The Important Issue of Abuse

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Today's class gave a teacher's-size view of the issue of child abuse. I'm sure most of us in the cohort thought about people we know, or have known, who were victims of abuse, and many may also know people who have abused children. Thinking about the situations of the children listed under the different categories of abuse was really effective for my thinking about my own role as a teacher.

I think adopting a child with a complex history has opened up my perspective on the range of experiences, good and bad, that can make up the early life of kids. My daughter's experience was pretty benign, but in various settings I have learned of really traumatic events in the lives of children I have known. As sad as their stories are, it is amazing to see kids' resilience, too. Some kids who lived their early lives in deprivation take off like rockets once they get what they need, and our adoption medicine pediatrician says that some of the physical growth of kids who have been adopted has disproved what doctors previously thought were firm biological limits.

I love what she said to me about six months after we brought our daughter home: "LOOK at her growth chart, IT'S GORGEOUS!"

Running your class

Eadweard Muybridge

Entry for July 31st

Today's race-for-the-bones activity made me remember how powerful physical activity is, and how it can positively impact learning. 

My experiences in elementary school with exercise were very traditional: hopscotch, tetherball, baseball, basketball. I am glad to hear that in some high schools, students are getting a chance to do things like pilates, dance, and yoga. Learning ways of moving that they can use all of their lives seems like one way to really serve the students in a meaningful way.

The skeleton activity was brief, but was enough to blow the cobwebs out of my brain, like hitting the "refresh" button. The fact that there are so many possibilities to combine movement with science or math, or really anything, is one reason why I wanted to become a teacher. Working with kids doing visual and performing arts and combining these with other subject areas like social studies showed me some of the potential for creativity in learning and teaching. 

July 25th post for Health and Fitness

An idea from today’s class that really interested me is using a concept map to represent information, and the way it shows how bits of information can be linked. It was challenging to put it all together, and raised some questions for me. I am now wondering about different ways concept maps might be used by teachers for teaching, and by students for learning. It makes me want to find interesting examples of how the visuals and the content can connect with each other.

I can see how dividing up information into discrete chunks for the concept map allows you to see it with a fresh perspective. I think figuring out how the chunks can be organized and linked forces a focused sorting process of those chunks.