If you would like to see what a $300.00 textbook looks like, click here. I was lucky enough to purchase mine used (covered in highlighting and other random scrawl) for $180.00 through the UAA University Bookstore.
Our text is organized in “Modules” which begin with a series of “case studies” (little stories) focusing on different age levels from Pre-K to High School. Our first reading assignment has us learning about and exploring psychological terminology as it applies to education. Yes, you understand correctly, your child’s teacher must have a working familiarity with your child’s psychological functioning in order to effectively teach. Of course they would! Why wouldn’t they? They are professionals, are they not?
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological model looks like this:
It describes the system of interactions between your child as a person and their environment, including your environment as it interacts indirectly with your child.
The graphic in my textbook shows a smiling kid backed by four little circles which read “childcare facility,” “peer group,” “school,” and “family.” Another that I’ve seen skips the daycare and reads “religious institution.” Those four little circles are considered “Microsystems” with lines called “Mesosystems” representing the interaction between spheres such as a parent’s (ie “family”) relationship to “school.” Outside of the “Microsystems” are the “Exosystems” which include such things as the “Media,” “Community” and “Parental Employment.” Outside of that are “Macrosystems which include “Culture,” “Economics,” and “Society.” Alongside my graphic is a dotted line labeled “Chronosphere” which is means all of the above over a period of time.
My version of Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological model looks like this:
All of these factors, interacting together, effect who a person is, how they behave and how well they are going to be able to learn. It is therefore important for educators to be aware of these factors and how they interact.
I was going to dissect my oldest daughter for your viewing pleasure but I’ve decided that the poor kid has to be my show pony often enough. I would encourage everyone to think long and hard about each of the above boxes and consider what your own child’s “Permanent Record” has to say.
Some of us may jump on the “Well, it’s none of their dang business!” bandwagon immediately. It is a little daunting, the idea of educators prying into our home lives, our churches, what we do for a living.
But, let’s think about this. Ms. So-and-so is trying to conduct a class and Little Jimmy is going through a rotten divorce. His mother has taken off to the Bahamas with his babysitter and left him and his 8-month-old little brother home with his dad who is barely making ends meet on a two week on, two week off Slope schedule. When dad’s at work Little Jimmy and his brother stay with his Grandma who is 80-years-old and too blind to drive. Add to this that they are new in the school district and Little Jimmy is one of two Euro-American kids in a predominately Alaskan Native school.
Is Ms. So-and-so going to give Little Jimmy a “0” on a missed homework assignment that he forgot at his dad’s house and can’t get to because dad’s at work and Grandma doesn’t have a car? Is Ms. So-and-so going to give Little Jimmy detention for falling asleep during Social Studies for the third time when she knows the baby is teething? Is Ms. So-and-so going to kick Little Jimmy out of school for fighting (first offense) the local bully?
Probably not. Ms. So-and-so wouldn’t really be a very good teacher if she did.
From a personal perspective, all of the above is way more than daunting! I love introducing kids (older kids… I get a little freaked out if they can’t wipe their own noses) to the big ideas of the world. I like initiating conversations about politics, history, anthropology, to help them figure out what makes people and the world tick. I don’t want to psychoanalyze the little darlings or do an intensive background check on their parents. As far as I’m concerned, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas and when they’re in my class the rest of the world only exists in abstract.
If only that could be true.
Stay tuned next time for the four basic parenting styles and their impact of school performance...
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