is not just about not having a permanent home to sleep in every night.
I also found that there is a law called The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act that protects the rights and needs of students in homeless situations.
I think it would good for the class text book to mention this so that we as potential educators are aware of laws such as this. The issues surrounding this topic deserve a closer look than that of which the book gives us.
I hope others can find this wesite useful as they procede further in their careers!
I actually went into this class thinking that I couldn’t really learn much. However I actually did. Many times we are only familiar with what we have personally experienced in life, and that’s all we really see and sometimes choose to see.
Everyone has different ideas and perspectives on relationships and child raising. The book actually gave me many examples of real life situations.
I believe it was chapter eleven dealing with same sex parenting. My immediate reaction to reading that heading was that it is extremely wrong and should not be done. However in reading the chapter, I was better able to understand the desire a couple of the same sex to raise a child. At first, my thought was that it is un-natural for two men or two women to raise a child, and how confused that child would be. Then the book helped me realize that their are numerous married couples of the opposite sex that are horrible parents and don’t show their children love and compassion. That’s why many children are growing up lost and confused.
So if two same sex parents so desire to be parents and are ready to offer up unconditional love, then why not, who am I to say no.
The open class discussions sometimes seeming to be class debates also gave me more insight into the lives of others and how family situations affected their student life and how they were received by their classmates as well as teachers. I did learn more than I expected going into the class. That was very encouraging.
I've decided to write about a reaction that Professor Martin had us write about in class.
After reading the article on lesbian parenting, from my understanding the two main concerns presented in this article were that children raised in this type of family would be subject to bullying and that they would be at risk for more female characteristics. Because of how our society is currently, I do agree with the first argument that children brought up in this type of family may be bullied but I do not agree with the other concern.
This year in my class all about play, we discussed parent’s affects on children with gender biases. The important idea that I learned from this class was that you should avoid gender biases at all costs. For example, fathers shouldn’t leave their daughters home if going to a sporting event or hunting and mothers shouldn’t deprive a boy if he wants a Barbie doll for Christmas. I learned that children will go through fazes playing with all different toys and whether or not they prefer to play with a certain gender stereotyped toy doesn’t determine the outcome of their sexuality preference. As long as lesbian parents give their children opportunities to play with different toys there shouldn’t be a difference in a child in this environment compared to a lesbian home.
To also give a personal example, I grew up with a tom-boy mother. She hunts, fishes, snowmobiles, does not wear much makeup and wears guys clothes. I didn’t have much guidance on many “girl things” growing up but I’m about as “girl” as you can get! Of course my parents allowed me to play with whatever I wanted but growing up in this type of setting I was always playing sports and was ever exposed to things like dance. I wouldn’t change a thing about my family for the world and this also makes me believe that children growing up in a lesbian family are not necessarily going to be any more feminine than those in a nuclear home.
I enjoyed learning about marriage and the importance of establishing healthy relationships. Relationships are a huge part of life and who we are. The way we are brought up, our religion, and our experiences all affect the way we learn to deal with other people. In Unit Two we learned how not only society but also biology plays a big role in who we are. We also learn the importance of loving and being loved. In article seven Shulman says, “Marriage is dead! The twin vises of church and law have relaxed their grip on matrimony” (Shulman, 37). It made me incredibly sad to learn that fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. As a society we have made it too easy to just “give up” when things get a little hard. The grass is greener attitude or the search for that one and only soul mate is keeping us from having healthy marriages. In article six titled “This Thing Called Love” Lauren Slater describes the adventures in her love life. Hearing stories like hers, describing how love isn’t always butterflies and how normal it is to be “comfortable”, makes my life seem more “normal”.
Relationships are hard and the exciting passion you feel at the beginning isn’t always going to be there. This is important to me because I feel so many people take this for granted. When given an inch, people tend to take it. Now that divorce is so easy, people are taking advantage. I miss the days of our grandparents when marriage really meant something, and when children were instilled with manors and morals. If we don’t set good examples, what are our children suppose to model after? In chapter four of Families, Schools, and Communities, “most new parents emulate the parenting skills they observed and experienced in their own childhood” (Barbour, 92). Divorce is difficult for every one, especially the child. Now each parent is reduced to one income, and having to work even more to make up the difference. More work means less time for parenting. This can leave these children hurt and confused, and as soon as they get into the groove of their “new life”, a step parent and step children are thrown into the picture. There are exceptions to the rules, and in some cases divorce might be better for a child than an unhappy or abusive situation. As teachers we need to be sensitive to all family structures. I found chapter four very informative about the roles and experiences of parents. I don’t have any children myself, and have never had to deal with divorced parents or step siblings. Reading these articles are important to be a better, more well rounded, diverse teacher.
In conclusion be true to yourself when it comes to relationships. A committed relationship is about happiness and sharing your hopes and dreams with some one while exposing yourself to weakness. It is about having someone to learn and grow with. The benefits of marriage are listed in Article Seven, The Family. Financial security, more assets, even health are all listed as benefits (Shulman, 37-38). As future teachers we need to realize the importance of commitments, and healthy relationships so we will be able to instill these qualities not only in our children, but in our students.
Thank you Martin for a great semester, and for all of the heated class discussions! I feel I learned a great deal not only about family, sex, religion, and community, but a great deal about myself! It was such a unique experience to listen to everyone's life experiences. I love that everyone is so different. We all come from different "walks of life" and have our own opinions, yet we are all in school working for a common goal. I would like to thank everyone for sharing a little bit of your life with me! Don't be a stranger!
I really learned a lot in this class and i honestly didnt expect to. I mostly learned to value other peoples thoughts and views because you can learn a lot from everyone you meet as corny as it sounds. This class really made me open my eyes and see things differently.
I posted a reflection I did on divorce and how it affects the people involved.
Tearing A Family Apart In a day and age where the divorce rate is at an all time high in America, we as future teachers are going to have to face the subject of divorce at some point. A child coming from a broken home where the parents are divorced or going through a divorce can suffer from a lot of social and emotional damage. Chapter four talks about divorce and how it will affect the parents and the children, but it only mentions briefly the effects divorce can have on children concerning their schooling. I came from a home where my parents divorced when I was in the 1st grade and later remarried each other. Even though at the time my parents tried to act civil, it was oblivious even to me, a child, that they weren’t happy. I think that the separation definitely had an effect on my schooling. For one, I never wanted to be at school, I was always “sick” and had to go home. I would tell my teachers I was going to be gone during the week cause I was going to stay with my grandparents. I never wanted to be at school and while I know that was just me being a kid I think the fact that my home life was unstable also made my life as a whole unstable. The book addresses the fact that divorce can cause “anger, sadness, aggressiveness…”(Barbour Pg.110) but it doesn’t really talk about what the divorce can do to a child’s education. A kid can go to school and take the negative attitudes from home with them. It can cause them to do poorly on schoolwork, it can make them treat their friends and teachers negatively, and divorce can just effect how a child feels about school in general. They won’t want to see all their friends who come from “happy” families, they won’t want to draw pictures of their families, it just effects aspects you never imagined it would. Another thing the book doesn’t discuss concerning divorce and schooling is the programs that schools offer to help the parents and the children. When I was in school I would go talk to the counselor once a week with other children whose parents where also getting a divorce. It helped a lot because I was able to express my feelings and relate with other children. I think these programs are important and can really have a positive effect on the children. The book stated briefly that “support groups are available”(Barbour Pg. 110) but it didn’t go into any detail of the good that can come from those groups. As future teachers we need to be educated and truly understand the effects that divorce has on the children. Most likely there will be at least one child in our classrooms that will have parents who are either divorced or going through a divorce and we need to know how those children might act and the things we can do for them. Teachers need to support these children, offer them love and guidance, let them express themselves in the ways they need to as long as it doesn’t harm them or their classmates, and just be there when they might need someone. As a teacher you will be someone they look up to and when their home life isn’t stable they might look to you for some stability. Parents and teachers alike need to remember that divorce will have a huge effect on children whether they let it show or not. A lot of kids may feel they have to be strong for their parents but on the inside they might be breaking down. Parents need to remember that how they act through and after the divorce will affect their children in school and life in general. Teachers need to remember the effect divorce will have on their students when teaching them, disciplining them, and just trying to be there for them. Divorce is a negative thing, but if it is handled the right way children can grow and learn from it.
