Psychological Physics and the Emotional Needs of Our Students
Teaching brings many demands, to be sure. Probably none of those demands is more apparent around the holidays than the emotional needs of our students. You see, the holidays are not a time of rest or relaxation for many of our students. They may go home to find empty cupboards, filthy homes, family addicts, or any number of dysfunctions. In short, for many of our students, the holidays take them away from the support network school provides and plunges them into the midst of emotional, psychological and, in extreme cases, physical survival. Any teacher worth the weight of their sense organs can tell you that student behavior veers off "normal" or "predictable" courses leading up to the holidays. Students that are typically quiet and industrious may begin to wander or find excuses to leave the classroom. Students that are typically boisterous may grow increasingly so or find ways to not be present during class. The diversion varies with each ...