Desired Outcomes

By the end of the session, participants will be able to

•Detail the impact that poverty has on the brain and learning.•Utilize the SHARE factors to promote successful school experiences for students of poverty.

“There is reason to believe that what poor and affluent kids need from school is not quite the same thing.”~ Michael Petrilli, Educational Leadership, May 2013

“Educators today are actually the frontline civil rights workers in a long-term struggle to increase equity.”~Moses, R., & Cobb, C. E. (2002). Radical equations: Math literacy and civil rights.

Why Focus on Income?

Schoolwide Success Factors

Factors that high-achieving schools supporting students of poverty have in place:

• Support of the whole child• Hard data• Accountability• Relationship building• Enrichment mind-set

Students are In School for 1000 Hours and Out of School for 5000

How good is your 1000?

Support the Whole Child

Hard Data and Accountability

Relationship Building

Difference: Relationships

• Greet students by name• Ask about their family, hobbies, and what’s

important to them• Stop telling students what to do and start teaching

them how to do it• Responding to inappropriate student behavior:Never embarrass in front of peers; meet after class;

reaffirm your relationship; demonstrate the behavior you wanted; say why it’s important as the student moves through school; end by affirming common goals and interests

More about Relationships

• “No matter how difficult Elena’s class seems, I needed to love them. During the first months, they weren’t easy to love; by the end of the year, they were my best-behaved class and paid attention even to the lessons that weren’t so exciting. One-on-one conferences helped me get close to each student. I found unconditional love was the best tool in my teacher’s tool kit. First, I gave them love; in return, they conducted themselves like individuals worthy of that love”

~Kathy King-Dickman

Challenging Assumptions (Beth Lindsay Templeton, Educational Leadership, May 2013

• Why is that child so rude?– Student may live in an

overcrowded household where speaking loudly even if someone else is talking is necessary to be heard

• Teach student to write comments on sticky note; speak in a soft voice; use small groups; commend appropriate behavior

• Why does that mother let her son dress like that?– Family may need to

wash clothes at a Laundromat

• Keep a lost and found and provide clothes; give child clothes that another outgrew

Challenging Assumptions continued

• Why doesn’t he do his homework?– Chaotic and noisy

home; parents working multiple jobs and/or swing shifts; taking care of younger siblings or ailing grandparents

• Provide help to students who arrive early or left late; build homework time into schedule;

• That child is so lazy. He sleeps in class every day!– Stays awake to see

parent who works until midnight; home or neighborhood is noisy; has family responsibilities

• Allow student to stand; direct entire class to stand and stretch; provide earplugs; offer time for sleep (extreme case)

Enrichment, Not Pity

Difference: Health and Nutrition

• Focus on oxygen and glucose• Have students engage in slow stretching while

taking slow deep breath to increase oxygenation• Ensure students engage in available physical

activities (e.g. do not withhold recess from students for a disciplinary issue)

• Use games, movement, and drama

Classroom Success Factors

Factors that high-achieving classrooms supporting students of poverty have in place:

• Standards-based curriculum and instruction• Hope building• Arts, athletics, and advanced placement• Retooling of the operating system• Engaging instruction

• (Yellow Handout – Note-taking Guide)

Standards-based curriculum and instruction

Danielson:

Hope building

Danielson:

Difference: Hope and the Growth Mind-Set

• Teach students that their brains can change

• Avoid telling students they have a limited amount of focusing power

• Provide quality feedback

Difference: Effort

• Use buy-in strategies

• Make connections to the student’s world

• Affirm effort every day in the classroom

• Set high goals

Arts, athletics, and advanced placement

Danielson:

Retooling of the operating system

Danielson:

Difference: Cognition

• Focus on core academic skills that students need most– How to organize, study, take notes, prioritize, and

remember– Teach problem-solving, processing, working memory

skills, and self-created mnemonic devices

• Start small (e.g. recall of words, then phrases, then whole sentences)

• Use this foundation to build higher-level skills

Engaging instruction

Danielson:

Difference: Vocabulary

• Be relentless about introducing and using new vocabulary words

• Use engaging activities such as trading cards, verbal gestures, and movements

• Incorporate vocabulary practice into daily rituals and provide incentives for use

Beyond Vocabulary – Leveraging Teacher and Student Talk

(Kathy King-Dickman, Educational Leadership, May 2013)

• Realize the way you talk to students might affect their achievement

• Provide positive feedback

• Utilize strong vocabulary

• Increase time students spend in purposeful talk

• Increase opportunities for every student to participate and decrease instances of calling on one or two students

Difference: Distress

• Give students more control over their own daily lives at school; provide choice

• Teach students coping skills (e.g. If this, then that); share own examples and have students help you; model how you handle stressors and challenges

• Encourage and provide opportunities for responsibility and leadership

• Embed more fun into classroom activities

What, there is a quiz?

Tally marks in Section A, B, or C. (Adapted from Ruby Payne, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, 2005)

Section A - I know how to…•use a credit card, checking and/or savings account.•get children into Little League, piano lessons, and soccer•repair items in my house almost immediately after they break, or I know a repair service and call it.•talk to children about going to college.•get the best interest rate on my car loan.

A B CII

Section B – I…

1. have favorite restaurants in different countries around the world.

2. have at least two homes with full time staff.

3. fly in my own plane, the company plane, or private jet rental.

4. know the hidden rules of the Junior League.

5. know how to read a corporate balance sheet and analyze your own financial statements.

Section C – I know how to…

1. live without a bank account.

2. physically fight and defend myself.

3. move in half a day.

4. bail someone out of jail.

5. keep my clothes from being stolen at the laundromat.

Where is your comfort?

How Good is Your 1000?

Beyond the Workshop

School Wide – (Salmon)

Characteristics of High-Poverty, High-Achieving Schools

Classroom – (Lavender)

Characteristics of High-Poverty, High-Achieving Schools

Another voice

http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice.html

Big picture measures

• Un-level the playing field: provide additional resources and supports• Strengthen parental involvement: offer sustained, intensive training

programs• Make home visits – step through the child’s door• Create a safe, ordered environment with consistent routines• Identify and use disciplinary practices that match the student

population • Incorporate school family rituals• Volunteer and mentoring programs• Developing key partnerships• Move mindsets from my students to our students; take ownership

for student learning; focus resources on helping struggling students• Participate in Professional Learning Communities; use data and

progress monitoring

So, in review, what can be done to counter each?

Four primary risk factors for students of poverty:• Emotional and social challenges • Acute and chronic stressors• Cognitive lags• Health and safety issues