Thursday, September 24, 2009
Teachers are humans too!!
I’d just like to say that in my mind reading about a case study like Carl’s case, and actually experiencing the events from the teacher’s eyes are two completely separate things. I think it’s very easy to say, to read the study and say, well the teacher should have done this and should have done that, and should have been paying attention to all of these indicators that were affecting Carl. In many cases we would be completely correct in making these observations and prescriptions about what should have been done. I’d just like to say though that the real world doesn’t function in this black and white purely analytical way. Who knows how many other things could have been distracting the teacher away from realizing his student’s predicament? Who knows how well Carl may have been trying to hide the truth from his teacher about what was going on at home? I think this is where as teachers we can and should strive to look for indicators of such abuses so that we can help influence these situations in the positive. But with this in mind, we are all still human and prone to the errors of human judgment. This is not to say that the teacher should have blindly ignored Carl’s symptoms, but this is really good example of the delicate, and complicated tight-rope walk that we as teachers take on when we step into the classroom.
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I totally agree. I think there is an expectation that teachers will recognize issues with students that take necessary steps to help them, which kind of overwhelms me. I think part of it has to do with being a young teacher and trying to juggle lesson planning, marking, classroom management, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely the human side to teaching, where we need to develop relationships with our students and direct them to different support networks/resources when they need it. But I also think that we are teachers and like you said, we're only human, and sometimes we'll just miss things no matter how hard we try to be aware. The most important thing I took from this case study was how Carl and the teacher had developed enough of a relationship that Carl was able to approach the teacher and ask for help. Despite the teacher not picking up on the changes in Carl, he/she had created a safe enough environment that Carl was able to bring these issues up. That, to me, is a sign of a good teacher.
I am also on the same page as you guys. It's a bit nerve racking to think that we are not only expected to be aware, but more seriously, if we do miss some signs or warning signs for whatever reason, what the ultimate cost could be. I think that most serious (by serious I mean life threatening) cases would have major signs to identify, so the student who is in danger would be easier to spot and assist. But this isn't always the case. Like Chris mentioned, who knows how hard/well some students will hide their situations. And if we, as teachers, are uneducated on signs and behaviours that are related to abuse or any other kind of issue, how will we know when we miss a sign or two? But as Taryn said, building connections with students will help us to assist students when and where we can.
ReplyDeleteI think that if we can be educated on the signs of different types of abuse and issues, we will be helping ourselves acquire the tools we need to be there for the students. We may not always catch things right away, and we may not always be the most attentive and as a result we may not always deal with every situation appropriately. But qualities like having a safe environment for the students, tact and personal relationships are all things that will ultimately help out a student in need. This responsibility can feel overwhelming at the best of times to us, especially as new teachers, but we will learn with time as long as we keep the students as our central focus.
I agree with you all. It would be very difficult to pick up on everything as it sounds that the situation she found herself in had several students with disfunctional families. And it would be hard to try and uncover such a delicate subject as she must be careful not to ask leading questions. It was great that she was able to create a relationship with Carl that allowed him to feel comfortable enough to tell her the truth and it was great that the teacher took apporpriate action once learning about Carl's situation. As we learnt last year from Allen York, supposidly a child will tell 4 people on average before anyone finally does something. I personally was quite baffled by this statistic and really hope that we can diminish that number.
ReplyDeleteAll we can do as teachers is do our best to be as perceptive as possible and try to create an environment where all of your students feel safe so that if something does arise and they need help they will feel comfortable confiding in you and come to you for help. Also I believe that with the more practice we get interacting with students the easier it will be to pick up on signs and signals.