Caring for Youth

After reading  Mapping Interconnected Care, I really resonated with three forms of care teachers provide their students. One way is providing snacks to the students, in this particular case the teacher originally thought that her class was boring and so students would fall asleep. She then reflected on it more and considered the students lives outside of the classroom and realized that they may have had a long night and they just need a snack. The second way was providing a clean space, essentially telling the students that you deserve a clean environment to learn. The third is very interesting because it connects a teachers appearance/ identity to her career. This teacher identifies as queer, and that is reflective in her style and hair cut. This allows other students who identify as LGBT to connect with her and open up about any problems they may be facing. I have found one example of care in my after school program called C.O.Z., if they had a student that was misbehaving or having a bad day, they would often pull them aside and ask the student what was wrong. If they were hungry, they were allowed to have a second snack, if the problem couldn't be resolved the student was allowed to hang out in the office until they were ready to resume activities. They also provided a very clean and safe space for the children. I believe that they could do a better job of introducing topics like LGBT or bullying or other important topics in order to identify with all of the students in the program. Overall, I believe that teachers and youth workers express care in many unique ways.

Comments

  1. Kelly Harlow (she/her)October 4, 2017 at 1:06 PM

    Hey Daysha! I also really liked the way one teacher viewed her clean space as that the students deserve that not because she has to keep it clean but because she chooses to. I'd love to hear more about the group C.O.Z that you were involved in!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 5, 2017 at 7:33 AM

    Hi Daysha, I really enjoyed reading your blog and I think its amazing that the program is more about the children rather than focusing on completing the activities of the day . Also , What does C.O.Z stand for?

    ReplyDelete

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