Blog #5

People need to understand that poverty impacts a child's (or even an adult's) way of life and ability to learn.  If a child comes to school hungry or scared, they will not be able to learn.  Learning only occurs once someone's basic needs are met. It is important as a teacher to recognize when a child is needing their basic needs to be met.

For people to understand poverty, all they have to do is think how upset and touchy they feel when they are hungry and asked to do something.  This is a daily occurance, unfortunately, for some children. One cannot focus on learning if hungry.  If they are concerned where they will sleep for the night, they will not learn.

All basic needs need to be met before someone can learn.  There are way too many hungry, homeless and abused children in our country.  Focus and funds need to be brought back to our schools so we are able to assist this population better.

3rd Blog - 2ns Semester

Have you witnessed staff acting in an unprofessional manner? If so, what can you do to avoid
pitfalls associated with unprofessional behavior?

Yes, I have witnessed staff acting in an unprofessional manner.  I had a staff member at another school tell other staff members that I "hated" her.  I was shocked and confused once this got back to me.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  In my opinion, I always said good morning to her and I feel like I am a happy, approachable person.  I felt like I was back in high school.  I was disappointed in her for not coming to talk to me directly and instead, spread rumors.  I felt this was very unprofessional and immature.  I still feel that way, 7 years later. 

I did take the high road and approached her.  I told her what I had heard and that I was sorry if I every did anything to upset her.  She could not give me an answer as to why she felt that way about me.  I guess you can't please everyone.  However, approaching her about it prevented anything else from happening from her.  The ironic thing about this all is that I really had no opinion of her before all of this.  Afterwards, I stay clear of her and don't trust her.

I don't think people in a working relationship should be talking bad about one another.  I am sure that I have been guilty of this, as I am human.  However, I remind myself every day to mind my own business.  If it doesn't involve me then I don't need to give my two-cents without anyone's solicitation.

Second Semester 2nd Blog

My school uses the Make Your Day discipline system.  If a child has a concern about another student, they will bring it to an teacher's attention and we will discuss the incident with the other student.  The student will be asked if they are to take responsible for the incident and then asked to take points off.

Also with Make Your Day, if a student is caught doing something not appropriate, they will go to Step 1 to think about what they did.  If the behavior persists, they will go to step 2, then step 3.  The "last straw" is step 4.  This means the student will go to the office to discuss the incident with the principal and parents will be called.  Any type of bullying would be considered a step 4 immediately.  A talk with the principal and a meeting with parents would occur.

Bullying is defined by the district as any verbal or physical harassment, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, religious harassment, racial harassment and hazing. The district has a way for students to report bullying anonymous by filling out a report online.  The school also has a paper report called an incident report.

I would like to say my district has a handle on bullying.  However, my son has been bullied awful this year.  I have been in to talk to his school 3 times since September.  It is just now getting better for him.  I think even though the district has all these definitions and anonymous line to report incidents, what actually happens to the students is a complete mystery to me.  As a parent and a teacher, I am not sure.  I can't seem to get a direct answer.  I THINK they notify the student of the harassment claim.  From there, if it persists, then it is considered bullying.  I feel like the subject is very secretive for some reason. 

Second Semester Blog 1

My teaching goals for this semester are as follows:

1) Continue learning from my peers to make myself a better teacher.  I enjoy "picking" the brains of other teachers and incorporate what they do with my teaching style.

2) Define my teaching style even more.  I enjoy incorporating strategies into my classroom to help my students relax, reflect on themselves and overall make them better people.  I like having my diffuser in the class. I also like doing yoga/exercises to help my kids learn not only to better students, but healthy.  I am open to learning about more strategies to put in place as I define myself also as a teacher of life.

3) Finish out the year with my students successfully growing and making my teaching goals.

4) Finish this semester of school with-out a hitch!