Miracles for Children Can Happen

After meeting a young graduate a few weeks ago, I was convinced that miracles do happen. Imagine not know if you would graduate high school and make it into college with a 1.5 GPA. I have came across an amazing girl that accomplished that goal, if she can do it, I know any child is capable to receive the same type of education under any circumstance.

The 3 R's In A Classroom Setting

Respect: It is important that teachers, students, and staff know what it means to use respect. The best way to earn respect is to show respect. Respect means to treat others the way you wanted to be treated. Working with children, I have learned that the students will behave if the teacher is behaving in a proper manner. I have seen many students disrespect teachers because the teachers are showing disrespect back. It is important to remember who the adult is and to never let a child overpower you that make you very angry. Respect comes along way and children need to learn the basics of respect because it will get them far in life. If we do not show children respect, the way we treat them will have an effect on how they treat others in the future.

 

 

noun: respect

1. 1.

   a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.

http://pastordonhaymon2.com/2014/06/05/got-respect/

 

Responsibility: Have responsibility. We are responsible for maintaining discipline, encouraging and caring for the students. Notice many children will only get love they never get to feel at home at school. We are never really aware of what children go through at home. As adults, it is our job to create a safety environment for children who may have been raised differently and truly do not know right for wrong. We can show them through our actions, the way we talk to them and the way we uplift them.

 

noun: responsibility

1. the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone.

http://www.faithingyourblueprint.com/take-responsibility/

 

 

Relationships: No children are not our friends but we can build relationships with them. I try really hard to make sure I treat my students the same and not have favorites. Building relationships from a distance can have a huge impact on children. A relationship strong enough for students to trust and believe that you have a passion for them and care about their future. The only push children may have is when they leave their house because they have someone else to inspire them in every way possible. Building relationships can always prevent many things from happening that children do not like to speak about to others like abuse, rape, and more.

 

noun: relationship; plural noun: relationships

1. the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected.

 

 

http://globalgurus.org/Blog/managing-the-disciplines-of-relationship-building/

 

Get Excited For The Youth!

Excitement is what I believe children are lacking in school. How are they going to want to grow in education if they are not excited about what is being taught? It is hard learning material when it feels like Boot camp and a punishment if they do not do the work. It is important that we figure out what motivates and excited children to learn. Working with children over the summer, I have learned that they memorize material when they sing it in the song. It was very interesting watching a school that applies music and dance moves to their learning environment.

Down below you will catch a link about Ron Clark Academy which is a middle school in Atlanta that engages academics with singing and dancing as well as directing discipline and respect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5SBsk3rS6s

It is amazing how they motivate teachers to have passion for what they do to have an effect on students. I believe this makes a huge impact on students and encourages them to want to get up for school every single day. If school all over the world applied this concept, I am sure there would be less dropouts and more high school and college graduates.

Remember that your outside problems cannot affect the children. When you are excited, happy, and motivated so are the students. Staff must stop coming to work just for a paycheck and come to inspire and change a child's life by there push and drive. Show students you care about them by not making it seem like you are giving up on them.



http://coolmomtech.com/2014/11/ways-to-get-girls-excited-about-stem-education/

Remember that your outside problems cannot affect the children. When you are excited, happy, and motivated so are the students. Staff must stop coming to work just for a paycheck and come to inspire and change a child's life by there push and drive. Show students you care about them by not making it seem like you are giving up on them.

We have to get excited to the kids will be excited!

6 Ways To Get Students Motivated to Learn

Getting Student Excited About Learning

Change in the Community Creates Change in Education

Change in education starts with change in the community. I live in Kansas City, Missouri where we are known for children getting shot in drive by shootings. It breaks my heart to see children in elementary school getting taken a way by a gun. I believe in police and members of the community need to be more aware of children's surroundings although some can not be prevented.

Last October, 6 year old Angel Hooper went to the store with her dad to get some bubblegum. When she came out, a bullets from a gunfire struck her in the head. Why were these two men doing shootings at a gas station near a school zone? What will happen in this area to prevent things like this from happening? It takes a community to stand up and agree that there will be no more of this. Family and friends need to start speaking out on there violent gang members. There have been too many shootings that has cost a child's life. This is a young girl who's family will never be able to see her succeed in school. It is a must that make a change and not have anymore Angel Cooper's who will no longer be able to receive education. It is must that we make a change so that young students will not have to grieve over their missing classmate.

I want parents to be more careful of their children's surroundings and making sure they are always in a safe environment.


Below you will be able to watch a video of Angel's family doing a balloon release celebrating her 7th birthday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWBG-GpyV04

 

 

6 year old Angel Hooper

 

http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/community-mourns-protests-the-death-of-6-year-old-angel-hooper

Hooper was fatally shot at about 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 17 as she exited a 7-Eleven convenience store located at 10615 Blue Ridge Boulevard in south Kansas City.

