Beyond the Basics

       " While families are a critical piece in shaping children's values on such matters, classroom practices communicate and reinforce strong, subtle, and repeated social messages about what is and is not valued" (Hyland, 2010) .  Imagine with me. You are a teacher, and you hear a family from Mexico immigrated to your city, and their child will be joining your classroom. You know nothing about the student's country or culture. How do you prepare? How do you anticipate those preparations will affect the family?      " Whereas professional organizations recognize the centrality of diversity in school curricula and instructional practices and most educators conceptually agree, little of this information and ideology is translated into classrooms" (Boutte, 2008).  Oftentimes on a macro level, schools and admin can state that diversity is important, but without guidelines or strategies, teachers can feel lost or unsupported as they strive to ha...

    This week we learned about the five stages of team development defined by Gina Abudi from Project Smart . The five stages of team development consist of: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Each stage is crucial to understand a group's dynamic and focus on healthy team development. Of all the stages, adjourning may just be the hardest.     In the adjourning phase, " the project is coming to an end, and the team members are moving off into different directions " (Abudi, 2010).  In my own life, I have worked as a volunteer or employee for many large projects. One that comes to mind was when I helped organize the physical activity portion of a Summer Camp. A few years ago, I worked as a receptionist in a free gym funded by a local church for the community to utilize. Each year the church hosts a Vacation Bible School summer camp, I was put in charge of organizing and gathering materials for the activities that the kids would do each day of ...

       I am non-confrontational, so conflict does not happen often. I work in a professional environment where I have not experienced any notable conflict between myself and other staff. However, the greatest source of conflict I experience is with an individual I know. This conflict is ongoing, so I will be mentioning how I have and continue to navigate the situation. For the sake of this post, we will use the fake name "Sarah." I have known Sarah from a young age. Growing up, I experienced mental and emotional manipulation from Sarah. As I grew older, I tried to set boundaries with her so that I would not experience the negative effects of our interactions. Now, in most cases of abuse, manipulation, or maltreatment, I recommend cutting ties. However, because Sarah is close to my family, and they want to have her around, finding a solution to our conflict is the healthiest solution for me.     These requests for space and for boundaries were not met with p...