Use your observation skills to tell me about Mr. Hawkins. We were introduced to Mr. Hawkins in Chapter 1. Read about Mr. Hawkins in Jensen's book Teaching with Poverty in Mind on pages 5, 13, 46, 66, and 106.
Describe him. What do you think he is like?
What kind of a teacher is he?
Is he healthy in all the domains of health (physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental)?
Do you think he eats, sleeps, and exercises well?
Is he a good role model? Observe only from the pages listed above, and tell me a story about Chris Hawkins, the teacher.
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In Jensen’s book during the first three or so references to Mr. Hawkins, there is a total lack of understanding and ability to teach children of any class. He has no empathy towards his students and can not relate to anything about them. He classifies his students as almost substandard humans. I would never want my child to be in a classroom with a teacher who would regard any of his students as Mr. Hawkins does his lower social economic students. He does not find a positive in anything they accomplish. He seems to compare all students of low SES to only the bad examples he has encountered in his career. He looks forward to retirement in six years and hopes he can escape as fast as possible.
It seems that Mr. Hawkins does not view each child as an individual with the ability to learn or change. He thinks that if one sibling did something then the new younger sibling in his class is no better, and will accomplish only what the older one did. He is very judgmental towards people.
In the later chapters it appears that Mr. Hawkins has had an epiphany. He realizes that students can change, grow and accomplish things he did not believe possible. He learns that IQ’s and cognitive understanding are not set at birth but can be changed. He realizes he has only six years to help make the changes. He hopes that he can bring about change in his classroom, his students and in his school.
I think in the beginning of the book that Mr. Hawkins as described was depressed. I do not believe he was eating healthy, sleeping or exercising well. We know that he was raised in a good home with parents who were present and concerned about his welfare. It is assumed that he had the nutrition, shelter, social, environmental and intellectual needs met. However, he may not have had his emotional needs completely met as he was very quick to judge others, this could also lead readers to believe he had a deficit in his spiritual needs. He was not a good role model for his students or his peers in the earliest chapters; he had begun to think of change in the later ones. Whether the changes take effect and Mr. Hawkins actually follows through will have to be seen. It can be assumed that he will start to sleep and eat better. It would also be assumed that his emotional state will improve.
We know that Mr. Hawkins teaches in a high poverty secondary school. He has been teaching for 14 years and considers himself as a good teacher. He constantly complains about his students whether it’s behavioral problems, tardiness, disrespect, and hardly any motivation. Mr. Hawkins is a teacher that is ready for retirement in the first part of the book. Every story about Mr. Hawkins lets us know that he constantly thinks about retirement and far away it is for him. In chapter 2, we are informed that Mr. Hawkins did not grow up as a child of poverty. So he isn’t able to connect or relate to his students in his class. Instead of encouraging his students, he labels them and sets low expectations for them. When teaching children of poverty, we are supposed to encourage them, not label them, and also set high expectations so they can achieve. From reading this book, I think Mr. Hawkins is a teacher that just goes throughout the day dreaming about retirement. I feel as though he doesn’t care for his students because he sees them as failures. Mr. Hawkins isn’t very positive when it comes to his students or his teaching to his students. I think he is a teacher that doubts himself and his students. I think while he has this attitude; he is not a good role model. I would not want to be in his class because it’s hard to look up to someone that labels me and has low expectations for me. In chapter 5, he starts to realize there is hope for his students and the way he sees his students. He asks the question, “Do I have what it takes to succeed at working with kids from poverty?” He starts to reflect and changes the way he sees his students in order to teach them and be that role model for them. In chapter 2, he says his students depress him so that makes me think that he doesn’t eat, sleep, or exercise well. When it says he was depressed, I feel like he would have dreaded going to work and his life in general. I think the first part of the book tells me that he wasn’t healthy in all the domains of health like physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual and environmental. If he was healthy in all the domains of health, he would have acted and felt a lot differently than what he was like at the first of the book. In chapter 5, his domains of health will start to get healthy so he can better himself and his students. I feel like if he started to care for others; he will begin to care for himself also. I think in chapter 5 he begins to become a better teacher for his students. He will engage with them in activities, be a support system, and set goals for the class!
Mr. Hawkins is a teacher in a high poverty school and from the very first time we read about him we realized that sometimes teaching his students was frustrating to him. He has also been teaching for 14 years and he believes that he is a good teacher. Also it talks about how every week Mr. Hawkins hits a wall and gets frustrated with is students. The thing that he complains the most about is that his students are common complaints: Chronic tardiness, inappropriate behavior, and lack of motivation. He also keeps reminding himself that “Retirement is only six years away.” Also Mr. Hawkins grew up in a home life that was considered far from poor. It told us that the father was a colonel and the mother was a store manager.
He seemed to me to be a very firm teacher that was all about just learning the facts and not always about learning and teaching them in a way that was fun or challenging to all the students. He also seemed not to be able to relate to his students because he didn’t understand what it was like to be a child from poverty. He repeated over and over that he wanted to retire that reflected that it was just a job and wasn’t at that time enjoying his students. He would also get frustrated because he did not seem to be making changes in his student’s lives or was seeing the drop out rate lower.
If I had to describe if Mr. Hawkins was physically healthy I would say there was a possibility but he was always frustrated and seemed drained of energy. I don’t think that he was very social either just because the book talked about him listening to other teachers talk about their students, but never said that he would ask their advice for his classroom. It doesn’t really talk much on how spiritual or environmental he was. I do think that Mr. Hawkins was very intellectual though. He seemed like a very smart man and knew the facts to be able to teach in the classroom.
