School and the community

The involvement of a community can be very essential to its community schools. Back in my home town there is a partnership with the schools and the community. The PTO in the Northwest Allen County Schools really helps bring the parents and the teachers of the community together. These are meeting that take place where ideas are brought up to better the schools. Another involvement includes fields trips that are taken at the elementary school level and are often at places around the community. For example students can be taken to Salem Farm to learn about the animals and also learn more about the area which they live in. Fundraisers are another way for the school to get money from the help of the community buying products from the school.
Another way to get involved is through attending NACS meetings. These are meetings with the superintendent and other board members that allow the community to bring up any ideas or concerns to better the school districts. Also, for the community I grew up in, a paper was issued every Wednesday that always had information about what was going on in the schools. It provided ways that people could get involved with the schools. The importance of this topic is not stressed enough in some communities. A school can really thrive if help is offered from its surrounding communities.

Conference

Over all, I think my conference went very well. I was prepared and had all my documents in the order I wanted to present them. I went through the documents and knew what I wanted to cover when talking about each one. My parent, Tiffany, acted just like a parent would when discussing a child. It was nice to communicate with her in a teacher to parent way. The difficult conference was a little bit different since Tiffany played a parent who didn't like teachers. She told me I did a good job and acted calmly. Doing mock conferences is very beneficial and will help future teachers get more comfortable with the idea of doing a real parent teacher conference.

Drug Abuse Families

There are so many different situations that would involve the teacher when a family has drug abuse problems. It is scary to know that twenty-five percent of kids have to be taken away from meth homes. That change in a child's life would be horrible. It would change their attitude and behavior in the classroom even if moving them to a better place would benefit them. Unfortunately, the movie mentioned that children are targets for the drug abuse parents to physically abuse and psychologically abuse. I had already learned that in my health class but the video said that a child with a parent using meth is four times more likely to be neglected and three times more likely to be sexually abused. I think that is just awful and horrifying to know. The signs of neglect and sexually abused children are what teachers are required to watch out for. It is the teachers job to report any child that is suspected of being abused or neglected. We can help take a child out of misery.

Poverty In America

The youth face many difficulties when dealing with poverty and homelessness. After reading Jessica's and JR's stories it makes one realize the struggle kids have to go through. Many children and teenagers have stories like Jessica, where they are deprived of a normal child life. Jessica was in charge of taking care of her brother and sister while her dad worked to provide what little money he could to support the family. Many older children have to look after siblings because the adults are away at their jobs. It was also mentioned that it is extremely hard for kids in poverty to accomplish their dreams and goals. In JR's case, he too was deprived as a child. He had to move from shelter to shelter and transfer to different schools. Just the stress of that alone could be hard on a child and that doesn't include being in poverty as well. It is sad that so many children are struggling everyday just like the ones in these stories.
As the teacher it is my job to make sure I can provide as much help as possible to the child in need. I would be there to help the child if they needed any assistance on their homework. I would need to keep in mind that the child might not always be in the right mental state to pay attention to school. I could also provide help to the family by finding support groups or agencies that could help them out with their problem. It is important for a teacher to be very supportive and encouraging to children facing these issues.

Reflection 1

As children grow up many of them begin to think of jobs that they want to do when they are older. The jobs that children pick often change many times before they actually decide on the right one for them. When I was growing up I thought I would be a lawyer or a landscaper. It was when I entered high school that I realized I might want to become a teacher. Senior year was what helped me decide what I wanted to be for the rest of my life. When I was cadet teaching that year I found a whole new love for children. It was the test to whether I could be a teacher or not. I knew I was always fond of children, but helping a fourth grade class for a semester and then a kindergarten class the next semester really made me think of a possible career in that field. When I would help a student understand a concept or help them through a problem it was an amazing feeling when they finally grasped it. Cadet teaching was a great experience and it had a huge impact on my life.