Mental Health & Teacher Burnout

In critical issues in education this semester, we addressed many deep concerns that both students and teachers face while in school.The two themes that stuck out the most to me were mental health and teacher burnout. Both of these important themes highlighted the importance of mental health for both the students and the teachers. As a future teacher, it is important to make sure that I look out for the well-being of my students. It will be even more important for me to look out for my own well-being. If I don't take care of myself, how will I take care of my students?

Because of these themes this semester, I have thought hard about how I will try to make sure to maintain a work-life balance. To do this, I intend to be proactive so that I will seldom have to do intense work from home. I am determined to make sure that my work does not interfere with my leisure and affect my mental health.

In relation to my students, I intend to maintain open communication with them to ensure that they know that I am an ally when it comes to them experiencing any type of adversity. I need to do my job as an ally by making sure that the mental health of my students come first. In doing this, I will be able to help them learn as much as possible because all of their needs will be met otherwise. These are big claims to make because I am a pre-service teacher, but I truly hope that this is something that I can stand by when I enter my first year of teaching. I'm truly thankful for this class because I learned a lot about things that they don't always teach about in the textbooks.

State Mandated Workshops

School Violence Prevention and Intervention Workshop- February 3rd

          The first workshop that I went to was the school violence prevention and intervention workshop. In this workshop, Dr. Schiering made it interactive and informative. There were a few important ideas that stuck with me. Thinking about all the school shootings that have occurred lately in the media, it is important to enforce habits to make this less likely to happen. Dr. Schiering began by telling us about the three forms of violence: physical violence, verbal violence (which includes bullying, name-calling and put downs) and indifference. She described indifference as someone ignoring or leaving out someone. She also referred to it as grudge holding which causes retaliation. The first example she gave for this type of violence was the Columbine shooting. In that case there was a child was left out and his feelings begin to grow until he exploded and decided to retaliate by shooting students and teachers. 

Source: Giphy.com

          In the supplementary materials that Dr.Schiering provided there was important information about building level emergency response plans. These need to be put into place in the event that there is school violence, a fight or a school shooting. But it was emphasized that these things can truly be prevented by the teachers in the classroom. I also learned that stress can cause violence. A stressed-out child can feel anger which requires an outlet like yelling or withdrawal. A lot of this anger is caused by stress-related situations such as parents getting divorced, family members being hospitalized, parents losing jobs, speech issues, financial issues, lack of friends and feeling disconnected. This is why it is important for school to be responsive to all children, by reading and knowing the district code of conduct and educating them of what a good citizen is. The main thing that Dr. Schiering emphasized was to create community in the classroom to prevent school violence. That was the biggest take away for me from this workshop because it related to the education weekly article that I read about tips for teachers to make their LGBTQ students feel more comfortable in the classroom. Those tips included creating an open and safe space for the students. These ideas from that article are also relevant for all students to prevent violence in schools. All students would benefit from conditions where their teacher makes them feel safe and heard. 

This is a poster that I made at the School Violence Workshop. The assignment was to make something that showed what you took away from the workshop.

Training In The Identification & Reporting of Child Abuse & Neglect-February 29th

          The last workshop I went to was the reporting of child abuse and neglect. In this workshop I learned that certain professionals are required by law to report suspected child abuse or mistreatment in the state of New York. These reports are made to the New York 
Statewide Central Register (SCR) for child abuse and maltreatment. I learned that this law also protects teachers or professionals by allowing them to report anonymously. However, it also makes it illegal for them to not report suspected cases. This workshop taught us the difference between child abuse and maltreatment. We learned that this abuse can be physical, sexual, verbal. When reporting to the SCR, a trained specialist will determine whether child protective services need to be called or law-enforcement. By being a New York State teacher, it is our responsibility to protect children in the classroom and ensure the protection of them outside of the classroom by looking out for warning signs of abuse. In this workshop we also read scenarios and learn whether or not it is proper to call Child Protective Cervices or the SCR. This is usually an issue in cases when the family is impoverished and unable to feed or clothe their children. Overall this workshop taught me when and when not to be suspicious of abuse and my rights when it comes to being a  mandated reporter. Knowing these procedures are important so that I will know what to do in the event that I suspect maltreatment. 


