In reading Head Strong and flipping through the Ontario Ministry document Supporting Minds it became clear to me that Ontario has made mental health a priority in education, working toward awareness and acceptance while moving away from negative stigma. I think that initiatives like these are extremely important because, as educators, it is our role to help support the full development of our students, not just their academic abilities. Although I think that it is wonderful to see such a push toward including student health and well-being in the main goals of education, I begin to wonder what school must have been like for students in the past who were not able to receive the support they required. With more awareness, comes a better ability to understand and support student mental health. So, how must it have been to not have this aware and these support systems in place? This also leads me to question my ability to thoroughly support those with mental health issues. Through reading these documents, the support that is available to youth seems helpful; nonetheless, I wonder if my support with little formal training in mental health will be sufficient to provide the care some students will need. Of course, there are programs designed specifically for those who need the most help, but mental health and mental illness is a spectrum; meaning, students can face problems that are important to address but are not serious enough to be specifically designated as an “illness” that leads to specialized help. I think that as a teacher my main role will be to create a positive learning environment and supports community building, understanding and respect. By having an open atmosphere, students can learn not only how to face their issues, but also to feel more comfortable with themselves and with others, possibly helping them become more mentally healthy. In all, mental health is a component of a person’s life that must be talked about, understood and remain a focus in the education system. A student’s time at school goes well beyond learning their ABCs and mathematical algorithms. School is a place where student learning is fostered in all aspects. Students learn what they are passionate about, how to be strong and healthy individuals, and develop into the adults they will one day become. As a main force leading the students in their journey, teachers must be aware and sensitive to mental health while fighting against harmful stigma in order to ensure students are able to get the most out of their learning experience.
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The Westheimer reading from this week focused on identifying 7 myths that often occur in the world of education. Many of these myths focused on major themes found throughout the novel. One theme I found to be particularly important was the issue of standardization of teaching. As seen time and time again in readings and in my own experiences, the root of education lies within the ability for people to build relationships and be exposed to different viewpoints and reasoning. Relationships cannot be standardized; regulated classes can lead to a lack of quality interactions. I find the role of individual expression and teaching styles to be of importance in all aspects of teaching, but particularly when discussing democratic citizenship. For example, Westheimer points out how different methods of teaching democratic thinking, including that of direct instruction and student exploration, can work with varying efficiency in different classrooms, atmospheres or personal experiences.
It is critical that teachers contribute to a classroom organization that provides students with differentiated learning experiences, discussion, self-driven thinking with balanced directed experiences that provide students with an opportunity to think for themselves. As stated in another myth, Westheimer points out that self-regulated thinking in students is often vilified, suggesting that teachers do not care if students are able to grasp a basic understanding of the course material. I agree that allowing students to think for they do not limit their acquisition of knowledge, but rather enhances their overall learning experience. Student thought is an extension of a basic understanding, not a replacement. I think treating school as a platform for open student discussion while providing direct teachings on the basics is necessary for students to develop their own personal and academic voices. In terms of democratic citizenship specifically, I think student thinking becomes even more important. By teaching students that participation in their own knowledge is powerful and necessary, they are able to further question and explore norms already in place. This, in turn, can lead to more passionate and respectful discussions, including that of political nature where skills such as communication, listening and negotiation are essential. I would also like to comment on the myths surrounding medicating dissent. In the past while, there has been a major focus on “At Risk” youth. Every day, students are being assessed, diagnosed and medicated for behaviour-related issues. Of course, many of these issues are only starting to be diagnosed as they were unknown in the past. There are always situations where students require certain medical attention in order to overcome personal obstacles of be successful in their lives. Nonetheless, as Westheimer mentions, the relationships between changing educational systems and diagnoses is detected. When students become a part of an ever-more standardized and regulated institution, where they are expected to behave and be successful at a very small range of criteria, is to fair to expect students who do not fit in this small box of “success” to be successful? Also, does classroom management always correlate to increased learning? I strongly believe it doesn’t. The quietness of a classroom does not mean students are learning. In my experience, the most successful classrooms are those where teachers allow the students to express themselves, and where a mutual relationship is built between all members of the classroom. Respect and understanding of personal experiences is essential for both classroom management and student success. I found I had difficulties with the readings this week. I’m not sure of the root cause; maybe my fatigue has limited my ability to concentrate. Theorizing Young Lives brought up some important points; however, the language used to present the theories and the lack of examples or practical application prevented me from connecting deeply with the underlying messages. I can say the author managed to describe the complicatedness, non-linearity of youth development. She introduced new terms, such as the concentric systems, that allowed for a better understanding of the different complex levels that make up youth experience. The authors main focus, however, was to outline the importance and interconnectedness of biographies, society and time in young lives.
