Teaching Children of Poverty

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Teaching Children of Poverty

• Beth Dixson
• Kendall Gray

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What is poverty?

• The extent to which an individual does without
  resources. These include
• Financial
• Emotional
• Mental
• Spiritual
• Physical
• Support Systems
• Relationship/ Role Models
• Knowledge of Hidden Rules
• We are going to focus on Generational Poverty

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Financial

• Having the money to purchase goods and services.
• The ability to leave poverty is more dependent
  upon other resources than it is upon financial
  resources.

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Emotional

• Being able to choose and control emotional
  responses, particularly to negative situations,
  without engaging in self-destructive behavior.
  This is an internal resource and shows itself
  through stamina, perseverance, and choices.
• These are the most important of all resources
  because, when present, they allow the individual
  not to return to old habit patterns.

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Mental

• Having the mental abilities and acquired skills
  (reading, writing, computing) to deal with daily
  life.
• Being able to read, write, and compute creates a
  decided advantage and makes the individual
  somewhat self-sufficient.

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Spiritual

• Believing in divine purpose and guidance.
• This is a powerful resource because the
  individual does not see him/herself as hopeless
  and useless, but rather as capable and having
  worth and value.

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Physical

• Having physical health and mobility.
• The individual can be self-sufficient.

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Support Systems

• Having friends, family, and backup resources
  available to access in times of need. These are
  external resources.
• This resource gives people in poverty people to
  go to in order to seek advice and help.

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Relationships/Role Models

• Having frequent access to adult(s) who are
  appropriate, who are nurturing to the child, and
  who do not engage in self-destructive behavior.
• It is largely from role models that the person
  learns how to live life emotionally (can be good
  or bad).

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Knowledge of Hidden Rules

• Knowing the unspoken cues and habits of a group.
• Three of these hidden rules in poverty are
• The noise level is high
• The most important information is non-verbal
• One of the main values of an individual to the
  group is an ability to entertain.

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Characteristics of Students in Poverty

• Discipline punishment is about penance and
  forgiveness, not change.
• Importance of Relationships these are important
  to survival.
• Importance of Non-verbal/Kinesthetic
  Communication touch is used to communicate, as
  are space and non-verbal emotional information.
• Refer to handout

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How These Characteristics Surface at School (How
to identify)

• Are very disorganized, frequently lose papers,
  dont have signatures, etc.
• Laugh when they are disciplined
• Decide whether or not they will work in your
  class, based on whether or not they like you.
• Refer to handout

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How to Accommodate For These Students In Class

• Government Options
• Title I is the largest program in the federal
  budget to improve the teaching and learning of
  children in high-poverty schools.
• This program reaches about 12.5 million students
  nationwide.

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• Teacher Options
• The key to achievement for students from poverty
  is in creating relationships with them.
• Never assume that a student from poverty knows
  what you view as appropriate behavior.
• Be understanding of differences in the classes.

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Resources

• Ruby K. Payne. A Framework for Understanding
  Poverty. Aha! Process, Inc. 2003.
• www.robeson.k12.nc.us/NClbfaq.html