I am in a unique situation; my family is VERY diverse. I am 1 of 9 children... 4 adopted and 5 biological. The 4 who are adopted are from a hispanic background and I, obviously, am not. I feel that I am very blessed to have such a great deal of diversity in my immediate family. I feel that when I become a teacher, my experience will only help streghtn my knowledge of my students and their background.
Taking this class opened my eyes even more to just how much everything around you makes an impact and influences the way you behave, think, and accept certain ideas and situations. I feel lucky to have been able to grow up in this generation where there have been drastic changes in how things work such as types of families and types of relationships you share with different people. Chapters 3 and 11 both discuss the changes throughout the years from the norm being a classic nuclear family to numerous other types including interracial families, families with single parents, teenage parenting families, and families headed by homosexual couples. As future educators it is extremely important to try and understand these situations, even if you do not agree with them. Children of these families need as much support as any other child and helping other children outside those families is an essential task that we need to take care of.
This class has been a combination of so many things. We've learned about each other's own personal experiences with life and how they connect with different issues children in our classrooms might be experiencing. The one thing I've come to realize from it all is that no matter what preconceptions we might have as teachers, we must face our students with open minds and open hearts. There are so many hidden issues that might be plaguing a child. Anything from religion to having a different family structure than others in the classroom can alter the way they learn. As an effective teacher it is our responsibility to use these differences as a positive in the classroom. This could include activities that embrace their differences rather than seclude for being different.
What I found to be the most interesting in this class would have to be all the presentations and discussions about children with disabilities. I didn't really know too much about disabled children and all the laws that go along with it but after hearing all the personal experiences a few classmates shared and just learning the information other people talked about really kept me interested.
I have learned that family is an important part in childrens education. We as educators can help facilitate the interactions between the family and the students. This is what I have learned on adotion through my service learning project. Adoption Process First you need to attend a Gladney information/orientation session Than begin pre-adoption parent training class Complete application paperwork Do home study process Get approval of adoption file Begin looking at potential children Submit home study on your selected child Participate in a matching process Have the child placed in your home Have monthly visits from a supervisor Lastly, have the adoption finalized Required Criteria for Adoption You must be at least 21 years of age Financially stable Be responsible and mature Complete an application Give information on your background and lifestyle Provide references Show proof of marriage and/or divorce Agree to a home study which also includes visits with other household members Complete a criminal background check Attend training to learn about issues of abused and neglected children
I really enjoyed this class. I was amazed t the amount of information I learned from my classmates. Martin was an amazing facilitator and I am so happy that he pushed the class to think outside of ourselves. I learned a lot of valuable info that would be great as a future educator.
The topics in chapter 3 that were of interest to me were the Single-Parent Families and the Underclass economic group. What especially caught my eye under the Single family section on pg. 63 was the reflection topic of whether or not to call a divorced parents family "broken". The book also says that to call this family "broken" would mean that the resulting single or blended family is wrong in some way. I don’t think that we should use the term “broken families” for this exact reason. I don’t think that one type of family is better than the other. Of course, the traditional family unit is ideal, but things change and life happens. Is it more beneficial for two parents to stay together who are abuse to each other and the children or to separate and allow extended family members to come in and help out? The Underclass group was interesting to me because it seems as if there is little hope for a family in this group if someone isn’t strong enough to break this cycle. I think that in a family situation such as the underclass a Teacher’s job is more important in a child’s life. We should speak to our students in positive ways and encourage them in their academics. I think it would be easy to see a student from an underclass background and think there is know hope. It is also important to try and build a positive relationship with our students’ parents whether or not we think they would want to. As a Teacher it is important not to assume that Parents from lower socioeconomic status don’t care about their children’s education. They just may not know what to ask or how to get help. I think if we show interest in our students and believe they can do things they too will begin to change their mode of thinking about themselves (Self- fulfilling Prophecy pg. 6).
Obviously, this course and its textbook touched on a number of important topics. Unfortunately no one topic was researched and discussed extensively enough as to educate those of us within the class. The majority of our learning came from our own field experience and the sharing of more in depth discussions led by fellow students. Overall, I did enjoy this class, but instead of typing a final reflection on one topic from the course, I wanted to take the opportunity to address something else I noticed. There were clearly controversial topics touched upon, ranging from gay and lesbian parenting to forms of effective punishment. I understand the political correctness that we are forced to display as to not offend, but in this class I felt like many people held their feelings back because they were trying to give the answer they thought everyone wanted to hear, and if you were in class often enough you know I spoke a lot, maybe even too much. We all have an opinion that causes us to put ideas in the category of right or wrong. I would have liked to have heard more honest open opinions. I take these kinds of classes to learn about topics and gain insight from other people’s shared thoughts. I know that some of what I believe in may offend some people, but it is simply who I am. We are not meant to all be the same kinds of people that give the same kinds of answers. What makes us different is what’s inspiring. Let’s learn from one another.
Media influence on children The jist of my presentation is how we as a society have let the media take a huge role in the developement and up bringing of children. In the distant past children were a value to society in many ways, including as helpers to the family in farming, house work and raising of siblings just to name a few. During those times children’s main influence was the family, which, due to necessity, would grow children into productive members of society with a strong work ethic, family values and a respect for the community. Unfortunately, many parents have, possibly due to the need for double income, let others become the main influence in their children’s lives. These other influences are not always negative, for example, school and extra curricular activities can have a positive influence on children’s lives. Television and the internet can also be positive resources for learning and expanding knowledge. But sadly, all of the positives attributed to both of these media sources come with an alarming amount of advertising, violent or inappropriate programming, and of course the influence from TV personalities. So while children were once contributing members of society, many now tend to be super consumers in “need” of the latest fashions and have the Paris Hiltons and Lindsay Lohans of the world as role models.
First of all, I would like to start by saying I have really enjoyed this class. It has been Awesome to learn from all sides of the spectrum. To have so many ideas from so many different points of view will only better all of us. That is along the lines of the main thing I took from this class.
I have learned, through readings and class discussion, that it is very important to teach to the individual. It is neccessary to understand who they are and where they come from. To know a little about thier background, home life, etc. The classroom is such a diverse place, and that is what makes it beautiful.
So, even though I feel very strongly about the way I believe life should be lived, it is so important to have an understanding of other people's moral upbringing. Realizing that everyone is different and respecting that fact will make me a much better teacher in the future. This class has really helped form my approach to teaching.
Thank you Dr. Martin and everyone else in this class. Good luck to all of you.
Hey Guys I also wanted to inform you that my Presentation for CH 10 of the Textbook has been posted for a few weeks. CH 10 was about the Curriculum of the Community. The curriculum of the Community is basically what children learn from their environments and the people around them. Also the idea that who we know as well as what we know can enhance our lives. For example, this blog spot is a great example of a community curriculum because we can learn so many things from the exchanging of ideas.
