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What advantages does Andy have
over Billy when you compare their windows of tolerances &/OR what
disadvantages does Billy have in a structured school environment?
Andy is going to be able to handle so much more because he has more tolerance. One small change in the schedule, one little comment from a peer, or getting a question wrong isn't going to set him off. He has a long way to go before he hits his breaking point. Billy on the other hand is a ticking time bomb! One little disruption to his world is going to send him to the breaking point. Once a child reaches that point, learning is not gonna take place. Billy has no room in his window to tolerate the day to day things involved in a structured school environment.
Andy is going to be able to handle things a whole lot differently than Billy due to the fact of the environment he has been accustomed to since birth and even before. Billy will not be able to handle things as well considering the unstable environment he has had to deal with since birth and before.
Billy’s internal baseline of stress is high. He has a very small window and is moments away from his breaking point. Billy is impatient, impulsive and unable to keep focus. Billy is stressed to the point that he cannot think clearly and rationally and with a much smaller emotional range he will spend a tremendous amount of energy just making it through the day.
With Andy coming from a less traumatic home, he is going to be able to handle different situations and settings better than Billy. Andy will face rearranged classrooms, alternate bell schedules, etc., with little to no verbal or physical responses. Billy, because of his traumatic upbringing, will reach his breaking point in his window of stress sooner than Andy. Billy will more likely to lash out verbally or physically when change is entered into the classroom or school day.
Andy has a clear advantage over Billy. Andy has been taught at home how to handle his emotions with support from two parents without any major traumas from his early childhood. Andy knows how to cope with stressful situations, and he is not regularly exposed to stressful situations that can or could become traumatic for him.
However, Billy was exposed to stressful situations before he was born, which made him predisposed to handling stress in a "negative" or "undesired" way. Because Billy lives in a single parent household, he does not have positive support from two parents. Billy's mom does not live a consistent lifestyle which causes her stress, and Billy feeds off of her stress which can cause him to react to stressful situations in the classroom with an outburst or what we would consider a class disruption. He reacts this way due to having no escape from stress as Andy does when he goes home.
When comparing Andy's and Billy's "windows of tolerance," Andy has a clear advantage because his window is much greater than Billy's window regarding their tolerance levels. It would take many more events for Andy to reach his breaking point than it would take for Billy to reach his breaking point.
In addition to this, Billy does not have the necessary coping skills to deal with everyday occurrences that may cause him to reach his breaking point while Andy has been prepared throughout his life to deal with situations that may occur at school or other social situations. Because of the love Andy has always been given by those who cared for him, he feels secure in his abilities to handle any given situation and is not bothered by many of the things that may upset Billy.
Billy, on the other hand, may become very stressed by small, simple requests because Billy may interpret these requests as someone "picking on him" or "only getting on to him."
Billy is not used to structure. Maybe there is not a responsible adult who makes sure gets to bed on time, brushed his teeth, has clean clothes, etc. The thing is, until he started school, this was his normal. He didn't know anything else. Then he is thrown into the school environment. So he has had to adjust to a schedule, and to someone telling him what to do and when to do it.This will obviously affect his window of tolerance.
Billy is not only sunk now, but his whole life trying to deal with structure of a job and the world. He will probably have trouble with relationships and all of the problems in life.
Rebecca, I truly believe that the students like Billy want the structure, but like you said, they just do not know how to deal with it. Also, I after reading the first few chapters, I now see that these students really don't know how to switch what they have known from birth or a young age, at home, to the structure of school. That type of daily switch has to take a toil on the student's emotional state of being.
Andy comes from a home where he will be able to handle situations at school easier than Billy. Billy will not be able to handle certain situations and could become easily frustrated. This could cause Billy to be disruptive in class or cause problems in the hallways. A structured school environment will be hard for Billy to cope with and will affect his "window of stress tolerance."
This window of tolerance was the biggest aha moment for me in chapters 1 and 2. It was the perfect illustration and I can list my own Andys and Billys based on this analogy. Billy is clearly at a disadvantage because he is so much closer to his breaking point. But the thing I highlighted and underlined and starred in my book was that I have the power to help Billy widen his window. By truly knowing him and knowing when he is almost to his breaking point and giving him support at those specific times, his tolerance increases. Wow!
I also highlighted this part in my book, too! In my mind, it gave all of the children like Billy a new hope. I'm looking forward to reading more of the book to find out how we can do that! Even though Billy is at a disadvantage now, he may not always be at that same level of disadvantage in the future with our help.
