My Educational Journey

 The trend in today's educational world that I feel I will most struggle with as a teacher is social and emotional learning. Social and emotional learning has a direct impact on student's mental health. In my opinion social and emotional learning is like an umbrella. There are many different causes under the mental health umbrella. Children can suffer from genetic disorders that cause mental health issues. Some of the genetic disorders are bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, Autism, and major depression disorders. All types of abuse can cause mental health issues as well. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, drug abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse and neglect can all cause mental health issues in today's students. There are also chromosomal disorders, such as Down syndrome, Turner syndrome, and Klinefelter syndrome just to name a few. Traumatic life experiences such as the loss of a loved one, poverty, major health issues, and being bullied can also cause social and emotional...

 Diversity in the classroom When there is diversity in the classroom, there can be several different ways that students can be diverse. Students can differ in how they learn, their native language, race, ethnicity, gender identity, and religion. It's important to respect students as individual people with their own ideas and experiences.  Religious differences: Do your best as the student's teacher to understand the role that religion plays in their lives and honor their identity. Gender identity: Respect your student's decisions that they make for their lives. Honor their identity. Language: As the teacher to students with language barriers or English as a second language, you could possibly learn phrases from their native language. You could also display posters or art from their culture to show them that their culture is valued. Allow students to share their native language.  Race: Create an anti-racist classroom by validating student identities. Include classroom mate...

 Canning vegetables/food Teaching a lesson on how to can vegetables/food can show students a life skill that is quickly fading. Vegetables can be grown by you or bought in bulk for future eating. Teaching this lesson would show others a skill that most do not practice. Years ago, it was a way of life. Canned vegetable/foods when processed correctly can last for years. It's a way of preserving food without all of the added preservatives. The lesson would include the preparation of vegetables, the process of canning the vegetables, and properly storing the canned goods. This would be a window for many because it would show a skill that is rarely used anymore. Students that have family members who have canned vegetables /food may have fond memories of this. They may have helped their grandparents shuck corn or peel potatoes in preparation to can. People often can during times of harvest so that they can have food/vegetables for the winter months. I personally have memories of my grand...