I created the powerpoint as a tool to show how the San Antonio community is partnering with area schools to enhance the eduction of our students and families. Next to the Agency names I posted a link to their websites. Their websites provide info on the services the community can use. Some services require that you meet certain qualifications and others are free.
As a future educator there is are a few links on teacher resources and ways the community provides money or materials to further enhance subject material.
Check it out I'm sure you will find something of interest to you.
Wishing you all the best of luck on finals and in your future!!
Single parent homes was the topic that caught my attention right away. It hits so close to home with me and as a future educator and possibly a guidance counselor, I want to be more aware if personal problems with the child are related to the single parent households.
I know it has affected 3 different people in my family, but that of course doesn't speak for the majority population.
I want to research the statistics and do background psychological research to help me help the children cope with there homelife problems. With the knowledge I gain i will better understand; therfore, better relate to the children dealing with the single parent situations.
This class was chosen as last resort to fufill an elective credit. I had no idea what to suspect and don't have the intentions to teach but to work in child protective service. I have learned so much from this class that I honestly did not really expect to. From all the different issues teachers may face in their career with differnt children is astonishing. With everything you all are going to have to confront, I believe it is safe to say teachers are WAY UNDERPAID! Although as a social worker I i will be also. Families have the responsibility to care for the children but a majority of each day children will be with teachers. This is a big responsibility. I am thankful I just happened to choose this class!
“Marriage is dead! The twin vises of church and law have relaxed their grip on matrimony” (Shulman, 37). Marriage is and istitutionalized, government approved act. Long gone are the days that marriages were arrainged and built on a premise of covenant regardless of emotion. This covenant was the undying commitment between to parties that regardless of situations, they were committed to do whatever it took to make the relationship work. This covenant was an unbreakable contract.However, with the prgression of time, marriage has now become a product based on emotions--more specifically, love. And because sociey has shifted from "covenant" to "love" we have seen an influx in divorce. It is my belif that the true foundation of which marriage was even established is now dying!People get so wrapped into "emotions" that they become blinded to the true meaning of a covenant relationship. By comming into a relationship with a conscious decisiion to NEVER give up on one another, it strengthens the ties of that relationship. I greatly believe that the most powerful tools that one possesses are his words. No matter what obstacle one faces, it is his words that contributes the most to that obstacle. If one chooses to allow his words to succomb to his situation he is handicapping himself. However if one chooses to speak positive confession over a negative situation it can greatly contribute to a postive outcome of the situation. I said all that to say that many marriages could be saved with positive confessions-and not dwelling and speaking on the negative. This is the most essential tool to become a covenant based relationship instead of an emotional (love) based relationship
What a great class this has been! What has been the most astounding part is that I have gotten to know some of the students in our class as individuals. As we move through different classes throughout our university time, we tend to "see" people, but really not get to know them. It was great to hear individual accounts of different people's lives. When I see how different all of our lives are and the different paths that we have lead, it makes it clear to me how teaching for all of us will be highly individual. That has been a great lesson for me. If there is only one thing that any of us take away from this class, I hope that it is to remember that the children we teach will all be individuals with different stories and different backgrounds. If we can keep that in perspective, we will all be taking the first step in making a difference in children's lives!
Here is a response that I posted on Sept 14 to our class discussion board...
This was an interesting chapter for many reasons. The Family book had some great articles for discussion as well. Family diversity is something that we, as educators, must be very aware. As a child of seven my parents divorced. This was a long, long, long time ago and divorce was not common. I felt alienated by my peers and my teachers. Divorce is not the only issue children are dealing with today. There are many types of families today that were unheard of when I was growing up. It is obviously very important to note the different make-up of families today and include all children when discussing them.
I’ve never used the term “broken family” and agree with the text that it implies something not quite right about the situation. I do not plan on using this term. It concerns me greatly that so many single parent women are living well below the poverty line. All poverty is of great concern, but that particular statistic was frightening.
The book pointed out that we should learn a few key words of Spanish or whatever language our student’s primary language is. Although I do not speak Spanish, I plan on eventually learning to speak and write the language.
Wynter (2002) page 70 of our text was a bit optimistic (I felt) about America moving into a “postracial” period where multiculturalism would be irrelevant. There was an article in the Family book that felt the same way.
Something has to change with the way income is distributed in our country! How can 20% of all jobs in the U.S. pay below poverty level? When did we add the new underclass? I feel that welfare reform has perpetuated poverty and greatly contributed to this new class. If only 12% of the people who qualify for housing assistance are getting it, maybe we need to consider cutting some of the war expenditures! My husband is in the military and he just got some of his extra-duty pay cut to help pay for the war. If we cut out this massive war spending we could quite possibly feed and shelter the people at home who need it. (I sure hope my husband’s commander doesn’t see this!)
This is one of the things that worry me about teaching. I know we will all have students that are having one crisis or another like child abuse, poverty, homelessness etc. My concern is dealing with the emotions of all this as a teacher.
One topic that I feel everyone should become more familiar with is the relationship between gay and lesbian parents and their children's well being.
There is a lot of controversy surronding the effects that this type of arrangement has on the children. It is feared to cause emotional distress in addition to encouraging homosexual behavior.
According to studies, children from same sex parents perform just as well academically as their peers and show no increased levels of distress or emotional harm. Additionally, most children report being involved in heterosexual relationships.
In my opinion, that is awesome news. I hope people will understand that information for what it is and hold no preconcieved ideas that will affect the children negatively.
As I reached the end of the class, I felt that we could go on even further with the studies of children and how environment can influence them.
Children are so very important. As professional educators, we will come across many large problems that cannot be solved or understood right away. It is important to remember that as future educators it is our job to reach out and help others.
While working on my service project, I found that at the end of the day; anything you do for a child can make a difference. You may not think so now, but a few years down the road when they remember you, it is such a great feeling.
I am more aware of myself and the concerns that children face each day and that is a wonderful tool that I will use in my future teachings.
Community is the most important topic I feel that we went over in our class. In relating this topic to other classes I have it is very evident that this is the number one topic we need to address with each day we are in our classrooms. I feel that not only will this subject give us the opportunity to teach children so much about their own self as well as how many other religions and communities function on a day to day basis. The San Antonio area is a wealth of knowledge and experiences for children we just need to tap into it and let the children learn from guest speakers and the local culture because it is so rich.
Coming into this class, I expected not to be enlightened by new ideas and content. It being my last semester in school, I felt I had learned all I needed to know. My opinion of my education jaded me early on in the semester. But after hearing so many colleagues share their personal accounts of individuals, families, and communities, I began to see how much knowledge I can sill attain.
This class has taught me how to open up my eyes to the students in my class. Although I am the teacher, I am still a student. I must still have a mindset of learning in order to provide the best kind of classroom for my students. I need to learn about their community: what makes them who they are, how they live, their family life, etc. All of these things evolve my students into who they are when they step through my door.
One of the most influential points this semester would have to be discussing children with disabilities. My younger brother was born with a birth defect and has struggled most of his life to feel accepted and involved because of it. I think as future educators we need to join with the community to show students and parents that these children are just like any other child in the classroom. We need to be a display of tolerance, fairness, and sincerity for these students. We have the opportunity to change lives, and with that power, we should act on it.
I received a lot of information about the class itself. It was really helpful to listen and understand about many different situation that people have experienced. Hearing about teaching, education problems, and even adoption was really awesome. I personally don't have any kids, but I learned some key infromation that I can use when that time comes for kids. I came into class not knowing anything, and once the class ended everyday. I realized that I picked up some great feedback. Also, personal experiences was and will be the key towards great learning habits. Have a great day, and thank you. Albert L.