Wow! we have a lot of Andy's and Billy's in our school. Andy had the upper hand over Billy, from a fetus. Now that we are all reading this book we can reflect on all the Billy's in our class and realize that it will take a village to help decrease Billy's window of tolerance.Andy came from a home where is able to handle situation at school/in the community easier than Billy. Billy was not taught how to handle stressful situation and becomes frustrated easily.
The window of tolerance was a huge eye opener for me. Andy is going to have the advantage in a typical classroom setting. There are many frustrations a child might encounter throughout the day. We see them- Susie is touching my things, Bobby stepped on my book, Sally touched me in the hallway. Because of Andy's wider window of tolerance he will be able to ignore, disregard, or brush off most of those minor irritations of the day. Billy on the other hand with his smaller window of tolerance will hit his breaking point with possibly only one of those small irritations. This was such a good illustration that I will forever remember as I am interacting with my students.
You are so right. I saw that this year with one student in particular. He could not let even the most minor things slide. He had outbursts at his peers over the slightest things. Of course, he was in my last class, so over the course of the day these irritations had probably maxed out his window of tolerance.
Andy definitely has an advantage over Billy when it comes to handling different situations. Unfortunately, I believe we have a lot more that are similar to Billy rather than Andy. While I realize the book says that possible traumatic events do not guarantee that the child will be traumatized simply because of the event itself I looked over and starred several events that are common in so many of our students.
Billy came into the world at a disadvantage. Andy had the development at home to prepare him for school which set him up for more opportunities to be successful. Billy will always struggle because of his development and will need the constant encouragement from teachers to help keep him on the right path. We all know students who fight this battle. Unfortunately, some students handle it much better than others with their efforts being hidden and other students’ effort being obvious the moment you meet them. A structured environment is what all students need to find success in the classroom, but some students like Billy may need more support adapting to that environment. A good student-teacher relationship will help Billy because he needs to feel comfortable accepting the help that he needs.
The window of tolerance was an eye opener. I can see now how being that disadvantaged Billy, he has less time to get it together. I need to focus on that teacher-student relationship with these students. When I taught title I the classes were so focused on this. Now, it just seems like there are double the students and double the academic pressure.
In the case of Nature vs. Nurture, it is clear that Billy is the product of Nurture. Whether it was out of his mothers control or not, the inconsistency and constant changing environment that Billy was exposed to as a child have set him up for a difficult time in a normal classroom setting. The good news could be that a stable, consistent, positive classroom environment and a day to day routine may be the best thing that ever happened to him.
The advantages Andy has over Billy when their tolerances are compared start with Andy’s supportive home life. He was properly nurtured from the womb. according to the book, any stress experienced by the mother is internalized by the fetus in utero. This theory lends credence to our professional development sessions on stress from the beginning of the year. His parents took every step to make sure he was a well-balanced, properly regulated child. Because of the attention to detail the parents gave in raising their child, Andy’s stress tolerance threshold is deep and he responds more appropriately to both pleasant and adverse situations. In contrast Biily’s conception was unintentional, which lead to a highly stressful relationship between his mother and her boyfriend. After Billy’s premature birth and getting kick out of her parent’s house, life with the boyfriend was abusive. Her relationship with her son was neglectful, leaving Billy to his own devices. Little Billy moved several times before his 5th birthday. All of this laid the groundwork for a volatile environment for Billy. Calm and peace are foreign to him. With his lack of guidance and rarely, if every, having his basic emotional needs met, he would get what he could. He probably believed even bad attention is better than no attention. He would become that dysregulated child, he’s touchy and has a chip on his shoulder. He may even scream with his shallow stress tolerance, to make sure his voice is heard, because the people he should have mattered to, through neglect, conditioned him to behave that way.
When I think about my personal classroom, the Andys of the world can bring "tools" of their own to deal with the stress of Systems of Equations or whatever it may be. They are able to see the bigger picture of why they need to know: you fill in the blank. They are making future plans -- going to high school -- graduating -- deciding on a career or higher education. The Billys of the world really have no idea why I am going on and on about something called slope when they are only concerned with surviving the day, going home, food, relationships, etc.
Andy has a huge advantage because he is able to tolerate much more, or it will even give him the opportunity to be able to dissect things throughout the day because he does have a larger window than Billy. For many of the students like Billy, their window is already up past their threshold before they even get to school. When this happens, those are the students that have "checked out" before the morning announcements. Andy will be able to focus better, in return, retain more academically and also be accepted by his peers more. In the end, Andy will have more confidence in all aspects of school, whereas Billy will constantly be trying to just hang on each day.