KCTV5 Story of Angel Hooper Below:

http://www.kctv5.com/story/27367075/chief-investigator-in-angel-hooper-murder-meets-with-prosecutors

Slideshow of children killed from shootings:

 

 

Impact & Believe in the YOU(TH)

Believe in the youth for change and believe in yourself to make the change. It is easy to get distracted by the negative things which causes us not to BELIEVE that changes can be made. We must go outside of these schools and inspire these young children who have no hope and do not believe there is more for them. There is a quote that says, "Be the change you want to see in the world".

http://klorotechpavers.com/getting-business-david-weatherholt-klorostone-story/

In April 2015, I was able to go to an inner city facility for young teen women/men called Hope City. This is a place for those who are in need for food, clothes, shelter and more. I had the opportunity to talk to some young girls about how to be beauty on the inside out and share by college experience. Many of the girls were stuck in school when they should have been graduated high school, many of the girls had children, and some were trying to find their way back to finish high school. My heart went out to these girls and I encouraged them to find their way back to completing big steps in their life like graduation and going to college, trade school, or work. However these young ladies decide to finish, it will have a huge impact on their children. It is important that we send reminders to these children and teens who are still in school to push and  strive for the best. We must not act like we are better or higher than them because they can be in our shoes as long as they have a helping hand and encouragement to reach the top.


Help someone today. You never know who's life you can change and remember to BELIEVE. Believe in YOU and Believe in the YOUTH.

http://philipmckernan.com/believe-in-youth/

It takes nothing by brains, dedication, and teamwork to put together an event for children who are seeking a future. College students need to host events at their school where students young and old can come learn the steps in takes to become a college student and the obstacles you may come across. Getting out in the community and making and impact will encourage the youth to believe in themselves and trust that there is someone who cares about where their life is headed.

Children Deserve A Better Lifestyle

Children deserve better on every level when it comes to education. We must realize that our children are our next generation. The way we raise and teach our children will determine how the world will be changed. Pay attention to the youth, pay attention to education. Children go to school to learn the basics: Math, Reading , Science, English. Some kids go home, and don't get love, discipline, or learn right from wrong. There are major changes that need to be done in the community and in the schools  Generations are getting worse. How are we going to make a change? College students, leaders, entrepreneurs, teachers, we needs to inspire these children.

You will find videos below about why students deserve better and how inspiring teachers have an effect on children.

Stand for Children - Our Students Deserve Better

Extraordinary Teachers: Inspiring Our Work at Stand for Children


How can you help? I know most schools allow people to come in to volunteer and work with kids. There are also before and after programs that college students or adults may work at. These are good ways to connect with children and get to know what holds them back from learning. I have worked with children who have had learning disabilities and was hard for them to focus. Those are the students who need attention the most. There are mentorship programs like Big Brothers & Big Sisters that allows you to choose a child to mentor and stick with for a couple of years. This is what it is going to take to get a child inspired to the next level and to help them believe that they can achieve anything they put their mind to.

Applying Life Skills in Education

It is real. Yes there is a must that there needs to be a change in education. Children go to school daily and learn the basics that they are required to learn and what teachers must teach. I believe that children need to start learning what they do not know. Schools are consumed with what is said in the textbooks instead of what is happening in the real world. I say that schools should apply more history knowledge to students and a requirement that they learn about their own hidden history. We spend a lifetime learning about history but do not know the history about ourselves and how we were brought up.

It amazes me how much material I have learned since grade school but the important ones I have always remembered were about life, growing, and getting better as an individual. Those things are what allowed me to strive for excellence and set  a standard. All students do not get this kind of treatment. They need to start applying what students do not know instead of packing them down with books, test, and worksheets that will not benefits them in the future.



http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/teach-children-meaning-respect-46523.html

The music video above "Don't Stay in School" has a very powerful message if you listen to the words. It is not going against students being in school but it is going against what it being taught in school. He mentioned how he cannot remember learning how to get a job but learned how to dissect frogs. The point he is making in this video is that students should not have to learn things they do not need in the future. I believe that teachers should be required to balance life skills and lessons children have to be taught by the state. There is always an opportunity to pour into children. At my job, every Wednesday I have girl talks with the ladies in my class and the guys go with the male group leader in my class. It is easy to apply life skills and inspire children even if it is not a requirement.


Understanding Why Education Must Change

Train Up A Child

I was not aware of the issue in education until I actually begin working in the environment. That is when I opened my eyes. I got hired to work at a summer camp on  May 26, 2015 but I did not know what I was in for. Going through training was different, because I did not have my students in my classroom. Everything went smooth and it was good bonding time with the staff I was working with.