Mr. Hawkins by the end of the book seemed to be making great improvements in how he approached his students. He was more willing to say that their IQs are not fixed that they can be changed. He was also more willing to try new techniques that would help the students learn and help them desire to learn. Mr. Hawkins at the beginning was probably not the best role model, but by the end I think he had realized how to become that role model teacher. He learned how to incorporate all the domains in his classroom and he realized that it started with himself.
According to Dr. Jenson on Mr. Hawkins background is that he was born into a nice family. His dad was in the Air Force and his mother was a store manager (pg 13). He is now currently a teacher in a high-poverty secondary school. He struggles to understand what his students are going through because they are children in poverty. He never went through what they go through each day which is a setback for Mr. Hawkins in helping meet his students where they are. I think that Mr. Hawkins is a hard person to work with, because of his mind set discussed at the beginning of the book.
Mr. Hawkins is a teacher who is focused on the aspect of what he thinks his class should be doing. On page 46, he makes the comment, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” about one of his student’s parents. This comment is out of place and it seems that he thinks negative about his students. He has obviously lost his love of teaching, because he is constantly thinking about retirement.
Mr. Hawkins is not healthy in all the domains. He lacks self-motivation to increase his teaching for his students. He also does not have the confidence which is an emotional trait that he can help his students improve. He does however, have social interactions with his fellow teachers (pg 5). He more than likely is not getting enough sleep from worrying about what to do in his classroom. Mr. Hawkins lacks the right eating skills and exercise, because he is stressed and exercising is a way to relieve stress. Mr. Hawkins struggles to see the ability that his students have to achieve great things in the classroom. By his blindness of the situation he is more than likely not having his needs met in the intellectual domain because he does not have the information on his students about their situation in poverty. Toward the end of the book, however, it states that he has learned more about his students’ situations and that he has hope in helping them.
Mr. Hawkins would not be considered a good role model, because he has a lot of negativity. As a teacher it is vitally important to be optimistic about your students’ abilities in the classroom. If Mr. Hawkins had faith in his students to begin with he would have learned how to develop a curriculum to best meet their needs instead of focusing on his own. Mr. Hawkins has improved throughout the pages, because he finally can see how to help his classroom be a learning domain. He starts to see his students as people instead of children of poverty.
Mr. Hawkins is a selfish, grumpy, hopeless, discouraging and skeptical person. That is the feeling I get when I read the introductions on pages 5, 1, 46, 66 and 106. I think he chose the wrong career in life. It should have been no signs of despair or frustration when working with children of poverty. The only thing he focused on was when his retirement time approached. No matter what situations took place in his classroom each day, Mr. Hawkins should have kept his head up and encourage himself as well as his students. He is the kind of teacher who just works because he is getting paid to do so. Also he gets through his day and week dwelling on how close he gets to retire. I do not think he is healthy in all of the domains of health. If were to be healthy his physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual and environmental all would be positive and not negative. In order for your students to succeed they need help from their teacher. Mr. Hawkins had no motivation to deal with children of poverty. This display most certain confirms why he is not a good role model. If Mr. Hawkins received enough sleep, exercised and ate properly then maybe he wouldn’t feel the way he did every day. He wouldn’t complain to his colleagues but he would rejoice with them and get through his day finding solutions to helping his children. When being a students’ role model you have to kind of put yourself in a position and think who would I want to lead me the correct and positive way in my life? If Mr. Hawkins did his research on working with children of poverty then he probably would have comprehended and exposed to the environment these children encounter at home with their family and what they bring into school atmosphere. Mr. Hawkins is living in his own little world and not thinking about the important thing which is encouraging, caring, loving, hoping and other positive terms to push the children of poverty forward. On page 106 Mr. Hawking starts to gain some hope, this is a problem to me because having hope should have been his motive from the start. I am glad though he did realize how much a teacher can impact a young person’s life. He asked himself “Do I have what it takes to succeed at working with kids from poverty?” He started to see “those kids” as “his kids” which I felt was the right path he should lead on to. If Mr. Hawkins keeps improving and having the right mind set and attitude, then he Is fine with me!
Mr. Hawkins seems to be very unaware of the amount of children that live in poverty. He seems to have little patience for his students, because he does not understand them. He grew up in an upper class home, and never had to worry about the little things in life. He gets angry easily, and doesn’t take the time to understand his students.
Mr. Hawkins is a frustrated teacher. He complains a lot about his students. Mr. Hawkins does not understand why his students are always late for class or have no motivation to get work done. He grew up way differently than his current students, so of course his understanding of their lives is much different. Mr. Hawkins is doubtful that his students can change. He has seen the life cycle of children repeat, and his former students end up just like their parents are. I have also observed that Mr. Hawkins is a slow learner. He does begin to realize that his students can change, and he sees a new understanding about their learning. Mr. Hawkins sees a problem with the school environment, but believes he can do something about it.
Mr. Hawkins is definitely not healthy in all the domains of health. He lacks emotions. One can see this through the way he treats his students. He is not understanding of their home life situation, and believes it should not affect their learning. It does affect their learning though. Mr. Hawkins is also unhealthy in the spiritual domain of health. He does not get excited about learning, nor does he know how to spiritually lift students up. All student, and especially those who live in poverty, need to be lifted up at school, because school may not mean as much to them when they are at home. He needs to show them excitement, because that will make them excited to learn. Mr. Hawkins lacks intellectual as well, because it is evident that he does not know much about children of poverty. Instead of being understanding of their actions, he automatically believes it is their own fault. He has no clue that students of poverty have little resources, or do not get the enthusiasm of school at home.
