Surroundings make a tremendous difference.
This actually happened to me. I posted it awhile back on LinkedIn and it got a lot of action.
How it really hit home that your environment makes a difference in shaping you.
I was visiting family this weekend and was kind of freaked out by some revelations.
Environment/family plays a tremendous role in who you are and who you become. This does not mean you cannot change. It just reveals that it becomes your subconscious and to change you will need perseverance and awareness.
You see, it was my first cousin I spent time with. I had not seen her for the last 17 years. She was 10, when my family moved. I grew up with her, played at her house, fought with her siblings and spent many vacations and celebrations together. Although I am a few years her senior, we grew up in similar surroundings and households. Our mothers are sisters.
This weekend I found out we have more in common. When my daughter wanted to throw out a good piece of chicken, I told her you cannot do that..5 minutes later I heard her say the same to her son.
We laughed when we realized we used similar verbiage and harped over the same things. It happened many times over the weekend. And of course we laughed. But the lesson was learned!
Our environment and those we surround ourselves with leave a tremendous impact.
It becomes our essence!
Watch your surroundings.
Home environment impacts classroom behavior
It happens all the time. I see it in the classrooms as well.
Children tend to pick up their parents phrases, actions and comments to situations.
Many times when a child responds to a certain situation the response may be coming from what they see at home. They know that this is how you respond not realizing that at times the response is not OK.
It ends up becoming a cycle child does it because mom or dad does it because their mom or dad did it. Awareness and gentle reminders can change a child’s inappropriate response.
Luke always yelled when something spilled in the classroom. His teacher was so frustrated that in addition to the mess there was an abundance of noise from Luke. When she broached this with him and spoke to him about his yelling not being OK, he did not know why she was getting so upset. The teacher reached out to the mom and mentioned to her that she will be working with Luke on stopping the yelling. The mom just laughed and told her that that is the common response at home.
Cultural differences in a classroom:
Culture also plays a tremendous role in child’s behavior, thought process and actions. It makes a tremendous difference when working with children whether they are your own or your students that you are aware of cultural differences.
Teacher Rochelle had a rule that besides touching hands children were not allowed to touch one another in the classroom, she wanted to eliminate some difficulties she had. She had one little boy who was unable to keep his hands to himself. She was always disciplining him and could not understand why he was not listening to the rules.
After repeating the rules time and time again she saw that he was picking it up yet was still having a hard time. Besides the hugging he was fine in the classroom. She noticed a change in his behavior and that he recently reverted into himself and seemed to put up a wall, his enthusiasm dropped in the classroom and she wanted to find out why.
She began reviewing his work, speaking to him and spoke to mom. Mom mentioned that Michael was an enthusiastic little boy the loved to play with others, however recently he tends to spend time inside and prefers not going outside to play with his friends. Rochelle was concerned and set up a time with mom to visit him at home for a home visit.
The teacher went down to the house to meet with mom and was greeted with a warm enthusiastic hug, when the rest of the family was introduced to teacher Rochelle they all greeted her with a hug rather than a nod or handshake.
Rochelle and mom took to each other immediately. Mom spoke to the teacher and shared with her her background, how she immigrated and what her native country is like. She shared the difficulties of leaving family behind as well as customs and cultures. That was the aha moment the teacher needed. Michael’s expression of friendship was through touch, this is how he grew up and this is how his culture expresses themselves.
Being aware of this she was able to make some necessary change changes.
You are your surroundings
Remember taking a look at where your child spends most of his/her day, where your students come from, the home and culture they come from know that it impacts much of their behavior.
Awareness is the first step of truly making a difference.