by Marcia Davis-Dawkins | Oct 15, 2018 | Education, Kids, Parents, Teachers
Peace in the Midst of the Storm
By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins
As educators have you ever entered a classroom where there is total chaos? I have on several occasions and at times (if I want to be totally honest), I do feel like I want to run, hide and go away from the situation. And I do run if it’s not my room but then if I am the leader of that room, I have to take charge and try to fix the chaos. Calm for me brings a sense of peace and I act and respond differently much like butterflies flying in the atmosphere. Unlike calm, chaos makes my head feel as if it’s going to explode. The classroom can be very chaotic at times and as the educator, I have to have classroom management so that there is a sense of calm in the room at all times. This is not an easy task especially when there are 25 bodies with 25 different personalities in one room. If as the teacher who wears several different hats, I have to know these students and ensure that I am meeting ALL their learning needs so as to prevent chaos for them and for me.
For the students
who enter the classroom with a chaotic mind because their homes are chaotic. They enter the classroom already rebellious and stressed because the tone was set in their homes as they leave or the night before. How do we help them and how do we know that there is chaos/confusion? We might be and could be their source of peace and calm so we have to be able to read them and set an environment of calm and peace as they enter the classroom. Who knows we might be their escape from the unfriendly (warlike) home they left. Our students are depending on us to provide that peace and calm. So we should then be prepared for them. Here are few tips that are recommended to provide that sense of peace for our students.
- Rely on schedules, routines, and procedures it helps to promote order hence peace.
- Maintain a clean, organized classroom that helps and creates peace and calm
- Be the same teacher yesterday, today, and tomorrow so they learn how to trust and want to be around you the teacher. If a teacher is constantly absent and students see different teachers or substitute then this could cause chaos.
- Be kind so you are the role model
- Protect your students from misbehavior so they understand that you care
- Don’t take misbehavior personally as some students are unaware of what good behavior looks like
- Maintain a peaceful learning environment so they want to learn and want to be at school in the special environment.
- A Safe Haven so they feel comfortable and special
- Address students by name so they feel wanted and appreciated
- Use “please” and “thank you” they understand how being polite look and feel like
- Listen to our students and teach them how to listen to others
- Don’t allow bullying/teasing/put downs
I am sure that as educators we feel just as chaotic at times because we are humans but we can and should find time to meditate and reflect, exercise and especially for me do a lot of self-talk and positive affirmation. The world around us can be so unkind so we should definitely find some “me” time so we have solace in our space. This will definitely help us to be prepared for our students.
Simple things like routines help your students know what to expect, which in turn helps them to feel calm, competent, and ready to learn. Even brain breaks can help to break down the monotony of always doing Math or Language Arts. Fun activities so they can as it implies give the brain a break for dreary tasks. We would surprise how unassuming activities can help to move toward building a community of peacemakers and calm in the classroom. Let’s help to create the calm in the midst of our students’ storm!
Ride Out the Storm
by Marcia Davis-Dawkins | Oct 1, 2018 | Education, Kids, Parents, Teachers, Teens
By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins
In his First Inaugural Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) said; “ The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” I found myself thinking about that quote recently when I was enlisted to present professional development to a group of educators like myself. What I inferred from FDR was that if we fear things, it will simply make matters worse. In effect, it can damage our self-confidence and wane our ability to move forward. The fears we don’t face become our limits. Understanding that gave me the courage to work through my trepidation with favorable results.
As humans we fear many things,
so much so that there are several characteristics or forms of fear known as phobias. You name it and there is a phobia for it. Why do we have fear? In my case, was I afraid that my audience would berate me, or that I would falter in the delivery of the material? Why do you fear and what do you fear? The high school I attended in Jamaica had several huge lignum vitae trees on the school property. These trees provided shade for the girls, as well as a place to sit when we wanted to eat lunch outdoors. (Seats with tables were made around the trees). As wonderful as the trees were, during the school year they were filled with caterpillars – they were everywhere and infested our comfortable haven while we were trying to enjoy lunch or waited to switch classes. The fear was the caterpillars!!! We knew that they would eventually be beautiful butterflies, and our fear was irrational, but that creepy, crawly stage horrified us.
As educators we fear getting a bad evaluation, having a class we are unable to manage, missing deadlines, performing poorly on a test, among many other things. But I do want to point out that there are times when fear is an asset and becomes a strength — simply because we didn’t realize that we were capable of doing certain things.
