Teaching Tolerance

Blog 10

One part of the Teaching Tolerance website that I found to be useful was Family Engagement. Since I have started taking these education courses and reading the books that go along with the courses, it is always mentioned that engaging parents in their child’s progress in school is key to the success of the child. It also helps with keeping everyone on the same page. “The National Parent Teacher Association gives five reasons to renew the push to engage parents before, during and after ‘Bring Your Family to School Week’: Higher grades, test scores, graduation rates, better attendance at school, fewer suspensions and incidents of violent behavior, increased motivation and self-esteem, decreased drug and alcohol use” (Family Engagement). Parents like to know what is going on with their child and having all parties involved helps with keeping everyone happy and avoiding miscommunications. Another important aspect in getting the family engaged, is sending behavior and schoolwork reports home with the child on a daily basis. Most of the time, parents hear from the school or the child’s teacher when they have done something wrong and the parents receive bad news. By sending home behavior and schoolwork daily report cards, the child has more of an incentive to behave, thus giving the parents good news on their child. Another plus to this type of method is the parents can determine a reward to give the child. Parents know their child best and know what will get their attention in order to have more of an incentive to complete their work and behave. “As children's first teachers, parents play important roles in supporting academic learning at home and at school” (Family Engagement).

I plan to use the daily report card method in my classroom in order to get the family fully engaged in their child’s academic learning.

"Family Engagement." Teaching Tolerance. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. <http://www.tolerance.org/supplement/family-engagement>.

Risk Factors for Youth

Blog 9

Our world today is much different than how it used to be. There are a lot of advantages, but whole lot more risk factors that play a part in our society today. They mainly will be affecting the youth of this generation. A big risk factor that is prevalent in our society today and goes along with what we have been talking about in this class is attempted suicide in gay and bisexual youth. An article that I found online says, “Studies of human sexuality have noted high rates of suicide among homosexual youth” (Remafedi, Farrow, and Deisher, 1991). The article goes on to explain that this happens more frequently in male youth. This type of risk factor affects me as teacher because as a teacher, you spend countless hours with students and sometimes more than their parents do. It is important to inform them and get to know your students in order to prevent these types of issues.

Another risk factor that has become a prominent thing in our society today is cyber bullying. I bring this up because technology is so prevalent in our society and about every young person has some type of technology. Children are getting cell phones at a younger age and even know more about technology than their parents or adults, which is quite scary. An interesting fact that I found online about cyber bullying says, “Over 80% of teens use a cell phone regularly, making it the most common medium for cyber bullying” (11 Facts About Cyber Bullying,). Children and teens need to be informed of what is out there and how technology can be dangerous to them and even cause detrimental side effects along with putting them in harms way. This is not to take away from how beneficial technology can be for students and teachers, but the more that is available the more consequences that arise. This affects me as a teacher because the use of technology will need to be limited in the classrooms because it does pose a distraction. The main issue is that cyber bullying is very hard to detect because as a teacher you can not just take a child’s phone and start looking through it.

Works Cited

Risk Factors for Attempted Suicide in Gay and Bisexual Youth. (1991, June 1).

Retrieved March 28, 2014, from

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/87/6/869.short

11 Facts About Cyber Bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

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Geographic

Blog 8

I have lived in North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. The one place that I have lived that I can recall to be much different from the other two is Blairsville, Georgia. It was in the mountains and was a very small town. Most people were very country like and had always lived in this town, born and raised. It wasn’t a very diverse town and there were many stories of people dropping out of school to go work for some local business under their dad or run by the family.

My family wasn’t a big fan of living there because of the good ole boy system that existed heavily in this town. My brother was bullied and since they guys that bullied him were on the football team and their dads were big shots in the town, nothing was done about punishing them. This also was a reoccurring thing in this town, the football players would bully younger players.

When we decided to move to South Carolina, I didn’t want to because I had so many good friends. Once I grew up and realized the values that town portrayed at least to my family with our situations, it made me be more aware of bullying that goes on and how I think twice about chiming in because of what my brother went through. This is not to say that there is not a lot of great people in Blairsville, GA, but the values that high up people in that town had were the ones that stuck. This is also not to say that bullying doesn’t occur everywhere because it does.

Another way it has influenced my life is that I see how certain people in that town never let or experienced something new regarding new people or new places. I have made it a goal to travel when I am done with college and experience being young while I can. Going back to your hometown or a town that you love is great, but I think it is a good thing and healthy to experience new places.

Religious Experience

Blog 7

On Sunday March 2, I went with two other classmates to a local Mormon church here in Dahlonega. My religious background is Catholicism, so visiting a Mormon church was going to be quite different, at least that’s what I thought. We picked to go to a Mormon church because one of my friends/teammate is Mormon so I have always been curious about their religion since it’s such a big part of her life. It was different from a Catholic mass because the person who administered their service was just dressed in a suit, when the priest who leads our mass is always dressed in a liturgical vestment. In a Catholic mass there is a lot of sitting, standing, and kneeling. Some people like to say that going to a Catholic mass is like a workout, which I guess it is compared to other religions and their services. In the Mormon Church they sat the whole time, even when singing. Most of the time when we sing in the Catholic Church, we stand.

A big difference that I noticed between the Mormon Church and the Catholic Church is the friendly hospitality the Mormon Church displays. Right when my two friends and I walked in, many people came up to us and introduced themselves. It caught me off guard initially because in the Catholic Church, most people keep to themselves before mass and do not even notice or introduce themselves to people who are new. The people at the Mormon Church made us feel welcome and comfortable being in a new environment.

Another difference was how different members of the Mormon Church could go up and talks to the congregation, when in the Catholic Church; there are normally two readers from the congregation. Also, the Mormons call their church a ward and it is considered a meeting when they gather together. The Catholic Church calls their gathering a mass.

Blog 6

Blog 6

            The places I go on a regular basis is walking around the North Georgia campus, the gym, and driving a car to get groceries or grab something to eat. I never really stop to think how hard it would be on a daily basis for people in wheelchairs to get around campus, and to even get in and out of doors. I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be to be blind or hearing impaired. Each day they would have to have either someone help them go about their day or plan out their day in order to get to place to place in a timely manner because having those handicaps would slow someone down a bit. My grandmother always told her children and all of us grandchildren to count our blessings and appreciate all that you have. People with disabilities have less access to simply walk down steps or to go play sports that everyone else is playing. I play basketball here at North Georgia and someone with a disability would probably not be able to play some sports depending on how severe their disability is.

            I am in a lecture room with stairs and small seats for my Astronomy class. Someone that is in a wheelchair or blind would not be able to get up the stairs, so they would have to make sure to get to class early in order to get a front row seat if they don’t want to bring attention to their disability, which most people don’t. A lot of these small things are aspects of life that many of us take for granted on a daily basis. You don’t realize the importance of something until it is gone or taken away from you.

            Being in the mountains of North Georgia, it is probably difficult for handicap people to get around on a regular basis. Another important aspect is to have the proper medical care available. According to the Centers for Disease for Control and Prevention, “People with disabilities can be at higher risk for injuries and abuse. It is important for parents and other family members to teach their loved one how to stay safe and what to do if they feel threatened or have been hurt in any way” (2013).

Works Cited

"People with Disabilities." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Dec. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/people.html>.