{"id":5558,"date":"2019-12-28T22:44:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T03:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/?p=5558"},"modified":"2022-05-29T08:14:31","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T13:14:31","slug":"1162-maslow-moment-which-would-you-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/28\/1162-maslow-moment-which-would-you-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"#1162 Maslow Moment: Which Would You Choose?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

Your plane crashed in the wilderness.<\/em>..
You\u2019re the only survivor. You walk for 3 days with no food other than the few blueberries you find. You\u2019ve only drunk water from creeks and swamps (that you hope is clean.) You have blisters on your blisters. You\u2019ve slept poorly \u2013 shivering under your ripped plastic sheet and frightened by the midnight scufflings – you hope they are just raccoons and skunks. You\u2019re alone. You’re scared about the other passengers’ families who are not as lucky as you.

You finally get to a road. Someone stops to help.
They offer you four choices:
\u2022\u00a0food and clean water.
\u2022\u00a0a hot shower and fresh, warm dry clothes.
\u2022 a dry, safe, indoor bed where you can sleep, uninterrupted, for 8 hours.
\u2022 a math lesson on geometry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My guess is you do not choose the math lesson first.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham Maslow<\/a> developed a theory in psychology \u2013 the hierarchy of needs<\/a> –\u00a0\u00a0that suggests people are motivated by base needs (survival) before pursuing more lofty goals like education. The hypothetical plane crash illustrates your desire for basic needs before academic advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it is with school children. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some children in our schools are not ready to learn because:
\u2022 they haven\u2019t eaten enough today, this week or this year.
\u2022 they\u2019ve lost someone close to them.
\u2022 they\u2019re frightened of their neighbours, the bullies, or a family member (who is violent, abusive or suffers from mental illness).
\u2022 they keep having to move because they can\u2019t afford rent.
\u2022 they wake up with nightmares every nght about what they experienced last year.
\u2022 they\u2019re quietly suffering from a hidden illness \u2013 OCD, depression, cancer.<\/em>

Children are good at hiding uncomfortable truths. If they are pre-occupied by a lack of food, shelter, safety, love they will not be able to soak up (or pay attention to) school lessons.

The causes for their inattention may be their \u2018normal.\u2019 Some kids (and adults) are not ready or able to absorb the education offered at our world-renowned public schools. They\u2019re too busy trying to process or access more basic necessities \u2013 food, shelter, love and belonging, safety.

What can be done?<\/strong>
\u2022 Recognize a red flag. This can be tough. The challenges can be well hidden or disguised.
\u2022 Once a challenge is flagged, investigate the root of the behaviour (unexpected low academic scores, falling asleep at school, unexpected behaviour\u2026) That can require support from other teachers, administrators, parents, multidisciplinary team (psychologists, social workers, etc.) It starts by building a relationship in the classroom. This step can be perplexing and require detective skills, compassion and empathy\u2026
\u2022 Develop a support plan. This can involve social services, breakfast club, food bank, counseling, interpreters, doctors, and financial aid.

Listen, support and follow-up.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tweet Your plane crashed in the wilderness…You\u2019re the only survivor. You walk for 3 days with no food other than the few blueberries you find. You\u2019ve only drunk water from creeks and swamps (that you hope is clean.) You have Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5558"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5559,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5558\/revisions\/5559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}