Community/School Partnerships

One of the partnerships Muncie schools have in the community is with Ball State University.  Through my education classes, I see how many Ball State students are sent out into these schools to work with the younger students.  There are many different reasons Ball State students go to Muncie schools, including tutoring, teaching, and observing.  I am also doing an Immersive Semester in the Fall, in which I will be working with a Muncie School as well as the United Way of Delaware County.  While there are a few different organizations in the Muncie community that have partnerships with Muncie schools, there could definitely be many more.  To advocate these partnerships, I could research different organizations that could be useful to Muncie schools.  I could talk to these schools and explain the benefits for both the schools and the organization if a partnership were to be in place between the two.  These community/school partnerships can be very beneficial to the schools.  They can encourage the students to learn and make goals for the future.  They can help raise money for the schools in order to improve the quality of the students' education.  Also by more of the community being aware of what is going on in the schools and the condition of the schools, more will be done to address any problems that the school may face before the problems get out of hand.  Overall, while there are a few partnerships between Muncie schools and the community, I think there could be many more that would be very beneficial to the schools.

Parent Teacher Conference

Being in the position of the teacher today was hard for me.  It was an experience that I am not used to, and made me feel kind of uncomfortable.  It is easy to think out what you want to say about the child, but you don't know how the parents will react.  It is not like a letter or email to the parents where you just say what you need to say.  It is two way communication.  For example, there were many times that I was expecting the parent to comment on what I was saying or give their input, but they just stayed quiet and continued listening.  Also, during the difficult conference I was taken off-guard.  The parent was angry about the time of the conference because she was missing work and was therefore very impatient with me.  I thought this was a very helpful experience for being a future teacher, even though you can't know what to expect or what factors might influence the conference.  This project taught me just that, you don't know what is going to happen so be prepared for anything.

Drug and Alcohol Families

It is terrible to see what drug and alcohol use by parents can do to their families.  Drugs take such a strong hold on their users and it is very hard to break free from this.  Children are taken away from their parents and put into foster homes because of their parents' addictions.  This is very sad, but it is usually much sadder to see the living conditions some of these children had been exposed to.  Many times drug users leave drugs, trash, and other harmful things around the house that could harm their children.  Parents who are on drugs are not in the right state of mind to be raising children.  Not only are the children in physical danger just being in their home environment, they are also more likely to be abused and neglected by their drug abusing parents.  Living in such a traumatic environment also takes an emotional toll on the child.  These children are more likely to be depressed, emotionally detached, and may eventually start using drugs as well to try to cover up these emotions.  I think it really shows how powerful drugs are that they are able to break apart such a strong bond that families have.  Being a teacher, I think it would be very hard to deal with a situation in which a parent was using drugs.  No one ever wants to break up a family, but we have to do what is best for the children and their physical and mental well-being.

Poverty In America

Poverty and homelessness has a huge impact on children in America.  It leads to both physical and emotional problems.  Children who are in poverty or who are homeless do not get the support and safety that so many people take for granted.  They have to learn to in a sense raise themselves because they either don't have parents or their parents aren't around.  Whether parents are out trying to make money to get out of their current living situation or are sick, children have to learn to survive on their own.  Many times this can cause children to become depressed, at times even suicidal.  Children do not receive the education that they should many times, and are surrounded by things that many people never see in their lives.  They are more likely to become involved with drug use.  Not only do homeless children and children in poverty have to deal with the emotional aspect of their living situation, they also must handle the physical strain put on them.  These children are hungry.  Even if they receive enough food to not starve, they very rarely get the proper nutrition that they need.

As a teacher, I will try to address this problem to the best of my ability.  If I notice that a child may be in a difficult living situation, I will do my best to figure out the situation and handle it as necessary.  I will make sure that the student is treated the same as all of the other children and that they are getting enough to eat while at school.  I will be patient with the student, understanding that they may not be receiving extra help from their parents outside of school, or that they may not be getting enough sleep or not have time or resources to do their homework.  I will do whatever is in my power to make the child's learning experience the same quality as every other child's.  Children may not feel safe at home, but I will make sure they feel safe while at school in my classroom and will always be available to talk to them.

Reflection #1

One of the most influential events in my education was trying to pick a college my senior year in high school.  All of my friends had decided where they were going, but I still had no idea where I wanted to go or what I wanted to study.  I wanted to stay close to home, but other than that I had no ideas.  My parents had been trying to get me to go to Dayton, but it was too far from home.  I sat down one day in one of my classes started talking to one of my friends.  She said she was going to Butler to study Elementary Education.  I decided that was what I was going to do as well.  As dumb as that sounds, I went to Butler and started out as an Elementary Education major.  Although I only stayed at Butler for two years and changed my major multiple times, this was what really got me thinking about becoming a teacher.  My last semester at Butler I changed my major back to Elementary Education and got a job at a daycare.  After working at the daycare I decided to come to Ball State to study Early Childhood Education.  Now I am here, all because one day in high school my friend said she was going to study Education and I thought it sounded like a good enough idea to me.