Lesson 3 Reflection

After watching the videos on Attention, Emotions and Learning, describe how this information impacts you as a teacher.

I know that when my students walk into my classroom, they aren't checking their baggage at the door. Problems at home, with their friends, parents, others around them affect how they listen and learn; they affect what they're willing to listen to and learn; they affect who they are willing to listen to and learn from. I had never thought about how that baggage isn't just a figment of memory, but is deeply engrained in their chemical makeup, and isn't as simple as directing their focus on happy thoughts. Students living in high stress environments, whether due to abuse or neglect or a combination of both, have sustained neurological damage as a result, and cope with that every day, and in turn, transfer that responsibility to their teacher, me. Most of my students face this, which means that as their teacher, I have to be sensitive to their behaviors. I now know that their misbehavior may not be fully under their control, but instead might be residual of traumatic experience sustained long ago or more presently. I may be the one person in their life who listens to them and speaks to them in a way that acknowledges their dignity, which can transform how they behave in and out of my classroom.