Since we are all humans, we know that our students will have fears as well – fear of the teacher, fear of learning, fear of being bullied, fear of a new environment and even fear of the unknown. It is our job and one of the many hats that we wear to help them conquer their angst and help them to believe in themselves. Some of those same students might even have their teachers to thank because the teachers helped them to overcome their fears. I know that because I am one of those teachers whose former teacher helped me to conquer my fear of being a teacher! Let us encourage our students, fellow educators and ourselves since encouragement brings oxygen or nourishment to the soul. Remember that FEAR can translate to Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise. The choice is yours.
Rise Above
by Marcia Davis-Dawkins | Sep 17, 2018 | Education
By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins
I have often heard the expression, “Bloom where you are planted”, but never fully really thought about it until a few months ago. This expression might mean different things to different people. For me, it could means that even when things seem dim, in my work, at play, in my personal life – career, weight, friendship among other things, I should keep going, stay on course, and persevere. Even when things seem hopeless, I might not know who I am being an inspiration to. I strongly believe that nothing happens by chance – wherever I am and whatever I am called to do, to do it heartily and the rewards will flourish.
Opportunities
I consider that with opportunities in our lives, I should be thankful for whatever and wherever the situation or space we find ourselves in, I should do the best with what I have and even give back to people who are in a less fortunate situation than I am in. In this way, I will find out that things will just begin to flow because I am giving back. I still believe that there are good people in this world – despite what seems despicable I will be rewarded. The important thing is that I should stay on course and stay focused. Even when I think that our teachers, co-workers, bosses, and fellow students, unfairly treat us at home, at work, we can continue doing great things. The notion is that nothing lasts forever.
As educators…
As educators this expression “grow where we are planted” – we are called in a sense, to maximize our potential as well as maximize the strengths of our students. Let’s think about planting a flower for instance, we might plant a seed and it eventually grows into a plant. The seed, then plant, and flower, would have had the correct condition (sunlight, water and sometimes care), the plant would then blossom or bloom beautifully and admired by many. The teacher might be in a certain school where he or she was planted (hired) and then a student is planted in that teacher’s classroom. With the correct condition and nurturing both the teacher and student are blossoming in the process, since they are both growing and blossoming. The teacher through collaboration with other teachers will become an expert and then pass on the nurturing process to the student. The cycle continues and teacher helps the student to be an amazing person. Of course, the process will be not always perfect because the weather conditions might not be great all the times. There might be stormy days and the does not get to blossom or flourish. With that said, even though life can have many issues (good and bad), we should not let the downs or bad keep us from pushing forward. At times we might feel trapped in our space but we have to remember that we were placed in a situation or a space for a reason. With creativity and pruning via corrections, teachers are meant to grow where God plants us.
Serve With Gladness
by Marcia Davis-Dawkins | Sep 3, 2018 | Education, Parents, Teachers
Giving Back
I was recently privileged to participate in an amazing philanthropist’s foundation, the purpose of which was to give back to the people of the home where she was born and raised. Like most people that I know, this woman grew up in an environment in which she had little or nothing financially or economically. Yet, she was able to provide medical and dental services and clothing to members of that community. How was she able to do this singlehandedly? Well, she wasn’t, but she realized that what “I” cant do, “we” can. She possessed the wherewithal and initiative to enlist the goods and services of eighty-four volunteers, committed to a common purpose, to achieve her vision.
Though disadvantaged by a shortfall of funds in her youth, there was no scarcity of love in her family of fourteen children. As I reflect on the experience that I had with this philanthropist as she served her community, I thought of a quote by author Mitch Albom, from Tuesdays with Morrie: “Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.” This woman showed that while it takes money to achieve and accomplish goals, the motive and passion to endow springs from the heart. She was able to be educated and did not stop at the bare minimum. She went on further to obtain her doctoral degree and is now giving back to her community. What an accomplishment and joy!
Her gesture and her organization further encouraged me to want to give back to my community to students who are needy and still willing to learn. It shows that even when I think that I have nothing to contribute, there are always others who are worse off than I. This summer I was able to give books to students who enjoy reading so I could help to foster their reading. I was able to restore a school’s library. The books and shelves in the library were ancient and termite eaten. I can’t wait to see the joy on the students’ faces as they see the newly restored library and the books that they can actually read. This giving back process lends a level of satisfaction, pride and a sense of purpose. It will be my job to continue supplying the books for this library and encourage students to read and provide an environment that supports the love of reading. It also reinforces the quote, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” It tells me that something done for the right reason can make the community, or better yet, the world, a better place. I can and will make a difference in students’ lives.