        To conclude, teachers have this huge responsibility to educate their students but they are also trusted with the protection of their students. This is the case both in and out of the classroom. Teachers are responsible with ensuring the well-being of the students through being an ally, mandated reporter and keeper of a respectful classroom. Teachers do this to protect the students and the learning experience. 

Hempstead Public Schools: Board of Education Meeting Livestream February 13th, 2020

Due to the quarantine for COVID-19 and many schools being closed to slow the outbreak, scheduled board of education meetings were cancelled for the month of March. Luckily, the Hempstead School District has live streamed previous meetings and has posted them along with the meeting’s minutes. Using these resources, I was able to observe their regular meeting from February 13th, 2020 through livestream. 

This Hempstead Board of Education meeting began with the pledge of allegiance and then a moment of silence. Following that they gave a brief breakdown of the order of the meeting. The first to speak was a senior from Hempstead High School. He discussed the events that have been occurring with the student government. The Student Government put together a regents survival kit for the students. A lot of what he discussed were events that support the students such as spirit week, regents prep, and club events. They also had seminars for the students informing them about financial aid and college applications. The student even mentioned Molloy College coming to speak to their school. Finally, he announced the sports rankings and stats. The board members commended all of their hard work and began to ask some questions for the students to supply some data for the district clerk about the finances that they would need for their senior events. 

Next, a contractor presented the progress that is being made on the new elementary school building within the district. It will be completed in September 2021. The presentation was complete with commentary and a slideshow of photos for the members to visualize the progress. A teacher named Mr. Perez then presented awards for All County to the students. They were awarded for their accomplishments in music, which included vocalists, saxophonists, clarinetists, and trumpetists. The awarded students shook the hands of the trustees and received a standing ovation. 

In the main part of the meeting, the Trustees went through each page of their personal itinerary and decided what topics needed to be discussed or voted on. There were twenty five pages for them to go through. They first voted on an independent action item for a budget transfer. The motion failed due to unequal votes. For the remainder of the meeting, it didn't feel like it was meant for the public because although it was read aloud by the secretary, I was very confused. Due to this, I decided to look through the meeting minutes myself. In the meeting minutes there were a lot of finance related topics such as the approval of maternity leave and different salaries for substitute teachers and lunch aides. Also on the agenda were motions that were passed or failed based on the votes by the Trustees. 

The main takeaway that I had from this experience was that the Hempstead School District board has a strong emphasis on the arts and student achievement. Seeing this reminded me of Chapter 9 of the textbook describing the purpose of schools. One of the first reasons listed was artistic creativity. It is important for schools to promote students to be unique and develop their skills and talents. Through the encouragement that was displayed during the board of education meeting, I could see that the school system was built on these principles. The district has students that are extremely high achieving musically and vocally. 

Overall, this board of education meeting was interesting to watch and I will keep in mind the values of the Hempstead School District when deciding where to apply as a future teacher in the work field. 

Source: brittedwards.com

References:

https://www.hempsteadschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=3832&dataid=4214&FileName=2-13-2020%20minutes.pdf

Sadker, D. M., Zittleman, K. R., & Sadker, D. M. (2018). Teachers, schools, and society: a brief introduction to education. NY, NY: McGraw-Hill Education Create.

Teachers: Allies to the LGBTQ Community

Source: giphy.com

Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, there has been a passionate and public explosion of LGBTQ pride. People are "coming out" with less fear and unapologetically being themselves. As teachers, we may be seeing the earliest signs of our students "coming out" in school. Some teens tend to feel more comfortable displaying their sexuality at school than at home, especially if they face the possibility of parental rejection. For some others, the opposite may be the case. They may feel scared to be themselves as a result of the possible bullying may occur in school. Regardless of the situation at hand, it is imperative that teachers provide support and frown upon bullying. However, teachers are human too and sometimes we are unsure of how to provide this support, especially with myths and mis-education on the topic of homosexuality. In this blog post, I will be providing some facts that educators should know and some tips for making these students feel safe with help from articles by  Laura Erickson-Schroth, Sabia Prescott and Joe English of Education Weekly and Casey Leins of US News.

