Michael's EDU 3650 Blog

  As this picture shows, many people enjoy vaping despite the negative health consequences.              Image by Ethan Parsa from Pixabay . Cigarette smoking among youth is at an all-time low. However, there is a massive problem with kids using electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes ( PBS News Hour, 2020). The government estimates that the number is two million, and because many devices look like flash drives it is hard for teachers to detect them. As a result, many parents and educators are worried about the dangers of these e-cigarettes ( PBS News Hour, 2020). The practice of using these devices is called vaping. One of the problems with e-cigarettes is that a student in a school setting can hide them anywhere ( PBS News Hour, 2020). They can be hidden inside a student’s backpack, locker, or jacket, but also inside the student’s socks, shoes, or wallet ( PBS News Hour, 2020). This is because the small size of these cigarettes makes i...

  This image shows what mindfulness is all about (taking time, breathing, etc.)   Image by John Hain from Pixabay   In the field of education, there has been a push to introduce “mindfulness” into schools and classrooms. Questions concerning stress, anxiety, and other negative mental health symptoms have caused many in education to turn to mindfulness to deal with these issues (Mindful Schools, n.d.). Nearly 1 in 3 adolescents will meet criteria for an anxiety disorder by the age of 18, and 46% of all children in America have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (Mindful Schools, n.d.). Also, the average U.S. teen spends 9 hours a day on digital entertainment, excluding school work, and about 40% of high school seniors report feelings of loneliness or isolation (Mindful Schools, n.d.). The practice of mindfulness can help students manage stress and anxiety, and improve their attention, self-control, emotional resilience, memory, and more (Mindful Sc...

  This photo of a homeless man shows how difficult life is for people living in poverty. This would be true for students in our schools as well as adults. Image from Pixabay.   The problem of poverty is one that affects thousands of school children in the U.S. Many children do not have a home or their basic needs satisfied. This can often have a bad effect on their education. Documentaries, such as The Homestretch (2014), and articles on poverty and homelessness, are meant to let readers and viewers into the lives of people who are struggling with poverty and homelessness so that the situations of these individuals can be better understood. One theme that emerges from watching the film and reading about these issues is that people who do not experience poverty themselves have no idea what it is like. Another theme is that people who live in poverty or are homeless have dreams for a better future just like many other people who are not in their situation. People who do...

People with mental disorders such as Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder can exhibit many different symptoms as this image shows. Image by  Mary Pahlke  from  Pixabay Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder are complex mental disorders. Students with these disorders can experience  hallucinations, delusions, negative symptoms, and cognitive issues/disorganized thinking. These symptoms can make it very difficult for them to do well in school. During the process of creating this slide, I learned that educators have to know how to deal with students who have mental disorders such as S chizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder. Also, I learned that G oogle Slides is a very useful tool for sharing information with students, and for having students present information that they learned about a particular topic in any subject.

    As this image indicates, bullying can take many different forms. It is up to teachers to make sure that students learn about bullying and about important historical topics such as the Holocaust. Image from Pixabay. The connection between bullying and the Holocaust offers an interesting topic of discussion. There are many who say that we can learn about the nature of bullying by a study of history. However, others see risks in comparing bullying to the holocaust. Kalman (2016) explains that calling the Holocaust “bullying” is offensive and inaccurate. He explains that the comparison of bullying to genocide serves to catastrophize bullying and trivialize genocide. Other sources on the topic confirm Kalman’s (2016) position that the Holocaust cannot be simplified as bullying (Echoes and Reflections, 2017).   In his talk, Stan Ronell quoted General Eisenhower as saying that what he saw in the concentration camps was horrifying, and that children should be taught tol...

  Protesters take part in the March for Our Lives in New York City on March 24, 2018. Students protested because they were angry about gun violence occurring in schools in the United States. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images   School violence can take the form of bullying, fighting, gang violence, the use of a weapon, or sexual violence. This is a big problem as data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) shows. One in five students reported being bullied on school property (CDC, 2019). Also, 8% of high school students have been in a physical fight on school grounds (CDC, 2019). School violence is a serious problem that should be reduced as much as possible.   In the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting, which occurred in Parkland, FL., in 2018, Pew Research Center found that a majority of teenagers feared the possibility of a similar tragic event happening at their school (Graf, 2018). Lower-income families were especially worried about s...

                 Module 3 deals with prejudice and bias against various groups of people including the LGBT  community, African Americans, and Latinos. The purpose of the film and articles is to make future  educators aware of how unfairly different people have been treated in schools and in society. The Laramie Project (2012) is a film created by a theater group from numerous interviews of individuals in Laramie, Wyoming. The interviews focused on the murder of a homosexual man named Matthew Shepard in 1998. The murder caused outrage in the town because it appeared to be a hate crime motivated by anti-gay sentiment. The two murderers got life in prison. Many people in the town rallied together in support of Matthew and his family. Vara-Orta (2018) discusses the problem of hate and bias in K-12 settings. A review of hundreds of incidents found multiple hate incidences targeting African American, Latino, Jewish, and Muslim s...