Mark your Calendars..We're Going!!!

http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/

At Risk for Abuse: A Teacher’s Guide for Recognizing and Reporting Child Neglect and Abuse

I. Intro/Defining Terms

1. Definition of abuse varies state to state thus difficult to determine unreported cases

A. professionals also define abuse differently and often fail to report

B. failure to uncover neglect due to: failure to detect injuries, failure to recognize

indicators of abuse/neglect (middle/upper income families especially), and failure to

report to appropriate agency when abuse is detected

2. Effects of child abuse include poor academic performance/socialization and

physical/cognitive disabilities

A. children with disabilities at greater risk for abuse/neglect

B. abusive parents often describe children as backward, hyperactive, constantly crying,

or difficult to control

II. Definitions and Extent of Problem

1. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 1974

A. abuse as “physical, or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of 18.....by a person who is responsible for child’s welfare.......” (92)

2. Maltreatment (neglect, physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse)

A. neglect: failure for parent/guardian to provide for child’s basic needs;

abandonment/inadequate supervision

B. verbal abuse: excessive acts of derision, taunting teasing and mocking; frequent

humiliation of child

C. emotional abuse (occurs over extended period of time): intimidating, belittling and

damaging interactions that affect emotional development

3. Indicators of abuse suggest/indicate that abuse may have taken place, they don’t prove

A. important to note students motorically delayed/impaired may be prone to accidents

(bruises, scrapes, cuts, or minor injuries)

B. teachers need to stay up to date with changing medical conditions and changing

family life patterns of students

III. Legal Obligations

1. Child abuse can’t be legally ignored by school officials

A. teachers/admins required by law in all states to report suspected child abuse

B. criminal and civil consequences can occur if abuse is not reported

C. teachers with reasonable suspicion of abuse required to report

a. reporting can occur to other agencies outside school (schools don’t have to be

burden with gathering all the facts- agencies can do the research and determine

proper action)

c. teachers need to familiarize themselves with laws regarding child abuse to

understand how to take action/report

D. reporting abuse:

a. . teachers must report abuse to local service agency (telling principle or other teachers may not be enough for mandatory reporting)

b. teachers should not disclose suspicion to parents or alleged perpetrators 3. teachers should report: child’s ID info (name, age, grade, address...etc)

c. name of person responsible for abuse

d. where abuse took place

e. description of child/statements child made and any observations

f. how long ago incident took place

g. reporter’s name, address, and phone

h. if child has disability/useful information for officials

Stand By Me!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I've officially checked out the movie 'Stand By Me' (featuring River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, a chubby Jerry O'Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland) which, as is indicated on the back cover, is based on a novella "The Body" by Stephen King.

Furthermore, I've reserved study room 505 at O'Neill Library from 4PM until 7PM so that we can watch the movie as a group - if you so desire. I will say however that the room is a bit small and there might be 'standing' room only (pun intended), but it would be a lot of fun to watch this as a group ;)

Hopefully I'll catch you all at Maria's, or tomorrow for the movie!

- not sent from an iPad :(

Technology in the Classroom

Hey folks, I don't know where you're all at with regard to the ED438 Assistive Technology project, but whilst mucking around on Twitter, I came across this site. It's pretty elementary, but it led me to bigger and better ideas. Enjoy!

Mayer et al

What to Expect and When to Seek Help…Mayer et al.

· Although each child is different, all children face social and emotional challenges in middle childhood

1. Developing self esteem and growing more confident

2. Making new friends and meeting new challenges at school

3. Learning to take reasonable risks, to handle failure, and to “bounce back”

· What to do if you have questions about your child’s performance?

1. Ask a trusted friend or family member

2. Talk to your child’s healthcare provider or school

3. Contact your local social service agency

· This article is guided by the following principle…

Ø Every child and adolescent deserves to experience joy, have high self esteem, acquire a sense of efficacy, and believe that she can succeed in life.

The rest of the article is actually a worksheet that parents can use to evaluate the development of their child.

Chris Graham --Van Galen Notes

Late to Class: Social Class and Schooling in the New Economy by Jane Van Galen

“Nowhere is there a more intense silence about the realities of class differences than in educational settings” ---Bell Hooks

· How can formal schooling level the playing fields in a rapidly changing economic landscape where the social gap between the “haves” and “have nots” is ever widening?

1. We believe that school can enable all motivated young people to attain the American dream of self-directed success.

2. We tend to avoid questioning why so many hard-working families have found success elusive in the first place.

· For many years parents performed manual labor to enable their children to aspire to more. Now due to the shift to a serviced-based economy, children need to become educated in order to attain upward social mobility.