There were so many things that I learned from this class. I enjoyed the fact that the class was able to communicate their own opinions, situations, and experiences to eachother.
Even though I did gain plenty of information from the book, I really enjoyed writing the midterm and final paper over adoption. Only because it is something my family is experiencing at this time. I wasn't able to relate to some of the people in class since they do work in schools and other programs with many different children and I do not.
I became very interested in reading the history of adoption and how it began in Fort Worth, TX and how it has evolved over the past 120 years. It started out with the orphan train movement where I.Z.T. Morris took the leftover children in and helped them find homes. Edna Gladney also made a huge impact on adoption. She fought to have bills passed which would help the children become legally adopted and be able to get their actual birth records. Gladney also helped women in recieving good medical care during their pregnancy and made sure that potential adoptive parents were interviewed before they recieved a child.
That leads us to the adoption process and criteria. There are several steps people have to make before they can adopt a child these days. They have to be financially stable, mature, take classes, provide references, show proof of marriage/divorce, complete application/paperwork, do a home study, choose a potential child, etc. It is a long process, but it is definitly worth it! There are many children who need homes with families who will love and care for them.
http://www.achildtolove.org/ and http://www.adoptionsbygladney.com/ are both websites that can help families who are thinking of adopting and/or who want to adopt a child.
This class was one that was different from all the rest. I loved the fact that the professor pushed challenging topics and really made us look and reexamine our current situation. One area that I found when reexamining the current school setting was that no where was there any information about teenage pregnancy.
Being a teenage parent myself I found that I wanted more information about this topic as I know I am not the only person this has happened to. What is it like in the school system form teenage parents and their children? What kind of success rates do they have and how are they treated? Wanting to know this information not only for myself but because no one as challenge the idea that, hey one day you could have a parent in your classroom that is only 18 or maybe younger. What do you do then.
I spent the semester looking at this situation and what is being done about it. I found many great people who work in our school systems and communities trying to improve this current life style. I also came across many great websites that shows just what can happened if we don’t start work on the problems at hand.
Those website will provide information about the school age parenting program and some facts about teen parents and their children.
The SAPP program is wonderful helping teen moms and dads build better lives for their families with education. But as they do their part we also as teachers and people need to do ours. We need to educate ourselves about the current status of teen parents and the hardships. Also we need to know how to work with them as again they will be in our classrooms one day. I also hope that one day this topic will be in our books as well as the class room.
Students and instructor facilitating discussion-Nov 07
37 comments:
I received several positive comments about my "Teacher's Toolbox" presentation so I thought I would share it on the blog for all the "Future Teachers" among us.
Childcare is a problem that cannot be fixed over night. As professional educators, it is
important to look at such hard to fix problems and ask, "How can I make a difference?"
This approach will keep us from chasing rabbits and fix our attention on specific tasks
that we can do in order to make a difference in the lives of children and their families.
One way to approach a problem like child care is to create a "Teacher's Toolbox"
(resource file). As you run across information that you think will be helpful, place it in a
manila folder and file it in your toolbox. For Chapter 5, I chose to make a folder on the following topics:
1. Childcare Ratios - containing a ratio comparison of minimum standards for the state and NAEYC teacher-child ratios.
2. Childcare Centers with NAEYC Accreditation - containing a list of NAEYC centers in the area.
3. Quality Child Care - containing a DVD that shows practical advice for parents
searching for child care.
This information could be used in the following examples:
1. During meet the teacher night, a single father explains that he is looking for quality
day care for his 2 year old child. Because of the information in my "Teacher's Toolbox,"
I am able to share information on minimum standards, NAEYC accreditation, and
provide him with a list of local child care centers that meet NAEYC accreditation.
2. While having coffee with some of my coworkers, I learn that they have several
parents that need information about finding quality child care. I suggest that we
organize an information night and allow the parents to view the DVD on quality child care that I have filed in my "Teacher's Toolbox."
As professional educators, we will come across many large problems that cannot be
solved over night by one person. It is important to remember that information is a
great "tool" when it comes to helping others. A simple task of collecting and sharing
information really can make a difference in the lives of others - especially with the big
problems!
LINKS:
Soundbyte:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13826763
Article:
http://tennessean.com/education/special/nclb/archives/03/10/41541677.shtml
NCLB Primary Text:
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=ln
BOOK PAGES:
Barbour Pg. 27 and pg. 46
This is all of the information I used to talk about the indiscreprencies between the IDEA and the NCLB acts passed by Congress
Megan Cullip
@00986474
I was struck by the stat. that 60% of African American homes are single parent families.
I know of a support group for single African American women parents, "Mocha Moms,"
NPR checks in with them weekly. In the link below, the "Mocha Moms" are talking about
the role of "extended family" care vs. professional childcare. All of these moms ofcourse
had to work. They described how their family members where not always their first
choice, usually because they either lacked other capable family members, or the family
members did not have similar parenting philosophy.
However, they also mentioned many ill-equiped childcare facilities including one that as a
rule when a child cries "refuses to hold and nurture" them but rather lets them "cry it
out," the Moca Mom ofcouse pulled him immediatley out.
I honestly, can not even imagine how a single African American women raises a child or
even multiple children while holding a steady full time job.
The text talks about the impotance of intense nurture the first three years of a childs life,
I went to a daycare as a litte kid and I personally believed it did inhibit needed early
nurturance. Ideally, in my own life I want to stay home with my kids until they are old
enough for pre-K.
The moms even mention a written contract with family members!
LINK:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14151163
One of the topics in unit 4 that I found particularly interesting is the issue of socialization of children. Socialization is a very important aspect of the child’s development and begins at a very young age. Many agents such as the school, the peer group, the church, and especially the media are involved in socializing children. These agents each play an important part and have powerful influences on the process of socialization.
The family has the primary responsibility for beginning the process. Parents have an enormous nurturing responsibility that entails emotional and social development of the child. The book states that socialization of young children involves learning to relate to a variety of people in varying circumstances and modifying behavior in different environments. This is an important step in the socialization process because this will predict how they will behave in their adult life and how they relate with others. It has been stated by different psychological theories and research that a child’s experiences will predict their behavior and emotional state as an adult. Nurturing parents need to teach their children these necessary characteristics because it will affect their ability to be a successful individual functioning in an adult life. Parents do indeed have a significant and profound influence on the child and how they will function throughout their life. However, as the child begins to mature and grow they come in contact with different agents of this socialization process.
An author named R.M. Berns in 2006 stated that today, when children enter the school and community life, these other agents begin increasing influence on their socialization. In earlier periods of history, parental influence was the main socialization factor in children’s lives but as the differences in mores and values increase in accordance with the communities increasing, the parental influence has declined and the community influence (peers, schools, media etc.) has risen. We need to realize that parents instruct their children differently, and that the different ways the children are instructed will influence how they learn in an educational setting. Therefore, we need to be aware of this decline in parental influence and also the increase of heterogeneous societies that have become more prevalent today.
OK I AM NOT SURE IF WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A COMMENT, BUT I JUST WENT AHEAD AND MADE AN ACCOUNT AND DID A BLOG! AND YOU SAID IT COULD BE OVER ANYTHING FROM THE CLASS! I CHOSE FAMILY DIVERSITY!
