week of 3/16 -3/20

The community where I'm from does many things to involve the community in the educational aspects of children.  One thing that the community does is put when the school board meetings are in the newspaper for everyone to know.  Also, for the local newspaper in my town there is one section that is devoted to school activities, such as meetings, sporting events, awards, and special events.  The schools also send out newsletters for the parents and have a website that anyone can access.  

week of 3/2-3/6

The parent-teacher conference went very well.  I believe that even though the conference was quick, the regular one went well and that it was a very beneficial experience.  However, I think that  having to do one in the classroom was different then what it would be like in the classroom.  I am more comfortable in our classroom working with people that I know than in a classroom working with a parent that I have never met before.  I do think that having practice writing these types of documents is very beneficial and is important to practice.

week of 2/23-2/27

This topic can have a devasting affect on education.  If a child is in a home where meth is used, they will be more concerned with how their home life is, if they're going to be beat or abused in some other way, or if they're care givers are going to be okay.  Therefore, they are not going to be focused on school work.

Also, if a child is living in a meth users home, they take the risk of digesting the drug themselves, which can affect their school work.  According to the video, a child's memory can be affected with being exposed to meth.  Also, a child can have problems with normal developing of a child's gross and fine motor skills.  This can affect all sorts of a child's education, even down to holding a pencil.   

week of february 10th

Poverty can have a major effect on children in today's school systems. Many times when children go to school from an impoverished home, they are not concerned about school. They are more concerned about where their next meals going to come from or where they're going to sleep that night. If a child comes to school they might not have gotten any sleep the night before because of not feeling safe where they stayed or they could be hungry. However, most schools offer free breakfast programs, so that may not be such an issue. As a result, their school work suffers, which can have devastating effects on the student for the future. They may never be able to get out of the poverty level of living. Also, the child may be worried about parents', siblings, or other issues at home, so their focus is on that when it should be on their school work. In addition to having the problems with their school work, they may have health related problems, rather it be stress related or food related. This may cause the child to become depressed. The child may not have friends or get teased a lot because of their living situation.
As a teacher, I can make sure that I provide resources for the families that need them. I can let the parents know that if there is anything that they need to let me know and I will help them as much as I can. I can also monitor the students in my classroom and make sure that they don't need extra care outside of the classroom. Sometimes all they may need is somebody they can trust to talk to and rely on to help them.

Week of January 30th

When I was doing a teaching experience at another school, I worked with a teacher that I did not like the way she was teaching the classroom. This occured last year in a third grade classroom. The teacher played favorites, yelled at students for no reason, and for some reason, was not willing to help me as a student teacher. I learned how not to be with my students by her actions and how not to behave if I ever had a student teacher in my classroom.
I felt that the way she was with some of the students was inappropriate. She would yell at the students for not completing homework or other tasks that the students should not have been doing. I realize that those students should have been punished, but she called them out in front of the other students, which is not a good practice. She also called me out in front of the students. To me, she didn't really hurt my feelings, but I felt like it took the credibility away from me and the students would not listen to me as well.
I also think that some of her students that she did not like knew she didn't and then reacted by acting out in class or not participating in class. There was one student that made me a picture because I would actually talk to her and not yell at her all the time.
In many student teaching experiences, as a student teacher, you are supposed to learn how to teach. In this woman's classroom, I learned how not to behave. Even though the experience did not go very well, I did learn how not to act as a teacher, so it was beneficial in a way.