Buscando Vida

The topic of Victor Rios' Ted Talk for teachers, Help for Kids the Education System Ignores, is how to look at kids and change their label from At Risk to At Promise. Victor shares his real stories from his own childhood. He explains how as a child he saw the system fail himself; he was "fatalistic" and didn't believe he would make it to his 18th birthday.  If he didn't think he would make it to 18, then what resolve would he have to change his ways and fulfill his promised potential? He was given hope by a teacher and his uncle who told him "Buscando Vida," we are looking for a better life. His teacher took the power his uncle gave him and shined a light on how that work ethic was his strength. By showing him he really had it inside of himself, his teacher helped him graduate and go to college.

Rios suggests getting rid of our "deficit perspective," start valuing the stories our young people bring to the school house, and provide the resources for successful futures including job training.

As teachers we can talk about what we could or should do to connect with students or how we can embrace diversity. But it is an entirely other thing when we live everyday we teach with open-minded consideration equally for each student, the ones struggling and failing just as much as the ones succeeding, the students who look like they are in gangs or look like they slept under a bridge and never change their clothes. These are not issues by which to judge a child, and I'm sure some teachers do. These are results of the child's environment that they had no say in where they were born and to what situation they would exist in when they came into this world. Being open and available to these students, like Rios' teacher was, can be the key to helping these students be At Promise instead of At Risk.

Comments

  1. Kara McElwrathNovember 13, 2018 at 9:04 PM

    I'm a huge fan of TED Talks. And frankly, all of the videos inspired me. The educational system gets a lot of bad press, and there are many times when it seems like the only good press schools get is related to their athletic teams. So I like to share videos that show promise and innovation, that encourage all of us to do the most with what we have and to have confidence that what we have is enough to make a difference.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final Blog - Helping Teachers' Lives

Helping Teachings: In reviewing the top 8 technology resources from the beginning of class and the 20 educational tools, there are still so many resources to explore.  I jumped on WeVideo, as I'm concerned about how to do screen captures if I ever do not have free access to CaptureSpace.  I did not sign up for an account, but with a free account, teachers can create 5 min. of material, and with an account for $3 a month, teachers can create up to 30min of material per month, which seems like plenty and worth the tiny annual free to continue creating fun and interactive materials students can access from home. There is just so much value to providing screen-capture instruction to help students complete homework assignments, refer back to lecture materials, and to cover information as homework and save time in-class for discussion and even deeper development and comprehension. I also took a closer look at Really Good Stuff, as I was hoping the site had the teacher supplies ...
Read more

"I Don't Know" - The 14th Incarnation of The Dalai Lama

As for Sir Ken Robinson's talk, I couldn't agree more that knowledge is more about what you don't know (what you are open to) than what you think you do know (what you are closed off to learning).  In fact, I will briefly note here that I practice Zazen, which is Buddhist practice, but that is not the pertinent point. So, I will jump right into my thoughts on what teachers could consider doing to better reach and engage students. Teachers could openly share with students their own biases. Biases tend to work themselves intrinsically into the way we think and communicate with others in ways that sometimes makes a bias sound like a fact or even wisdom, when it is more like an opinion or feeling. Even when we are aware of our own biases, they can still subconsciously affect how we treat people and probably affect how we teach. This kind of conversation between teacher and students (and students to teacher as well), in my opinion, would help c...
Read more

Progressive Classrooms: Getting Started with a Long Way to Go

I have to say, I loved having Neil deGrasse Tyson narrate this. I was not surprised to hear this was at a private charter school in Washington D.C. as a school would need the funds to create learning environments that "meets students where they are" in terms of technology. It is concerning to hear speak of middle school level being a last chance to learn necessary cumulative math skills before falling too far behind to catch up. It is also a bit of a concern to expect students to have a computer at home and access to email in assignments. It would be great to have the expectation that students could use websites and email at home, but it may not be a fair expectations of all households. It is very impressive to see the number of lap tops available to the students. The student's responses shows how they appreciate the resources and interactive learning. It's great to see the teacher has access to view each student's screen collectively. The teacher explains...
Read more