Sensitivity in the classroom (Prompt 6)

   Over the past couple weeks I have been able to get to know each individual student in my classroom. As I have gotten to know them I have been able to see the difficulties most of them face everyday. Most of the students come from a single parent house or have been raised by older siblings due to parents never being around. When I look at these seventh grade students I can't help but wish that they could be raised in a different area or with more positive influences because they have such great potential but due to their background they feel as though they are not going to succeed. 

         Since the day I started teaching at this middle school I thought that the students in my class had been getting along great and that they were a big support to one another. I realized on one Thursday that this was not the case at all. In this classroom alone there were more problems with relationships then I had ever seen. Between the boys disrespecting the girls and the girls reacting to the way they were treated I knew that something had to be done. I spoke to the head teacher and we both decided that it was very important to get across to these students the importance of a supportive classroom. We decided that we would spend the class period talking to the students about the importance of creating a safe space in the classroom where all the children felt support. As we were talking a lot of the kids started to cry and then began to talk about how they have been hurt at school both physically and emotionally. It was very hard to hear these 12 years old kids talk about all the terrible things they have been through at home and at school. I told the kids my experience with school and how I knew that when I stepped into my classrooms I was safe from anything outside, that in the 6 hours a day that I was in school I would be surrounded by people who cared about me and wanted me to succeed. 

         I kept thinking back to Megan Boler and how she always says that the classroom is designed to be a safe place for students to express their ideas and thoughts. The most important thing for the kids to understand was that school should be an escape from all the negativity at home and on the streets. It is not just for learning and testing but for personal growth and positive support.