The challenge I chose for the Course Project is “Children
Exposed to Risk, Stress, or Trauma” with my subtopic being poverty. For the
Course Project I was able to interview a school counselor and school health
nurse, both who work with families in need every day. The interviewees have
combined 34 years of experience working with families who face the challenge of
living in poverty.
The interview process has brought both successes and
challenges, but the information I received from both interviewees was informative
and applicable. Both interviewees were able to provide me with actual
experiences they had with families and multiple examples of how poverty
effected those families. I enjoyed getting the perspective of a nurse and a
counselor because their views had similarities, but some of their concerns
differed. I really thought that meeting with them in person and reading their
body language and facial expressions about certain questions was very telling,
I would have missed that piece if the interviews had been conducted in a
different manor. The only challenged I faced was finding common time to meet
with each of my interviewees. It seems that for over a week we would set up a
time to meet and then one of us could not meet due to a conflict that would
arise.
Mrs. Robison the school counselor I interviewed said,
“Interpersonal relationships are the key importance among the poverty
families.” I really thought about this statement and related it to families I
have worked with or currently work with. I realized how much truth is in this
statement. So many families ban together who live in poverty and their family
time and togetherness is extremely important to them and overrides just about
everything else. I really started to think about families who don’t find PTA
meetings important to attend or who never complete the Home School Connections
projects that are sent home with their child. They find that spending time with
their family members doing things they enjoy and have interest in are more
important. I had to think this idea even though from a teacher perspective I
don’t agree not attending events and not completing projects I now understand
the why.
As for the Course Project, I am working on the annotated
bibliography part 4. I have enjoyed reading many of the articles and searching
for ones that are applicable to my topic. I have sharpened my research skills
and scholarly level reading skills during this Course Project. I am still
working on my interviews and compiling the information I gather from them. The
interview part of the Course Project was the most rewarding for me. I am a
people person and enjoy sitting down and talking with others who have a passion
for helping children and their families.
When reflecting on the Course
Project as a whole one question I would like to pose is, “What types of coping strategies
would be beneficial for a family who is new to living in a poverty situation?”
