predicted this world happen.
warned the administrators that about the unsafe environment and the increasingly defiant behavior.
Since when is hugging, butt slapping, kissing and provacative gestures accepted in public schools? the adminitsration claims that this behavior is common there, but I know differently. Besides, if our aim is to change the thinking patterns of our patients so they can present themselves appropriately, society will give them the welcome mat.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tired of the abuse- but paralyzed to move on because of my age.
Transitions between classes are becoming more chaotic. The kids used to have goals like following instructions, expressing oneself appropriately, avoiding conflits, acceping decisions of authority and respecting boundaries, which most of them tried to attain. Infractions meant consequences. Yesterday and today I had nine students in my tiny, windowless room, where they are sitting very close to one another. They talked over me, hugged and held each other, ridiculed me, used vulgar words, sexual and racist in nature and did nothing that I assigned.
Yesterday, one girl y the group for disrespecting a teacher who has such passion for her job and cares fr them. She also mentioned how humiliated I must feel each day. Today, however, she was not much more polite than the rest. I don't want to go back tomorrow.
Yesterday, one girl y the group for disrespecting a teacher who has such passion for her job and cares fr them. She also mentioned how humiliated I must feel each day. Today, however, she was not much more polite than the rest. I don't want to go back tomorrow.
And I never thought…
That when one is kind
To others
That others would be
Mean-spirited
To one who cares so much.
Too much?
And I never thought
A group of kids
Anywhere
Would have venom
in their hearts.
That could strike like a spear
To one who cares so much.
And I never thought
I’d feel invisible
And be called names
Like ” liar”
And be laughed at
An object of indifference
I tried to care so much.
And I always thought
That if I showed my passion
It would draw them to my class
“Welcome all creative minds”
“I’m always here for you”
But I am the one
Who feels unwelcome.
And I always thought
“I’m sorry. I’ll be a better me”.
Would be just that.
I ask only for respect
Bur it’s the lack of
That I get back.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
An Effort to Integrate Literacy with the content areas
Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in January. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was an African-American minister who is recognized for his determination to win civil rights for all people through nonviolence. This holiday is one of only ten in which all public schools are closed.
I've planned to adapt parts of a lesson plan for different academic ability levels that was featured in the New York Times Learning Network. The objectives include:
Students will:
1. Share opinions about the teachings and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Learn about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. by reading and discussing the obituary “Martin Luther King Jr.: Leader of Millions in Nonviolent Drive for Racial Justice.”
3. Write found poems using the obituary published in The Times.
4. Write reflection papers that address the impact of Dr. King’s teachings on their own lives.
New York Time's Learning Network.
I am excited because Dr. King's life and accomplishments are stated simply in the obituary, not in text book fashion. We will be integrating literacy with social studies by doing one of their favorite activities, creating poetry. Hopefully, these kids will be thinking about how relevant his teachings are to their own lives, and not via writing about their own dreams, which I finally realize is not making any connections to themselves and what we are studying.
What I'm hoping they'll do is turn on their creative juices.
I've planned to adapt parts of a lesson plan for different academic ability levels that was featured in the New York Times Learning Network. The objectives include:
Students will:
1. Share opinions about the teachings and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Learn about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. by reading and discussing the obituary “Martin Luther King Jr.: Leader of Millions in Nonviolent Drive for Racial Justice.”
3. Write found poems using the obituary published in The Times.
4. Write reflection papers that address the impact of Dr. King’s teachings on their own lives.
New York Time's Learning Network.
I am excited because Dr. King's life and accomplishments are stated simply in the obituary, not in text book fashion. We will be integrating literacy with social studies by doing one of their favorite activities, creating poetry. Hopefully, these kids will be thinking about how relevant his teachings are to their own lives, and not via writing about their own dreams, which I finally realize is not making any connections to themselves and what we are studying.
What I'm hoping they'll do is turn on their creative juices.
No matter how difficult the child I try not to give up, but..
I need some support. Our classes are grouped by ability. From the research I've read, that is not a good practice. When children are within a couple of grade levels in reading, but are on the same developmental level, I envision lots of collaboration and peer tutoring. Also, the blend will more likely bring about cognitive and language growth among the less able.
We need flexibilty in grouping. For the last three months, we've more aggressive, disrespectful patients; conduct disorders. One particular bunch is bright and has unawareness of the world outside of their own lives; however, they choose to mock at and reject my attempts, (actually all teachers would agree), to expound upon that knowledge.