Who are Members of the LGBTQ Community?

According to gaycenter.org, "LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning. These terms are used to describe a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity" (Gay Center, n.d.). Just knowing the definition of LGBTQ already puts you on the path of better understanding but in many situations, that is not enough. As a teacher, the number one way to avoid offending a student is by doing your own research. This research can help debunk a lot of the misunderstanding and myths about the people of that community. 

Myths about the LQBTQ Community

Source: Tenor.com

There are numerous myths about the people of this community. The one that stood out to me the most in my research was that there are no laws protecting these people. According to Laura Erickson-Schroth, "Although transgender identities are becoming a more visible and accepted part of American life, laws are not keeping pace. There are no federal laws protecting transgender people from discrimination in employment, education, or health care" (Erickson- Schroth, 2017). From a teacher's perspective, this is saddening because there aren't any laws to protect our students from this mistreatment. The bright side is that, like I said earlier, through education there are less chances of offending students. That being said, there are states that are making it mandatory for schools to teach LGBTQ history. In my opinion, the more that this lifestyle is normalized, the less cases of bullying there will be. Bullying occurs in most cases to students who are different. By incorporating same-sex and trans education into education, there should be less cases of lesbian, gay or other being bullied. As Casey Leins cited in her article, These States Require Schools to Teach LGBTQ History, ""One of the best ways to overcome intolerance is through education and exposure to different people and viewpoints," said bill sponsor state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), according to the Washington Examiner"(Leins, 2019).  This is exactly my point. The way to debunk these myths is through education. 

Tips for Teachers of LGBTQ Students

Source: buzzfeed.com

Beyond just being an ally, I feel like the biggest thing for me as a future educator is knowing what to do or not to, what to say or not say to my students. This article by John English, 10 Tips for Building a More LGBTQ- Inclusive Classroom was very useful at easing my worries. The 5th tip that he shares is to trust the positive intentions that you have in understanding your student. He continues by saying, "An imperfect advocate is better than a silent bystander. Kristin, an 11th grade English teacher, described her embarrassment after asking her lesbian student if she preferred to use male pronouns: "I turned bright red when I realized how ignorant that sounded." Her student, however, saw genuine compassion underlying Kristin's comment. Terminology is easy to fix when one's heart is in the right place. Students will understand this" (English, 2019). Hearing the story of this English teacher made me really put myself in her shoes: How could I properly ask a student something like that? An idea I had to possibly make it less embarrassing is by making an announcement or having students fill something out on the first day of school. This would allow them to tell me any names they'd rather be called and any pronouns they'd rather be referred to with. This builds in with the 10th tip that John English offers: "Build in substantial free response and open discussion time"(English, 2019). Allowing students to be able to share things with you will boost your relationship with those who need support and even those who don't. I've learned in all of the education classes I'm taking and in all of the workshops that I've attended this semester that creating a community in the classroom, opening the floor for discussion and making yourself available can make all the difference in whether students sink or swim. 

Source: Giphy.com

In this blog, I also wanted to connect what I learned in my articles to the things we have studied in critical issues. The first thing that comes to mind is the prejudice and bias module. We watched the Laramie Project, which is about a young gay man who was tortured and killed because of his sexual orientation. As an application, it may be useful to show this film to older students. For example, I watched it in my 10th grade English class. It provides a morbid but very real perspective for students. The content is advanced yet packs a punch. To support this, I'll quote John English one more time. His 1st tip from his article was, "Know that your students are ready to discuss LGBTQ issues"(English 2019). These students need to be exposed to this information to them more formidable and understanding adults. 


To close, teachers have this huge responsibility to protect and educate their students but sometimes, students may require more support. It's up to us to do the necessary research and provide the necessary resources in order to be considered an ally. 