I do not think that Mr. Hawkins eats, sleeps, and exercises well. From reading the passages about him in the book, it is clearly seen that he is often frustrated with his students. It is evident that he has little patience for his students, especially those who live in poverty. He is discouraged by his students. If Mr. Hawkins eats healthy and gets more hours of sleep at night, he may have more energy for his students. This may put him in a better mood. Also, exercising might help get his aggression and anger out, so he doesn’t take it out on his students at school.
At the beginning of the book, where Mr. Hawkins’s negative aspects are portrayed, I do not think he is a positive role model. It is evident that he does care for his students, which is a definitely not how a teacher should act. He has little patience. Mr. Hawkins has a classroom of students who are mainly children of poverty. They don’t have as many opportunities as other students. Mr. Hawkins never comes to class smiling, because he does not want to be there. He basically teaches all day, and then leaves everything in that classroom until the next morning. His barely matter to him while he is in school. He just doesn’t understand the students. He is depressed because he is at school daily. Mr. Hawkins finally learns how to teach his students, and better understand them. He has talked to other school focusing on teaching students of poverty. He has a better understanding of their differences. His new found understanding of students does make him a role model. He is teaching his students that they can change, and become more accepting of other students, like he has.
Mr. Hawkins is a history teacher of a high-poverty school. He has been teaching for 14 years and gets frustrated with his students who are always tardy, lack motivation and behave inappropriately. Mr. Hawkins comes from a rich family and he doesn't understand what it is like to live in poverty. His students have depressed and discouraged him, he now looks forward to retirement which is only six years away. He has seen other teachers have a positive affect on their students and he doesn't know how they do it. Mr. Hawkins learned students cognitive capacity can be improved and he found schools who have succeeded. He then changed his mind and became hopeful in changing his students.
I think Mr. Hawkins is a good teacher who cares about his students but got discouraged by his students behavior and by the fact that he had no solution to help his students. From the pages that were assigned I can not say for sure how healthy he is. I believe he is healthy, the information given does not suggest otherwise. He is caring teacher so he must have intellectual health. He has been teaching for 14 years so he should be in good physical health. He displays the right emotions when dealing with his students. At first he is discouraged and frustrated but then he is optimistic and hopeful, which are normal emotions for a teacher in his position to have. I believe he does sleep, eat, and exercise. In order to be a teacher you have to be alert and energetic. I believe he is a good role model, more so at the end because he has hope for his students. He is also hopeful that he can take action in order to help them. These actions will help not only help his students but other teachers as well who may be in his situation and they can learn from him. Mr. Hawkins students will look to him for guidance because he is helping them. He could have just sat there and given up, but he didn't.
Mr. Hawkins is very negative towards children of poverty. He does not believe there is anything that can be done to save the student. He is probably teaching just to get by at this point and no longer trying to make his students’ lessons fun or interactive. He probably is afraid of some of his students and lets them do whatever they want during class just so they do not get angry and act out in his class. I feel like he has been seriously affected by the way his students act and has completely given up on being a great teacher because of this.
He is definitely not emotionally healthy. He gets seriously frustrated with his students when they are late, unmotivated, and act out. In my opinion, he should find a way to make them want to be in class and learn. The way he talks about his teaching experiences and his students shows he is not socially connected with them in any way. We have learned that for students to have a better learning experience they need a healthy relationship with their teacher and I feel like Mr. Hawkins does not give this to his students. His environment is also not healthy. He seems in a way, frightened by his students because they act out so much. He is just looking forward to when he gets to leave this environment in six years when he retires. No teacher who loves his or her students and job would be looking forward to retirement. He is not healthy in all domains of health.
I doubt Mr. Hawkins eats, sleeps, or exercises well because if he did, he would have the energy to get his class motivated and excited about school and learning. He would find ways to get them ready to learn each day. His students would feel his excitement and they would begin to feel it too. They can more than likely sense how he feels about being at school with them and it makes them not want to be there any more than he does.
For teachers, he is not a good role model. When he hears his colleagues tell stories of how they have helped their students he does not fully believe them. “He is skeptical” since he does not see any kind of changes in students. When I read about this, I wonder exactly how much effort he has actually made to promote some kind of change in his students. He even has the idea that children will be just like their parents. This is completely wrong. No one HAS to be just like his or her parent and when teachers only expect what a child’s parent was like then of course no change would be seen because Mr. Hawkins is not trying to see is. I feel like Mr. Hawkins has given up on trying to see changes anyways. He is ready for retirement and that is his one and only goal in my opinion.
I think Mr. Hawkins is a middle class white man. I think he is married with a family and lives in a nice neighborhood. After hearing about his family background and how he came from a better off family I can understand why Chris Hawkins felt the way he did about his students at the beginning of his book. Chris had never experienced what poverty was before or what it could do to people so he didn’t understand why his students were acting the way they were. Chris seems like his family is wealth off as well and his kids probably go to a nicer school where they don’t anyone who has been affected by poverty.
