Second on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is safety. Children thrive on structure, stability, and freedom from fear. Knowing what comes next in their daily routine makes them feel safe and secure.
Set clear boundaries and learn how to say “no”.
Maintain a calm, cozy home.
Keep activities outside of school spaced and simple.
Be sure your child is supervised and not left alone.
Check that purchased products for your child meet national safety standards.
Children love to explore. Check your home often to eliminate items that could be potentially hazardous.
For more information on preventive measures, check the World Report for Child Injury Prevention at…
According to Maslow, a child’s first need is physiological. Children need food, water, clean air, and a safe, warm place to sleep. How can parents and teachers meet these needs?
Parents:
Make time to meet these needs in a “family” way – no matter how big or small your family may be.
Set the breakfast table together the night before.
Ask your child to help you plan a healthy menu while teaching him or her about nutrition.
Pack a healthy lunch instead of buying one. Include an “I love you” note for your child to read when the lunchbox is opened.
Find time for a home cooked evening meal and eat together around the table to discuss everyone’s day.
Keep the air in your home clean. Avoid exposing your child to cigarette smoke, excessive dust, and toxic fumes.
Provide a clean, restful slumber environment void of technological distractions.
Teach your child to be responsible for his or her own physiological needs over time.
Teachers:
Allow time for snack breaks each day. Children can’t learn when hungry. Ask parents to donate healthy snacks.
Allow children to drink water as needed. If no classroom fountain is available, let children bring a water bottle from home.
Create a warm and inviting classroom environment.
Provide students the opportunity to design and keep up the classroom environment.
Classrooms are dusty places. Try a Friday cleaning day and include students in the process. This makes for a great way for all to begin new Monday morning. If needed, bring in an air purifier. Be sure to clean the filter as required.
All of these suggestions are easy to carry out and need very little time. If you have other suggestions, feel free to comment and add to the list. Thanks!
In 1954 psychologist Abraham Maslow developed his theory of Hierarchy of Needs. His hierarchy is based on the assumption that human beings have basic needs. These needs expound upon each other over time until self-actualization occurs. We’ve come a long way since this theory was developed. Though time and circumstance see our world a different place, the basic tenants of human nature and needs stay the same. Needs being met allude to learning taking place and meaningful life. Since learning and views on life begin in the home and continue in school, what better gift can parents and teachers give children than to truly understand and strive to meet their basic needs? Maslow said humans have physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization needs. These needs begin with infancy and continue through adulthood. Childhood then, is a critical time for all.
What about current childhood experiences? When Maslow stated his theory, most families had two parent households with one parent working and one at home. The steady rise of one-parent families and extended working hours has placed a strain on the amount of time available to meet the needs of children. Add to this increasing demands society places on all to achieve and it’s easy to see how the most important things in life may fall by the wayside.
That said, this will be the first in a series of posts based on Maslow’s Hierarchy, which is just as valid today as when first theorized. I hope you will add ideas and real world examples as levels are published. Children are our future and the most important adult task we have is to make sure children are nurtured substantively to encourage life-long learning that leads to meaningful lives worth living. Until tomorrow…
Today is Constitution Day. Are you teaching about the U.S. Constitution in your classroom today? At a time when many – including adults – have no idea what the U.S. Constitution is or means to them, it’s more important than ever to include time in lesson planning for meaningful social studies instruction. Include it in your reading time, math time, or anytime that a teachable moment presents itself. Too late for today? Not to worry! There are still two more days in this school week and more teaching days in the months ahead! Need ideas? Click below.
Unfortunately this scenario plays out across our nation. In a country where standing among nations was built on the unique gifts and talents of individuals not fitting a “mold” our vision for progress has sorely dimmed.
Avery Gigliano recently turned 13. She is a world-class pianist who has won international competitions. To play in international competitions, it is necessary to travel. To the D.C. public school system, she is not a champion, she is a truant. I forebear from using the words that come to mind. The D.C. schools should be celebrating her success. Instead, they drove her out of the school system. Great story by Petula Dvorak in the Washington Post.
“The prodigy, who just turned 13, was one of 12 musicians selected from across the globe to play at a prestigious event in Munich last year and has won competitions and headlined with orchestras nationwide.
