As I mentioned earlier, I was so blessed to grow up in a family with two loving, hard-working parents and I was taught to pursue personality traits like work ethic, honesty, dedication and service to others. However, it saddens my heart to realize that the truth of the matter is today’s children are more likely to come from non-traditional homes, than homes with two parents. 

 

According to a study conducted by University of Michigan, at least 18 percent of students will have been subjected to a child maltreatment investigation by the third grade (Jacob & Ryan, 2018). Honestly, I believe this should hurt the heart of anyone, especially an educator. Oftentimes, I feel the children who come from broken homes, for lack of a better word, go unnoticed and fly under the radar. Is this because we just want to teach them the content and get them onto the next grade? Is it because they hide it so well and we just pretend not to notice their subtle cries for attention? I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know that our nation needs us to acknowledge our students’ living situations now more than ever.

 

I believe that implementing strategies within lesson plans to investigate students’ home lives and find out more about their interests outside of school would significantly indicate to students that there is at least one teacher who sees them and cares about them as a person. We must be aware of living situations before we can plan for them, so it is a part of our job to noninvasively find out tidbits of information about life outside of our classrooms for these students. We know that educators wear many hats, but this may be the most important one. It is said that, during the school year, students spend more time engaging and having conversations with their teachers than they do their parents (Wolk, 2008). I realize that article was written in 2008, but I would argue that students spend even more time with their teachers and coaches now than they did back then.

 

References:

Jacob, B. A., & Ryan, J. (2018, April 10). How life outside of a school affects student performance in school. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-life-outside-of-a-school-affects-student-performance-in-school/

 

Wolk, S. (2008, September). Joy in school. Retrieved November 01, 2020, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept08/vol66/num01/Joy-in-School.aspx