How can we give back to our students in our classroom, school, school district, or students in another country? We can start by giving/sharing our knowledge of the curriculum, be a role model, and show them that they matter in life. We can show how to give with a positive attitude. We should teach our students how to give with a purpose because sharing is caring. As a teacher my mantra has always been that if I can get one student to say, “I get it!” and watch the sparkle in his/her eyes, then I am giving back and I have a great job! As we go back to the classroom, let us go willingly and see how we can give back in our own small ways that which might be BIG to our students. It is worth remembering C.M. Taylor’s words “The only thing that any child should hunger for is knowledge.” Best wishes as you cure this hunger!
A Word
I was Born Marcia Angela Davis in Jamaica, West Indies I have traveled and lived in various parts of the world including United Kingdom and Europe. In my mid-twenties I was presented with the opportunity to migrate to the United States and experienced the following: – culture shock, racism and different class system. In a state of confusion I tried to find my identity as I was surrounded with a vast array off sub-cultures. I was a dark-skinned, Black woman of Afro-Caribbean decent and lived in mixed middle class community in the state of New Jersey. My skin-color meant many viewed me as poor, even though in my native country, I attended a private school and dressed similarly to the middle-class students.
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– Dr.Marcia Davis-Dawkins
by Marcia Davis-Dawkins | Jun 21, 2018 | Education
Reading, A Thing of the Past?
By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins
Reading takes you places; unfortunately, as a little girl my trips were limited because I didn’t enjoy reading as much as I should. Why didn’t I like to read? Maybe I didn’t have books I like to read or maybe I was, dare I say, forced to read books that weren’t interesting to me. Or maybe I had no reading role models. But thank goodness, whatever the reason, I started developing an interest in reading when I saw my peers reading the Nancy Drew series. I wanted to fit in! It is safe to say that students who are encouraged, motivated to read, and taught how to read, will read.
As an educator, who works with students who are at risk learners, I encourage and teach students how to read and love reading. I am reflecting on the growth and improvement that I have seen over the last nine months of school and wonder what will happen after the summer months of no reinforcement. Research shows that summer reading loss grows over time and by middle school, some children who lose reading skills over the summer have accumulated a two-year lag behind their classmates. Most times the ball is in the parents’/guardians’ court to encourage and pass on the reading baton during the summer. The parents are often times not good reading role models, therefore the students’ reading fall by the wayside. As a child, I used to look forward to the summertime and the exciting outdoor games and activities. Part of the fun would be to read a book and do book reports for my aunts who were teachers.
Of course, there are the critics who think that reading is dying because with improved technology, reading physical books is unnecessary due to tablets. But what about those in other parts of the world who have no tablets or technology? Is it acceptable for them not to read? Are the uses of libraries dying? In some towns/places libraries have computers that members of the library can go and play games. Coincidentally, those are the same people, who, if they had computers at home, would opt to play games instead of finding a book to read or even use the tablets to read.
It’s interesting how through reading, I learned to visualize things and places, because I understood later as I got the opportunity to travel, I was able to see places that I read about and appreciated how wonderful the authors painted the pictures whether through figures of speech or imagery. Thanks to reading I could smile and think about the authors’ magic use of words, the figurative language used and I understood how their word choice helped to enhance the stories. I knew that reading was important and special. It also encourages me even more to emphasize the importance of reading to my students. Reading, without a doubt, broadens my horizon and I will try to find opportunities to reinforce that to parents of the students I meet.
Ten Reasons We Should Read Daily
• Mental Stimulation
• Stress Reduction
• Knowledge
• Vocabulary Expansion
• Memory Improvement
• Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills (Develops Higher Order Thinking)
• Improved Focus and Concentration
• Better Writing Skills
• Tranquility
• Free Entertainment
In general, it can be assumed that the value of reading is being reduced. For me, reading has made a positive change to my education and I know it can make a difference to students I encounter. Even though reading seems to be competing with technology and other gaming activities, it still makes a difference in education – it helps with students’ success. Hard to believe especially since the tests are being done on computers and students are required to read questions on the computer.
I do find that my favorite book, the Bible, has something to say and I relate it to reading “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feed on trash!” Proverbs 15:14. I hope most people will incorporate reading in their daily lives so we can feast our minds. Happy Reading as it really drives learning and transforms lives!!
Education and Success
I am sure that as educators we feel just as chaotic at times because we are humans but we can and should find time to meditate and reflect, exercise and especially for me do a lot of self-talk and positive affirmation. The world around us can be so unkind so we should definitely find some “me” time so we have solace in our space. This will definitely help us to be prepared for our students.
