Addressing Social and Personal Issues Facing Young Learners

CEU Course Description

Part 1: The achievement gap between lower and higher socioeconomic classes is only widening. Due to the disparities caused by the cycle of poverty, legions of American children enter school each year with outsized struggles that make it very difficult for them to achieve at levels comparable to their higher-income peers. In some cases, the trauma and stress caused by childhood poverty may even cause physiological and psychological effects on poor students that can be with them their entire lives. 

Part 2: Bullying behavior may inflict harm or distress on the student being bullied through physical, psychological, social, or educational harm, and bulling can lead to health complaints, depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, negative impact on student’s educational opportunities, and loss of interest in activities. The purpose of this continuing education course, developed using information from the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, is to furnish the information and materials necessary to provide training to education staff on issues related to understanding and intervening in bullying behavior in the school setting.  The definition and characteristics of bullying are included as well as ideas and strategies for responding to bullying behavior.  In addition, bullying scenarios are presented, as well as activities and handouts that can be used as training for educators.

Part 3: The LGBTQ community at large has come a long way over the past decades, allowing individuals within the community to pursue fairness and freedoms which those living before them would not have imagined. However, this joy rarely extends to the younger members of the community—LGBTQ students in schools, for whom every hallway is a gauntlet. Prioritizing safety for these students will allow them to grow and become fully-realized, productive members of our global community. Doing nothing will result in tragic outcomes for these students and the LGBTQ community as a whole.

CEU Course Objectives

Part 1:

1. Shed light on the current state of the many American children suffering through poverty.
2. Investigate the ways that poverty can affect children’s health, education, and psychology in the short- and long-term.
3. Evaluate stress, its relationship to poverty, and what effects it can have on a child
4. Analyze the cycle of poverty and realize the impact it has on American families and their education
5. Discuss methods by which teachers can support impoverished children, their families, and promote opportunities for parents to be more involved in their child’s education.