I think when Mr. Hawkins first started teaching he was most likely excited about his job as a teacher. It seems like as the years went on Chris has been more beat down year after year. As the years have gone on Chris has ran into the same types of students that have caused him headache after headache. Instead of trying to figure out what the problem was and how to fix it he just grouped them together as the bad kids. After grouping them as the bad kids he pretty much gave up on them. It seems like he just went to school in the morning and did the bare minimum of what was required of him. He was just going through the motions of being a teacher instead of investing himself in his job. He spent more time counting down the years til retirement instead of spending the time to get to know his students. As the book went on I felt like Mr. Hawkins opened his eyes more to what was going on in his classroom. He was able to learn more about poverty and his students. After getting to learn more about poverty and why his students act the way they do he was able to change his mind set and get more invested in his work.
I think he is healthy in all domains in health except for environmental. I say environmental because he didn’t no much about poverty. Poverty counts for his environment because he teaches in a school with students who are affected by poverty. Physically I think he stays in shape because since he is so well off he most likely has a gym membership and values health. Socially I think he is healthy as well because he was brought up in a well off family and had good social connections. As well as being married with children he must be social. Emotionally I think he is okay but could be better. I say this because at the beginning of the book he was counting down the years till retirement and now he wants to do everything he can before his six years are up. Spiritually and intellectually I think he is healthy because of the way he was brought up and how he lives now. I think he eats, sleep, and exercises well because he is better off and has time to do all of it.
At the beginning of the book I would have said that he is not a good role model because he was just going through the motions of teaching. Now toward the end of the book I would say he is turning into a role model. He is turning into a role model because he realized that he needed to open his eyes to things that may be different from what he knows. Once he opened his eyes he was able to learn more about his students and get involved. Chris learned that poverty affected his students in many different ways. After learning about these facts he was willing to make a change in himself to work with his students. This makes him a role model because he was able to make changes to better himself and others.
Describe him. What do you think he is like?
Mr. Hawkins is a teacher of children of poverty. He is not used to dealing with poverty because he grew up well off. I think that he is upset about the way his students behave because he does not understand what they have been through. Mr. Hawkins is a middle class citizen who has led a fairly good life. He has never struggled with poverty making it difficult for him to empathize with his students. He is an understanding man but becomes frustrated when pushed to the limit. Mr. Hawkins wants to be a good teacher but with most of his career behind him he is just ready to retire.
What kind of a teacher is he?
Mr. Hawkins is a teacher who initially does not understand his students. He is fed up with their behavior and is ready to retire. However, Mr. Hawkins does get to know his students and attempts to make an understanding of why they act and behave the way they do. I believe that this makes Mr. Hawkins a better teacher. Although he is tired of behavior problems and is ready to retire he makes the effort to get to know his students. This will help him to understand and empathize with his students and what they have gone through. I believe that in the long run this will make Mr. Hawkins a better teacher because he will understand how his students can learn.
Is he healthy in all the domains of health (physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental)?
I believe that Mr. Hawkins is a fairly healthy man. He was raised with a father who was in the military so it is very likely that he grew up learning how to be physically healthy. His father would have to train often to be in the military and would probably be physically healthy and he would in turn have expected his son about how to be a healthy man as well. Mr. Hawkins’ mother was a store manager which gives the impression that he probably did not move around a lot growing up. He was probably raised in a community with the same people whom he knew well. This probably helped Mr. Hawkins to be socially healthy. Mr. Hawkins had two parents who worked so he may have spent time at home alone often while growing up. This could possibly have had a negative effect on his emotional help which could serve as an example of why he becomes easily frustrated in the classroom. However, his parents would have been able to support him financially and always have meals and the proper clothing and necessities readily available which could support Mr. Hawkins’ health. I believe that his growing up in the same community his entire life could have helped his spiritual and environmental health because he would have been very comfortable in his home setting. I also think that Mr. Hawkins is intellectually healthy. His parents both having a career would probably set the standard of them expecting him to do well in school and go on to be successful in his own career.
Do you think he eats, sleeps, and exercises well?
I think Mr. Hawkins eats, sleep, and exercises well. He grew up with a father who was in the military. As I said before his father would have had to train regularly in the military which would set a good example for Mr. Hawkins early in life. He would have seen that exercising is an important way to stay healthy which could have helped to develop a healthy habit early in life. I think that he sleeps well because having a job as a teacher does not require you to work excruciating hours. He has weekends and afternoons to stay up to date which extra work such as grading papers so there likely would not be any reason that he would be unable to find the time to sleep at night. I think that Mr. Hawkins probably eats well because growing up with a family who was able to support him financially probably ensured there was always a meal on the table for him. Even through college his family was probably able to support him and he would have been able to provide for himself after college.
Is he a good role model? Observe only from the pages listed above, and tell me a story about Chris Hawkins, the teacher.
I believe that Mr. Hawkins is a good role model because even though he is fed up with his students’ behavior he does not completely give up on them. He has this reoccurring thought that he cannot wait to retire but even after this he continues to research and think about his students of poverty. He eventually decides that he wanted to make a change and help these students to succeed. I think he is an excellent role model because he shows his students that you should not give up no matter how frustrated you become.
