There are many different ways that you can help students that are dealing with homelessness. John Heegard,a veteran teacher said that “The way I look at it, my job is to build relationships, get to know my kids. I have to be honest, open, and treat them like young adults, which is what they are. Valencia and I already had a relationship, so the trust level was at a place where she could trust me.” (Holgersson, 2010). The very first strategy for helping children that become homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless, is to first build a trusting relationship with them while they are in your class. A lot of times, students will try and hide that they are homeless because they might be embarrassed or they might be afraid that child services …show more content…
Most families, either do not have access to these resources or do not know about the state or federal laws that can help them while they are homeless. There are also many non-profit organizations that have the resources available to help families with minor children find a safe place to live and some of these organizations even have living areas that are available for these families. To get this information out about the resources that are available a teacher should talk with the staff about sending home packets with students each year that contain all resources that are available to parents or people that they might know that are dealing with homelessness. Because this is such a delicate topic with parents, I would recommend that teachers send home a letter explaining that because there is a increase in student homeless, the school/teacher has decided to give out the resources to parents in case they know someone that is at risk of becoming homeless. Though I would first get the principle permission before sending out any letters to parents. A third strategy to help students that might be coping with homelessness is to develop a lesson plan on homelessness itself. The first step in developing a lesson plan about homelessness is to make sure that the material is based the age of your students. A great