Brenner Oh Brenner

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological theory is a tough one.


http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/reports/krq2009/images/fig2.gif


We were challenged today to fill in the five systems of Bronfrenbrenner's ecological theory.

It was surprising how hard it was to identify the people and groups that directly or indirectly affect our lives.

The microsystem which resembles the people and social groups that most directly affect our lives was easy to acknowledge.

Mesosystem is pretty straight forward. But most crucial. "Meso" which means middle connects the exosystem with our microsystem. So what What ever happens to little Tommy that morning affects how he will behave and function in class that day when he walks in. I believe that if little Tommy has has a bad morning and comes in disrupting your class, a great teach will recognize his behaviour as an expression of this emotions and will try diffuse the situation, and try turn little Tommy's behaviour into a positive one.

I started my first year as an Teacher's Aid in November and was assigned a young man who was coded as ODD and lazy. He missed a lot of school, and was late most of the time. He spent his lunch recess in the "homework" room where he completed unfinished assignments.
Over time, I learned about his his likes and dislikes, gave him some slack when I thought he need some, and gained his trust.  It turned about that his home life situation was below acceptable and that was the reason for his behaviour. I truly believe kids want to behave and please their teachers, so if they are misbehaving it is worth investigating not just labeling the child.

The hardest to fill out was the exosystem and macrosystem. I did not realize how much of our outside influences that we can not control can also affect us. I believe it must be very hard on some of our kids to deal with the pressures of life. Little Tommy has just come over from another country and his parents are struggling to make ends meat and put food on the table. That is an actual reality for children here in Red Deer and I admire those kids that are still positive in tough times.