Discussion 1 Question 1: What roles do families and society play in the pressures facing youth? Describe.

               Families and society play major roles when it comes to pressures that are facing youth. Sometimes children feel that they have to meet a certain criteria that is set by their parents or set by society as a whole. Instead of children making their own goals they are forced into thinking they have to meet others goals and can’t make their own. I can recall a time when I was in middle school and I barely skimmed making honor roll because I was struggling in a math class and my parents were upset with me because I had never missed honor roll before. Instead of helping me with math or getting me a tutor they told me that if I didn’t get it in the classroom that I wouldn’t be able to get it anywhere else. Because of that pressure I got stressed out and burnt out because I was afraid of disappointing them ever again. Although that is a mild example of how families pressure students, nonetheless they do pressure them and they play huge roles in students’ performances. Social class often leaves students feeling as if they will never amount to anything more than the social class they are born into. Often students fail because they come from lower classes on the social status bar only because they feel they will always be in that same social class and not be able to rise above it. Whether students are pushed to have higher grades or maintain a certain persona, students are pushed by both their parents and society.

 

Discussion 1 Question 2: What can schools and teachers do about these external forces? Describe.

                Schools and teachers play huge roles in students’ lives also. School can either be a joyful experience or a horrifying experience to students and it is up to the school to decide what kind of experience their students will have. A lot of students come to school and try to escape their home life because of the pressures that they deal with outside of school. If a student is being pressured by their parents for better grades then the teachers could have more one on one time with students that need a little extra help or have a parent meeting to help figure out a study plan that fits the student and the parents. During that meeting the teachers could speak to the parents about how it is important to work with the child at home and how stress can affect the students’ performance and encourage low stress environments. Schools could arrange for an inspirational speaker to come and speak to the students about working hard and achieving goals. Schools can hang inspirational posters around schools to help keep school an encouraging and growing environment. If students are reminded they can be and achieve anything they want then that can boost performance because when they create goals they want to achieve them. Schools and teachers can do many things to help the students battle these stressful external forces by working with their parents, the students themselves, and by creating an environment that is encouraging.

 

Discussion 1 Question 3: Why is it important to graduate from high school and go on to obtain a degree? Describe.

                This day in time there is no job out there that will hire someone that does not obtain at least a high school diploma or a GED equivalent. Education is the only way to get a job worth having. It is important to further your education and get a degree because if you want to be successful and be able to care for a family or even just yourself, you need to make a decent amount of money. Part time jobs are for students that need a little extra money, not for adults that want a career. It is difficult to live on a minimum waged salary, and the reason I know this is because I work a minimum waged job and it is difficult to make a car payment let alone a mortgage, and all the other bills associated with being an adult. Job competitiveness is only growing, and because of this it is essential to have a higher education. All of my life I have been pushed to go to school and make good grades because if I don’t have an education I won’t have anything, and I could not agree more. My parents did not further their education, my dad was actually a high school dropout, and because of this they have struggled their entire lives trying to make ends meet with the odd end jobs they have had. I believe everyone has their own personal experience that shows them how education is important, and my parents are mine.

 

Discussion 1 Question 4: What are some barriers to educational success in high school? Describe a few.

                Sometimes students face barriers in high school and feel that they won’t be able to achieve success due to them. Some of those barriers include their families, their peers, society, and even themselves. I have used my dad in many essays that I have written to describe educational success, and I am going to use him again. When my dad was in the 11th grade he dropped out of high school and had to get a job to help his family because his dad had an accident and could no longer work. That is an example of a barrier that students face. Some of them have to dropout because their family needs them. Who students hang out with can also have an affect how they perform in school and how they feel about themselves. Some students have hung out with the wrong crowds and just feel that they cannot amount to anything more than that, and thus they dropout for lack of confidence and motive. Society is a barrier because students often get stuck in a mindset that they have to be in the same social standing as their parents and their grandparents. They do not realize that is okay to break the social chain and succeed far beyond the life that they are used to. There are many barriers that students face, but there are also many ways teachers and the school can battle these barriers.

 

 

Discussion 1 Question 5: Describe what you, as a teacher, can do to help reduce or eliminate these barriers?

