Community

I think community involvement is very important in schools. At the kindergarten I went to they had different high school students  come in and student teach and help out in the room just like Ball State students do at Burris. I think thats a good opportunity for the high school to have a partnership with the  pre-school/kindergarten.  I also remember we would have community readers once a month at Crestview Elementary,  my grade school in Indianapolis. Different people from the community would take their time to come read to us. I thought it was neat to have someone different in the room. I think its important for students to be able to interact with different people throughout the community, and this gives the students the opportunity to do so when the community reader comes. At the other grade school I went to Saint Pius seventh and eighth grade,  we got to be an  elective class that would meet every friday, and most of those elective class would have something to do with the community. I remember a few of them one was going out into the community around the school and picking up trash. Another one was going to a nursing home and visiting with the elderly people. There was also a group of students who went to other schools to help tutor students. The final way I can remember having the community and school involved together was when I was in HIgh School. We had to do community service, through out all four years of high school. I think this was something very neat that our high school did, to get the students involved in the community and community getting involved with school.  I think its important to get the community involved in school activities, like I was able to be part of through out my elementary and high school years. 

I thought doing the parent teacher conference was pretty helpful. By doing the difficult situation one it just shows there is actually parents that are going to be like that, and I'm going to have to know how to handle the situation calmly. This assignment taught me how to actually write out a good agenda. I learned that you open and close the conference with something positive about the child. I hope by me getting a little practice now, that it will help me in the future either while I'm student teaching and I have to deal with parents, or when I become a teacher myself. 

Drug and Alcohol Families

After watching this video I realized how many children are actually neglected or abused either physically or sexually, due to drug or alcohol use in parents. These children have to witness fighting and other things that normal children would never see. Once these children have seen it, it makes  it more like for them to do it once they are older. It was disturbing looking at the pictures of the homes these children have to live in, and the pictures of children who have been hurt by their parents who use drugs.  I think would be an issue if you had a student in your class whose parents abuse drugs. You can't always tell when a child's parent is a drug used but most likely if they are users then that child will either be abused or neglected in most cases. As a teacher you have to learn the signs and symptoms of children who are being abused and neglected at home.  As a teacher you have to make sure when you notice theses signs that you report that child of being abused. 

Poverty in America

Poverty and homelessness is a major problem in the American youth. It seems to be increasing rather then getting better. These children who are in poverty are lacking a lot of things. Most of these children's parent(s) have more then one job trying to get as much income they can get. These children and their families struggle to eat nutritious meals let alone even being able to eat each meal every day. For some of these children its hard for them to try to get their homework done, because they have other things to worry about. Some of these children have to take care of the younger children in the family, some have to worry about where they are going to sleep that night, and others are worry about actually being able to get food in their stomach. 

As a teacher I would try to help those students who need the help. I would  take a collection at the beginning of the year to make sure that all my students had the supplies  they need. I would provide them information on different organizations were they could receive extra help. I would make sure all my students know that they are all equal no matter what. 

Reflection # 1

I attended Ball State University for my first semester of college. After my first semester at Ball State University, I attended IUPUI for three semesters. While at IUPUI I could not decide on a major, every time I thought I was interested in a major, something would cause me to change my mind. While at IUPUI, I considered studying education, dental hygiene, nursing, and radiology technology. I finally decided last semester that I wanted to go into Early Childhood Education, and that is why I transfered back to Ball State University. Once I transfered to IUPUI I started working at a pre-school one to two times a week.  I think this job really helped me make the decision to study Early Childhood Education. I really enjoyed  being a part of those kids lives. It made me feel good knowing that I could make a difference in those children's lives. I'm glad I had the opportunity to work at this pre-school. Once I graduated I plan to teacher either pre-schoolers or kindergartners. I think I would be better with younger kids, because I have worked with my aunts third grade class and I didn't enjoy it as much.