Reflecting on habit of mind

Beginning my second year of teaching I’ve tried my best to reflect on practices and methods I can change as an educator to improve student learning in the classroom.

There are many aspects to how we learn. With the gravity of standardized and high stakes testing, one of my biggest concerns last year was focusing on summative assessment; how will my students be able to perform well and show what they’ve learned? Where does good performance come from? Many would say the rote memorization and rigorous studying skills are the key to passing the exam, but my future and educational philosophy is hell-bent on unearthing the emotional skills it takes to be an academic.

In urban, public schools (and others) in 2014 many students can be categorized with emotional/developmental disabilities. What is an emotional disability?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines emotional disturbance as follows:

“…a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:

(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

(C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.” [1]

 

Correct me if I’m misguided, but I’ve experienced a few of these myself from middle school up until higher ed. This is not to say I’ve experienced the extremity of emotional disability (ED), and I would never attempt to account my experiences as the most severe, but there must be a spectrum. Students diagnosed with ED should receive and need accommodations in the classroom catered specifically to their needs, and further there is a larger need for attention to signs of ED in urban schools.

Our students, students of color and low-income, students of underrepresented backgrounds, and students of marginalization, come into the classroom with the highest expectations of themselves. Many students, me included, entered high school with a HUGE confidence in their abilities in the mathematics. Yet, when faced with the rights of passages in academia (that is to say the emotional development required in high school classrooms and in its hallways), even mathematics becomes a pervasive evil. How does this happen? Where does how we feel about ourselves come into education? Where is the line of comfort?

One piece of everyday of my 2013-14 Algebra Prep class was an (hopefully) inspirational mini-lecture. Students would begin to give me the side-eye as soon as one of my militant educational rants began, and admittedly there shouldn’t have been as much rant as there was discussion and dialogue, yet these things happen.

My largest push, regardless of content or unit, was that as a classroom community our job was to maintain an atmosphere of respect for ourselves and each other. On days I would stress the respect of self the most.

“What did you enter the classroom with today? Books, pens, notes and a stomach ready for lunch? Cool, but what else did you bring today? Did you bring that other class you’re worried about? That frustration from an argument with a friend? Did you bring worry, doubt, anxiety, or fear? When we enter the classroom we agree to scholarship, yet, what does scholarship say about how we feel? The majority of you may attempt problems and not get them right because you’re having a bad day. The majority of you may say, ‘I don’t get this.’ and give up before you even see the problem. The majority of you may have begun the term saying, ‘I hate math, I can’t wait for this class to be over.’ and are now worrying about how fast the Regents is coming. Before you come to class, check yourselves. Realize where your head is at, and push it, no matter how much it hurts, to focus on the goals at hand!.”

Positivity, growth mindset, and respect for self and community are the foundations of education. Mutual learning would have never begun without them. Why are we not focusing on these things in the hallway and classroom? Why are we not doing it FOR students with ED? How often do we, as educators and adults who have overcome these barriers, mitigate or assist youth in education? When we begin to focus on the emotional care that your students need daily, there will be huge leaps and gains in what our students learn, how they learn, and how they feel when they sit in front of a state or national examination.

 

 

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