Thursday, March 8, 2012
Ch. 3 How Family Violence Influences Children's Language & Memory
"Early exposure to violence influences children's functional use of language in ways that impede their ability to learn and remember. Stress and hyperarousal make it difficult for them to attend to the content of instruction. Emotionally charged fragments of implicit memory often sabotage relationships with peers and adults, making it difficult for the children to participate in classroom activities and rountines. They need relationships with teachers who are willing to scaffold classroom rountines through the use of procedural and automatic memory pathways. They also need a classroom climate that is conducive to the formation of positive emotional memories associated with learning."
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I found it interesting that long periods of silence in classrooms can trigger implicit memories of rejection or danger that although outside their consciousness, can increase their anxiety and tendency to act out. The use of consequences and threats will only further escalate their negative behavior.
ReplyDeleteI have a student at my other school who gets very frustrated when I point out any time he acts up. I think a lot of the time when I try to correct his behavior, it's for "taking something to eleven". For instance, he was doing a great job yesterday with the activity, but when I gave him a look for taking things over the top, he exclaimed, "But I wasn't doing anything!" It didn't seem to ruin the whole class for him, however. I had a brief chat with him after class, and I told him that I'm not trying to be mean to him when I point out something he's not doing correctly (I think I told him I wasn't trying to "be a jerk", which got him to actually crack a chuckle).
ReplyDeleteSomething that I've found helpful in mediation between children is to try to verbalize how a situation went down/why they feel wronged. I think teachers underestimate the level of sophistication that students can process. They probably can't talk that way, but they can listen to and process it.
Again, I was excited to see how much Ms. Craig talked about music in the latter part of the chapter. I know teachers in this school who use songs as a way of teaching classroom procedures, and for other things too (i.e. multiplication songs).