References

English, J. (2019). 10 Tips for Building a More LGBTQ-Inclusive Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/10/11/10-tips-for-building-a-more-lgbtq-inclusive.html

Erickson-Schroth, L. (2017). Five Myths About Transgender Students Educators Need to Unlearn Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/07/11/five-myths-about-transgender-students-educators-need-to-unlearn.html

Leins C. (2019). These States Require Schools to Teach LGBT History. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-08-14/states-that-require-schools-to-teach-lgbt-history

Gay Center. (n.d.). Defining LGBTQ. Retrieved from https://gaycenter.org/about/lgbtq/

Prescott, S. (2019). What Teachers Need to Know to Do Right by Queer Students. Retrieved From https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/06/24/what-teachers-need-to-know-to-do.html

Prejudice, Bias & School Violence

An Introduction to School Violence & Prejudice and Bias

For the past two weeks, we have been examining two extremely common issues both in schools and in the world around us. Being as though we will be dealing with the nation's youth as teachers, it is crucial that we grow a sensitivity to these issues in hopes of being more culturally competent. To begin, let's define both of these issues and give more context. 

Prejudice

Prejudice can be defined as "an idea or opinion that disregards basic facts. It's akin to ignorance, or a lack of knowledge, experience or education. It's something that should not be tolerated, as we all strive for betterment and higher learning" (Your Dictionary, 2020).

A good example of prejudice is in the film, The Laramie Project. This film features a theater group, Tectonic Theater Project, attempting to do a report on a boy named Matthew Shepard. This movie is based off of a troubling event that took place in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew Shepard was an openly gay university student, who was a victim of a hate crime that cost him his life. Two men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, met Matthew Shepard at a bar, took him, tied him to a pole, beat him and left him for dead. Sadly, he then died after being found the next day still tied to the pole. The people of his town that were interviewed never saw Laramie as a hateful town towards homosexuals. However the movie uncovers that although there wasn’t outward hate, there was prejudice towards anyone who was different. A case like this unfortunately has many implications in the school environment. Almost all of the time, this prejudice is based on disregarded facts.

 Another group of people that are constantly experiencing prejudice, especially in this political climate is Muslims.

Source: change.org

Just from this image alone, it is obvious how media portrays people of the Muslim faith. There are constantly generalizations being made about Muslim people and even with the travel ban imposed by Donald Trump, there seems to be some biases towards people from the Middle East (where the majority of the people from this faith originate). I believe that this bias was born through ignorance and miseducation. Sadly this is where most bias originates. According to the Education Week article, Hate in Schools, "Muslim students, particularly girls, are often targeted. One reason: Wearing a hijab, the traditional religious head cover for Muslim girls and women "(Vara-Orta, 2019). Thanks to media, Muslim people's religious apparel and appearance are attacked, potraying them as "scary" or "terrorists". We all know that these generalizations are not true and through education, we can hope for those lies to cease. 

School Violence

According to the CDC, "School violence is youth violence that occurs on school property, on the way to or from school or school-sponsored events, or during a school sponsored event. A young person can be a victim, a perpetrator, or a witness of school violence. School violence may also involve or impact adults" (CDC, 2016).


Every parent, student and teacher's worst fear is a school shooting. They happen so often in the media that its almost desensitizing, but the fear is still very much there. This fear comes to life while watching the movie, Bowling for Columbine. This film follows Michael Moore in his research about not only what happened at Columbine High School in Colorado, but also the gun laws in Colorado and in America in general. As a future teacher in adolescent education (grades 7-12), the issue of school violence greatly impacts me. High School teachers get a great deal of students who are closer to being adults than children and because of this, they feel deep emotions. High School years are also the years that students go through hormonal changes and experience bullying and prejudice. Teachers have the responsibility of being an ally to their students and making sure that they are being supported. Students who feel like outcasts and have no support system are more likely  to be bullied, be the bully or even participate in more serious forms of school violence. School violence will be a constant thought in my mind as a future teacher. I will take it among myself to know the safety protocols for if there is some sort of situation in the school that I teach at so that I can protect myself and myself students in the unfortunate case that something happens. But also, I will just make sure that I create a sense of community in my classroom to ensure that there won't be any students that feel like outcasts. 