Biography is described as the being. This is a composition of everyday interactions and experiences that make a person who they are. Time, then is seen as a becoming; a movement into the future and changing of space that a person goes through in their lives. Finally, society – society is seen as, in this context, the overwhelming sense of belonging people strives for (particularly in youth interactions). The author explains that our biographies, our present, can interact in complex and sometimes difficult ways with who we want to be and where we want to belong. The author also mentions how the complexities associated with youth identity are often overlooked and standardized in the education system. It is also important to consider how the fast and ever-expanding globalization of youth experience and technology play a role in these three major aspects of youth identity, aspiration and social practices. I remained somewhat confused as to how understanding these three aspects that define youth experience will be applied practically in a classroom. We have completed many discussions on youth identity, personal identity and understanding the complexities of youth experience, so my questions from this reading will relate to the same topic. How do I, as a teacher, foster youth development and encourage community engagement, while considering the complexity of youth individuality in an environment often guided by standardization? It seems that this paper can be used as a mediator between the differing roles of teachers presented in the other two texts we read this week. Theorizing Young Lives seems to portray a message that teachers should work alongside students, while being cautious to not fall into the trap of the continuously regulating ways of shaping youth identities. The video Why High Schoolers Should Be In Charge instead focuses directly on student run programs and responsibility in order to provide youth a sense of stewardship. The presenter in this Ted Talk gave two examples of how he was able to show a sense of agency and responsibility of his own education as a high school student. In these examples, he said that through students creating their own programs and sources of education, they were able to build a sense of self-agency, passion and responsibility that they had not been able to form before. By showing kids they can do something, they would then feel a deep obligation to do something. He continued to say that “high schoolers should be in charge because one day they will be”. Personal responsibility should be learnt at a young age so, one day, young people can be prepared to be responsible for things they are required to be responsible for. While watching this video, I had an overwhelming sense of happiness. I felt so inspired by the work this young person was able to accomplish, and felt everything that came out of his mouth was absolute truth. However, when given a moment to think about what he was saying, particularly in comparison to other ideas presented in the readings, I found myself re-questioning the effectiveness of this approach. I agree that students should be responsible for their learning. I think that students can only truly learn if they are passionate about what they are learning in some way. If they feel responsible for their own education, they are going to get more out of their learning experience. I also think this philosophy can apply to community-based and implicit learning, as well as curriculum-based and explicit learning in a classroom. Nonetheless, I found the video to very much undermine the role of teachers in this process of learning. The way the presenter was speaking was as if the only roles of teachers were to get allow students to use land for gardening or provide a room where students can work. The role of a teacher, conversely, goes much beyond that. I know that my own ability to grow, learn, and feel responsibility for my own education and community came from the support and skill of many caring teachers. I also agree that standardized teaching methods can be, in certain situations, a detriment to a student’s achievement of success. But, teachers can also be an amazing partner in student learning, working with them to reach their full potential, teaching them in ways that they could not have experienced outside of the important teacher-student relationship. Teachers do not just hinder student responsibility; they can indeed foster and support the development of self-agency in students. I think it is critical to examine the impact of teacher’s influence on their student, but we must also work toward making this impact positive and supportive of student stewardship. This relates back to the final paper read this week, chapters 5-8 of Westheimer’s What Kind of Citizen. In these chapters, the author talks specifically about student involvement and how different teacher styles and focuses affect the way students interact as global and community citizens. I found the distinction between participatory citizens and justice-oriented citizens to be quite insightful. In comparing two different schools activism projects with different emphases, it is clear that the type of community engagement can really affect the skills youth are able to receive as developing members of their community. It is also clear that teachers involved in these programs are a major influence on student achievement, involvement and their ability to understand social issues. From this reading, it is clear that the author finds the role of teachers to be extremely important in the development of youth identities and character; however, on the other end of the spectrum of the Ted Talk, there was little talk about the complexities of students as individuals and how their personal experiences, along with complex social pressures and changes, play into how they act as citizens. It seemed that the author was able to categorize students based on their community project experiences and classroom learning without fully considering the individual. My concern is that viewing action as either only participatory or only justice-oriented can be detrimental. Of course, differences between students can, in some ways, be attributed to how they are taught about social activism, and this categorization of student activity is a product of standardized ideologies of civic engagement. Nonetheless, we must work toward understanding the complexities of student identity and position in society and how this plays a role in their experience as learnings. We must also be aware that when working with students to develop their own sense of citizenship, they must feel responsible for the change their society needs. Students must be able to learn from their teachers, but also must be taught in a way that allows them to develop their own passions so they are able to express personal achievement and agency. We must consider learning strategies that allows children to feel a responsibility to participate in helping in their communities, while working toward understanding why social inequality exists and how we can work toward ending these issues. |
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March 2017
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