Mr. Hawkins is particularly interested in one of his students. Martin often acts out in class and seems to enjoy arguing with students and teachers. Mr. Hawkins does not know what to do about Martin so he confronts some of the other teachers with the problem. Ms. Shirley, one of Mr. Hawkins coworkers, has an idea that she thinks may work for Martin. Mr. Hawkins and Ms. Shirley stage an argument in front of the class which the students think to be real. After acting very immaturely, their students are amazed. Mr. Hawkins and Ms. Shirley continue to act unreasonably towards each other, in turn, showing Martin and the other students how ridiculous they look when they behave this way. In the end, Mr. Hawkins and Ms. Shirley stage a “make up” where they behave very maturely and pretend to make up. The two have given the class an example what they look like when they are arguing and the proper way to resolve a conflict. Martin sees from this example and although his arguing with classmates does not immediately stop it does begin to happen less frequently. Martin seems more embarrassed when he is shouting loudly at a classmate because he remembers how foolish his teachers looked when they were doing the same thing. Mr. Hawkins also begins to teach the class about conflict resolution and has short lessons on how to control anger. Mr. Hawkins believes that this will help his students to begin showing each other more respect in the classroom.
Describe him. What do you think he is like?
I think he is somewhere in his fifties since he is only six years away from retirement. He shows signs of his age with how he lives his life. He doesn’t show much passion which is needed in education. He comes from a background of a secure middle class family.
What kind of a teacher is he?
I feel that in the beginning of the book he’s a dismissive teacher, and by that I mean a teacher that doesn’t fully investigate or learn about things, so he just takes things at face value. He also doesn’t try and motivate his students and inspire them to get out of the patterns he’s noticed. Towards the end he begins to shift towards a productive can do attitude about his student’s situations.
Is he healthy in all the domains of health (physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental)?
I think he is worn down, and this comes from unhealthiness in the emotional and spiritual realm. The other domains are most likely affected by the deficit in the emotional and spiritual plane.
Do you think he eats, sleeps, and exercises well?
There is no way to tell any of these things, but I think he most likely doesn’t sleep well. The problems he talks about seem like the kind that would keep you up at night.
Is he a good role model? Observe only from the pages listed above, and tell me a story about Chris Hawkins, the teacher.
In the beginning, no he isn’t a good role model. He doesn’t believe in his student’s ability to accomplish or become more then a stereotype. Towards the end of the book, he is revamping himself to become a more positive role model.
After reading about Mr. Hawkins I don’t think he is a bad teacher. I just think he was raised in an environment where poverty was never an issue and he was never introduced to the poverty and how it affects children. Without knowing how poverty affects students he began to think that the students in the area just didn’t care and didn’t want to learn and started becoming frustrated and believed there was nothing he could to help. What I think makes Mr. Hawkins a great teacher is that even after his initial opinion about the students he learned how greatly poverty affects kids and began to change his point of view. He began to realize that the kids did care they just needed his help more than other students that come from a home of higher SES. He began to believe that his students could learn and wanted to learn and wanted his help. I do think Mr. Hawkins is a good role model now. To be able to have such a strong negative opinion and have it turned around to a strong positive opinion on the students show a lot of character. When it comes to Mr. Hawkins’ overall health I don’t think I have enough information to say if he is healthy or not but I do believe that Mr. Hawkins changed his health habits. I think Mr. Hawkins went from going home and watching T.V late ever night to coming home and trying to figure out a way to help his students and better further their education. He started getting a full nights sleep because he wanted to be better rested when working with the children and he was also able to sleep better knowing that he is making a difference and is less stressed.
After reading about Mr. Hawkins I don’t think he is a bad teacher. I just think he was raised in an environment where poverty was never an issue and he was never introduced to the poverty and how it affects children. Without knowing how poverty affects students he began to think that the students in the area just didn’t care and didn’t want to learn and started becoming frustrated and believed there was nothing he could to help. What I think makes Mr. Hawkins a great teacher is that even after his initial opinion about the students he learned how greatly poverty affects kids and began to change his point of view. He began to realize that the kids did care they just needed his help more than other students that come from a home of higher SES. He began to believe that his students could learn and wanted to learn and wanted his help. I do think Mr. Hawkins is a good role model now. To be able to have such a strong negative opinion and have it turned around to a strong positive opinion on the students show a lot of character. When it comes to Mr. Hawkins’ overall health I don’t think I have enough information to say if he is healthy or not but I do believe that Mr. Hawkins changed his health habits. I think Mr. Hawkins went from going home and watching T.V late ever night to coming home and trying to figure out a way to help his students and better further their education. He started getting a full nights sleep because he wanted to be better rested when working with the children and he was also able to sleep better knowing that he is making a difference and is less stressed.
312-Brigman Health Blog # 9
Mrs. Hawkins is a history teacher in a high poverty secondary primary school. He comes with 14 years of teaching experience. He grew up in at least a middle class family, his father worked in the U.S. Air force, and his mother a store manager.
Mr. Hawkins appears to be or get discouraged by his students. He is quoted to say that the cycle always repeats itself, or the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. He admits to get depressed or discouraged by his student’s home situations. He is also very skeptical of change within his students.
Mr. Hawkins apparently never had “poverty” classes like we do at Francis Marion University, because he appears to be very naive when it comes to children of poverty. He just says that his students are just like their parents or siblings, and won’t change. When in reality yes they may be a lot like their parents and siblings but your students do still have a mind of their own and can think and do for themselves. Therefore; your students can choose to work hard and gain a good education, if they know you care about them.
I don’t think that Mr. Hawkins manages his health very well. He seems to get very stressed out by his students, and looks forward to his retirement. So therefore, I feel like he is most likely not exercising, managing his stress properly, or keeping up his health spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.
I also would not say that Mrs. Hawkins is a good role model. I feel like a role model that I would want my child to look up to is a person who knows that all children can learn, regardless of home situation, mental state or anything else.