I had been welcoming them enthusiastically with carefully planned activities, a smile on my face and forgiveness for the sexual content of their jokes, shouting, jeering, ignoring and talking over me, ready to start anew. Derision and dishonor are contagious. The twelve year old, who clearly should not be spending his day with sixteen and seventeen year old vindicative drug addicts, runaways, and aggressors. For the first week or two after admission, with all of his troubles, he was cooperative, did assignments and proper with adults. He has formed a comraderie with the older ones and is becoming defiant.
It is getting harder to be positive and encouraging, for they and I are fully aware that patients in our hospital no longer get consequences for their actions. We are understaffed. Several aides have been terminated over the last year or so, afer being caught on camera putting their hands on a tantruming, assaultive kid. Now, I understand that loss of control by even the most nurturing caregiver, working an eight or sometimes sixteen hour shift. He gets kicked or spat at, and defends himself from further attack, but not to intentionally hurt. Other direct care employees are out on medical leave because they were attacked and are either emotionally spent or seriously injured. The administrators are not sensitive to the plight and efforts of the employees.
Teachers are doing it alone- heading a class of about six, volatile adolescents. The expectations from above are to meet each children's academic needs and scaffold upon the skills they have. When there is chaos in the room and frequently in the halls, with kids always challenging instructions, we feel unsafe.
Management has a dream, an impossible dream. They want our school to be a model for other psychiatric hospitals, and, "If you feel unsafe, maybe this isn't the right working environment for you."
Since when don't all children need limits? (to be continued).
We need flexibilty in grouping. For the last three months, we've more aggressive, disrespectful patients; conduct disorders. One particular bunch is bright and has unawareness of the world outside of their own lives; however, they choose to mock at and reject my attempts, (actually all teachers would agree), to expound upon that knowledge.
I had been welcoming them enthusiastically with carefully planned activities, a smile on my face and forgiveness for the sexual content of their jokes, shouting, jeering, ignoring and talking over me, ready to start anew. Derision and dishonor are contagious. The twelve year old, who clearly should not be spending his day with sixteen and seventeen year old vindicative drug addicts, runaways, and aggressors. For the first week or two after admission, with all of his troubles, he was cooperative, did assignments and proper with adults. He has formed a comraderie with the older ones and is becoming defiant.
It is getting harder to be positive and encouraging, for they and I are fully aware that patients in our hospital no longer get consequences for their actions. We are understaffed. Several aides have been terminated over the last year or so, afer being caught on camera putting their hands on a tantruming, assaultive kid. Now, I understand that loss of control by even the most nurturing caregiver, working an eight or sometimes sixteen hour shift. He gets kicked or spat at, and defends himself from further attack, but not to intentionally hurt. Other direct care employees are out on medical leave because they were attacked and are either emotionally spent or seriously injured. The administrators are not sensitive to the plight and efforts of the employees.
Teachers are doing it alone- heading a class of about six, volatile adolescents. The expectations from above are to meet each children's academic needs and scaffold upon the skills they have. When there is chaos in the room and frequently in the halls, with kids always challenging instructions, we feel unsafe.
Management has a dream, an impossible dream. They want our school to be a model for other psychiatric hospitals, and, "If you feel unsafe, maybe this isn't the right working environment for you."
Since when don't all children need limits? (to be continued).
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Teaching Beyond Risk Adolescents
Why be concerned about at-risk youth? " The problem is not simply that some students are doing poorly in school. The problems relate to all youth who are in danger of not just failing and dropping out of school, but of entering adulthood illiterate, dependent on drugs and alcohol, unemployed or underemployed, as a teenage parent, dependent upon public support or adjudicated by the criiminal justice system.".Hope Fulfilled for AT-Risk and Violent Youth K-12 Programs that Work". Second Edition. Robert Barr and William H. Parrett Boise State University
Copyright 2001-Allyn & Bacon.
The above statement tells it all. A father in an inner city school once spoke up at a PTA meeting attended by the usual four parents, and two new teachers, "Don't be afraid of our children who are educated. Be very fearful of our children who are not educated."
As a literacy teacher of adolescent boys and girls in a psychiatric hospital, one of my hardest tasks is finding or designing lesson plans that would encourage active involvement. Even so, the students are battling their own inner turmoil and expressing it by ignoring, talking over me, challenging my every word, using sexual or other inappropriate language as they communicated loudly to peers, or tucking their heads inside their hoodies and laying across the desk.
