The academic success of students does not always depend solely on the individual or the teacher’s efforts. Based on ecological systems theory by Bronfenbrenner (1979), we know that outside of the classroom microsystem, there are various external social and cultural forces at play that can reinforce or inhibit the learning progress of our students. A student’s family environment, socio-economic status, and cultural or religious circles can both help or hinder academic learning. A single parent will not have the same amount of time to support their child’s learning at home as compared to a family that has a stay-at-home parent and another parent that works. Sometimes both parents are working and this situation can have either a positive or negative effect on learning. I have seen from personal experience in Japan, how dual working parents will often hire private tutors to provide academic support at home. While the lack of direct parent interaction could adversely affect student motivation, the personalized learning from a tutor typically helped to bolster student numeracy and literacy skills, which are fundamental for academic success.
During my observation at my second observation school, I noticed that most children seemed to come from middle-class income families, and although there was some student diversity in terms of ethnic background, the majority of students were not from Indigenous families. In contrast, I found that my previous observation school had a far more diverse cross-section of the community. At this school, the kindergarten class teacher had help from an Education Assistant (EA), and the classroom environment had personalized alternative sensory spaces for special needs students. One special needs child had a bin where only he could sit, while other students would take turns to use the other two sensory space bins. The rest of the class would sit on a mat in a semi-circle in front of the sensory spaces as everyone listened to the teacher.
I saw posters at both of my observation schools teaching about colors relating to the “Zones of Regulation.” These color representations allow students to visually describe their emotional states, and thus, aid in emotional self-regulation. Blue represents being tired or sad, while yellow represents feeling frustrated or silly. Intuitively, red represents being angry or feeling out of control, and green represents being calm or happy. At my first observation school, I witnessed a teacher talk with her students at the start of the class day to find out how they are feeling. The teacher would also cleverly use the Zones of Regulation colors for classroom management telling the class, “I am feeling kind of yellow right now because there are a lot of people talking when I am trying to speak.” I think this modeling approach is a great way to teach students how to self-regulate and empowering them by creating an inclusive environment where they can feel safe to discuss their feelings.
While there is no breakfast programs plan at my second observation school, I did notice that some students were eating in class at the start of the day. As long as it is not disruptive to the class, I think a snack in the morning can help students self-regulate as eating can be stress-reliever and hungry student cannot easily focus on studying. If I were to incorporate a snacking policy at the start of my class, I will likely formalize it by first asking how each student is feeling during our initial class greeting, and then if anyone is hungry permit them to have a snack during the first five minutes of class.
Creating a calm and safe environment is important to support learning, so I appreciate how one teacher played soft instrumental music calm students down during their silent reading exercises. The same teacher also had everyone do calming breathing exercises at the start of the day to support mental wellness. Uplands Elementary school is mindful of supporting mental wellness at the school, and has a poster called Healthy Habits TEA, that reminds us to be responsible for our thoughts, emotions and actions. It also promotes being kind to yourself and others.
In the staff room, I found a newsletter from the BCTF called “Social Justice” and various resource posters to help teachers create a safe environment for their students. One poster from Anxiety Canada had the acronym EASE, standing for “Everyday Anxiety Strategies for Educators.” This program supports the mental wellness of students and educators alike. Moreover, according to the BC government website, “EASE complements the First Peoples Principles of Learning and supports the integration of locally adapted and applied Indigenous perspectives” (Province of British Columbia, 2021). At Uplands Elementary School there were also posters about supporting diversity in the class. These topics included anti-bullying and acceptance of LGBT students. I also witnessed special needs students leaving class to have some direct instruction time with a shared EA throughout the day.
The social and cultural realities in schools requires that educators be mindful of how external forces can affect student mental well-being and ability to learn. Following the First Persons Principles of Learning, teachers need to create an inclusive environment that respects student emotions and identities. At Uplands Elementary school, I found an exemplar of this posted outside of a second grade class. It was house made of jigsaw pieces, where each piece had the student’s name and personalized art drawn on them. The teacher’s name and personalized art was on the chimney of the house, and following poem was written above:
We are Ms. H.’s 2nd Grade Class.
Each of us is unique.
And when we come together,
The puzzle is complete.
The poem was very inspiring to me and it is reassuring that inclusion and mental wellness is reflected school-wide. I will be mindful of creating such a supportive environment when I have the chance to teach at school someday.
References.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Province of British Columbia. (2021). Everyday Anxiety Strategies for Educators (EASE).
Retrieved from the British Columbia government website: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/managing-your-health/mental-health-substance-use/child-teen-mental-health/ease