Although towards the end of the book, page 106 I do believe that Mr. Hawkins begins to see “the Light.” I think that here he starts to see that he needs to change, and that poverty can affect children in more ways than you can see. It affects everything! Here Mr. Hawkins changed his thinking and begins to wonder what he can do, and instead of looking forward to retirement he is wondering if he can change his students in the time he has left. At this point I would say that Mr. Hawkins knowledge has expanded as a teacher of children of poverty, and if beginning to become a good role model.
I am thankful that I have gotten extra exposure and education about children of poverty in my study’s at Francis Marion, because now I feel like I can go into my teaching career where Mr. Hawkins ended. Knowledgeable, excited, and ready to change children’s lives, and ready to make more and more children excited about learning. Because I know that all children can learn and can change.
Chris Hawkins is a veteran teacher who has taught for fourteen years in a high-poverty secondary school. He grew up from a well off family where his father was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force and his mother was a store manager. Growing up in this way limited his contact with people of poverty and as a teacher he has struggled with how to deal with his students from poverty.
Because of his struggles teaching these children and the hopelessness he has felt he looked forward to his retirement that is only six years away. His colleagues have expressed their joy with the students that they have been able to reach and helped improve their lives. He feels skeptical of the change. He feels that it is a hopeless cycle that only repeats.
He decides to look into this and see if there is anything to this change that his colleagues have talked about. Through research he realizes that the challenges the students face cannot be fixed but they can be improved with the right methods. He says, “There might be something I can do before retirement. That’s only six years from now.” (p. 66) Mr. Hawkins’ attitude toward his students has changed greatly and he now looks at himself and is reflecting on what he himself can do to improve their situation and help his students learn all that he can teach them. He asks himself, “Do I have what it takes to succeed at working with kids from poverty?”(p. 106)
I believe that in the past he just taught to the class and he didn’t really teach them. He didn’t try to relate with the children and try to connect with them. I believe once he realized that research showed hope of change he was encouraged to try new strategies to help the students and better their lives. He views his career differently. I believe he can be a good role model now that he sees how to do it. He is a healthy person. From his background and his knowledge he should be in good physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental health. Especially now with his new education he has learned from his research.
In Dr. Jensen’s book we meet Mr. Hawkins, a history teacher at a high poverty school. When were first introduced to Mr. Hawkins he is a teacher who gets depressed from his job and cannot wait for retire, because his students are hard to deal with. With the little information that is provided about him, you can tell that he grew up in a healthy family environment with both support from both parents, and never wanted for anything. From the information about his life growing up, Mr. Hawkins is probably physically fit, has a good education, and plays sports. He may also partake in hobbies such as reading, chess, collecting things, fishing, and sports. Mr. Hawkins, thanks to his parents, knows the importance of healthy eating habits, exercising, and getting the proper amount of sleep. Although he knows these things, how he feels about his class does seem like it might get in his way of sleep. I believe that he is healthy in all the domains of life. In the later pages Mr. Hawkins become a better role model for his students because he tries his best to understand and encourage them. He also tries new strategies that he learns about from his colleagues.
When I think about Mr. Hawkins and the type of teacher he is I see a tall and overweight man. He seems as if he would have a very boring classroom with little color or life. His goal is to just get to the end of his retirement and in the beginning, only cares about reaching his retirement. His complaints about his children in poverty are constant and degrading. It is likely that because he was not exposed to the poverty lifestyle, it is now hurting him as a teacher. He struggles to find a connection with his students and believes that his students will always end up in the same position that their family is in stating, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” The excitement that he sees in other teachers around the school puzzles him and he does not understand how they are being able to get through to their students. It is when he learns how it is poverty that creates the negative results in the classroom that he decides to take a step back and think about what he could do. The fact that “cognitive capacity, is not fixed but can be improved” gives him the hope that he needs to try and make a difference. Mr. Hawkins begins to reflect on just what he could do and begins to see it as “our kids” instead of “those kids.” He wonders if there will be enough time to make the impact needed before his retirement.
In the beginning I believe that Mr. Hawkins lacked physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental health. He failed to interact with his students in any of these domains and refused to reflect on himself to see what he could do to better himself and his classroom. I do not think that he eats, sleeps, or exercises how he should because if he does not care about his job and doing it properly, he probably does not care about how he carries himself. The fact that he does not care about the well-being of his students, shows how selfish he is about himself.
I do not think that Mr. Hawkins is a good role model to his students. He creates an image to his students that they already live at home. His job as a teacher is to give them the attention and love that they are not able to receive away from school. He chooses to do the bare minimum and does not let his students know that they can change the cycle themselves. Their school environment is much like the environment that they face every day at home. Mr. Hawkins must take that extra time to reflect more on what he is doing to his students and put himself in his student’s shoes. He should try his best to give his students the same opportunities that he had as a child and let them know that they are just as capable as everyone else.
Mr. Hawkins is a discouraged educator. He does not find much enjoyment in educating, even after teaching for 14 years. He looks at teaching as going into a battlefield. Mr. Hawkins is often frustrated, discouraged, and depressed. Mr. Hawkins is someone who came from a well off family; he did not know the struggle of children of poverty. As a result of learning their struggles, Mr. Hawkins became depressed and discouraged. Mr. Hawkins is counting down the days to his retirement, because of his lack of motivation. He is very skeptical when other teachers mention their students’ achievement. Mr. Hawkins does not believe the students are advancing educationally, and strongly believes that. Mr. Hawkins is a horrible teacher. Due to his lack of motivation, his concern for his students’ success is low. Whether the children succeed or fail is not a major concern for him because he does not care about the students. Mr. Hawkins has a negative view of his students because of their tardiness, bad behavior, and lack of motivation. I think Mr. Hawkins should change is view of the students and the way he approaches teaching them. If Mr. Hawkins was successful at teaching there could be fewer problems with tardiness, bad conduct, and motivation. The students may actually be excited to attend his class, want to pay attention, and most importantly be on time.
