SFL golden nugget #4

Joy Prior
Golden nugget #4
The golden nugget that I learned from “Use your words” was about the third pillar of DAP. That I need to understand the social, and cultural context of the children I am teaching. I learned while I was reading that this third important concept is so vital, and apart of the development of a child that even if I try to ignore the family background of the students I am teaching it will work it’s way into the classroom.
In the book the author mentions a story about a discussion the children had after reading a story about families. One of the students states how much he hates his family, and his father. The teacher did what was DAP appropriate. She asked the student why he felt that way, and then welcomed discussion from the other students. After that she read a book about emotions and encouraged the children to share their emotions. I learned a lot from her example, but what I will remember is that even if this teacher had tried to ignore the context of her student’s family the child would have been thinking about his family. I realized that why it is important to incorporate the family context of my students is not because I am trying to be polite or nice, but because their family context will change their social and emotional, mental, and even physical development.
I imagined the little boy sitting on the rug, and the most obvious developmental area that was affecting him was emotional. He was talking about emotions, and the simple mentioning of his family stirred up his emotions. Simply reading the story caused even me to feel emotions. The emotions that the students felt while reading the book in the classroom was directly connected to their family context. It would be impossible to ignore the emotional connection that the students had to their families. Realizing that the emotional development of my students began years ago in their living rooms and at their kitchen tables of their homes is not simply polite. The reality that families are a vital part of the emotional development of my students has changed my perspective on teaching.
It also affected the boys mental development. Something that emotional would have distracted him from his studies and the lesson that the teacher had prepaid. It would probably not only distract that boy, but the entire class. The little girl talking about her dad buying her a new bike demonstrates that she would not have listened to the teacher if the teacher had gone straight from the story to talking about letters. Instead I believe that she would have been thinking about her family. The emotions, thoughts, and attention my students spend thinking about their families is probably more time than I can assume. As a teacher I need to be sensitive to times when such the social and cultural context of my students comes into the classroom, because if I attempt to plug through to my scheduled lesson plan some of my students will not be able to pay attention. As an educator I need to acknowledge that some of my students will be thinking about home while they are in the classroom and their distracted concentration will influence how much attention they will give to my lesson plans.
Although this story did not demostrate it the social context of my student family will influence their physical development. I have been able to realize this in the obvious examples such as cocain babies. This time when I thought about the social context influencing my student’s physical development I realized that if the family exersises at home that student will be physically effected.
I have to be fully invested in the culture my students come from because it influences their social and emotional, educational, and physical development as much as the individual child, and what I know about general child development influences my students. This story illustrated to me that the as a teacher I do not simply consider the family and social context of my students because I am trying to be polite. I will be able to apply this golden nugget to my classroom.