HERE IS THE LINK TO MY BLOG!
http://serinac-familydiversity.blogspot.com/
In this class I have learned more than I ever thought that I would. I believe that this class has opened my eyes to how important a community and a family could affect a person. For example, take my brother and sister and I. When we would get ready to go to school my mom would take us to school and my neighbor would bring us home. My mom and our neighbor did not want the children in the neighborhood to have to walk to school like they did so they advised a plan that would have the children brought to school and pick up from school. If our neighbor had not brought us home after school then who knows what could happen if we walked home from school. Also this class helped me realize how effective the media was on adults and children. I knew that the media affected the general public however I was so clueless to see how it affected it. In addition this class helped me understand how expensive day care was and how there was help for the public who could not afford day care. In the end this class has help me become more aware on how the public and media could be good and bad. I am glad to have taken a class that has opened my eyes.
What I have learned from this class is that everyone comes from a different background. We learn different values, morals, and religion from our family, friends,and community . I think that it's great that we are different and we take what we learned from this class into our own classroom. That is, not every child comes from a "Perfect Family". You have to have high expectations for every child, not just the children that have good grades and show an interest in what is being taught in the classroom. And as part of our job is to to keep it interesting, challenging, for every child and unfortunately this is where many of us fail. As future educators we can not do this because we are not doing our job and we are not helping the children exceed. We need to keep in mind that not all children went to sleep with a meal, or mommy and daddy lost their job, or they couldn't afford school supplies this year because only one parent is working. These are some issues that some children are confronted with everyday of their life and children are very aware of their circumstances. So, if a child comes in to your classroom with a bad attitude or is angry, don't assume that this child is a bad child. Talk to the child and see what is effecting him/her in his or her school work. See how you can help him or her. Remember, we are the educators who are educating the future generations to come and I hope everyone goes into the profession with a open mind and see the child for whom he or she really is.
This class was definitely different than I expected it to be. I am not planning on becoming a teacher, this was just an elective for me, but I did learn some things I never would have thought of before. I really enjoyed hearing many classmates perspectives on the subjects and the way they were brought up. I grew up in a pretty ordinary suburb and was not exposed to many people that grew up differently than me and it was an eye opener to hear some of the stories.
The other subject I found most interesting was all that went into defining children with disabilities and the problems they have to go through to get taught properly. I never knew there were so many laws and regulations against it.
But anyways, my experience with this class has been good and I have learned of information that I can apply when I have my own children someday!
I was not sure if we were supposed to create our own blog either, so just in case the comment is not the correct way to do this, here is the link to my personal blog:
http://socializationofchildren.blogspot.com/
This class brought awareness to how different people really live. With this awareness, I feel it to be very disturbing that our text books and trainings are outlined to be fitting for the "normal family" and not only that but it trys to rear us as possible teachers to teach with this "normal" being the only exceptable study. Will we ever realize that we are actually pushing our children out of school rather than in with being so set in our ways with the current text books and teachings? This is 2007 with 2008 approaching and we live in a world full of more chaos and changes so shouldn't our teachings adapt? For example, food high as hell. People not about to go spend their last dollar on something nutritional just to satisfy the teacher's request to help get a good grade. Based on my observations, they're going to go buy them something good and filling like a snicker, study their behind off and show up to take the dog gone test. We so caught up in promoting "No child left behind" and I think its the education system that needs to catch up. These kids smart as some of us these days and it isn't because they sat down and read how to be a good student, it's from playing "Survivor".
It was very suprising to me how different one family is from the next and how important the schools and communities are in raising a child. I have learned so much through out this course with Marin.
In chapter three of Families, Schools, and Communities I learned that the main cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing for very low income families. As a society we tend to think of the homeless as unemployed males who are usually substance abusers that wonder the streets, but this is just not the case. More than 25% of homeless are families and 58% of these family members are children.
In the class text, it briefly list the effects homeless children are prone to such as poor health, anxiety, depression, and poor attendance which leads to low academic achievement. This is really all that the book covers on this issue, but I wanted to know more.
I think it is beneficial as a future teacher to know more in dept the troubles children in this situation face. I feel as though the chapter should answer question like:
1) “How to tell if a student is suffering from homelessness?”
2)“How can counselors, teachers, and communities reach out to assist these students?”
3)“What are the emotional and social effects on students facing homelessness?”
I found an amazing website
www.utdanacenter.org
It expands on this issue and answers these questions and more. From this site I learned in more detail how being homeless strains a child’s learning in more ways than one, it is not just about not having a permanent home to sleep in every night.
I also found that there is a law called The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act that protects the rights and needs of students in homeless situations.
I think it would good for the class text book to mention this so that we as potential educators are aware of laws such as this. The issues surrounding this topic deserve a closer look than that of which the book gives us.
I hope others can find this wesite useful as they procede further in their careers!
Thanks
I actually went into this class thinking that I couldn’t really learn much. However I actually did. Many times we are only familiar with what we have personally experienced in life, and that’s all we really see and sometimes choose to see.
Everyone has different ideas and perspectives on relationships and child raising. The book actually gave me many examples of real life situations.
I believe it was chapter eleven dealing with same sex parenting. My immediate reaction to reading that heading was that it is extremely wrong and should not be done. However in reading the chapter, I was better able to understand the desire a couple of the same sex to raise a child. At first, my thought was that it is un-natural for two men or two women to raise a child, and how confused that child would be. Then the book helped me realize that their are numerous married couples of the opposite sex that are horrible parents and don’t show their children love and compassion. That’s why many children are growing up lost and confused.
So if two same sex parents so desire to be parents and are ready to offer up unconditional love, then why not, who am I to say no.
The open class discussions sometimes seeming to be class debates also gave me more insight into the lives of others and how family situations affected their student life and how they were received by their classmates as well as teachers. I did learn more than I expected going into the class. That was very encouraging.
I've decided to write about a reaction that Professor Martin had us write about in class.
After reading the article on lesbian parenting, from my understanding the two main concerns presented in this article were that children raised in this type of family would be subject to bullying and that they would be at risk for more female characteristics. Because of how our society is currently, I do agree with the first argument that children brought up in this type of family may be bullied but I do not agree with the other concern.
This year in my class all about play, we discussed parent’s affects on children with gender biases. The important idea that I learned from this class was that you should avoid gender biases at all costs. For example, fathers shouldn’t leave their daughters home if going to a sporting event or hunting and mothers shouldn’t deprive a boy if he wants a Barbie doll for Christmas. I learned that children will go through fazes playing with all different toys and whether or not they prefer to play with a certain gender stereotyped toy doesn’t determine the outcome of their sexuality preference. As long as lesbian parents give their children opportunities to play with different toys there shouldn’t be a difference in a child in this environment compared to a lesbian home.
To also give a personal example, I grew up with a tom-boy mother. She hunts, fishes, snowmobiles, does not wear much makeup and wears guys clothes. I didn’t have much guidance on many “girl things” growing up but I’m about as “girl” as you can get! Of course my parents allowed me to play with whatever I wanted but growing up in this type of setting I was always playing sports and was ever exposed to things like dance. I wouldn’t change a thing about my family for the world and this also makes me believe that children growing up in a lesbian family are not necessarily going to be any more feminine than those in a nuclear home.
I enjoyed learning about marriage and the importance of establishing healthy relationships. Relationships are a huge part of life and who we are. The way we are brought up, our religion, and our experiences all affect the way we learn to deal with other people. In Unit Two we learned how not only society but also biology plays a big role in who we are. We also learn the importance of loving and being loved. In article seven Shulman says, “Marriage is dead! The twin vises of church and law have relaxed their grip on matrimony” (Shulman, 37). It made me incredibly sad to learn that fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. As a society we have made it too easy to just “give up” when things get a little hard. The grass is greener attitude or the search for that one and only soul mate is keeping us from having healthy marriages. In article six titled “This Thing Called Love” Lauren Slater describes the adventures in her love life. Hearing stories like hers, describing how love isn’t always butterflies and how normal it is to be “comfortable”, makes my life seem more “normal”.
