The
impact of early life experiences can be seen in the six developmental areas
below. Choose one area that stood out to you as having the greatest impact on
students' lives and/or share about a Billy you have had whose chaotic and
traumatic childhood negatively impacted his development in one or more
developmental areas.
Language for me is the key. From personal experience I have a difficult time with comprehension so it makes it difficult sometimes for me to decide what is being asked of me when given instructions. In my opinion if it is difficult for me to read or take instructions it must be very difficult for someone of Billy's age. That is why it is important to give clear and concise instructions to Billy and to make sure he is understanding what it is being asked of him in order for him to be successful if not he is going to act out because he is confused and not understanding what is being said or asked of him.
ReplyDeleteI also focused on the language piece. I agree completely with you about how important it is to give very clear instructions. I have even had some Andys ask me why I give directions so slowly and why I repeat myself so much. It was interesting to think that even using multiple meaning words can send a Billy into a tailspin of confusion and aggravation.
DeleteSometimes I think I have given very clear instructions until a student asks me a question for clarification and then I realize that my word choice was not clear to them. Sometimes I am reminded of just how limited the vocabulary of our students really is simply because of their lack of exposure. This was often quite obvious when I taught ELA. It wasn't that the students couldn't read the word - the problem was they had never heard of it and had no background knowledge to build on to put the concepts together. We had a story that involved using a "fire escape" from a New York City apartment. Many had no idea what this was until a brave student finally asked me, and I showed him a picture of one. You could tell by the look on many of their faces that they now understood what was happening. Many students don't want to ask a question because they are afraid the other students will think they are dumb. I try to encourage students to ask if they don't know - I often tell them "If you are wondering, so is somebody else in this room."
DeleteI totally agree with your response Sherrie. I was raised as an Army brat and lived in a multicultural world. I had an incredible mother who never talked to me using "baby talk". I was blessed with an education in Hawaii. My first grade teacher was Chinese, second and third were both Japanese. Hawaii is an extremely diverse state in which I was exposed to a wide variety of vocabulary. I too find myself using words sometimes that the students are unfamiliar with. I try to get them to repeat my questions from time to time and realize they do not know what I am asking due to limited background knowledge. I think language is so very important. I have to keep Billy on my mind and add more visuals to vocabulary.
DeleteSherrie, I agree with your response. You sometimes have to break down and understand what the student is thinking. I like your last sentence - "If you are wondering, so is somebody else in this room."
DeleteWhen I teach my Chinese students, and when we are doing different vocabulary words, it is important for me to show them a picture or explain in detail so they understand.
Same with our students - we must explain with clarification.
In physical education, I think the Social Development area stands out. The Billy's I have taught have a hard time with making or keeping friends. When Billy gets out of a game, its not ok with him. He gets mad and yells at everyone. He has a hard time following the rules and waiting patiently. He shows no empathy toward others and thats why it hard for him to keep or make friends.
ReplyDeleteI think you could argue the importance of any of the six areas of development and be correct. If I had to chose one, I would start with the earliest stage, which in my opinion would be physical development. If a student from an early age is able to develop his/her motor skills to a level in which they can acquire the basic educational needs, then they can add to that level as mastery is achieved in other areas of learning. It is hard for a child to reach the next level in development if they are behind in the something as simple as their motor and sensory skills. It is extremely difficult to teach a student who isn't able to comprehend and understand basic ideas of life or the world because they perceive it in a different way.
ReplyDeleteI had a "Billy" several years ago. I feel in this particular students that his emotional development was at the heart of his academic struggles. This child had been through more emotional trauma than most adults. As the book says, his blow ups weren't a matter of "if" but "when". Students didn't understand why he could become so angry little things, but they did not understand what was going on his life. If he got remotely agitated by a student or feeling confused, he had to fight the urge to just blow up. Toddlers do this because they don't understand how to rationalize the situation. I feel like many of her students still have the emotional development of a toddler because they have not been taught how to deal with issues. We can't begin to understand the things they have been through at such an early stage in their life.
ReplyDeleteYes, I focused on the emotional part as well. I had a Billy my second year of teaching that had been sexually abused by a step parent, his biological parent was mentally unstable, so therefore he went through a lot of emotional instability in his life, so he wasn't sure what was okay and what wasn't and acted out due to the trauma he had been through.
DeleteBilly's chaotic and traumatic childhood negatively impacted his development in all developmental areas. The one I thing I need to focus on is his academic development. The others have been in the making so long and I can't go back to fix it. However I can work on my relationship with Billy to handle his out burst. I would try something different next time. We had a method of calling in the troops, right there did he feel threatened? Interesting...
ReplyDeleteAgree Roxie. Billy's traumatic and chaotic early childhood delayed him in every aspect. As educators, we sometimes forget the love and the acceptance from home or from family is or has just not been there and this in return effects the child in the classroom in academics and in behavior. We often label Billy as a "bad apple" before we know/realize that his behavior reflects prior development and he needs us to love him and provide a safe and a stable environment-then possibly we may reach him.
