Call of Story Response
All of the videos showed the power of stories as told by professional story tellers. This video made me cry as I lost my mother in law this last year and she taught me many lessons through stories. When the boys were in the hospital visiting their mother and reminiscing about their youth, the mother was listening even though her eyes were closed. This “silent listening” is common with mothers. I think teachers have a good listening ear but sometimes don’t apply all the techniques we use as mothers. Mothers tend to listen for a longer period hoping the children work out their problems. Teachers hear noise in the back of the room and say “Be quiet!” before letting the children grow in their problem solving skills. Teachers also want the kids quiet more often than mothers. Mothers tend to drown out the noises coming from the playroom. Some teachers require silent classrooms. Tell me how that helps their social skills. I believe there needs to be a balance between structured lessons and group play.
All too often teachers will ask a question and the students respond with something that doesn’t pertain to the answer. I know sometimes a student will say “Hey Mrs. Artman, my grandma has a pit bull and my uncle has a Great Dane!” and I know the question I asked was “What are the 3 primary colors?”. The dogs may have not been the answer I was looking forward to but this child had been so excited to tell me this story all week, he couldn’t keep it in anymore. I heard the rest of his story later and then he was off to do his work. Children have an innocent way of telling brutally honest stories. Another time a student came up to me around a group of other students getting ready to leave for the day and said “Where do I go? My mom is in jail and no one is at home.” I thought the student was joking. I got a call later that night from CYFD (as I am a foster parent) asking me to pick up the same student with his 2 siblings. I felt so bad as I thought he was playing a joke on me. Sometimes stories have a serious impact on lives and as educators we need to hear the students voices….even in stories.
I used to think the students that acted up in class were just bad kids. I had a student throw a container of color pencils across the room. I wrote him up as his anger escalated. He was a very troubled child. He came back in after school with his mother and his head was hung real low….not the aggressive kid I saw everyday in the art room. His mother was like a military sergeant and treated him like an abused dog. He wasn’t allowed to speak or look up. I was appalled and a couple months later the same kid was in foster care. He had gotten physically abused and tried to run away and kill himself. I did report his behavior to the principal when he came to my room with his mom after school. He said since she didn’t do physical harm to him in front of me we couldn’t turn her in. So, in conclusion, family plays a huge part in students’ behavior in the classroom.
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