Critical Issues In Ed Ashley Sapienza

Did you know that anxiety is the most common mental health disorder (Cardoza, 2016)? For this blog post, I created a Google slide on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). GAD is when you constantly worry and can't control it. Something I learned from making my slide was that some symptoms are headaches, nausea, trembling, poor concentration, etc. As for treatment, you can see a counselor, be put on medication, make some lifestyle changes, etc ( Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)  2023). As educators, it is important that we realize some students may suffer from GAD and there are some accommodations we can make for them. For example, allowing extra time on tests and homework because time limits can cause anxiety in students (Hammer, 2019). This is an easy accommodation we can make for students. Erin Berman says "anxiety feels no different if you're being chased by a lion or you have to go to school" (Cardoza, 2016). Students can look like they're paying attention bu...

  ( Cyberbully statistics are scary - get the facts  2022) Cyberbullying is a form of bullying online and unfortunately it happens all of the time. I am saddened to read that “the teen survey found that 46 percent of kids ages 13 to 17 had experienced at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors, while 28 percent have experienced multiple types” (Chang, 2022). This is a large percentage especially starting at such a young age. Some forms of cyberbullying can include name calling, spreading rumors, threats, etc. Cyberbullying can become so bad that it makes people want to commit suicide. In the documentary Dark Cloud: the high cost of cyberbullying , Amanda Todd took her life because of cyberbullying. In the documentary it said “I remember one of our participants in a study had a quote that really described it. It’s like a paper cut a thousand times every day” (Dupej & Embry, 2020). I find this quote to be really significant because unless you are being cyber bullied, you do...

  ( Grant announcement: FY2021 preventing school violence: BJA's stop school violence program ) In today's society, a common fear people have is school violence. Personally, I find it really sad and disheartening that this has become a common reality for a lot of people. After reading some articles and watching the documentary Bowling for Columbine, I found a lot of information to be surprising and not so surprising at all. School violence is “violence that occurs in the school setting. It describes violent acts that disrupt learning and have a negative effect on students, schools, and the broader community” (Preventing school violence, 2019). A type of school violence is the use of weapons. Unfortunately, we hear pretty often on the news about school shootings and how there was another one. Donna St. George said “there were 93 incidents with casualties at public and private schools in 2020-21, compared to 23 in the 2000-01 school year” (St. George, 2022). Looking back at old r...

      (Anch/AdobeStock)      A critical issue that we must consider as future educators is understanding gender diversity. It is important to realize that some students may not feel comfortable in their bodies. Gender diversity can be defined as " a term that addresses the spectrum of gender identities and expressions, including but not limited to:  Transgender—a person whose identity differs from the sex and gender assigned to them at birth.  Non-binary—a person who does not identify exclusively as a male and female. A non-binary person may identify as being both male and female, or not a part of either of these categories"  (Students exploring gender identity, 2021). The concept of gender diversity can be tricky. Therefore, there are many ways we as teachers can make  all students feel comfortable and seen. For example, changing your language can be a huge way of making students feel safe. Something you shouldn't do is " categoriz...