“But to the D.C. public school system, the eighth-grader from Mount Pleasant is also a truant. Yes, you read that right. Avery’s amazing talent and straight-A grades at Alice Deal Middle School earned her no slack from school officials…
Looking for a jumpstart with STEM integrated instruction? Think about involving parents and the community in classroom activities. Surveying parent talents and skills is a great place to start. You can actually find a place for all parents regardless of past work experience. Be creative! Enlisting parents as STEM helpers includes community workers naturally. So – how to enlist these helpers? A note explaining STEM and the need for parent involvement in STEM instruction will help. List some talents that could help students and STEM learning in the classroom. Some might be:
Engineer
Lawn maintenance
Doctor
Nurse
Hospital worker
Homemaker
Mechanic
Artist
Teacher
Writer
Researcher
Office worker, etc.
Parents may feel that their abilities won’t help in the classroom but a brief description of how they can serve is a real motivator to get all involved. Don’t forget Career Day in November! This might just be the perfect day to STEM recruit!!
I was with first grade students on 9/11, that tragic morning the Twin Towers went down. Within what seemed like minutes parents were rushing to school to sign their children out early. There sat twenty curious children wondering why everyone was leaving class so early in the day. I decided to speak with the children about what was happening before they left me. Knowing the time constraints on most parents, I wanted to ease as many fears as I could. I briefly explained the situation. I ended the discussion by telling my students that their parents might be upset. I told them if they were calm and well-behaved it would help their parents. I reassured them they would all be fine and we’d all be back together in the morning. The next day began with further discussion. Most of the children had seen the news and needed to talk more. We did. I felt they all handled the information very well and then one of my students raised her hand. “Yes Jenny?” I asked.
“Ms. Ellington, why do I feel safer here in the classroom than I do at home?” Other children nodded. This question has played over and over in my mind since, while the world has become increasingly unsafe. For many students – the classroom is their only safe place.
How can teachers make children feel safe in an unsafe world? Communication is key. Being honest with children instills trust. Withholding information creates mistrust. Encourage classroom discussion on current events – tempering topics discussed with age appropriateness. This is easily accomplished by providing social studies curriculum as part of an integrated classroom experience.
There are many other ways to make sure that your classroom is a safe place for students. What strategies do you use in your classroom?
Welcome to Teacher View Today - a forum for “teacher voice” and a platform for expressing concerns, sharing success stories and imparting strategies to help others successfully maneuver each day in the classroom. Whether teaching K-12 or college, we all share like experiences. I hope you’ll consider Teacher View Today your “go to” place for collaboration outside your classroom. Nancy Ellington
The Real Object of Education…
The real object of education is to give children resources that will endure as long as life endures; habits that time will ameliorate, not destroy; occupation that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and death less terrible. Sydney Smith
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Robert Frost
Stop Questioning?
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." Albert Einstein
A child’s spontaneity
“We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a child's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.”
Maria Montessori
Collaboration
Collaboration is a gift. We collaborate with others throughout our lives and when we create a really special bond, are always surprised at the richness the encounter can bring. Take advantage of the richness collaboration can bring to your table.
Working with others makes any process less stressful. Sharing concerns as well as successes lightens your load!
Thoughts on writing
Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.
Isaac Asimov
Teacher Income…
Mean instructional salaries according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics updated March 27,2012…
Kindergarten/Elementary/
Secondary School - $56,790
"I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Knowledge is not the same as morality, but we need to understand if we are to avoid past mistakes and move in productive directions. An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do... Ultimately, we must synthesize our understandings for ourselves. The performance of understanding that try matters are the ones we carry out as human beings in an imperfect world which we can affect for good or for ill." Howard Gardner
As educators we seem to be inundated with stress everywhere we look these days. It’s during our most stressful times however, that we can actually make the greatest gains in life.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing, which you think you cannot do."
How do you cope with classroom stress?
This Time
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
Crazy Busy
Balance is important in our lives. In today’s world we find little time to do much more than work and eek by with everything else.
Edward Hallowell, M.D. says, “Simplifying your schedule is a matter of living in a way that reflects your life’s natural rhythm.” He authored a book called CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and about to snap: Strategies for coping in a World Gone ADD. His seven strategies for coping with time crunches are -
1. Don’t multitask
2. Keep to-do lists short
3. Delegate
4. Be positive
5. Limit interruptions
6. See organization as a means, not an end
7. Don’t lose sleep over it
Hallowell, E. (2006). Stop the Insanity. Psychology Today, 39(5), 37.
Teacher Views Today 