Learning Barriers

As a warning, this will not be the most lighthearted of blog posts I will post. My students are all wonderful in their own ways and I will choose not to disclose whoever is being affected by these learning barriers. I am merely completing an assignment and reciting my research.

That being said, this post is about learning barriers. Learning barriers are obstacles that present themselves to students that affect their learning and academic success. As I’ve had my time in my mentorship class, I’ve had people who do experience learning barriers. For example, there was a student who recently moved to Ottawa and is away from their parents as a student. They are currently dealing with adjusting to their new environment on top of being in a completely new school. Another student has a part time job to help out their mother at home. They work long hours everyday after school and all day on the weekend. There is one other student who is experiencing a learning barrier. They lost their mother, which still very much affects their school life and their focus. These are examples of concerns at home, financial situations, and emotional issues respectively. Unfortunately, I know that there are probably more students experiencing their own learning barriers that I might not know about. We as peer mentors and teachers alike have to be respectful and aware that we might not know the whole story of one kid that is struggling academically.

My mentorship teachers are people who I look up to in terms of how they treat their students. They always check up on them, asking them if they’re okay or if they’re tired. For instance, for the student who had recently moved to Ottawa, we allowed them time to create a resume to apply for jobs in their new home. We also took the time to explain how universities and colleges work in Ontario and how it compares to Quebec. If they ever see if a student is struggling due to personal reasons, we take the lessons slower. We allow them to take a brief walk to get some water or head to the washroom when things aren’t looking good in class. We are patient with them, just as they’re patient in learning the content they need to know and understand in order to pass their courses. As I said previously, teachers and mentors should be mindful of students and their challenges outside of school.

The one learning barrier I decided to research for my blog post were concerns at home, more specifically divorce and how it affects students academically. Concerns at home stuck out to me because I myself was affected by this barrier. I feel that everyone, at some point in their lives, will be affected by concerns at home. Examples of concerns at home would be divorce, relocation, and/or death/illness. These learning barriers present serious effects on students’ academic performance in school. Divorce affects children in many different ways. Children who come from a divorced family don’t perform as well as children with a family that’s intact. They are also more likely to have behavioural problems, and divorce sometimes leads to mental health issues in both childhood and adolescence. More specifically, there are higher rates of depression and anxiety from children with divorced parents.

There are ways we can help students who are dealing with the news of divorced parents or having issues at home that are bothering them academically. Providing consistency and routine in students’ lives gives them something stable since their home life feels like it’s falling apart. Expressing that students are doing well, even when the tasks are small, can mean a lot to them. They need to feel valued. It is important to always be mindful of the subjects brought up in class to not remind students of what’s happening at home. I would say that the most important advice I could give fellow mentors and mentorship teachers is to be there for students. To understand that what they’re going through is hard and to offer them that length of support that they might need from an adult.

There is no meme of the week this time because this was a blog post with a heavier topic, so to lighten up the mood a bit, I’ll include two pictures of puppies. Having puppies, or pets for that matter, can help with mental health such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Also, who doesn’t love pictures of cute dogs?

Citations:

Effects of Divorce on Children's Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://marripedia.org/effects_of_divorce_on_children_s_education.

Helping Students Deal with Death, Divorce, Etc. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.teachhub.com/helping-students-deal-death-divorce-etc.

Morin, A. (2019, August 6). The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/psychological-effects-of-divorce-on-kids-4140170.

Tips for Teachers: Ways to Help Students Who Struggle with Emotions or Behavior: Mental Health America. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://mhanational.org/tips-teachers-ways-help-students-who-struggle-emotions-or-behavior.