Relationships are hard and the exciting passion you feel at the beginning isn’t always going to be there. This is important to me because I feel so many people take this for granted. When given an inch, people tend to take it. Now that divorce is so easy, people are taking advantage. I miss the days of our grandparents when marriage really meant something, and when children were instilled with manors and morals. If we don’t set good examples, what are our children suppose to model after? In chapter four of Families, Schools, and Communities, “most new parents emulate the parenting skills they observed and experienced in their own childhood” (Barbour, 92). Divorce is difficult for every one, especially the child. Now each parent is reduced to one income, and having to work even more to make up the difference. More work means less time for parenting. This can leave these children hurt and confused, and as soon as they get into the groove of their “new life”, a step parent and step children are thrown into the picture. There are exceptions to the rules, and in some cases divorce might be better for a child than an unhappy or abusive situation. As teachers we need to be sensitive to all family structures. I found chapter four very informative about the roles and experiences of parents. I don’t have any children myself, and have never had to deal with divorced parents or step siblings. Reading these articles are important to be a better, more well rounded, diverse teacher.
In conclusion be true to yourself when it comes to relationships. A committed relationship is about happiness and sharing your hopes and dreams with some one while exposing yourself to weakness. It is about having someone to learn and grow with. The benefits of marriage are listed in Article Seven, The Family. Financial security, more assets, even health are all listed as benefits (Shulman, 37-38). As future teachers we need to realize the importance of commitments, and healthy relationships so we will be able to instill these qualities not only in our children, but in our students.
Thank you Martin for a great semester, and for all of the heated class discussions! I feel I learned a great deal not only about family, sex, religion, and community, but a great deal about myself! It was such a unique experience to listen to everyone's life experiences. I love that everyone is so different. We all come from different "walks of life" and have our own opinions, yet we are all in school working for a common goal. I would like to thank everyone for sharing a little bit of your life with me! Don't be a stranger!
I really learned a lot in this class and i honestly didnt expect to. I mostly learned to value other peoples thoughts and views because you can learn a lot from everyone you meet as corny as it sounds. This class really made me open my eyes and see things differently.
I posted a reflection I did on divorce and how it affects the people involved.
Tearing A Family Apart
In a day and age where the divorce rate is at an all time high in America, we as future teachers are going to have to face the subject of divorce at some point. A child coming from a broken home where the parents are divorced or going through a divorce can suffer from a lot of social and emotional damage. Chapter four talks about divorce and how it will affect the parents and the children, but it only mentions briefly the effects divorce can have on children concerning their schooling.
I came from a home where my parents divorced when I was in the 1st grade and later remarried each other. Even though at the time my parents tried to act civil, it was oblivious even to me, a child, that they weren’t happy. I think that the separation definitely had an effect on my schooling. For one, I never wanted to be at school, I was always “sick” and had to go home. I would tell my teachers I was going to be gone during the week cause I was going to stay with my grandparents. I never wanted to be at school and while I know that was just me being a kid I think the fact that my home life was unstable also made my life as a whole unstable.
The book addresses the fact that divorce can cause “anger, sadness, aggressiveness…”(Barbour Pg.110) but it doesn’t really talk about what the divorce can do to a child’s education. A kid can go to school and take the negative attitudes from home with them. It can cause them to do poorly on schoolwork, it can make them treat their friends and teachers negatively, and divorce can just effect how a child feels about school in general. They won’t want to see all their friends who come from “happy”
families, they won’t want to draw pictures of their families, it just effects aspects you never imagined it would.
Another thing the book doesn’t discuss concerning divorce and schooling is the programs that schools offer to help the parents and the children. When I was in school I would go talk to the counselor once a week with other children whose parents where also getting a divorce. It helped a lot because I was able to express my feelings and relate with other children. I think these programs are important and can really have a positive effect on the children. The book stated briefly that “support groups are available”(Barbour Pg. 110) but it didn’t go into any detail of the good that can come from those groups.
As future teachers we need to be educated and truly understand the effects that divorce has on the children. Most likely there will be at least one child in our classrooms that will have parents who are either divorced or going through a divorce and we need to know how those children might act and the things we can do for them. Teachers need to support these children, offer them love and guidance, let them express themselves in the ways they need to as long as it doesn’t harm them or their classmates, and just be there when they might need someone. As a teacher you will be someone they look up to and when their home life isn’t stable they might look to you for some stability.
Parents and teachers alike need to remember that divorce will have a huge effect on children whether they let it show or not. A lot of kids may feel they have to be strong for their parents but on the inside they might be breaking down. Parents need to remember that how they act through and after the divorce will affect their children in school and life in general. Teachers need to remember the effect divorce will have on their students when teaching them, disciplining them, and just trying to be there for them. Divorce is a negative thing, but if it is handled the right way children can grow and learn from it.
My Sept 14 Reflection Post
I am in a unique situation; my family is VERY diverse. I am 1 of 9 children... 4 adopted and
5 biological. The 4 who are adopted are from a hispanic background and I, obviously, am
not. I feel that I am very blessed to have such a great deal of diversity in my immediate
family. I feel that when I become a teacher, my experience will only help streghtn my
knowledge of my students and their background.
Taking this class opened my eyes even more to just how much everything around you makes an impact and influences the way you behave, think, and accept certain ideas and situations. I feel lucky to have been able to grow up in this generation where there have been drastic changes in how things work such as types of families and types of relationships you share with different people. Chapters 3 and 11 both discuss the changes throughout the years from the norm being a classic nuclear family to numerous other types including interracial families, families with single parents, teenage parenting families, and families headed by homosexual couples. As future educators it is extremely important to try and understand these situations, even if you do not agree with them. Children of these families need as much support as any other child and helping other children outside those families is an essential task that we need to take care of.
This class has been a combination of so many things. We've learned about each other's own personal experiences with life and how they connect with different issues children in our classrooms might be experiencing. The one thing I've come to realize from it all is that no matter what preconceptions we might have as teachers, we must face our students with open minds and open hearts.
There are so many hidden issues that might be plaguing a child. Anything from religion to having a different family structure than others in the classroom can alter the way they learn. As an effective teacher it is our responsibility to use these differences as a positive in the classroom. This could include activities that embrace their differences rather than seclude for being different.
What I found to be the most interesting in this class would have to be all the presentations and discussions about children with disabilities. I didn't really know too much about disabled children and all the laws that go along with it but after hearing all the personal experiences a few classmates shared and just learning the information other people talked about really kept me interested.
I have learned that family is an important part in childrens education. We as educators can help facilitate the interactions between the family and the students. This is what I have learned on adotion through my service learning project.
Adoption Process
First you need to attend a Gladney information/orientation session
Than begin pre-adoption parent training class
Complete application paperwork
Do home study process
Get approval of adoption file
Begin looking at potential children
Submit home study on your selected child
Participate in a matching process
Have the child placed in your home
Have monthly visits from a supervisor
Lastly, have the adoption finalized
Required Criteria for Adoption
You must be at least 21 years of age
Financially stable
Be responsible and mature
Complete an application
Give information on your background and lifestyle
Provide references
Show proof of marriage and/or divorce
Agree to a home study which also includes visits with other household members
Complete a criminal background check
Attend training to learn about issues of abused and neglected children
Adoption Criteria. 2005. http://www.achildtolove.org/process_criteria.html
I really enjoyed this class. I was amazed t the amount of information I learned from my classmates. Martin was an amazing facilitator and I am so happy that he pushed the class to think outside of ourselves. I learned a lot of valuable info that would be great as a future educator.
