On Jul 26, 10:01=A0pm, Chookie <ehreben...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> In article <g6doqu0...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Banty
<Banty_mem...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
> > >I see this has been answered by many other people, but do you people
h=
ave
> > >Blind Freddy over there? =A0As in, "Blind Freddy could see that
failin=
g to try
> > >to educate the children of crappy parents just produces more
criminals=
in
> > >the
> > >long run"?
>
> > No we don't have "Blind Freddy". =A0We sure could use "Blind Freddy",
t=
hough!
>
> > So much of the analysis of this kind of thing is ideological over here
=
in the
> > states. =A0And very short-sighted.
>
> I'd noticed. =A0Not that we're devoid of ideologues here!
>
> --
> Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
> (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
>
> http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/
This discussion Thread has been particularly interesting to me. Im
just about finished with my teacher training here in the states and I
have gotten a chance to do in school/classroom training with many
different types of schools all with different programs offered to
their students.
All this talk reminded me of a situation I landed in in a 1st grade
ESL classroom last year. A young african american boy came to school
(most days), each day he came, which most of the time started with him
handing a tardy pass to his teacher, he would sit with the other
children in the circle. A slight daze in his glance. When asked to sit
in the morning circle he would play with other childrens things and
would always be attempting to lay down or be strewn about over the
floor infront of everyone. He was one of the lower achieving students
in the classroom, but the teachers worked closely with him each day
for the time he spent in and out of the classroom.
One morning he came to school, walked into the classroom and slowly
laid down on the carpet during sharing circle. One of the special
educators in the classroom noticed a particularly unusual manner about
the child and asked him to sit up. The child could not focus, his eyes
were fogged over, and his clothing and breath smelled of marijuana. It
seemed as though to the adults in the room. This child had come to
school, high, but completely against his own will.
The aid in the room immediately re****ted this to the head teacher in
the room. However, once the teacher new what was going on se went to
re****t it to the office that something could be done about this
childrens home situation. However, because nothing could be proven by
his demeanor, nor the smelly clothing, or "bad breath" nothing was
ever done about the situation. This was surely not the only time that
child came to school in that state of mind.
Something we always have to keep in mind, is that regardless of how
much we want to help, and how much we want to be able to make
situations better for children at home, we cannot. As long as we are
not their parent, we cannot be their parent.
However, as educators we can do the best we can while we are in
contact with the students that enter our classroom. We can put forth
our best effort and passion for children to be their for them. I
believe there was a post back further in this discussion about
reaching out to children for the 7 hours that they are in school. And
I completely agree. Wether or not the kids are their because they want
to be or not, we can at least be great teachers for them. And teach
them in a way that maybe, only for a moment, they arent dreading
school, or arent dreading home.
I believe that this can happen, yes, maybe its ideological, but there
have been instances in the US, and out of the US where great teachers
have done great things for students, regardless of how rich or poor,
or malnurished.
I think there are more issues here in this discussion than I can write
about now. This one just seemed to pop into my head tonight.
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