                Most of the barriers students face are due to their mindset. I feel that if a student is in a mindset to where they think they can’t do something, then they won’t do something. If they are in the mindset that they can do something, then they will do something. If teachers can help their students get in the right mindset and help them to make goals and achieve those goals then student success would be much higher because they were put in the right mindset, made a goal, met that goal, and overcame failure. As a teacher I would start the year off with a goal sheet made for each student, and have my students fill their goal sheets out. I would read the goals that each of my students have and get an idea of what my students want to achieve and implement ways to help them achieve their goals. For example, if I had a student whose goal was to make more friends this year, then I would arrange more group study activities to give my students time to work together and get to know each other better. If I had a student with a goal of getting better at math, then I would arrange after school math tutoring. The list goes on and on with what you can do as a teacher to help students achieve things and get past the barriers that they face. You just have to think outside of the box and get an idea of what the students want to achieve. When all a student feels is success then they will continue to want success, and if all they feel is failure, they won’t believe they can achieve success. So it is up to us as teachers to help them feel success and overcome failure.

 

 

Summary

                For this being my first lesson I found that this is very helpful information for aspiring teachers. Teachers need to know how to deal with students that have stressful home lives because it directly affects their performance in the classroom. I also feel that the section about how education is vital when it comes to the workforce should be something that more people should know about because if more people knew how competitive jobs are and how education plays a big role in the hiring process then more people would realize the importance of education. I also feel that this lesson really emphasizes the role of the teacher and the school as a system when it comes to barriers that students face and how it is our job as educators to help these students overcome failure and achieve success. Overall, this lesson provides vital information for aspiring teachers to perform at their best so students can perform at their best.

 

Research Question

                How does the environment in a child’s home affect their performance at school?

 

Research References

http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/articles/editorials/family-income-home-environment-and-the-affect-on-young-children

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/schooling/equip-kids-for-learning/impact-of-home-environment

 

 

 

Research Analysis

                According to the Urban Child Institute’s website and the Focus on the Family website the environment that children experience at home directly affect their learning through their brain development. The research also explains how the environment that they live in also affects the way that their parents treat them. An example that the article uses is a single mother. According to the research a lower income mother shows less affection and gives less attention to her children than what a higher income mother does to her children. The research also says that the way that a child is treated at home will have a direct effect on the way that the child behaves at school. Often children that are neglected at home try to get attention in ways that are not positive just because they want any sort of attention whether it be attention through punishment or praise. This is why children that have the most behavioral problems tend to come from homes that are broken and more often than not live in poverty.

                According to the research children that come from a positive home are more successful than children that do not. It is said that the foundation of their success is based on whether or not they have a positive home life. The brain development is more positive in children that come from positive homes is greater than the brain development of a child that comes from a negative home. According to research the success of students and the level of brain development can be traced back to their home circumstances early in life in the first three years of life.

                According to the research the levels of self-confidence, school readiness, thinking skills, and performance that children show and possess are directly related to the environments that they lived in and experienced during the first three years of life. During those first three years the brain development of children can either be stimulated in a positive way or a negative way and whichever way it is stimulated will determine how the child performs, behaves, and proceeds with their school career. According to the research during those first three vital years the brain will reach 80% of its adult size and will make connections that either strengthen or weaken based alone on experiences that the child goes through. The research suggests that this is why it is extremely important that children are given nurturing environments that allow them to grow, learn, and live positive lives and perform their very best. The way that the Focus on the Family website puts it, "The most important work you do takes place within the walls of your home.”

 

Research Summary

                I found this research to be very interesting, and in some ways I agree and in some ways I do not. I agree that the environment that children live in does have a direct effect on the way that they perform. I feel that a lot of students’ behavioral problems and performance levels do coincide with the way they are raised, and live at home. However, I do not agree that lower income mothers show their children less love and affection than that of a higher income mother. If anything I would believe that a lower income mother gave MORE affection and love to her children because she’d have less materialistic things to give her children. I have always found higher income parents to be more focused on their careers instead of their children, but then again I have never conducted a personal research experiment to contrast the levels of affection shown to children from different income families. Nonetheless, I do not feel that you can place a number or a statistic on the love a child is shown based on their income and claim that has an effect on their education. The environment they live? Sure, but not the love they are shown. That just does not seem right to me because I come from a home that is not wealthy, and I have performed very well in school and I also feel that I am very much loved by my family.