Questions
Responsibilities Give Kids a Sense of Meaning and Importance
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
One of the course assignments is about creating a list of jobs for kids. There are many great ideas generated here because my students, and the kids they work with, are so diverse. In addition to sharing their ideas though, students all describe the advantages of giving kids jobs.
For example:
-
Describing a kid recovering from surgery, “jobs help him feel like he is participating even if he cannot do any of the games the other kids.”
-
In a description of a very active kid: “Having a job gives her a purpose and makes her feel special without acting out. I give her little jobs to make her feel responsible.”
-
Working with students in the garden, I … “create jobs for them to do together. I try to give a few instructions, and assign initial jobs, then step back and watch as they work together to accomplish a task. …working together to solve a problem, kids learn a transferable skill they will need in the future.”
-
“It is always interesting to see the social dynamics at work when kids set upon a task, and how they modify their actions to best do the work.
-
“Jobs can be exciting, and get kids moving around, getting some of that energy out in constructive ways. Kids with jobs feel like they have a responsibility which is important I think for them. This then makes them feel motivated, and gives them a feeling of wanting to please.”
_____________________
Lately, I have been reading about what it was like growing up during the Great Depression. One of the things that strike me about descriptions of these very hard times is that because families and the community depended on all their members, people felt a sense of purpose and connection. Each of them was important for the good of the whole. My students’ comments this week reinforce this idea. Give kids responsibilities; help them find ways to help others, in the classroom, at home and in the community. It makes a positive difference (in these very difficult times too) – and, as I like to say, everybody benefits.
What are the jobs that you assign in your classrooms or programs? How do you involve the kids you work with in the community, classroom and program? What jobs work? What did you like to do that made you feel important, or capable or happy?
Submit your comments below. Thanks
Topics: How to Help, Questions, Relationship Strategy | No Comments »
2-Way Relationships- Advice, anyone?
By Danielle Miles | Friday, April 24th, 2009
I work with a group of 30 kids. They are in Kindergarten and First Grade. They’re rad little people. I have had ups and downs with most of them, but there is one kid I have not been able to connect with all year.
When I try to discuss things with him, it is usually to help him process something he has done that hurt another kid somehow- physically or emotionally. He has sexually harassed other kids, hit other kids, or just pushed their buttons until they freaked out. When I am running “Circle Time” - a 15 minute daily group meeting- he will interrupt me so many times that I have to ask him to leave almost daily. When I ask him questions, he just shrugs and says “I don’t know. Can I have a snack?” or “I’m just kinda tired… can I go now?” I have not found any way to connect with him on a human level.
Some background info- he was adopted at an early age (his mom seems super cool), and was born drug-affected. I have worked with many “at-risk” kids, but I just haven’t been able to find a way to connect with this little guy.
Any creative ideas?
Topics: Help Wanted, Kids at Risk, Questions | 2 Comments »
Questions on Culturally Competent Behavior
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Monday, February 16th, 2009
Lesson 5 – about Cultural Competence resulted in lively discussion. The discussion also raised some interesting and challenging questions. We (my students and I) need answers – so I will start by posting the questions and hope for the best.
Questions:
1. “I think it is a wonderful idea to learn more about other’s cultures so we can treat all children in a way that they feel safe and protected but I’d like to throw out a question. How far do we go with this idea that we need to be culturally competent to interact with kids and families? Our reading and resources … talked about comfort with “eye contact” being different in some cultures. There are so many different cultures in the United States are we supposed to expect every teacher to learn all the appropriate gestures for each culture? I am not saying that I agree or disagree but this was brought up when I discussed the topic with some faculty.”
2. “… When considering intercultural communication, there seems to be an expectation that people of a culture represent everyone. I know this is not true, but I am not always clear on what is the appropriate way to behave – especially because I always worry that an individual may not be representative of their culture, but I do not want to do the wrong thing. Taking an example from the article, if I have an African American student in my classroom and I “break in” on a conversation this could potentially be offensive or uncomfortable to that student.
I felt the same way about the eye contact rule from the article. I seriously distrust my ability to know if someone is a “working-class Hispanic”, so should I not have eye contact with any Hispanic or African-American students even though this could be potentially offensive behavior. Do folks have ways to solve these sticking points?”
3. “I wonder what to do in situations where I might disagree with or feel uncomfortable with the behavioral norms of other cultures on simple matters. For example, sometimes a woman comes in to get a library card and her husband does all the talking. I don’t know if I should speak only to the husband or, per my culture, talk to the woman. What is the right thing to do?”
