All About the Learners- Makala Jones
As teachers we want the best for
our students and we want to provide a safe learning space for all of our
students. However, in the past decades there has been an alarming number of
students from the LGBTQ community who have faced verbal and physical harassment
to the point where they suffer a host of academic, health, and mental health consequences
because of it. It is not fair to these students that they are not able to get a
quality education like the other students because of their sexuality, and it is
up to us teachers to take a stand and make a difference for these students. As
we know “safe zones” for students are a good step towards ensuring their safety
and and expressing to them that they are accepted and cared for. However, we must
consider at the same time if we have “safe zones” what does this say about the
rest of the school? Is this implying to these students that they are only accepted
in these zones but not the rest of the school? And does this also say that if
certain teachers are not actively part of a “safe zone” that they are
anti-LGBTQ? We need to provide these students with a “safe school” not just “safe
zones.” These students need to feel like they are accepted and included
throughout the entire school, not just certain rooms with certain people. As
teachers it is our duty to protect and educate ALL our students and provide
them with a school where they can reap the full benefits of learning without
ever feeling as if they are in danger of anything.
In 2013 for the first time in
recent history a majority of children attending our K-12 schools come from
low-income families. These children are more likely to have developmental
issues and score low on tests, fall behind in school, get in trouble with the criminal
justice system, and fail to graduate from high school. In our public schools we
much ensure that our low-income students receive the resources they need
through individual instruction, tutoring and mentoring, and student counseling.
On top of this we must acknowledge that these student’s basic needs need to be
met in order for them to even be able to focus or get the full experience of
their education. This includes warm meals, a safe place to rest, a bath, and
more. Our school system must support these students to help them meet their
basic needs in order for them to be able to develop and learn the way that they
should.
As for gifted
students we as teachers tend to struggle to support these learners in a way
that helps them grow academically without holding them back. Some strategies to
use with gifted learners can include providing them with a more rapid
instructional pace because they tend to learn quicker than their classmates. We
want to do this because they can become easily bored when they stay on a lesson
longer than they need to. We can also provide them with instruction with a higher
level of difficulty. This can include more complex, more abstract, more open-ended,
and more multifaceted. Because we are giving them a higher level of difficulty
we also must provide them with support, as they have most-likely become accustomed
to always getting the right answer and not struggling with their work. This may
become stressful for them that they are facing challenges so we must be there
to support them through this.
References
Sadowski, M. (n.d.). More Than a Safe Space. American Educator, Winter(2016-2017).
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