Beyond the Blackboard

I watched this movie "Beyond the Blackboard" last night. The movie is based on a true story about Stacy Bess and her first job teaching at a homeless shelter in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ms. Bess is not told she would be working with homeless children, only that she will be working at a new school and was given the address. At first, Ms. Bess thinks she is in the wrong place since the address is an old warehouse. She meets the substitute teacher who is very frustrated and hands Ms. Bess the keys as she walks out. Basically the school consisted of the children watching videos all day and a little behavior management. There are no supplies, desks, books or lesson plans. Ms. Bess is overwhelmed and does not know what to do. She could not really relate to the children. For example she brought her photo album of her vacation and the children had never been on a vacation. Also the children were hungry and had a difficult time focusing. Parents did not always get the children to school on time or would pull the children out of school to do chores.

Ms. Bess contacts the person who hired her and is told to deal with it the best she can. Ms. Bess continues to try and contacts the superintendent who actually helps her get supplies, desks, and books. This helps Ms. Bess but the children need more. Ms. Bess is doing for the children, but it is not until she involves the parents that she becomes really successful with the children. She learned she should not do for but to do with the family to be successful. She spent every day at the shelter working with the children, involved her family and got the school superintendent to help her. Change happened with consistency and dedication to the children.

Doing my field work (FW) at the homeless shelter has been an eye opening experience. There are some similarities in the movie to my FW, several times the children had not eaten supper even though our group session ran from 7-8:30 p.m. Also, things I take for granted were not available to the children there such as a refrigerator in their rooms. At the beginning, I sometimes felt like I was just another person visiting the shelter trying to fix their problems rather than really connecting to the children. Several children enjoyed our group session because we did make them do schoolwork and focused on having fun. Now at the end of the time, the children are giving us hugs and really having fun with us. It is great to see some small changes for the children.

The psycho-social needs of the children were apparent. It was difficult at times because the children are worried about getting their basic needs met and have a self-centered awareness which is entirely understandable under this situation. If I could do this again, I would bring healthy snacks for everyone at the beginning of the sessions. Also, I need to be able to relate to the children at their level and situation, rather than my middle class level. I need realize I am not there to fix any problem, but to encourage and work with the children.

Education laws changed in 1987 to include the education of homeless children. The Hallmark website has links to several organizations to help with the educations of homeless children.

http://www.hallmark.com