I come from a very small community and having the community provide a lot of help is rare and scarce. Having community involvement in a school is vital and beneficial for everyone.  Since there is a lack of partner ship I would try to advocate how important the partnership is by speaking to community members about the positive impacts their partnership has. Along with that, I would display models or statistics of community involvement thus showing them the results and the effects it has on the children.  I think one of the main reasons a community doesn't get involved is because they are not well informed about why it is so important and how it can really effect the ones around then. Providing that information I am hoping would spur them on to get more involved with the school and that partnership will be great. 

Reflection of Conference

I felt that the parent teacher conferences went well. When I was the teacher, I felt relaxed and at ease with all the happened. Things went smoothly and was happy that we did it in class because now I have a feeling what it will be like in the future, how I can prepare for it and what I should expect. When I was the parent, I really enjoyed it. I got to see how someone else presented theirs and how their agenda was different. Overall I was happy that I was able to have this experience.

Drug Abuse

My thoughts: meth is bad! Meth can cause so much damage to the body, mentally, physically and emotionally that seems ridiculous that someone would do that to themselves. One way that I could deal with meth in a school system is if the parent was taking meth and seeing how it effects their child. Also, having a parent who is taking meth could raise up another issue them not understanding how to better their child in the classroom and to take into consideration the suggestions I provide them but rather not caring at all about anything. Also if I were to teach the older students there is an increase of probability that even some of the students will be using meth, not just the parents. There for that can create problems because the student isn't going to be able to perform at their highest level as well as other issues might arise like not being able to concentrate, don't get along with other, etc. 

Effects of Poverty and Homelessness on Children

The amount of adults and children living in poverty and becoming homeless is increasing rapidly everyday. This is a huge problem that for the youth of America especially. When a child is living in poverty or is homeless the affects it has is great. The children are going hungry, can't perform in school to their highest degree, that is if they can even make it to school, they take on the responsible of taking care of younger siblings while their parents are off trying to bring in a couple bucks for the family. Poverty is a problem because it puts more stress on the children. They know their family is struggling and thus carry the burden on their shoulders along with the parents. They get lost in the shuffle of things if they are always switching schools and can make it hard to make friends with anyone. 

Addressing the problems of poverty and what effects it has on children can take a long time to fix but some things that being their the ones who are struggle. Giving the ones who seem to be struggle extra help on certain things and encourage them to continue to strive to do well. Also depending on what the school will allow and not allow but if students are coming in hungry in the morning, provided a healthy snack every so often to help tide the children over until lunch. Also at some point during the school year I would consider doing a lesson on poverty and do some type of food drive or clothing drive and thus demonstrating how to give back to the community as well as going towards a good cause. 

When I knew for sure..

My senior year of high school I participated in cadet teaching. I knew I would go to college and major in Elementary Education but I was not sure what grade I wanted to teacher. I knew I wanted the younger children and was drawn more towards kindergartners.  Cadet teaching gave me an opportunity to figure out for sure if kindergarten was the grade I wanted. From the very moment I stepped into the kindergarten room to the last day of it, I loved it all. The students always seemed eager to learn and would soak up whatever you would tell them. I was given the opportunity to work with a few students who were struggling in the class so that they could get caught up and seeing the change and improve throughout the course of the year, was amazing. I knew that I had made an impact on their lives and I knew that was something I wanted to continuing doing. I wanted to help students excel and be the best they can be and kindergarten is one place I can accomplish this goal.