The topics in chapter 3 that were of interest to me were the Single-Parent Families and
the Underclass economic group. What especially caught my eye under the Single family
section on pg. 63 was the reflection topic of whether or not to call a divorced parents
family "broken". The book also says that to call this family "broken" would mean that the
resulting single or blended family is wrong in some way. I don’t think that we should use
the term “broken families” for this exact reason. I don’t think that one type of family is
better than the other. Of course, the traditional family unit is ideal, but things change
and life happens. Is it more beneficial for two parents to stay together who are abuse to
each other and the children or to separate and allow extended family members to come
in and help out?
The Underclass group was interesting to me because it seems as if there is little hope for
a family in this group if someone isn’t strong enough to break this cycle. I think that in a
family situation such as the underclass a Teacher’s job is more important in a child’s life.
We should speak to our students in positive ways and encourage them in their
academics. I think it would be easy to see a student from an underclass background and
think there is know hope. It is also important to try and build a positive relationship with
our students’ parents whether or not we think they would want to. As a Teacher it is
important not to assume that Parents from lower socioeconomic status don’t care about
their children’s education. They just may not know what to ask or how to get help. I
think if we show interest in our students and believe they can do things they too will
begin to change their mode of thinking about themselves (Self- fulfilling Prophecy pg. 6).
Obviously, this course and its textbook touched on a number of important topics. Unfortunately no one topic was researched and discussed extensively enough as to educate those of us within the class. The majority of our learning came from our own field experience and the sharing of more in depth discussions led by fellow students. Overall, I did enjoy this class, but instead of typing a final reflection on one topic from the course, I wanted to take the opportunity to address something else I noticed.
There were clearly controversial topics touched upon, ranging from gay and lesbian parenting to forms of effective punishment. I understand the political correctness that we are forced to display as to not offend, but in this class I felt like many people held their feelings back because they were trying to give the answer they thought everyone wanted to hear, and if you were in class often enough you know I spoke a lot, maybe even too much. We all have an opinion that causes us to put ideas in the category of right or wrong. I would have liked to have heard more honest open opinions. I take these kinds of classes to learn about topics and gain insight from other people’s shared thoughts. I know that some of what I believe in may offend some people, but it is simply who I am. We are not meant to all be the same kinds of people that give the same kinds of answers. What makes us different is what’s inspiring. Let’s learn from one another.
Media influence on children
The jist of my presentation is how we as a society have let the media take a huge
role in the developement and up bringing of children.
In the distant past children were a value to society in many ways, including as
helpers to the family in farming, house work and raising of siblings just to name a few.
During those times children’s main influence was the family, which, due to necessity,
would grow children into productive members of society with a strong work ethic, family
values and a respect for the community. Unfortunately, many parents have, possibly due
to the need for double income, let others become the main influence in their children’s
lives. These other influences are not always negative, for example, school and extra
curricular activities can have a positive influence on children’s lives. Television and the
internet can also be positive resources for learning and expanding knowledge. But sadly,
all of the positives attributed to both of these media sources come with an alarming
amount of advertising, violent or inappropriate programming, and of course the influence
from TV personalities. So while children were once contributing members of society,
many now tend to be super consumers in “need” of the latest fashions and have the Paris
Hiltons and Lindsay Lohans of the world as role models.
First of all, I would like to start by saying I have really enjoyed this class. It has been Awesome to learn from all sides of the spectrum. To have so many ideas from so many different points of view will only better all of us. That is along the lines of the main thing I took from this class.
I have learned, through readings and class discussion, that it is very important to teach to the individual. It is neccessary to understand who they are and where they come from. To know a little about thier background, home life, etc. The classroom is such a diverse place, and that is what makes it beautiful.
So, even though I feel very strongly about the way I believe life should be lived, it is so important to have an understanding of other people's moral upbringing. Realizing that everyone is different and respecting that fact will make me a much better teacher in the future. This class has really helped form my approach to teaching.
Thank you Dr. Martin and everyone else in this class. Good luck to all of you.
John T. Mackey
Hey Guys I also wanted to inform you that my Presentation for CH 10 of the Textbook has been posted for a few weeks. CH 10 was about the Curriculum of the Community. The curriculum of the Community is basically what children learn from their environments and the people around them. Also the idea that who we know as well as what we know can enhance our lives. For example, this blog spot is a great example of a community curriculum because we can learn so many things from the exchanging of ideas.
I created the powerpoint as a tool to show how the San Antonio community is partnering with area schools to enhance the eduction of our students and families. Next to the Agency names I posted a link to their websites. Their websites provide info on the services the community can use. Some services require that you meet certain qualifications and others are free.
As a future educator there is are a few links on teacher resources and ways the community provides money or materials to further enhance subject material.
Check it out I'm sure you will find something of interest to you.
Wishing you all the best of luck on finals and in your future!!
- Dwan Joseph
Single parent homes was the topic that caught my attention right away. It hits so close to home with me and as a future educator and possibly a guidance counselor, I want to be more aware if personal problems with the child are related to the single parent households.
I know it has affected 3 different people in my family, but that of course doesn't speak for the majority population.
I want to research the statistics and do background psychological research to help me help the children cope with there homelife problems. With the knowledge I gain i will better understand; therfore, better relate to the children dealing with the single parent situations.
This class was chosen as last resort to fufill an elective credit. I had no idea what to suspect and don't have the intentions to teach but to work in child protective service. I have learned so much from this class that I honestly did not really expect to. From all the different issues teachers may face in their career with differnt children is astonishing. With everything you all are going to have to confront, I believe it is safe to say teachers are WAY UNDERPAID! Although as a social worker I i will be also. Families have the responsibility to care for the children but a majority of each day children will be with teachers. This is a big responsibility. I am thankful I just happened to choose this class!
“Marriage is dead! The twin vises of church and law have relaxed their grip on matrimony” (Shulman, 37). Marriage is and istitutionalized, government approved act. Long gone are the days that marriages were arrainged and built on a premise of covenant regardless of emotion. This covenant was the undying commitment between to parties that regardless of situations, they were committed to do whatever it took to make the relationship work. This covenant was an unbreakable contract.However, with the prgression of time, marriage has now become a product based on emotions--more specifically, love. And because sociey has shifted from "covenant" to "love" we have seen an influx in divorce. It is my belif that the true foundation of which marriage was even established is now dying!People get so wrapped into "emotions" that they become blinded to the true meaning of a covenant relationship. By comming into a relationship with a conscious decisiion to NEVER give up on one another, it strengthens the ties of that relationship. I greatly believe that the most powerful tools that one possesses are his words. No matter what obstacle one faces, it is his words that contributes the most to that obstacle. If one chooses to allow his words to succomb to his situation he is handicapping himself. However if one chooses to speak positive confession over a negative situation it can greatly contribute to a postive outcome of the situation. I said all that to say that many marriages could be saved with positive confessions-and not dwelling and speaking on the negative. This is the most essential tool to become a covenant based relationship instead of an emotional (love) based relationship
..thats what i think about marriage! :)
What a great class this has been! What has been the most astounding part is that I have gotten to know some of the students in our class as individuals. As we move through different classes throughout our university time, we tend to "see" people, but really not get to know them. It was great to hear individual accounts of different people's lives. When I see how different all of our lives are and the different paths that we have lead, it makes it clear to me how teaching for all of us will be highly individual. That has been a great lesson for me. If there is only one thing that any of us take away from this class, I hope that it is to remember that the children we teach will all be individuals with different stories and different backgrounds. If we can keep that in perspective, we will all be taking the first step in making a difference in children's lives!
