NJRCL Report III

This is the last post concerning the NJRCL report and the book Unequal Childhoods. This post will focus on what ways these information from the NJRCL report and Unequal Childhoods is useful (or not) for me. As a future teacher, I believe I can use these information as tools to learn about my students and structure a learning environment. Next year, I will be teaching in an environment that is part of Essex County and resembles the poor communities in Unequal Childhoods. I will have students that are struggling to obtain basic needs; students that live in foster homes; students that are poor; and other problems that are not mention in the report or the book. For theses students, school will not be one of their top priorities; finding a job to help mom pays the rent or putting food on the table will have priority over school. It will be hard as a teacher to convince these students that school is important for getting ahead in life when they are facing these social problems. I will have my hands full as a teacher.

However, reading the report and the book provided me with information concerning the challenges and concerns that urban students face in their daily life. I, myself, is a product of urban schooling. Even though, I never faced these problems that poor children in the book faced while living in an urban community. I knew a few students that faced these challenges and concerns like coming to school early for breakfast because there's no food at home. Teaching in an urban community will be a challenge. I will need all the skills and dispositions in my hands to face these problems. I will need to know how to deal with unrulling students because I will have a few. I know class will consist mostly of dealing with behavioral problems. Teaching will sometimes be frustrated because most of my students will be in lower grade level. As a future urban teacher, I believe I will need to be somewhat compassion, and don't jump to conclusion about my students. I believe the latter one is very important for teachers teaching in an urban school because knowing where your students come from provide you with a view of their struggles and what they have to go through day to day. We seldom forget about our students' live outside the classroom and jump to conclusion about our students. I think reading the report and the book provide teachers like me a view of our students' live outside the classroom. My friend, for most urban students' live outside the classroom is groosome and harsh. Let us take these things into account when we teacher urban students.