DeleteI agree that all of the development areas are important, but I have had personal experience with the area of language development. When Molly was almost 2 she spoke very little. The words she did say were barely recognizable to anyone other than family. This was concerning to me, but in addition to the lack of language she had very bad behavior. She would hit and kick. She would throw things and tantrums. Finally I followed my gut and took her to an ENT- come to find out she was tongue tied. The ENT put her to sleep and clipped her tongue. The little girl had been bottling her words up because she talked the entire way home and hasn't stopped. But guess what stopped... the bad behavior- all of it. She was frustrated because she was unable to communicate. So as I read this book I think what if I had not followed my gut, what if it hadn't gotten fixed- would she have been labeled a Billy? Then my thoughts go to our students- Molly's situation was not my fault but it was still a trauma that caused a delay in development. This book sure makes me think about our students from a different perspective.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this happen in young children before too. It relieves so much frustration when they can finally tell you what they need and want. I'm so glad you followed your gut with Molly! Language is a huge factor in how everyone communicates. I have seen this in my class. One of my students will show signs of frustration and sometimes cry over things such as needing her shoe tied, but it isn't because she needs her shoe tied, its because she can't figure out how to tell someone. All of these areas work with and off of each other.
DeleteObviously, all six developmental areas are critical. However, while reading this chapter, the emotional development section stood out to me the most for two particular Billys I had last year. If a student doesn't have sufficient emotional maturity, he/she can't be successful academically or socially. I also recognized the "pockets of brilliance" to be so true.
ReplyDeleteCognitive development really stood out to me. I think that the idea of how children learn in steps is very essential to his/her learning. I liked the reference to the elevator the author made when talking about Billy: "We expect Billy to start at the fifth floor when his first four floors are underdeveloped." While Andy is able to start at the fifth floor, Billy is not. This is where we should help Billy grow and learn so that he can make it to the fifth floor. What also stood out to me in this section is the fact (on page 42) that trauma can enhance different areas of a child's cognitive ability. So, while Billy may be underdeveloped in some areas, he can actually be gifted in other areas due to his need to figure out the world on his own terms.
ReplyDeleteLanguage development stood out to me. Being able to communicate with people is very important. I liked the example of Billy asking the teacher what she was doing on her computer? We have to see things sometimes how children see things. That is why we differentiate activities or say things in multiple ways so students understand what we are explaining or what them do.
ReplyDeleteYou could make a case for all areas liked many of you have said, so, I’ll pick the academic area. I’ve seen the root of many problems in our students development is from poor performance academically early in life. Years before they come to me in 8th grade, they start struggling with their learning and that seems to affect everything else. If anyone struggles to read, write, or calculate any problems, everything else seems to falter as well. They become social outcasts, their emotions start to run high, and they let their physical well being start to fail as well. All because they started struggling somewhere and started to give up because things got “too hard.” More and more students are starting to give up too easy when things get tough. This is a bad habit for our younger generations! So, they find other ways to cope with this which can produce Billys.
ReplyDeleteAll areas are important and when we look at Billy his development is all over the place. I was intrigued a bit that his cognitive development was higher than Andy but the other areas were lower and very sporadic. Social development has a great impact on behavior. These areas are important because areas such as following rules patience and making friends are key to the development and are centerpieces to proper classroom behavior.
ReplyDeleteAgain all areas are important, but the emotional development stood out to me. So many times this could be those kids who don't know how to process their feelings. It could be anger, sadness, rejection, or fear. I also think it could be positive emotions too. Some kids don't know how to be excited appropriately, or how to be competitive. Either those feelings have been suppressed, or not ever taught. I believe the biggest gap between Billy and Andy was emotional.
ReplyDeleteAll areas are obviously very important, but for some reason I kept going back to the social development aspect. We want students to succeed academically, but we also want them to be good productive citizens when they leave school and move on to the "real world". Those whose social development has been hampered do not know how to make friends, follow rules, resolve conflicts, express themselves emotionally, tolerate ups and downs of relationships, along with several other things listed in Chapter 4. If we can help provide support for this area that is lacking this will help that student behave appropriately and succeed academically. When someone lacks social development I believe they could be in danger of having run ins with the law because they have not been taught how to properly follow rules, they can't resolve conflict peacefully, and they cannot communicate anger in a healthy way.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Social development was second on my list. However, the students need to know how to make friends, talk to their peers and disagree in a respectful manner, and this is a life skill that they will need no matter where they end up in their world.
DeleteWhen I taught high school, I had many students who were diagnosed with emotional behavioral disorders. One student in particular would get so angry when anything happened that he did not agree with (which was a huge list of things!). This student had obvious deficits in his emotional development. Many times, he would come to my class on fire after having issues with the teacher he was with previously. It was not difficult to get to know this student as he was very open with me about his anger issues, but it took some time for me to figure out how to calm him down in the moment and not let myself get overwhelmed or offended by the things he said. I knew his anger was not really about something I did, so I decided I wanted to help a broken person instead of letting him break me.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the emotional development and maturity is a big factor for students. When children are not taught healthy ways to handle or express their emotions, it can lead to a meltdown. Not knowing how to express emotions in a healthy way can cause more stress on Billy as well as others around him. Keeping in mind that not all students are at the same maturity level emotionally and some students do not have adults outside of school to help them grow correctly in this aspect can greatly help us in the classroom with the "Billys" of our world.
ReplyDelete