Diedra's Blog

Name one social issue of concern and project how schools, schooling, or you as a teacher might be able to help address this issue.  What good will it do?  What part can you play?

Social Issue:  OBESITY

Step 1:  Create an Awareness

First of all, schools have a TON of influence.  Teachers and schools need to not only educate students about social issues, but they also need to help students begin to personally address how they each can change these issues in their own lives.  With obesity in particular, schools and teachers need to respond to the problem at hand in a proactive manner versus responding reactively.  Teachers, including myself, need to raise awareness about the rise in childhood obesity to our students and to their parents.       

This can be done by simply getting the statistics out there and talking about the issue.  Bulletins boards, broachers, and flyers are all good ways to create awareness.  Also, any type of teacher can help out with building awareness of all social issues.  I do not necessarily have to teach an entire unit on obesity, but I can bring it up and relate it to various subjects discussed in class.    

Step 2:  Educate about Healthy Choices

As educators, our job is to educate.  In order to prevent the continual rise of obesity, part of the action plan is teaching students healthy living choices and the consequences of poor choices.  I am not a health or physical education teacher, but I can still model healthy choices to my students.  I can also discuss good eating habits and fitness.  Our job is not to just help the students who are obese, but to help all students.     

Step 3:  Take Action

Finally, the last step is challenging students to do something about this issue.  Simply teaching about obesity is not going to change anything.  I need to help my students understand that they can actually make a difference.  They can eat healthy.  They can exercise.  Again, modeling this type of lifestyle will greatly benefit our students.      

On any given day, if a stranger entered your classroom what would they think about the learning environment you create?  What would it tell them about you as a teacher or your relationship with your students?

On any given day, if a stranger were to enter my classroom…

• I hope he/she is impressed by the enthusiasm and eagerness of my students to learn. 
• I hope he/she can observe that my classroom is student-centered, flexible, challenging to all styles of learners, and extremely interactive. 
• I hope he/she feels a sense of comfort, openness, energy, and passion in my classroom. 
• I hope he/she sees that I am not only striving to enhance my student’s minds, but also challenging them have a greater respect for themselves, this world, their peers, and their authority figures.  
• I hope that he/she notices how I incorporate instilling important character values (e.g. strong work ethic, honesty, and diligence) upon my students while I teach the subject at hand.
• I hope he/she sees that I have created a learning environment where my students learn with their hands, heart, and mind. 
• I hope he/she is overwhelmed with the amount of creative juices flowing throughout the classroom.  
• I hope that it is obvious to he/she that I have a genuine interest in my students' lives and that I want to see them succeed in life even outside of my classroom.

I am human and I am far from perfect.  Realizing this, I want to nail down my weaknesses so they do not get in the way of my teaching.  I chose this question because I see the importance of bringing flaws to the light so they can be improved and worked around.  If they are left in the dark, they will be bumped into and will cause more harm than good.     

My main character flaw is that I am critical.  It is easy for me to be stubborn and think that my way is best.  I obviously know that I am defiantly not always right, but my crazy brain can get critical of how others think or act when the issues relate to my passions.  Often times, the more passionate I am about a particular issue/subject, the more closed minded I can become.  Over the years, I have caught myself being critical and I have been working hard to change my natural tendencies.  I have gotten much better, but I still need to be very careful.  In the future, being overly critical may be a problem as I interact with various parents who have parenting techniques that I may not agree with.  I need to always remember to treat other people’s opinions with respect, be gentle in my speech, and stray from forcing my way of thinking on others.   

“You must learn to teach with reverence and love and respect, for what you direct is potential and the future”

– Leslie Owen Wilson -

I chose #18 because I want to be a “keeper of the future”.  I thought it would be good to take time to reflect on how I practically can teach with reverence and love and respect, knowing that what I teach will affect the future.   

We learn from what is modeled or taught.  This can obviously be either good or bad.  I never want to become complacent in passing on truths, values, and what I have learned from my experiences.  This is what I want I am striving for:

• I want to seek wisdom from the wise and I want to leave a legacy for the younger generations as a compassionate and loving woman who has dedicated her life to the betterment of this world. 
• I want my students to see passion in my life. 
• I want to be open, honest, and transparent with them. 
• I want my students to be able to identify their beliefs and to become confident with their identity. 
• I want to teach them about the reality of life; the hard stuff and the good stuff.  
• I want to offer my students hope. 
• I want them to dream and aspire to do great things and I want them to know that there is no better time than right now to start changing the world around them and make their dreams a reality. 
• I want my students to trust me and know that I truly care about them. 
• I want to challenge them to be better people.

This list is not complete, but it represents a good portion of what I desire to offer my students so they can make a difference for the future.  Living this list out is going to be the real challenge.  I know that I will fail and at times may be do more detriment than good in some of my student’s lives, but this is what I will always be striving for.  The legacy that I want to leave behind is not my name, but the values and passion that I have modeled.