What Now
As a teacher it hasn't been particularly easy to listen to the media in the weeks following the Florida shooting. I didn't know how to react to everything that was spinning around on Facebook and I definitely didn't know how to talk about it with my students. I still don't know how to talk about it with them, but I have found it encouraging to listen to how they talk about it among each other.
We have been working on an argumentative unit and although some people would definitely disagree with me, I do not believe in censoring my students. Instead, I believe that they should have the freedom to research and write about whatever they want. This unit started right around the shooting and naturally I had a few students who had a lot of feelings on the recent shooting and what the government was doing about it.
My favorite example of this was when a student started doing a lot of research on gun control. I did my best to play the devil's advocate and challenge the points that he found in his research and through these questions he came to a different conclusion, "Wow, the only thing that is going to solve this crisis is an emphasis on mental health in the schools."
He pointed at this article from NPR and asked me what kind of training teachers have to help students work through their mental health issues. I told him that truthfully, we are not super equipped to give some students the extra attention that they need. He made a comment about how that was ridiculous, but I reminded him how much teachers truly have on their plate.
I would love to say that this is a post dedicated to the optimism I have for the future after seeing some of my students in action. They ask the hard questions. They do their research and they have powerful ideas to the future.
Although this is a post that is sort of dedicated to that student and the positive outlook it gives me, it's also a reflection on our conversation. It might be a little "ridiculous" that teachers don't have more training, but I also feel like there are just not enough hours in the day to give every student the love that they need. It's all too easy to attribute their behaviors to the fact that they are just going through puberty. It's easy to miss the signs of a student who is struggling on more than an academic level. We have so much on our plates. It's terrifying to think that what we are doing might not be enough to reach the kids that need that extra love and attention. The fact that teachers have a lot on their plate does not meant that 80% of kids who need mental health services should not receive them.
I liked that this article addressed the idea of including more support staff in our schools. I know that it's not financially realistic, but when it comes to the well being of our kids, I don't think you can put a price on it. This "silent epidemic" is growing at an alarming rate and I think that this might be where our country needs to start to make a change.
For now, it's probably worth it to just keep doing what we are doing. If we can work as a team, both families and educators, to love the crap out of all of our kids we can maybe help with this silent epidemic.
We have been working on an argumentative unit and although some people would definitely disagree with me, I do not believe in censoring my students. Instead, I believe that they should have the freedom to research and write about whatever they want. This unit started right around the shooting and naturally I had a few students who had a lot of feelings on the recent shooting and what the government was doing about it.
My favorite example of this was when a student started doing a lot of research on gun control. I did my best to play the devil's advocate and challenge the points that he found in his research and through these questions he came to a different conclusion, "Wow, the only thing that is going to solve this crisis is an emphasis on mental health in the schools."
He pointed at this article from NPR and asked me what kind of training teachers have to help students work through their mental health issues. I told him that truthfully, we are not super equipped to give some students the extra attention that they need. He made a comment about how that was ridiculous, but I reminded him how much teachers truly have on their plate.
I would love to say that this is a post dedicated to the optimism I have for the future after seeing some of my students in action. They ask the hard questions. They do their research and they have powerful ideas to the future.
Although this is a post that is sort of dedicated to that student and the positive outlook it gives me, it's also a reflection on our conversation. It might be a little "ridiculous" that teachers don't have more training, but I also feel like there are just not enough hours in the day to give every student the love that they need. It's all too easy to attribute their behaviors to the fact that they are just going through puberty. It's easy to miss the signs of a student who is struggling on more than an academic level. We have so much on our plates. It's terrifying to think that what we are doing might not be enough to reach the kids that need that extra love and attention. The fact that teachers have a lot on their plate does not meant that 80% of kids who need mental health services should not receive them.
I liked that this article addressed the idea of including more support staff in our schools. I know that it's not financially realistic, but when it comes to the well being of our kids, I don't think you can put a price on it. This "silent epidemic" is growing at an alarming rate and I think that this might be where our country needs to start to make a change.
For now, it's probably worth it to just keep doing what we are doing. If we can work as a team, both families and educators, to love the crap out of all of our kids we can maybe help with this silent epidemic.
Comments
Post a Comment