4. ” I know that …avoiding racial identification except when it is essential to communication is an important strategy for removing stereotypical language. I have always tried to be aware of and not use stereotypical language in both my personal and professional life, but I know this can be most challenging for me because mentioning a person’s racial identification often decreases the time it takes for me to describe who I’m talking about. I want to be more patient and challenge myself to describe the person by coming up with all the other details about them (other than race). But I wonder, When (if ever) is it appropriate to use racial or other information to describe individuals?”
Side note: I also think our society does this with occupation. We often identify people by what they do to earn a living, rather than other personal characteristics that may be much more meaningful and descriptive.
Topics: Culturally Competent, Questions, Uncategorized | No Comments »
What’s Your Idea for Spending Stimulus Dollars?
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Our schools are running out of money. Every day the news holds stories of new and looming financial disasters, and the terrifying solutions that are being suggested to solve our crisis (cut a day out of every school week? Eliminate school buses, any other ideas?)
Of course, there is the promise of a Stimulus Package – money that can be used to make things better. But how should we put it to use?
There are lots of ideas out there about how to use the money. Some sound great – some (and I’m not mentioning specifics here) seem like there might be better ways to spend our dollars.
Since it seems like everyone has an opinion on this topic, I am asking you – educators, people who work with kids, people who have families, people who see need and identify problems in their daily work. HOW WOULD YOU PUT THE STIMULUS MONEY TO WORK?
Share your ideas on this blog: If it was your decision – in what ways would you spend this money? What do you believe would have the greatest impact? What are the greatest needs that you see? What (as long as we are doing this) do you think is the dumbest idea you’ve heard?
Thanks, and please pass this question along. Inquiring minds want to know.
Topics: Questions | 5 Comments »
What does a successful student look like?
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
A student taking this course for credit posted an interesting list of characteristics of a successful adult student. You can find the list on the DePaul Training Centers website
I think many of the points on this list are equally characteristic of successful young students, and, when missing, offer warning signs that might alert you that a student is at-risk of dropping out. My student points out that a key warning sign is the lack of desire to engage in the activities and interactions taking place in the classroom or program.
She says that “when a student begins to move away from the characteristics on the list, I am aware they are at risk.”
THE LIST for Successful Adult Learners
The following is a list of some characteristics of successful students. Characteristics of a successful student transfer into positive work place behaviors. This list is a description of what a hard-working student does and what a teacher likes to see. By learning these characteristics, you may better understand the day-to-day and class-to-class behavior of successful students. The idea is to provide you with guidelines you can follow which will help you get down to the business of becoming a serious, successful student and future office professional.
· Successful students attend class regularly and on time.
· Successful students have the ability to work independently and monitor his/her own progress.
· Successful students listen and train themselves to pay attention.
· Successful students take responsibility for themselves and their actions.
· Successful students turn in assignments that look neat and sharp. They take the time to produce a final product that looks good, and reflects care and pride in their work.
· Successful students demonstrate that they care about their grades and are willing to work to improve them
· Successful students demonstrate a willingness to receive instruction/direction from an Instructor and follow through with the presented expectations.
· Successful students ask appropriate questions and are active participants in their learning.
· Successful students pay attention in class and are courteous and polite.
· Successful students have the ability to apply reading strategies to extract important information from text and apply this information to their work. Our classroom textbooks are written at approximately a 9th grade reading level.
· Successful students have the ability to apply upper elementary level English skills to writing assignments.
QUESTION: What do you consider the characteristics of a successful student?
High school
Middle school
Elementary
Please post your thoughts and ideas to this blog.
Topics: Creating a Positive, Kids at Risk, Questions | No Comments »
Please Help: A Student’s Plan and What She Needs to make it Happen
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
NP, a student in the online course is seeking help and resources for a Somali child. She has asked me to post this request for help.“I would like to be better able to communicate with student who I am currently observing in Kindergarten class right now. He is from Somalia. He doesn’t speak or understand much English, and his parents speak very little too. As a newcomer, he doesn’t understand the rules or culture of his new community. I notice that it is hard for the teacher and students to communicate to him, and I can imagine how frustrated he must be inside. I also notice that he is slowly picking up little things here and there, and he does respond to the signals from the teacher.I would like to find ways to help this boy communicate and become more comfortable in his classroom and new culture. I have generated a list of ideas in this course, but I need help finding resources, suggestions and people who can help me help him. Histeacher is working hard to get a translator in the class so this student and parents can begin to understand what is going on. I know this will help, but so far no translator has arrived.