Here is a response that I posted on Sept 14 to our class discussion board...
This was an interesting chapter for many reasons. The Family book had some great articles for discussion as well. Family diversity is something that we, as educators, must be very aware. As a child of seven my parents divorced. This was a long, long, long time ago and divorce was not common. I felt alienated by my peers and my teachers.
Divorce is not the only issue children are dealing with today. There are many types of families today that were unheard of when I was growing up. It is obviously very important to note the different make-up of families today and include all children when discussing them.
I’ve never used the term “broken family” and agree with the text that it implies something not quite right about the situation. I do not plan on using this term. It concerns me greatly that so many single parent women are living well below the poverty line. All poverty is of great concern, but that particular statistic was frightening.
The book pointed out that we should learn a few key words of Spanish or whatever language our student’s primary language is. Although I do not speak Spanish, I plan on eventually learning to speak and write the language.
Wynter (2002) page 70 of our text was a bit optimistic (I felt) about America moving into a “postracial” period where multiculturalism would be irrelevant. There was an article in the Family book that felt the same way.
Something has to change with the way income is distributed in our country! How can 20% of all jobs in the U.S. pay below poverty level? When did we add the new underclass? I feel that welfare reform has perpetuated poverty and greatly contributed to this new class. If only 12% of the people who qualify for housing assistance are getting it, maybe we need to consider cutting some of the war expenditures! My husband is in the military and he just got some of his extra-duty pay cut to help pay for the war. If we cut out this massive war spending we could quite possibly feed and shelter the people at home who need it. (I sure hope my husband’s commander doesn’t see this!)
This is one of the things that worry me about teaching. I know we will all have students that are having one crisis or another like child abuse, poverty, homelessness etc. My concern is dealing with the emotions of all this as a teacher.
Much to think about,
Julie
One topic that I feel everyone should become more familiar with is the relationship between gay and lesbian parents and their children's well being.
There is a lot of controversy surronding the effects that this type of arrangement has on the children. It is feared to cause emotional distress in addition to encouraging homosexual behavior.
According to studies, children from same sex parents perform just as well academically as their peers and show no increased levels of distress or emotional harm. Additionally, most children report being involved in heterosexual relationships.
In my opinion, that is awesome news. I hope people will understand that information for what it is and hold no preconcieved ideas that will affect the children negatively.
Amanda Galabeas
As I reached the end of the class, I felt that we could go on even further with the studies of children and how environment can influence them.
Children are so very important. As professional educators, we will come across many large problems that cannot be solved or understood right away. It is important to remember that as future educators it is our job to reach out and help others.
While working on my service project, I found that at the end of the day; anything you do for a child can make a difference. You may not think so now, but a few years down the road when they remember you, it is such a great feeling.
I am more aware of myself and the concerns that children face each day and that is a wonderful tool that I will use in my future teachings.
Community is the most important topic I feel that we went over in our class. In relating this topic to other classes I have it is very evident that this is the number one topic we need to address with each day we are in our classrooms. I feel that not only will this subject give us the opportunity to teach children so much about their own self as well as how many other religions and communities function on a day to day basis. The San Antonio area is a wealth of knowledge and experiences for children we just need to tap into it and let the children learn from guest speakers and the local culture because it is so rich.
Kacey Sommers
Coming into this class, I expected not to be enlightened by new ideas and content. It being my last semester in school, I felt I had learned all I needed to know. My opinion of my education jaded me early on in the semester. But after hearing so many colleagues share their personal accounts of individuals, families, and communities, I began to see how much knowledge I can sill attain.
This class has taught me how to open up my eyes to the students in my class. Although I am the teacher, I am still a student. I must still have a mindset of learning in order to provide the best kind of classroom for my students. I need to learn about their community: what makes them who they are, how they live, their family life, etc. All of these things evolve my students into who they are when they step through my door.
One of the most influential points this semester would have to be discussing children with disabilities. My younger brother was born with a birth defect and has struggled most of his life to feel accepted and involved because of it. I think as future educators we need to join with the community to show students and parents that these children are just like any other child in the classroom. We need to be a display of tolerance, fairness, and sincerity for these students. We have the opportunity to change lives, and with that power, we should act on it.
I received a lot of information about the class itself. It was really helpful to listen and understand about many different situation that people have experienced. Hearing about teaching, education problems, and even adoption was really awesome. I personally don't have any kids, but I learned some key infromation that I can use when that time comes for kids. I came into class not knowing anything, and once the class ended everyday. I realized that I picked up some great feedback. Also, personal experiences was and will be the key towards great learning habits. Have a great day, and thank you. Albert L.
There were so many things that I learned from this class. I enjoyed the fact that the class was able to communicate their own opinions, situations, and experiences to eachother.
Even though I did gain plenty of information from the book, I really enjoyed writing the midterm and final paper over adoption. Only because it is something my family is experiencing at this time. I wasn't able to relate to some of the people in class since they do work in schools and other programs with many different children and I do not.
I became very interested in reading the history of adoption and how it began in Fort Worth, TX and how it has evolved over the past 120 years. It started out with the orphan train movement where I.Z.T. Morris took the leftover children in and helped them find homes. Edna Gladney also made a huge impact on adoption. She fought to have bills passed which would help the children become legally adopted and be able to get their actual birth records. Gladney also helped women in recieving good medical care during their pregnancy and made sure that potential adoptive parents were interviewed before they recieved a child.
That leads us to the adoption process and criteria. There are several steps people have to make before they can adopt a child these days. They have to be financially stable, mature, take classes, provide references, show proof of marriage/divorce, complete application/paperwork, do a home study, choose a potential child, etc. It is a long process, but it is definitly worth it! There are many children who need homes with families who will love and care for them.
http://www.achildtolove.org/
and
http://www.adoptionsbygladney.com/
are both websites that can help families who are thinking of adopting and/or who want to adopt a child.
This class was one that was different from all the rest. I loved the fact that the professor pushed challenging topics and really made us look and reexamine our current situation. One area that I found when reexamining the current school setting was that no where was there any information about teenage pregnancy.
Being a teenage parent myself I found that I wanted more information about this topic as I know I am not the only person this has happened to. What is it like in the school system form teenage parents and their children? What kind of success rates do they have and how are they treated? Wanting to know this information not only for myself but because no one as challenge the idea that, hey one day you could have a parent in your classroom that is only 18 or maybe younger. What do you do then.
I spent the semester looking at this situation and what is being done about it. I found many great people who work in our school systems and communities trying to improve this current life style. I also came across many great websites that shows just what can happened if we don’t start work on the problems at hand.
http://www.nisd.net/compensatory/SAP/
http://www.healthyteennetwork.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B3EEAA079-A14B-482D-B17D-895AD0CEBFE4%7D&DE=%7B199D3A2F-063E-41DB-BEBE-F492E22A2709%7D
Those website will provide information about the school age parenting program and some facts about teen parents and their children.
The SAPP program is wonderful helping teen moms and dads build better lives for their families with education. But as they do their part we also as teachers and people need to do ours. We need to educate ourselves about the current status of teen parents and the hardships. Also we need to know how to work with them as again they will be in our classrooms one day. I also hope that one day this topic will be in our books as well as the class room.
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