Andy is going to be able to handle so much more because he has more tolerance. One small change in the schedule, one little comment from a peer, or getting a question wrong isn't going to set him off. He has a long way to go before he hits his breaking point. Billy on the other hand is a ticking time bomb! One little disruption to his world is going to send him to the breaking point. Once a child reaches that point, learning is not gonna take place. Billy has no room in his window to tolerate the day to day things involved in a structured school environment.
ReplyDeleteAndy is going to be able to handle things a whole lot differently than Billy due to the fact of the environment he has been accustomed to since birth and even before. Billy will not be able to handle things as well considering the unstable environment he has had to deal with since birth and before.
ReplyDeleteBilly’s internal baseline of stress is high. He has a very small window and is moments away from his breaking point. Billy is impatient, impulsive and unable to keep focus. Billy is stressed to the point that he cannot think clearly and rationally and with a much smaller emotional range he will spend a tremendous amount of energy just making it through the day.
ReplyDeleteWith Andy coming from a less traumatic home, he is going to be able to handle different situations and settings better than Billy. Andy will face rearranged classrooms, alternate bell schedules, etc., with little to no verbal or physical responses. Billy, because of his traumatic upbringing, will reach his breaking point in his window of stress sooner than Andy. Billy will more likely to lash out verbally or physically when change is entered into the classroom or school day.
ReplyDeleteAndy has a clear advantage over Billy. Andy has been taught at home how to handle his emotions with support from two parents without any major traumas from his early childhood. Andy knows how to cope with stressful situations, and he is not regularly exposed to stressful situations that can or could become traumatic for him.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Billy was exposed to stressful situations before he was born, which made him predisposed to handling stress in a "negative" or "undesired" way. Because Billy lives in a single parent household, he does not have positive support from two parents. Billy's mom does not live a consistent lifestyle which causes her stress, and Billy feeds off of her stress which can cause him to react to stressful situations in the classroom with an outburst or what we would consider a class disruption. He reacts this way due to having no escape from stress as Andy does when he goes home.
When comparing Andy's and Billy's "windows of tolerance," Andy has a clear advantage because his window is much greater than Billy's window regarding their tolerance levels. It would take many more events for Andy to reach his breaking point than it would take for Billy to reach his breaking point.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to this, Billy does not have the necessary coping skills to deal with everyday occurrences that may cause him to reach his breaking point while Andy has been prepared throughout his life to deal with situations that may occur at school or other social situations. Because of the love Andy has always been given by those who cared for him, he feels secure in his abilities to handle any given situation and is not bothered by many of the things that may upset Billy.
Billy, on the other hand, may become very stressed by small, simple requests because Billy may interpret these requests as someone "picking on him" or "only getting on to him."
Billy is not used to structure. Maybe there is not a responsible adult who makes sure gets to bed on time, brushed his teeth, has clean clothes, etc. The thing is, until he started school, this was his normal. He didn't know anything else. Then he is thrown into the school environment. So he has had to adjust to a schedule, and to someone telling him what to do and when to do it.This will obviously affect his window of tolerance.
ReplyDeleteBilly is not only sunk now, but his whole life trying to deal with structure of a job and the world. He will probably have trouble with relationships and all of the problems in life.
DeleteRebecca, I truly believe that the students like Billy want the structure, but like you said, they just do not know how to deal with it. Also, I after reading the first few chapters, I now see that these students really don't know how to switch what they have known from birth or a young age, at home, to the structure of school. That type of daily switch has to take a toil on the student's emotional state of being.
DeleteAndy comes from a home where he will be able to handle situations at school easier than Billy. Billy will not be able to handle certain situations and could become easily frustrated. This could cause Billy to be disruptive in class or cause problems in the hallways. A structured school environment will be hard for Billy to cope with and will affect his "window of stress tolerance."
ReplyDeleteThis window of tolerance was the biggest aha moment for me in chapters 1 and 2. It was the perfect illustration and I can list my own Andys and Billys based on this analogy. Billy is clearly at a disadvantage because he is so much closer to his breaking point. But the thing I highlighted and underlined and starred in my book was that I have the power to help Billy widen his window. By truly knowing him and knowing when he is almost to his breaking point and giving him support at those specific times, his tolerance increases. Wow!
ReplyDeleteI also highlighted this part in my book, too! In my mind, it gave all of the children like Billy a new hope. I'm looking forward to reading more of the book to find out how we can do that! Even though Billy is at a disadvantage now, he may not always be at that same level of disadvantage in the future with our help.
