Poverty

A few years ago, I lived with someone who did not have enough food to eat. When we first started living in the same house, everybody had enough food to eat. Everybody's assigned shelves were filled to bursting with fruits and vegetables, eggs and cheese, jam and butter. We often ate together, each preparing our own food and offering each other tastes of our culinary specialties.

As the school year progressed, schedules became hectic, and our powers of observation diminished. I did not notice the sparse fridge shelf because I was too focused on the contents of my own. I never ate with anyone else because I was too busy scarfing down cold pasta at the library at 9 at night while writing essays at the last minute. I was too centred on my own world to notice that one of my housemates had not gone grocery shopping for weeks. In fact, I never noticed at all.

Only months later, as we were moving out, did my housemate remark that he could finally eat the his container of pasta on top of the fridge.

"Why now?" I asked.
"I didn't want anyone to know that I didn't have enough food, so I thought that if my pasta container was still full, no one would guess. But now that my student loan has finally come in, I can go shopping."

I stared. I had not known. I had come home each night to declare to whoever was in the living room that I was "starving," but at least I said those words with full knowledge that there was, at the very least, a bowl of cereal in the kitchen with my name on it.

What this experience taught me was to be aware that poverty presents itself in many forms, and people may be reluctant to admit that they are lacking basic needs.

In class, we discussed this issue, particularly the problematic issue of having a class potluck, since some classmates may be unable to contribute. Many of us agreed that it would be easier to create a setting where there is no obligation to bring food and no checking on who brought what, so that it is more difficult to see who might not have brought something.

The reading for this week was the 2010 Report on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: 1989-2010.
Here is the formal citation:
"2010 Report on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: 1989-2010." Campaign 2000. Campaign 2000, 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.

I am concerned by the way some of the information in the report is presented. According to the facts on the first page, "about 1 in 10 children (610,000) and their families lived in poverty (2008 LICO after-tax) even before the recession. That’s more than the population of Victoria and Kelowna combined but does not include 1 in 4 children in First Nations communities growing up in poverty." Why does the report feel the need to discriminate between children in First Nations communities and children in other communities? The report creates a dichotomy between First Nations and non-first nations communities that undercuts its own message, namely that poverty is universal and affects all communities.
If I was teaching a class of older students, I might give them a fact sheet like this to discuss the problematic wording. I really like the idea of integrating a discussion of social problems into other lessons, in order to give seemingly useless lessons a meaning and purpose. For example, we could work as a class to develop a form of the aforementioned report which is more effective at capturing attention and giving inclusive information, then distribute our new report around the school and the community as part of a larger community service project.

I had a look at this website, too:
 http://www.oxfamunwrapped.ca/how-it-works
With an organization like Oxfam, I could work with my class to raise money for a particular gift or item for a community. The class would be able to appreciate the impact of their work and possibly develop a link with the community they helped to increase awareness.

Body Image (also Grief, Suicide, and Depression)

I have worked with campers who have issues with their body image. I have worked for people with body image issues. I was raised by people with body image issues. Most of all, I have my own body image issues.

So many people around me are haunted by a dislike of some aspect of their body image, something they would like to change, something they are ashamed of.

I'm not just talking about weight issues, either, though this is the first thing most people think of when "Body Image" is mentioned. Body Image can range from thinking you have "big shoulders" to claiming you have "chicken legs," to feeling like a "beached whale" in a party dress. I have heard each of these things spoken earnestly and resignedly. In fact, one of these quotes is from me.

We are often our own worst enemies, seeking out what we think are enormous flaws and agonizing over them. Most people do not recognize these things nearly as much as we do.

The statistics are staggering. (We discussed them in class, but here is a link that I had a look at: http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-body-image)

"About 7% of 12th grade males have used steroids in order to become more muscular"

1. "One out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder."
2. "53% of thirteen-year-old American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This number grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen."
3. "One-third of all girls have a distorted idea about their weight."
4. Of all the insecurities that plague us on a day to day basis, body image issues must surely be one of the most prevalent.
5. Of all the issues I must discuss with my students, of all the issues I must tackle, body image is the one I dread the most. In comparison, teaching math or history or even physical education is easy. I can learn these things, and then I can teach them. It is much harder to teach something you have not mastered. 

I was thinking about this all through class, and then I realized that, depending on the age group and situation, there may be some value to admitting to my students that I'm not perfect either. I can tell them that I am working towards a goal of liking what I look like, by eating properly, exercising, focusing on what I do like, and having a support network to make me feel better.

I also had a look at this set of lesson plans, which could be helpful for the higher grades (perhaps with a few adaptations): 

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/CFS/CFS-737-W.pdf

I especially like page 7's lesson called "Mixed Messages: Living in a Supersized World." In stead of telling students what to think, this activity lets students research the media's depiction of body image and allows them to think critically about these issues.
A useful addition to this activity could be to encourage students to look not just for body image portrayal in terms of sizing, but in terms of other body characteristics.

English Language Learners

English is my mother tongue. My family all speaks English as a first language, and I was lucky enough to be immersed in the language from the word go. Virtually every book at home (and there are over a thousand--I counted) is in English; we listened to music; and I even went to a preschool where English was spoken.

I have never experienced the difficulties of ELL (English Language Learning) or ELD (English Language Development). (ELL used to be called ESL).

I do know about learning French as a second language. When I was five, I was enrolled at the Ecole Francaise in Sri Lanka. None of my classmates spoke a word of English, and I did not speak a word of French.

It was a quiet year for me. At home and at preschool I was talkative and peppy, but in a kindergarten where I did not speak the language, I barely spoke a word. I was like a spaceman on a different planet, watching and learning, sitting still and trying to figure out where I fit in.

In the end, I figured it out. I must have been like a sponge, sucking all the information and words up. By grade 1, I was functionally fluent in French.

In class today, as we discussed English Language Learners, the difficulties they face, and ways we can help as teachers.

I loved learning about ways to accommodate students who are just learning English, particularly in celebrating the languages and skills they already have. It is so important to give new students a chance to flourish in the classroom in order to make them feel confident and motivated, but it can be hard to do if the students have a limited understanding of the language of instruction. Letting students do some of their work in another language (particularly paired with a buddy) is a great way to make sure that students are not totally impeded by language in their work, while at the same time acknowledging and recognizing that student's language as an important part of who they are and how they function.

The reading for class, Many Roots, Many Voices (http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/manyroots.pdf) discussed helping and including not just students, but parents and guardians. I think that parents and guardians are an important and often ignored component of education. Parents and guardians often form a large part of a student's support network. We need to make sure that parents and guardians are also supported, since chances are good that if their child is an English Language Learner, their parent may be, too.

It is so easy for a parent who does not speak the language of the school to be excluded from school social events and be scared of communication with the school.

I did a little research into what I could give to a parent of a student in ELL or EDL and I found this resource: http://www.bctf.ca/parents.aspx?id=3666
Admittedly, it is still uses the old terminology of ESL rather than ELL. However, the brochure is offered in several languages which could be printed off for a parent. I imagine this could be especially helpful for parents looking to understand the Canadian school system.