My academic background is in the preparation of teachers for urban, public-school classrooms. Several out-of-school factors have always been an important part of that preparation.
First, kindergarteners from print-rich homes come to school with working vocabularies far in advance of fellow students from print-poor homes. It is as fundamental a problem as brain development. That initial vocabulary gap can follow a capable, charming, bright student throughout her academic career.
Elementary teachers know this and work hard to identify those students and help them as much as possible in the time they have together.
Second, stressors at home (chaotic, unpredictable schedules, lack of quiet time, arguments, disciplinary techniques, TV babysitting, violence, fear, threats - real or imagined, etc.) create cycles of cortisol dumps that can permanently affect brain development (see David Berliner, et al. Arizona State University).
Elementary teachers know this too, and do what they can to create warm, loving, safe environments for their students, as best they can in the time they have together.
Finally, remember that teachers have their elementary charges about 6-7 hours a day, 30-35 hours a week. The students, each of them dripping with potential and hope, return to their neighborhoods and homes for the remaining 18 hours a day, about 138 hours a week. What happens in those 18 hours is out of their teachers’ direct control.
We often hear the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” That’s true...but their is a prior, ongoing component to that: “It takes teachers to raise that village.”
God bless and protect the children, their parents and their teachers.
Your reference to 'lack of quiet time' is often understated as a stressor. I'm an African American who has been in innumerable low/middle income African American homes. More often than not it's a home with multiple siblings (and other relatives) who are often verbally sparring with each other, music and social media is constantly in the background and the shows/social media/movies/sites/music they are ingesting is mostly African American centric (or adjacent). The time for reading, focus, concentration and creativity is a rarity. Their social and emotional maturation is stunted, not to mention learning development.
Well said, but teachers need always to exercise caution to not overstep. Its one thing to guide a child behind the back of an abusive parent, but quite another to coach them to begin a course of hormone and/ or surgical gender transition that a parent doesn't know about, based on what could prove to be something they'll grow out of.
My academic background is in the preparation of teachers for urban, public-school classrooms. Several out-of-school factors have always been an important part of that preparation.
First, kindergarteners from print-rich homes come to school with working vocabularies far in advance of fellow students from print-poor homes. It is as fundamental a problem as brain development. That initial vocabulary gap can follow a capable, charming, bright student throughout her academic career.
Elementary teachers know this and work hard to identify those students and help them as much as possible in the time they have together.
Second, stressors at home (chaotic, unpredictable schedules, lack of quiet time, arguments, disciplinary techniques, TV babysitting, violence, fear, threats - real or imagined, etc.) create cycles of cortisol dumps that can permanently affect brain development (see David Berliner, et al. Arizona State University).
Elementary teachers know this too, and do what they can to create warm, loving, safe environments for their students, as best they can in the time they have together.
Finally, remember that teachers have their elementary charges about 6-7 hours a day, 30-35 hours a week. The students, each of them dripping with potential and hope, return to their neighborhoods and homes for the remaining 18 hours a day, about 138 hours a week. What happens in those 18 hours is out of their teachers’ direct control.
We often hear the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” That’s true...but their is a prior, ongoing component to that: “It takes teachers to raise that village.”
God bless and protect the children, their parents and their teachers.
Your reference to 'lack of quiet time' is often understated as a stressor. I'm an African American who has been in innumerable low/middle income African American homes. More often than not it's a home with multiple siblings (and other relatives) who are often verbally sparring with each other, music and social media is constantly in the background and the shows/social media/movies/sites/music they are ingesting is mostly African American centric (or adjacent). The time for reading, focus, concentration and creativity is a rarity. Their social and emotional maturation is stunted, not to mention learning development.
Well said, but teachers need always to exercise caution to not overstep. Its one thing to guide a child behind the back of an abusive parent, but quite another to coach them to begin a course of hormone and/ or surgical gender transition that a parent doesn't know about, based on what could prove to be something they'll grow out of.