Chapter 1 - 2 reflection

A History Lesson

I walked into a college class and the following paragraph was on the board.

Poverty is the deprivation of food, shelter, money and clothing that occurs when people cannot satisfy their basic needs. Poverty can be understood simply as a lack of money, or more broadly in terms of barriers to everyday life (dictionary.com).

As I sat in class and listened to my professor talk about poverty and what it was, it hit me: my family was in poverty. I had never sat back and thought about it much until then: until I was forced too. Single parent household, children paying bills, no car, parent working multiple jobs….and the list continued. I fit into that category far too well.

Let’s take a 23 year step back! The world was graced by my presence (#awesomeness) in 1989 followed by my sister in 1991, and brother in 1992. In 1999, my parents finalized their divorce. My mother worked 2-3 jobs to fight to make ends meet with my father paying zero child support. When I was in the sixth grade I got my first job and started paying bills. Later, my brother also did the same. My responsibilities grew quite rapidly while being highly active in sports and FFA. Many of my peers didn’t know my living situation. My mother was very supportive and helped out as much as possible but, with only a high school diploma, my school work soon became too hard for her to help with. This trend continued with my brother and sister.

There were many things my peers or teachers didn’t know about my home life.  As I got older I could see how imperative it was for me to attend college and worked hard at school with zero help from home. There was a lot of stress put on us and as a kid that made school a second priority at times.  I was lucky to have the emotional support and a good home environment: luxuries some students at Rugby High School would die to have. When I think back I don’t know how I did as well as I did, but am thankful for it.

“Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What being poor does to kids and what schools can do about it”

A book written by Eric Jensen challenges many “social norms” of the reader. Jensen states that students living with poverty are more likely to live in crowded homes, inherit low self-esteem, own fewer books or technology, inherit negative views of school, and have high tardiness and absentee rates. This list of hurdles makes completing homework difficult, if not impossible.

I faced many of these hurdles when I was a kid but managed to do well. There are many students enrolled at Rugby High School that deal with a lot of stress in their daily lives: much more than what I had to.

My Advantages

1.       I’m a noob at RHS. (Noob is gaming terms for being new at something and being willing to learn. Drop that word to your Call of Duty gamers and they might just be surprised!)

I think I have an advantage of being new here. I don’t have any clue as to what the students home lives are, I don’t know whose dating who or who’s never ever ever getting back together, what kind of trouble they have been in, or the kid in general. This allows me to not pass judgment. Every student gets a new slate. This can also be seen as a disadvantage. The following thank you note was given to me at the end of last year by a student:

“I just wanted to write to you to thank you for the awesome year all of us had and for teaching us of the art of agriculture. I also wanted to thank you for not judging me like most do and treating me with respect. I thank you for all the great times.”

                                                                -John Doe Jr.

If I told you the author of this card you wouldn’t believe me.

2.       Agriculture Education

Agriculture Education is unique. I can teach a lesson and then do a project to reinforce it. My class doesn’t require as much “practice” as math or English. The homework that I do give I try and make it a project. Most of my projects are done in class because I have the materials and resources available. I also like to do this so I can try and cover some, if not all, of the cost.

Because Agriculture Education isn’t a core class, I feel it is part of my job to integrate as much math, science, and English into my classroom as possible. I think it’s important for students to realize that the core classes, the classes they are “forced” to take, are relevant in all aspects of life. Also, if there ever comes a time where classes are being cut (knock on wood) I will be able to prove that my classes reinforce the core classes. For example, my students just started a project where they are analyzing data from cranberry and turkey production in 2010 and 2011. They are to take the data and plot it on a graph to show how the value and the amount produced has either increased or decreased and what states play a major role. Although very simple math, it’s still math and I want them to appreciate it. I try and do this with my entire curriculum and many of my projects.

Homework

I still don’t know what to think about homework and may never develop a concrete answer. I think students need to have homework so they can learn how to balance their life. I hate busy work and most of all hate correcting it. I am still learning and trying to find my stance on this issue and how to implement it into my classroom. At the moment, the only concrete homework assignment that I have is current events every Friday. This assignment challenges students to develop an opinion on an agriculture current event while also thinking about the cause and effect it has on the industry and its consumers. This simple assignment, which I love, still doesn’t get turned in by many.

Homework is also needed and vital in a college level class. Students need to learn how to be adults and find out what it will feels like when they are out in the real world. The students enrolled in these classes should be the students that are truly looking to continue on to college.

How can we get rid of homework completely when we have the government breathing down our necks to meet standards and state assessments? There are many different ways to measure our students’ abilities and homework is one of them. As long as teachers are making an effort to make the assignment reasonable and relevant to the topic at hand I believe it will enhance students learning.