Blog #5
Suzanne Corsall
Creative Connector
p.128-168
-"Quite often girls who are raised without fathers, or who hunger for a father's love and discipline, can overwhelm teachers with what elementary teacher Jan Miller has seen in some of her female students: "a lack of a moral compass."-p.160
This passage connected with my life in that my parents separated when I was in the first grade. I wasn't that close to my dad so I didn't think that his moving out affected me much. However, I'm sure my teachers would have disagreed. Although I don't think that I lost all sense of right and wrong or my moral compass.
What scares me as a teacher is that many parents don't inform teachers about things going on at home. I can understand their reasons such as embarrassment and a desire for privacy, but it makes my job harder when I have to try to figure out what is going on in a student's life. Therefore, I know that I will have to work to create open relationships with parents so that they will feel comfortable sharing information about their child with me so that we can work together to help them.
-"Young students grew up in the embrace of mentors. The mentors themselves grew up because they took responsibility for their actions- responsibility forced on them by the elder role they played." p.136
This reminded me of the sixth grade buddy that I had when I was in first grade. While I don't remember being tutored by her I remember looking up to her. While this was important for me to have a big kid care about me, I now realize that it was beneficial for her as well in terms of developing responsibility and self-esteem.
As a teacher, I would be hesitant to use this strategy with children with behavioral problems because either part of the pairing could have a negative effect on the other. However, upon more reflection I realized that just because a child may display some undesired behaviors, I should not expect those behaviors of him all the time. Every child needs to be given a chance and different opportunities to make proper choices.
-"Lately I am trying to be very conscious of what I ask a boy to do when I am trying to get information. I try to get something in his hands (crayons, blocks, cards) while I'm talking. I find this tends to relax the boy and also prevents a lot of frustration on my part." p.164
This makes sense in terms of male brain development, but any strategy can be taken too far. It has been my experience that some children may act out because they will be sent to someone's office where they can play with what they want. Therefore, it is important to examine each case individiually.
Alison Getsloff in response to Suzanne's blog #5:
ReplyDeleteI really like the 3rd quote you chose. As a future female teacher, and after reading this book, I see how difficult it is going to be with bonding with boys. Any kind of strategy that can help bond with anyone will help me immensely. But as you said, any strategy can be taken too far. I think as a future teacher, I would like to even read a book about strategies to connect with my students. As a former nanny, I do know how to connect with kids, but I only took care of 2- taking care of 15-25 kids its a heck of a lot different.