“Kids who think they’re headed somewhere tend to make better choices than those who think they are headed nowhere. Future aspirations determine choices.” This is a quote that sticks in my head from a recent workshop on Poverty which I attended with my colleagues, and where we heard Pedro Nogruera speak on the impact of poverty on our students, and what we as schools can do to make a difference.
It was food for thought, as I drive past a juvenile detention centre, and the mammoth new correctional facility being built near my own community on my way home every day. Both of these institutions (not just in my community) house thousands who have not made good choices. Many, perhaps, because they simply could not envision a different sort of future.
Nogruera’s quote struck me again as my student teacher and I embarked on a “Point of View” writing lesson recently, where we asked students this question:
It was food for thought, as I drive past a juvenile detention centre, and the mammoth new correctional facility being built near my own community on my way home every day. Both of these institutions (not just in my community) house thousands who have not made good choices. Many, perhaps, because they simply could not envision a different sort of future.
Nogruera’s quote struck me again as my student teacher and I embarked on a “Point of View” writing lesson recently, where we asked students this question:
“Would you rather have a long summer,
or one week off each month all year?”
I was absolutely flabbergasted by how many of my students were not simply able to conceive of the latter scenario. Even as my ever-industrious student teacher rushed to copy and post a yearlong calendar on the board, where she highlighted both options month by month, both in a different colour, so that
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