I found this competency very interesting because I learned about various influences in students
social and academic personalities that I never knew contributed to their success or failure academically.
I researched about children of toxic families and how the families bad relationships and choices
effect each child differently, but upon comparison with my classmates, I realized that the different categories of at-risk
student classification overlap quite a bit. Many of the same symptoms and effects of one category applied to several
categories, so it was easy to converse amongst ourselves and talk about strategies to combat each influence.
I self-reflected about my labels I carried in high school and remember what an impact each label
had upon my life socially and academically, and learned that labeling can have dramatic effects upon a child and possibly
inhibit their abilities. As a teacher, it is best to not pre-label students ; they must always be granted the
responsibility to prove themselves.
I read, analyzed and processed a vignette about students perceptions vs. teachers and adults perceptions
of authority/ authority figures and the value that students place on each category of authority.
I read the article "I'm Not a Racist" by the University Counseling Center at The University of Notre
Dame and Saint Mary's (http://www.nd.edu/~observer/02232000/Scene/2.html) to get an insight into racial stereotypes, why they are formed and what the stigma can be by endorsing these
labels.