He enjoys playing basketball at recess, and is learning the rules of by watching the kids and participating in the game. So, I think it would be great to see him get involved in a basketball league. I know he is just in Kindergarten but I think this can really help socializing him with the other kids.
Another great resource he could benefit by (hypothetically, because I don’t know if there is such a thing) would be to send him to an after school program where they speak Somali.
In the perfect world, there would be a place where he could go after school to learn the basics, a center where he could go and relate to other students and mentors in his community. It would be wonderful to have a place where the language and culture are familiar, and where he could meet other kids who are struggling in the same situations. Is there such a place?
Another idea would be to a have a buddy system (again in the perfect world) where someone older than him, someone also from
Somalia could help him in his studies and socialization. It would be wonderful if hehad someone he could relate to and ask questions.
Please, Please, Please any suggestions or comments are welcome…this is something I have been struggling with because I want so badly to have endless ways to help him (and other kids too of course) …but I don’t know where to go for help and resources. Please post ANY ideas and suggestions below. Thanks in advance.
Topics: Culturally Competent, Help Wanted, Questions | 1 Comment »
A Story with Two Edges
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
One school, two boys, two knives. Two totally different stories.
Someone told me this story, about what happened at their school. First, a teacher overheard a classmate ask a 5th grader – mouth the question actually, “does anyone know you brought a knife?” This happened in the office. The boy was aghast; the teacher who witnessed the interchange, the principal, the school admin were shocked. Everyone reacted - with shock, and horror, but also with attention and caring. They brought him into the office, they confiscated his knife. They talked to him. They asked why he carried the knife – “Is it for protection? Are you scared of someone else?”
As it turned out, this was a boy with a pocket knife “too nice” to leave at home; too cool not to show his friends. This knife was just small enough, he was told, that he would not have to be arrested. Just a little bit bigger and the rules say they would have to call the police.
This was not an angry or scared boy – just a boy who did something against the school rules. He has reprimanded and put on “house arrest” in the office. Other than the fact that he had to do math, he was treated fairly and kindly.
He cried and cried. He said he is sorry.
Next day, another boy. Another knife, bigger and scarier. Another attitude – angry and violent. Another outcome, involving police and handcuffs. In an elementary school.
It is always my hope to paint a positive picture, to focus on good practice, good results and stories and strategies that encourage more of the same.
But, the reality of schools today has a way of fogging my rose colored glasses. Negative things do happen in school, nasty and unpleasant things. We read about the big ones in the paper, but everyday, teachers, and administrators, and mentors – anyone who work with kids in all kinds of ways, react to kids’ behaviors – negative, positive, in between. As educators and mentors, we all need a sixth sense that will help us to judge behaviors, motivations and, correct responses. We all need to know how to react to situations, because the way we react to in any circumstance can not only make a difference in the outcome – but can change the path of a life.
This story of two knives illustrates how one act – described with the same words, a kid brought a knife to school, can result in such very different stories.
MY QUESTIONS: As teachers or mentors, do you receive any training about how to react in difficult situations? Are you taught to discipline students? Are you taught to defuse situations? Who trains you? Are school rules consistent across the state, or do they vary by district?
Topics: Questions, Relationship Strategy | No Comments »
Share your success stories: We Need Inspriring Stories to Start the Year Off Right
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Monday, July 7th, 2008
Mentors, volunteers and teachers, we want to hear your stories. Take a moment to tell us a story about how you were able to successfully build a strong relationship with a kid. What was the kid like when you met? What did you do to build a relationship? How did you see the kid change?
Also, tell us stories of how a connection with a teacher, friend or community member made a positive difference in your life, or in the life of someone you know. We hope to collect these stories and add them to the course on this site.
Thanks in advance for sharing these with us.
Topics: BACK TO SCHOOL, Mentor Stories, Questions | No Comments »
My Top 5 Reasons why students drop out of our school district
By Lisa Pfister | Monday, March 31st, 2008
Hillsboro School District: (Grades K-6th, population I currently work with.)
1) Students from dysfunctional families
2) Behavioral and Social problems
3) Frequent moves from school-to-school
4) Drug and alcohol problems
5) Self-esteem issues
What are your school’s main reasons for drop out?
Topics: Questions | No Comments »