Last week Monday, I got a new student in my class. At this point in the year, I find it difficult to get new students...for the simple fact that it frustrates me that I will not have the same opportunity to get to know this child the way I did the other 18 in my class. My new student has had an extremely rough life, and all the while, I keep questioning- What can I do to make this child's life great at school? How can I make him feel loved, cared for, respected, and proud at school?
I am hopeful that my Social Justice SMART Goal will help me to find the answers to some of these questions. Being that I give a weekly feelings survey, it gives me the opportunity to dig deeper into some areas that wouldn't have necessarily been shared in any normal setting. When this student was taking this survey on Friday, after one full week at a new school, I was able to follow up right away with questions as to why he was feeling the way he was feeling. One thing I really try to work hard on is sharing feelings beyond "happy" or "sad." I want my students to be able to start to decipher deeper feelings than those because I really feel that them being able to recognize their true feelings will help them to diffuse situations more effectively.
One thing I find interesting about teaching younger students is their perceptions of what is "normal." Some of these young kids have been through more in their six years of life than I could ever imagine. However, they know no different, and they find it to be no different than any other student they are around at school! It makes them totally open about what goes on in their lives.
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