2. Today's Students
Description:
In Fall 2013, 50.1 million students attended public schools in grades Kindergarten through 12th in America ("Fast Facts: Back", 2013). Today's learners are very diverse and in their backgrounds, attitudes, abilities and perspectives. Today's students represent our national population as a whole. Many of today's learners are headed by a one parent household or a two parent household where both parents work so today's students spend much of their out of school time with other caregivers. A large percentage of today's learners are from households whose income falls below the federal poverty level. Today's percentage of minority students in the classroom is 40% and during the next twenty years that number is expected to reach 50% ("Minority community outreach", 2014). Over the last twenty five years there has been a great increase in the number of 3-and-4-year-olds in school programming and about 40% of our nation's 3-year-olds and 65% of our nation's 4-year-olds are enrolled in some type of formal education program before kindergarten ("Fast Facts: Back", 2013). 14% of today's learners are eligible for programs geared towards children with disabilities and 10% of today's learners list English as their second language. In a given school year, 15% to 18% of learners in grades K to 12th change schools. Today's students are more diverse, yes but they also share many common characteristics of our society at large such as the importance of family and education in an ever changing , advancing technology world.
Illustration: Below is a few charts about America's children in regards to their demographic, family, social environment and economic circumstances.
Practical Example:
In a public school setting, teachers might have learners from many different backgrounds and socio-economic status sitting in the same classroom together for lessons. So teachers must recognize and respond to common characteristics of young people at that age while at the same time adjusting their instruction to meet the unique needs of individual learners. An example of that could be a student who has failed four exams in a row and when the teacher inquires, he or she finds out that the student is taking care of their younger siblings after school and at night while their parent works and thus has a hard time studying. So the teacher might allows that student to stay in with other students once or twice a week during lunch to clarify and answer any questions they might have for upcoming exams. It is not giving any special treatment, the teacher is merely allowing time for any and all students to take advantage of in the classroom setting.
Integral Components:
Integral concepts of today's students are the vast differences in the learner's families - today's students come from two parent households or single parent households. Some students are raised by relatives or are in group homes or foster homes. Their parents might be college educated or their parents could be immigrants to this country. Poverty also plays a big role in today's students as well - approximately one-fourth of today's students live below the poverty line. Minority is also important to understanding today's learners as minority-group children are accounting for nearly half of the total school population and that number is expected to rise throughout the next few decades. School violence has also become a concern over the last dozen years as today's students are worried about school shooting and safety in the classroom. Today's student's are also different from previous generations in that children with disabilities are put into mainstream classrooms and a typical public school classroom today will have learners with a variety of different disabilities. Today's learners are also made up of abused or neglected or at-risk learners and it is important for teachers and educations to know and recognize the warning signs so they can stop and alert authorities in order to help these students (Armstrong, Henson & Savage, 2009).
How today's students relate to me and my teaching:
In my future classroom, I will expect to see a large variety of today's learners. I will expect to see certain age and development related characteristics of my future students but at the same time I will expect to see great diversity regarding family background, economic status etc as discussed in more detail above. I need to fulfill my educational responsibilities as a teacher while at the same time engaging and celebrating the uniqueness of my students and allowing them to develop a sense of efficacy, a belief that they matter and that they are capable of making important contributions to the world (Armstrong, Henson & Savage, 2009). That is how I would like my future classroom to look.
Scripture:
"Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith" - Romans 12:6. I use this scripture because I believe it fits what is being discussed here. Today's learners will not be alike, they will be different and complex and unique from each other. But God gave all individuals different gifts and that is a good thing because both students and teachers alike can use the different gifts given to us and help others.