1. Wages have frozen…some people work multiple jobs

2. Cost of school has risen

Ø These two factors attribute to the decreased value of the high school diploma and even the undergrad college degree

· In this new economy schools must do more than promise success to students who work hard…they must give students the tools necessary to achieve success at the collegiate level

Ø This means that educators will be better served by understanding more about how social class shapes educational access, aspiration, and achievement

· Social class is not just based on income

1. Degree of one’s personal power

2. Extent to which one’s work creates dignity and respect

Ø 62% of the workforce is “working class” exercising little control over working conditions or other workers

· “Class matters to us not only because of differences in material wealth and economic security, but also because it affects our access to things, relationships, experiences, and practices which we have reason to value, and hence our chances of living a fulfilling life…”

· Young people tend to interpret their own and their parents’ struggles in a shifting economy as evidence of their relative worth and ability.

· Aspiring to “more” may be essential for survival in the new economy.

Most job growth in the US is not among high-wage/high-tech jobs…its among low wage/low skill jobs that do not pay enough to raise a family…outsourcing, volatility in technology, and the stock market has lead to an increasing vulnerability among jobs requiring educated people.

· Middle Class = includes anyone independent of public assistance or trust funds

· Most children in struggling homes are white

· Higher test scores alone are not enough….even poor students who have closed the achievement gap still need to close the attainment gap.

· The number of people who are “moving-up” to jobs that pay more than one’s parents’ has declined

· How can children make sense of advice that hard work breeds success while they watch their hard working parents struggle?

· Poor and working class students often settle for what “people like us” deserve

· Upward social mobility is the rarity rather than the norm

· “out of the classroom” support structures are one way we can build up the student’s self efficacy…let them share with us their struggle and hardships so that they may take pride in their successes despite their hardships and gain support from others

· “Pedagogy of respect” = literacy work that focuses on what we can learn from the gardener outside or the electrician working in the library

· Huge challenge is countering popular rhetoric that basically everyone is middle class…its just not true…also all members of our society are exposed to the materialistic culture of our upper class…example: expensive fashion, cars, mansions

Chapter 6 Pages 216-250

· Rules

o Procedures that must be followed

· Procedural Knowledge

o Learning a set of steps that must be followed in order to complete a task

· Conceptual Knowledge

o The many ideas in content instruction

§ Concepts

· Categories of content knowledge

· Critical Thinking

o Reasoning to learn new concepts, ideas, or problem solutions

· Convergent, Lower-Order Questions

o Usually have one answer, start with “who, what, when”

· Divergent, Higher-Order Questions

o Tape critical thinking skills because they require students to make inferences, to analyze or synthesize information, and to evaluate content. Usually begin with “What could happen…?, What if…?, What do you think caused…?”

· Stages of Learning

o Acquisition

§ Accurate

o Proficiency

§ Accurate and quick

§ Aim for automaticity

· Practicing skills until they require less cognitive processing

o Maintenance

§ Mastered skill occurs across all appropriate situations

o Application

§ Use learning and extend it to new situations

· Instructional Components

o Direct Instruction

§ Teacher directed and focuses on the teaching of skills

o Strategy Instruction

§ Focuses on learning through the use of cognitive strategies (ex. Activating background knowledge) and metacognitive (ex. “Were my predictions accurate?”) cues

· Delivering Instruction

o Advance Organizer

§ Activities to prepare the students for the day’s lesson

o Presentation of Information

§ Wait time

§ Level of concern

· Student interest in lesson

§ On-task behavior

o Practice

§ Guided practice

§ Massed practice

· Extra practice

§ Engaged time

§ Checking for Understanding

§ Independent practice

§ Distributive practice

· Presented over time, helps to promote maintenance

o Closure

§ Review the day’s lessons and what was learned

o Progress Monitoring

· Whole-Group Instruction

o Teacher presents lesson to entire class

· Flexible, Small Groups

o Include same-ability groups and mixed-ability groups

· One-to-One Teaching

· Peer Tutoring

· Cooperative Learning

o Need to provide an ethic of “work together”

· Textbooks

o Basals

· Homework Practices

· Assistive Technology

o Focus on strengths to select devices

o Promotes access and independence for people with disabilities

o Augmentative and alternative communication

§ Supplement vocalizations when speech is not understood by a particular communication partner and can provide a way for an individual actually to speak

o Closingthegap.com

o Abledata.com

o AT Services

§ Ensure devices are properly identified and used

§ Training

§ Include families in the process of selecting and using AT devices

o AT Integration

§ Consider factors such as placement of outlets, noise level, ability of student to type, etc…