DeleteWow! we have a lot of Andy's and Billy's in our school. Andy had the upper hand over Billy, from a fetus. Now that we are all reading this book we can reflect on all the Billy's in our class and realize that it will take a village to help decrease Billy's window of tolerance.Andy came from a home where is able to handle situation at school/in the community easier than Billy. Billy was not taught how to handle stressful situation and becomes frustrated easily.
ReplyDeleteThe window of tolerance was a huge eye opener for me. Andy is going to have the advantage in a typical classroom setting. There are many frustrations a child might encounter throughout the day. We see them- Susie is touching my things, Bobby stepped on my book, Sally touched me in the hallway. Because of Andy's wider window of tolerance he will be able to ignore, disregard, or brush off most of those minor irritations of the day. Billy on the other hand with his smaller window of tolerance will hit his breaking point with possibly only one of those small irritations. This was such a good illustration that I will forever remember as I am interacting with my students.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. I saw that this year with one student in particular. He could not let even the most minor things slide. He had outbursts at his peers over the slightest things. Of course, he was in my last class, so over the course of the day these irritations had probably maxed out his window of tolerance.
DeleteAndy definitely has an advantage over Billy when it comes to handling different situations. Unfortunately, I believe we have a lot more that are similar to Billy rather than Andy. While I realize the book says that possible traumatic events do not guarantee that the child will be traumatized simply because of the event itself I looked over and starred several events that are common in so many of our students.
ReplyDeleteBilly came into the world at a disadvantage. Andy had the development at home to prepare him for school which set him up for more opportunities to be successful. Billy will always struggle because of his development and will need the constant encouragement from teachers to help keep him on the right path. We all know students who fight this battle. Unfortunately, some students handle it much better than others with their efforts being hidden and other students’ effort being obvious the moment you meet them. A structured environment is what all students need to find success in the classroom, but some students like Billy may need more support adapting to that environment. A good student-teacher relationship will help Billy because he needs to feel comfortable accepting the help that he needs.
ReplyDeleteThe window of tolerance was an eye opener. I can see now how being that disadvantaged Billy, he has less time to get it together. I need to focus on that teacher-student relationship with these students. When I taught title I the classes were so focused on this. Now, it just seems like there are double the students and double the academic pressure.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Nature vs. Nurture, it is clear that Billy is the product of Nurture. Whether it was out of his mothers control or not, the inconsistency and constant changing environment that Billy was exposed to as a child have set him up for a difficult time in a normal classroom setting. The good news could be that a stable, consistent, positive classroom environment and a day to day routine may be the best thing that ever happened to him.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages Andy has over Billy when their tolerances are compared start with Andy’s supportive home life. He was properly nurtured from the womb. according to the book, any stress experienced by the mother is internalized by the fetus in utero. This theory lends credence to our professional development sessions on stress from the beginning of the year. His parents took every step to make sure he was a well-balanced, properly regulated child. Because of the attention to detail the parents gave in raising their child, Andy’s stress tolerance threshold is deep and he responds more appropriately to both pleasant and adverse situations. In contrast Biily’s conception was unintentional, which lead to a highly stressful relationship between his mother and her boyfriend. After Billy’s premature birth and getting kick out of her parent’s house, life with the boyfriend was abusive. Her relationship with her son was neglectful, leaving Billy to his own devices. Little Billy moved several times before his 5th birthday. All of this laid the groundwork for a volatile environment for Billy. Calm and peace are foreign to him. With his lack of guidance and rarely, if every, having his basic emotional needs met, he would get what he could. He probably believed even bad attention is better than no attention. He would become that dysregulated child, he’s touchy and has a chip on his shoulder. He may even scream with his shallow stress tolerance, to make sure his voice is heard, because the people he should have mattered to, through neglect, conditioned him to behave that way.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about my personal classroom, the Andys of the world can bring "tools" of their own to deal with the stress of Systems of Equations or whatever it may be. They are able to see the bigger picture of why they need to know: you fill in the blank. They are making future plans -- going to high school -- graduating -- deciding on a career or higher education. The Billys of the world really have no idea why I am going on and on about something called slope when they are only concerned with surviving the day, going home, food, relationships, etc.
ReplyDeleteAndy has a huge advantage because he is able to tolerate much more, or it will even give him the opportunity to be able to dissect things throughout the day because he does have a larger window than Billy. For many of the students like Billy, their window is already up past their threshold before they even get to school. When this happens, those are the students that have "checked out" before the morning announcements. Andy will be able to focus better, in return, retain more academically and also be accepted by his peers more. In the end, Andy will have more confidence in all aspects of school, whereas Billy will constantly be trying to just hang on each day.
ReplyDelete