The Future of Healing (Argument)

      The author, Shawn Ginwright argues that the methods and the way we try to help our youth currently is not the best way and there is a better alternative that we need to use. He introduces the term "trauma- informed care" and what that means as well as how we can use it to help the youth who need help. Traumo-informed care is a set of principles that guise and direct us in how we view the impact of harm that has done been done to a young person. He then goes on to explain how this is not the best method. Ginwright says that the trauma-informed care structure focuses mainly on them being a victim and puts everyone in the same category. He says that instead of making them a victim, we should instead help them overcome being a victim and make them a product of what has happened to them. 

    Ginwright then introduces us to the idea of Healing Centered Engagement. The difference is that with trauma-informed care you focus on them being the victim of a horrible act and what had happened to them. But with Healing Centered Engagement it focuses on what is good about you individually and how you faced trauma because of being human. It focuses more on you being who you are rather than just being a victim which puts everyone in the same group, even though each person is different and has their own qualities. He also talks about his own experiences with young kids who have faced trauma. He talks about how he approached it and what the outcomes were. 

    

Hyperlink: Shifting how we heal from trauma

Blog Post #9

    After looking back thru the slide deck and my blog posts I found three of the biggest things that stuck out to me were the Alan Johnson (Intro to Privilege) article, the card activity where we couldn't talk, and the rules were different at each table and all of the group work we do.     

     

    The Alan Johnson Article stuck out to me because it shows what the problems are in society today and what we need to work on. But it can also allow us to see the other side of the issue and allow us to value both sides so everyone opinions are meaningful. All in all I think it was a good article to start with since it got us thinking about the situation. 

    I liked the Five Tricks card game because it was different, and it switched up the class. It was fun and got everyone involved in a class activity. I also liked it because it related to what we were talking about in class at the time and it was a good example. 

    Lastly, I liked all the group work because I think group work is one of the most important things we can do in class. it allows us the opportunity to work with different people and get to know each other. Also, we can help each other if someone needs it and could even help someone understand something if they did not have the chance to do it at home the night before. It is good to get used to working with others because moving forward it is a good skill to have. 

Hyperlink- Why group work is important

Video and RI Laws reflection

 After reading about the Laws in Rhode Island and watching the video it is safe to say that they are both about creating a safe and free environment for all students no matter what they believe in. The laws show a more factual and stricter look on the topic and shows us what is actually expected, while the video shows us a looser and understanding way of how this can happen. She does a good job of diving into each thing a little bit and talking to us about it how this can look. 

    Growing up I didn't really experience too much of this and none of it was brought up until now. Especially the whole pronoun situation. I feel like that wasn't really a thing until recently. In the lower grades in school, I never experienced any of this but in high school it was brought up more and was more commonly heard in everyday life. I think this is a little bit of a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because it can make certain students feel safer and more accepted in that learning environment. But I feel it can also be bad because it can be forced onto students and that was the case in high school, and it continues to keep happening. Some students don't believe in that and don't want to be involved in it but often they are put into situations where that is present. 

  Looking back into elementary school I never heard this before. It had never even crossed my mind and if I did hear it, I don't think I could even process what it meant because I was so young. And I think this is the case for many young children. Now I am hearing more and more that young children are using different pronouns. That makes me wonder if they actually know what it means and what they are saying or are the teachers and adults bringing this upon students? This is where I think there is a fine line between having an open environment and forcing your ideas and beliefs onto students and it seems that in some places this line is being crossed. 

Hyperlink: https://www.genderspectrum.org/articles/easy-steps-to-a-gender-inclusive-classroom

Hehir, Toward Ending Ableism in Education (reflection)

     When reading the section "Education of Students with Learning Disabilities" it talked about how much more common learning disabilities are than other things such as blindness or deafness. Many students in school may have some sort of learning disability whether it is diagnosed or not. It also talks about how these students may not get the proper learning methos or teaching that they need for them to succeed. 

    Growing up throughout high school one of my best friends had a learning disability. I went to school with him for years of school until he dropped out end of junior year because he gave up on school. He always struggled in school and was barely passing and making it to the next grade all the time. One of his biggest problems was math because he couldn't understand numbers at all and was constantly confused. About halfway through sophomore year in high school he basically gave up and didn't care anymore. He had given up because he was always struggling and none of the teachers would try different things for him to succeed. they just kept telling him the same thing and after a while there was no hope. They weren't willing to adapt for him and that failed him. This led to him dropping out. 

    This just shows the trouble some students may face if they have a learning disability. For this to change teachers need to learn to adapt and be willing to change their ways in order to help a student who may be like others. I think this can be done by being more aware of this problem. Also, all teachers should be willing to help their students because that is what their job is even if they don't think it. They should always try their best to help even if they don't fully know how to. 

   

Although still high the dropout rate for students with learning disabilities is going down slowly. It still needs a lot of improvement, but it is on the right path. 

Aria and youtube videos on teaching bilinguals (reflection)

 When watching the first video the speaker made a very good point. It was that each student who is bilingual brings something different valuable to that learning environment. Although teachers may find it challenging at first, if they can figure it out the learning environment will actually be very different but strong. I see this firsthand when I go to my service learning. Many of the kids are bilingual and still learning to be fluent in English. The teacher doesn't speak Spanish and sometimes it can be tough for her. Although she doesn't speak Spanish, she still knows some words and tries to incorporate this into her learning when she can, or it will make it easier for her students. 

    Since she struggles with Spanish, she sometimes doesn't understand what they are saying if they speak in Spanish. I have seen her ask the students what they are saying, and they will translate it for her. Even though the teacher isn't fluent or doesn't know much she still makes a good effort and values the student's language by trying her best to understand. I also think this creates a richer learning environment. This is because it unites the students and teacher by working together. It is very simple but something like this is valuable in my eyes. It engages all the students in translating when needed and allows for students to hear stuff in the language they can speak best. Lastly it allows the students to feel more comfortable since they can speak their most fluent language. This could be easier for them and could possibly increase learning due to them being able to communicate better with their classmates. 

Posters similar to this are on the walls in the classroom and it seems to help students understand better because there is a reference they can actually understand. 

Video Analysis

Classroom Tour- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QjVKobauZzqsdZAwWAkksXcxLE12j9jGRcoZ-K4rJU0/edit?usp=sharing

Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick J. Finn Reflection

 After reading this short reading I've come to notice that teachers assert their dominance over their students more frequently than they should and it is an issue in classrooms that may go unnoticed. Yes, teachers are supposed to have control of their room, but their "power" should not be abused like it was in the examples given in chapter 2. When a teacher uses their power in a bad way or uses it which results in their students getting down on themselves or not wanting to be in that environment anymore, they have failed and should not do that again. Their job isn't to put students down, but rather to bring them up and encourage them to learn to the best of their ability. 

    In high school I saw this a lot. The teachers had all the power on every decision, and everything had to be a certain way, or it was not acceptable to them. And when this happened in most cases, the students did not enjoy the class and did not care about what was going on. All they cared about was how much longer they had in class and when they could leave. They got nothing out of it and their time was wasted. This also goes unnoticed and isn't talked about enough. Everyone usually looks over it and says that it's normal. This is the norm that needs to be broken especially if we want students of all ages to reach their full potential in the classroom.