First day of camp started June 1, 2015 and I was assigned to an elementary class. I begin to evaluate the environment and the kind of people my students hung around which had a huge impact on how they learned. I work in the inner city at The Boys and Girls Club, so my job is a little more extreme than other jobs but I absolutely love it!

https://localwiki.org/alamance/Boys_and_Girls_Club_of_Alamance_County

I noticed that they  changed the summer camp into summer school so it is a requirement for the students to learn math, reading, science, and English which they hated. Yes it is true, the children in todays generation hate to learn. So what can be done different? When the class had a reading assignment, I saw a lot of kids in the class not able to focus on the book and wanted to joke around. The easiest thing would be to write them up but I did not want to. I wanted them to get the learning experience so I walked around the class and had different individuals read one page to me. By the time they were finished they were able to read alone. Sometimes kids do not need strict discipline, they need direction.

Two things camps need to apply are activity skills and life skills. Camps are made to prepare students for the next grade they are about to enter. Pay attention to what the students need to gain and what areas they need to work on. When they enter the next grade level, they will be so thankful for the things they learned in summer camp.

http://www.acacamps.org/campmag/issues/0905/power-of-camp


Open your eyes.

Different Name, Different Raise

I get it.

Everyone was not raised the same and everyone will not be raised the same. The problem with education today is that children are not getting the proper attention from the home which can cause many issues for a child's environment. The black community has the most struggle in education especially in the inner city. Many young mothers are raising their children and do not know exactly what to do about the trouble their kids are getting in at school because of their consistent behaviors.

Maybe we need more sources for young teens who are raising their child, maybe we need sources for parents and things they can do to straighten their children's behavior. It is very sad to see children grow up recovering from their childhood because they did not get the correct attention to be successful at home.

http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Physical-abuse-dad-mom-children.jpg

I have a link provided below to show you how children are recovering from their childhood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlo-qQkjsJY




Rob Hill Sr. video "How Boys Learn to Love" is a great example of children who possibly will have to grow up recovering from their childhood and might not excel in school like others unless someone comes around and talks to the young boys. In the video, you saw the environment the young boys were around. They saw their mothers date men that beat her, they saw their fathers doing drugs and peers making the wrong choices. Can the effect these children in the future? Absolutely. These young boys are lost and Rob Hill explains how no one is influencing them in a positive ways and strengthening them.


How a child is raised truly does matter. They only know the things they grew up around. How will this change? Schools need more teachers who not only care about education, but care about life skills that the children were not raised around. It may not be required in schools, but it is necessary. We talk about the youth more than we help them. Remember, someone once helped get you where you are in life to get on a successful path. Will you do the same for a child who does not know which road to go on?


There is a popular assignment called "What I Wish My Teacher Knew About Me" that a third grade teacher did with her classroom. I believe all schools should apply this in their classmates because it reveals what students are facing outside of school. The teacher was able to witness what she did not know about her students and created a way to build a strong connection and expectation for her classroom.

           Staff and teachers can do one on ones with students just to get to know them on a personal level so they will be open to talk to them about anything so when situations occur outside the school, it can be reported.

Create A Voice For Change

When you look at the title of this post, you read "What Happened"? When I say what happened, I mean what happen to education in schools. I believe that our middle school, high school and elementary schools are tremendously failing because of the lack of education and knowledge.  Education does not seem to be the same as it was when I was in grade school unless I was not aware of the changes that need to be made until I begin to witness it myself.

http://www.inclusionireland.ie/content/page/changes-resource-teaching-hours-children-education-needs




I am not sure if you agree or not,  but education in grade school is effecting children in more negative ways than positive. Many teachers, staff, administration are giving up on our youth. What happened to the ones that care about what the children are doing inside and outside of school. I know a lot of it reflects on the kind of home these children are raised in, but it should not change how the youth are impacted when they are out of their parents presence.



What happened? There are problems, but there are also solutions.

Solutions:

Imagine the Change: introduce new ways of reframing content and instruction that can be replicated in classes.


Begin the Change provide an on-site workshop for ongoing planning support for a semester or the school year.


Sustain the Change focus on preparing an internal team to lead, evaluate, and sustain instructional change.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/for-teachers/curriculum/creative-change-educational-solutions

About Makayla

Hello! My name is Makayla S. Hancock. I am currently a sophomore at Washburn University where I am a mass media major and communications minor. I am also apart of campus board activities and the programmer of Black Student Union. Reading blogs is one of my favorite things to do so I hope this will be a great summer class course! This summer, my blog will be  about making positive changes in children's education!