These kids reside for a time period in our locked up facility until they are deemed mentally stable and no longer a threat to themselves or others. they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. Many don't leave the building for weeks or months, except for the outdoor play areas, legal or medical appointments, at which they are accompanied by two staff.
Unlike other at-risk children, ours do not go home after school each day. Even if the family is highly dysfunctional, most miss their families, their beds and familiar surroundings. There might be little structure and supervision, but, here their lives are strictly supervised and dictated by the hospital's schedule.
Our patients' diagnoses included bi-polar disease, borderline personality disorder, depression, conduct disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia, post traumatic stress disorder, aggression and ADHD. Their experiences with formal schooling have been sporadic due to truancy, suspension, expulsion, multiple hospitalizations and other temporary therapeutic placements. Too many failed within the system: for once a child falls significantly behind academically, even with excellent intervention, it is difficult and improbable that they will catch up to their peers, especially, those who hadn't even grasped the fundamentals of reading. Thus, as they grow older, even if they have educational mentors, they still be living with dysfunction. They didn't want to be in the hospital and their ability to focus is dependent upon their psychiatric issues, often disappointed by an anticipated a visit from from family member that doesn't show-up.
Too many of their prior experiences in school have been poor. Truancy, suspension, expulsion and frequent hospitalization mean that these kids have had bits of time in a public school. How can one assume that they can possible perform in any academic area on grade level? The child who is struggling in school does not want to be known as a "retard" by his classmates, so he or she might become the class clown and get the teacher's negative attention for that, he/she might gain in popularity by his peers, or get kicked out of class for so the academic problems are less noticeable to the kids.
We have boys and girls with language processing problems and a few whose intellectual functioning is lower than their cognitive age.. We may think they are acting inappropriately and not following instructions, when they don't have the ability to understand our messages in the way we give them.
It is not uncommon during our school day to hear furniture being thrown, pounding on walls, cursing either at or with peers with sexual overtones, to see kids walking out of class or fighting or even assaulting staff. The staff who they punch, kick, or spit at might be their favorite temporary caregiver. It is the frustration and anger and emptiness that they are really attacking. I say "temporary" because either staff, nurses and other hospital employees leave these jobs or the kids move on to placements, foster homes with different temporary caregivers, or even back to their own family. Quite often, they acclimate well for a time and then stop taking meds and cease counseling, and resume truancy, using alcohol and drugs to self- soothe, get into brawls at school, steal, become aggressive to parents or siblings and eventually return to a psychiatric hospital.
Keeping all of this in mind, then, how can teachers working in an institution be expected to formulate lessons with the State Standards in the forefront? The goal of our day quite often is just to get the children to stay in a seat for even twenty minutes, If we want more, we have to dig deeply and either locate or formulate using our most creative minds, lessons and activities that will not only give them a reprieve from their unpleasant thoughts, but also to have fun learning.
That learning must be relevant to their own lives if we hope to achieve that goal.
There are no books or articles that can offer educators the miracle we need to guarantee the depth of success, though I keep searching..
We have boys and girls with language processing problems and a few whose intellectual functioning is lower than their cognitive age.. We may think they are acting inappropriately and not following instructions, when they don't have the ability to understand our messages in the way we give them.
It is not uncommon during our school day to hear furniture being thrown, pounding on walls, cursing either at or with peers with sexual overtones, to see kids walking out of class or fighting or even assaulting staff. The staff who they punch, kick, or spit at might be their favorite temporary caregiver. It is the frustration and anger and emptiness that they are really attacking. I say "temporary" because either staff, nurses and other hospital employees leave these jobs or the kids move on to placements, foster homes with different temporary caregivers, or even back to their own family. Quite often, they acclimate well for a time and then stop taking meds and cease counseling, and resume truancy, using alcohol and drugs to self- soothe, get into brawls at school, steal, become aggressive to parents or siblings and eventually return to a psychiatric hospital.
Keeping all of this in mind, then, how can teachers working in an institution be expected to formulate lessons with the State Standards in the forefront? The goal of our day quite often is just to get the children to stay in a seat for even twenty minutes, If we want more, we have to dig deeply and either locate or formulate using our most creative minds, lessons and activities that will not only give them a reprieve from their unpleasant thoughts, but also to have fun learning.
That learning must be relevant to their own lives if we hope to achieve that goal.
There are no books or articles that can offer educators the miracle we need to guarantee the depth of success, though I keep searching..
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