When Mr. Hawkins does not have a clear understanding he becomes less motivated. Mr. Hawkins didn’t understand the learning process of children of poverty when he began his teaching career, so he lacked the motivation to successfully teach and care for his students. After becoming aware of their learning process and brain development, his skeptic beliefs changed. Mr. Hawkins became open to improving the cognitive capacity of his students and wanted to make a change before his retirement. That gave Mr. Hawkins purpose. Before all that mattered to Mr. Hawkins was retirement, now his purpose is to make the learning of his students better.
Before Mr. Hawkins had his epiphany I don’t think he ate, slept, or exercised well. Mr. Hawkins did not seem happy with his life, when most people suffer from depression their health begins to fail. It is possible that Mr. Hawkins ate unhealthy, did not exercise well, or sleep well because of the issues he had with himself. After realizing his greater purpose and gaining motivation, I do believe there was an improvement in Mr. Hawkins health, the way he ate, slept, and exercised. Mr. Hawkins was happier and had enthusiasm so he could have begun to care for his health.
The Mr. Hawkins from the beginning of the story was not a good role model at all. The characteristics he posed were not healthy ones, and the ideas of his students were not positive either. Mr. Hawkins was not someone who students would want to epitomize because he seemed like an unhappy person. The person Mr. Hawkins is becoming is a great role model; he shows that people can change. Some students may think they are who they are and there is nothing they can do about it, when looking at Mr. Hawkins and observing his change, the student may gain hope. The person that Mr. Hawkins has become shows that change is never too far away, you just have to want it.
I feel Mr. Hawkins is a narrow-minded individual. I also feel Mr. Hawkins choose to be a teacher without thinking about if that was truly what he was meant to be. Mr. Hawkins seems to have some issues that I feel he needs to deal with outside the classroom. Everyone has bad days but if he is having a bad day every week that may not be good for his students. Mr. Hawkins may know his subject matter and be able to teach his students what they need to know in his subject matter, but if he doesn’t show confidence in them and have a positive outlook on what they can accomplish, his students may fail. I feel that from his negative outlook on life he is not an adequate role model because he doesn’t seem to be very positive. Mr. Hawkins changes towards the end which makes me think that 2/3 of the way through his career, he has finally seen what teaching is all about and because a good teacher and role model. I also feel that Mr. Hawkins is not healthy in all domains because he seems to lack social, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health. If he had adequate social and environmental health, he would talk to his colleagues and see what he could do different in his classroom. Also, his spiritual and emotional health improved but I feel everyone can constantly improve their spiritual and emotional health. I feel that Mr. Hawkins is not eating, sleeping, or exercising the way he should (or a combination) and that is why he acts the way he does. Mr. Hawkins is improving but needs to continue to work not only for his self and health but for his students and colleagues.
Use your observation skills to tell me about Mr. Hawkins. We were introduced to Mr. Hawkins in Chapter 1. Read about Mr. Hawkins in Jensen's book Teaching with Poverty in Mind on pages 5, 13, 46, 66, and 106.
Describe him. What do you think he is like?
I think Mr. Hawkin's is a middle aged white male who believed at one point there's no hope for them. I believe there was a point he felt as if I am doing my job what more can I do? If the kids haven't gotten it or learned by now theres not much I can help with. I also believe that he is a man that allows his surroundings to determine his success before his change. It seems as though he problem was with the children at first versus him taking a look at his teaching strategies as well as as to get to know his students versus immediate judgement. Mr. Hawkin's changed for the better proving that he actually cared for the students over his paycheck at the end. It see,s as though he realized that he is a role model and if he continues to bring and begin the day with negativity and look at the glass as half empty versus half full he will continuously b unhappy at his career rather than being efficient.
What kind of a teacher is he?
After his internal change as well as educating himself, I believe Mr. Hawkins' could possibly be a phenomenal teacher as well as role model for other teachers in his school. I also believe he represents a vast amount of teachers who currently work ing in the education system. I believe that Mr. Hawkins housed the feelings of numerous teachers than span the globe dealing with similar situations. He's that teacher who looks forward to the bell ringing at 3pm, that teacher who regrets going into work everyday but does it only for the pay and benefits not caring how effective their strategies are in the classroom. At the begin he as more sympathetic and allowed poverty to be a scapegoat as to why students weren't succeeding but he then switched to empathic and began to understand the affects of poverty and the need of him to make a difference.
Is he healthy in all the domains of health (physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental)?
No I don't believe he is healthy in all domains. As far as physical fitness yes he may just be, socially I believe he needs to broaden his social circle and listen to people who have experienced poverty, as well as able to remove him from his comfort zone. Emotionally I am unsure whether he is healthy or not, it seems as if he is moving towards being healthy in this domain as well as intellectually by educating himself on current issues and coping methods as well as dealing with his own biases. Spiritually I am unsure of as well considering there is nothing in his descriptions to even tell if he is spiritually active at all. Environmentally no, I believe h needs to continuously surround himself with like minded teachers to improve and keep his motivation high as well provide a support system when times get had versus allowing him to slide back into the retirement mentality.