 Connecting the Two

These past two weeks we thought about both prejudice and bias as well as school violence. I believe that these two ideas are similar in the fact that they can affect the livelihood of the students and the teachers. When there is prejudice or any form of violence in schools, there is a stunting of the learning process. But also, there is fear surrounding the possibility that someone may be treated differently or hurt on school grounds. As a future teacher, my number one responsibility is to create a safe sense of community in my classroom. We can do this by engaging students in exercises such as group work or some other fun ice breakers. These type of behaviors such as prejudice would be hopefully weeded out in the beginning of the school year and through active classroom management, the classroom would be a safe place of respect. This is an ideal scenario and I do acknowledge that this isn't always possible but this way of thinking is necessary in the new and upcoming educators of today because violence isn't the answer. 

Source: relforcon.org

References:

Examples of Prejudice. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-prejudice.html

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention (2016). 
Understanding School Violence. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/Schoo
l_Violence_Fact_Sheet-a.pdf

Vara-Orta, F. (2019, July 19). Swastikas. The N-word. 'Go Back to Mexico.' What Hate Looks Like in Schools. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/projects/hate-in-schools.html

Teacher Stress, Burnout, Self-Efficacy, and Coping

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Hi there!

This week in EDU 3650 we studied what it is really like to be a teacher by reading articles and watching a documentary in which main themes were teacher burnout.

Teacher burnout is a disheartening yet very common thing amongst educators across the board. It can occur for many reasons. The reason that stuck out to me the most is persistent stress. This stress can be caused by many reasons, but the reason I read about in this education week article (Sparks 2019) was trauma. This trauma is seldom experienced by the teacher themselves. Instead the trauma is experienced by the student and is relayed to the teacher. This is a heavy burden to carry at times. You want to care for your students and be there for them as an ally and a confidant yet there is a high risk of their stress becoming yours. Teacher burnout is very important to treat through prevention. If it isn't treated, it could result in negative outcomes for the student's academics and behavior both in and out of the classroom.

We also watched a documentary titled "Teach" directed by Davis Guggenheim. It featured four educators throughout their 2012-2013 school year. This movie featured: "Matt Johnson, a 4th grade teacher at McGlone Elementary, Denver; Shelby Harris, 7th and 8th grade math teacher at Kuna Middle, Kuna, Idaho; Joel Laguna, a 10th grade AP World History teacher at Garfield High, Los Angeles; and Lindsay Chinn, a 9th grade algebra teacher at MLK Early College, Denver". All of the educators in the Teach documentary we watched experienced some sort of burnout, however, their burnout was caused as a result of discouragement. These teachers in the documentary felt feelings of failure when realizing that their students are not getting the material and that their test grades were suffering.

The main word that needs to be remembered when experiencing burnout is perseverance. Things like low test scores and lack of engagement could easily discourage a teacher but it is important to remember that there are always more methods to try. No child is un-teachable. In terms of the burnout specifically, it is imperative that it is prevented rather than treated. There has to be a work- home balance that must be maintained. Whether that be setting limits on how long you will work for, or not bringing work home with you. For me as a student, I try to limit how much work I do in my bedroom. Despite having a desk and laptop, I try to keep my bedroom as a relaxation zone. As a future educator, I will try to keep that same practice to prevent feeling overloaded.

Sincerely,
Lenée
Future Stress-free Educator



Source: giphy.com


References:

Herman, K. C., Hickmon-Rosa, J. E., & Reinke, W. M. (2017). Empirically Derived Profiles of Teacher Stress, Burnout, Self-Efficacy, and Coping and Associated Student Outcomes. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 20(2), 90–100.

Sparks, S. D. (2019, September 18). How Caring for Students in Distress Can Take a Steep Toll. Education Weekly, 39(5), 12–13.

Teach. (2018).

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A Little About Me!

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Hi there!

My name is Lenee Mason and I am a teacher candidate pursuing Adolescent Earth Science education. Science is and continues to be my passion! I am a junior at Molloy College. This blog is for the purpose of my education class- Critical Examination of Issues in Education. Feel free to read my blogs and comment. Also feel free to follow me on twitter @lenmason4 to see some of my education/science posts on there. Thank you for visiting my blog!

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