In Rethinking the school did not want to spend too much time and effort on tragedies such as death. The school was hoping that after a couple days of mostly ignoring the subject, the students would just drop it. However, this does not seem like a very healthy way to deal with the tragic emotional damage as well as fear and confusion that may be going on within the students. We often fear what is unknown to us so if death is not something that we have ever dealt with it can be very scary and confusing. Feelings are real and suppressing them or changing the subject does not acknowledge those feelings nor does it help a child deal with such feelings. I really liked how the author had a discussion with the children and provided them with opportunities to share their feelings, questions and concerns. She even saw the opportunity to have two girls facing similar tragedies to talk with each other and a friendship came out of it.
What was the purpose for the other staff wanting to ignore the subject? Maybe it is because they did not have answers or maybe they were afraid themselves. Whatever the reason, death is real and is a part of life, the more a child understands about it the better they will be able to process the situation should it ever happen to them.
Also in the Rethinking reading the author speaks about a conflict concerning the Christmas holiday. One of the things a teacher said was that they do it this way every year. Just because something is done every year does not mean that it should continue to be done. I love the idea of learning about other holidays around the world. Not only is it a study of social science, but it also broadens a child’s view of the world. Everyone has different cultures, beliefs, religions and ways of doing things. Why not learn about the ones’ relevant to the class. Children should learn to celebrate their differences and teaching children about their own and other’s cultures and build a stronger sense of self-esteem.
Perhaps we as adults need to broaden our view of the world and learn more about others cultures and ways of life so that we could share them with our students. We are supposed to be preparing children for the world. Well the world is huge and filled with diversity. If children understand this early on they are more likely to be accepting of others differences.
The New Possibilities author sums it up pretty well when she says, “Educational philosophy is always a work in progress.” Things and times are changing. Just as we must be sensitive to the diversity of each child’s family set up, we must also be sensitive to their cultural and religious diversity as well. Years ago we may have been unaware of how important it could be to discuss things such as death, AIDS and different cultural practices. However, now we know that children are people and they must deal with difficult situations. We can help them by teaching them about unfamiliar, scary subjects such as death rather than trying to hide things and pretend as though everything is okay when often it is not.
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Aloha Kawai,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your posting. I gave the same opinion about acknowledge the feelings of children about death and lost. In reality, children do face this kind of situation. The teacher made this opportunity to help children to face the world.
Your experiences in the classroom, did you have any children were in the same (death , culture, or holidays) situation? How did you handle it?
Hi Kawai,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very strong observation in your blog as you note teachers may not want to discuss certain subjects because they may not have the answers. This is an interesting way to think about our decisions as teachers. Have teachers become so dependent on answers they have constructed the teacher role as a person that knows everything? How might the teacher role change with the presence of uncertainty? Can placing the dichotomy of right and wrong answers aside offer teachers another way to consider teaching and learning? How might teachers be supported in exploring this unknown and possible disruption in how they understand teaching?
Jeanne
Hi Kawai,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog because you are honest and are not afraid to express your true feelings about eah topic. Death makes some people uncomfortable because of it's finality and unknown. For myself, I would like to say that if a child came to talk to me about a death in their family, I would handle it fine but I'm really not sure. I'm not sure because I have yet to experience a death of a family member. I can only imagine how it would feel and try to put myself in the child's situation. Without having experienced it for myself, should I refer the child to another staff or handle the questions as a discussion on feelings?
Aloha Kawai,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for being open and honest. Death can be a difficult subject to talk about, but it is something that's real. We all face it at one point or another in our lives. I agree with the teacher in the reading who decided to take the subject further than the other staff members. My question is, how can we encourage other staff members to talk about death with the children in our care? How do we present it to the children in an age-appropriate manner? I know we are not necessarily prepared to face death or even talk about it, but I'm pretty sure the subject will arise through a child's own personal experience or curiosity.