Do you think he eats, sleeps, and exercises well?
After the stresses he deals with at school, I do not believe that he sleeps or eats well let alone exercises. There seems to be no true way for him to relieve his daily stressors so normal important routines my often get omitted when dealing with constant classroom stress.
Is he a good role model? Observe only from the pages listed above, and tell me a story about Chris Hawkins, the teacher.
Overall, the new Mr. Hawkin's to me is an awesome role model features. He shows how educating yourself about your students can change your perspective on your career. Its ok to take a look at areas of improvement that may be needed starting with self. Instead o blaming the victim, why not start with self and change your own mentality to see yo it will affect e classroom. That is exactly what Mr. Hawkin's did. He bean to look at things in a different perspective identifying areas that needed growth and making the necessary changes. To me that is a wonderful role model, educating self, learning from past mistakes, and implementing strategies that increase one's efficiency which will lead to ones increase in success.
After reading about Mr. Hawkins, I believe that he is a judgmental teacher. He doesn’t think that the students in his classroom can succeed. He has no idea about Children of Poverty and doesn’t know how to go about teaching them in a correct matter. It seems like he does not encourage his students to do their best. There is a lack of motivation from Mr. Hawkins to his students. He is not as caring and supportive as he should be. Children of Poverty have to be understood in order to be taught correctly. Mr. Hawkins knows very little about Children of Poverty because he is from a high SES. I think he is mean to his students and may act nonchalantly towards them. I don’t believe he is dedicated and would much rather teach in a school with children from better backgrounds. From reading the passages about Mr. Hawkins it seems like he is the type of teacher that is mean to his students and has the same attitudes his students display.
He seems like the type of teacher that doesn’t offer much assistance to his students. Mr. Hawkins has not built positive relationships with his students and there is a lack of trust between him and the students. It doesn’t seem like the students open up to Mr. Hawkins and neither does he. Mr. Hawkins comes off as a teacher who is not always cooperative with his students and only when he feels he need to.
Because Mr. Hawkins is not from a low SES, I believe that he makes healthy eating habits. He seems like he gets the adequate amount of exercise and physical activity. Socially he may not be as healthy as he can be because he isn’t very sociable with his students. Mr. Hawkins does not take the time to build relationships and get to know his students so his social health may not be up to par. Emotionally and Spiritually, I believe Mr. Hawkins is a healthy individual. His upbringing and being from a high SES family has taught Mr. Hawkins how to have good emotional and spiritual health. He is a very smart man but he does not display his intellectual abilities to his students. I believe he is healthy when it comes to intellectual health but he does not know how to use it in a positive way to better his students. Also, Mr. Hawkins seems to be environmentally healthy. He is an educated man so he should know how to keep the environment healthy and safe. He lives in an area where the environment is positive even though he doesn’t help the environment in which his students live in. I believe that Mr. Hawkins eat, sleep, and exercise well. He is from a high SES family and people from that type of background practice healthy eating, get adequate rest, and the right amount of exercise.
Mr. Hawkins is not a positive role model. He does not do things that he should to make the learning experience better for his students. Mr. Hawkins doesn’t know much about Children of Poverty and the needs of each one of them. He isn’t a positive role model because he hasn’t built healthy and positive relationships with his students. He looks at them as if they can’t be helped and a paycheck. Mr. Hawkins is not a positive role model because the things he learned about his students depressed and discouraged him. He is too judgmental towards his students. He doesn’t see change in his students and always look at retirement as six years away. He can’t be a positive role model with a negative attitude towards his students. He has to show love, support, care, and he has to listen to them.
Mr. Hawkins is a very self-centered young teacher. He does not put value in those students he sees as underachieving. He values things like education and good behavior, but does not see the connection between children’s socio-economic class and their ability to achieve. Although people around him tell him these things he refuses to listen. Mr. Hawkins is incredibly egotistical. He feels as if he knows everything there is to know about education and looks down upon those students and teachers that he views outside of his norm. He repeats the same mantra to himself, “six more years until retirement.” As a classroom teacher you should not ever be thinking how much longer before you can quit. Emotionally, socially, and intellectually, Mr. Hawkins is unhealthy. He looks down upon those teachers who are enthusiastic about their job, he is unhappy with his work life, and refuses to look at research and studies about children of poverty until they are virtually smacked into his face. Although Mr. Hawkins grows and changes through the book, the damage he has done to so many students before is rectifiable. Instead of listening to those around him and trying his best to work with these students, he stereotyped, and quit. As a teacher he should have gotten to know his students, he should have tried to understand. If he had some one on one time with these students and their parents in a judgment free zone then I’m sure he would have made progress long before he did. In terms of reaching a child, you only have one real shot to do it, although Mr. Hawkins behavior turned around his students aren’t going to trust him because he has proven in the past that he does not care about them. Mr. Hawkins has been both a bad and good role model for future teachers. Mr. Hawkins shows the value in reflective practices, as well as doing research in the field. He fails in some aspects as well. As a teacher you are supposed to walk into a classroom with no pre-conceived notions about your students. Yesterday was yesterday and today is today. We look at everyday differently and act accordingly. Mr. Hawkins does not do this. He sees his students as in capable of changing and wants to quit as soon as possible. Although his opinion eventually changes, he was not a good role model to his students or the other teachers.
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