Teaching Kids with Poverty in Mind
• This presentation discusses what being poor
can do to children’s brains and what schools
can do about it.
Major Points
• Brains can change for the better or worse.
• Some factors can affect learning.
• Getting on board- Isn’t it time for a real
change
Brains can change for the better or
worse.
• Kids download the negatives of chaos,
disharmony, poor relationships, foul language,
poor manners and weak vocabulary just as
quickly as they would automatically any
positive or enrichment input.
Brains can change for the better or
worse.
• A mother in poverty is less likely to provide
the emotional support needed for proper
developmental growth when she is stressed
out about her own health, safety, bills, hunger,
and household issues.
Brains can change for the better or
worse.
• Discipline problems arise when teachers
expect what they can not get. Many kids don’t
know how to respond unless they have been
taught how to respond.
Brains can change for the better or
worse.
• Emotional markers include but are not limited
to verbal affirmations, smiles, physical
gestures, head nodding, positive comments,
celebrations, and positive music.
•
Brains can change for the better or
worse.
• Staff must teach a healthy range of emotional
responses, build and strengthen connections,
and model positive relationships.
Some factors can affect learning.
• For those in poverty, nearly everything takes
more time.
• Transportation
• Food gathering and prep
• Getting medical help
• Information gathering
• Locating & securing
• School help
Some factors can affect learning.
• The physical environment needs to
be safe, varied and challenging .
Some factors can affect learning.
• The language must be interactive,
comprehensive and continuous.
• The cognitive environment needs variety,
richness and increasing complex physical
movement.
Some factors can affect learning.
• Ideal Home Support for Reading Includes
1) material available
2) being read to often
3) accurate evaluation
Some factors can affect
learning.
• Language Influences Cognition
• Toddlers from middle and upper income
.
families actually used more words in talking to
their parents than low SES mothers used in
talking to their own children.
Getting on board- Isn’t it time for a
real change
• To be effective, school must provide enriched
skill building targeting executive functions.
Getting on board- Isn’t it time for a
real change
• Teach and model coping skills to
sustain minimal damage.
• Some will struggle and finally graduate
• Many won’t get the help they need.
Getting on board- Isn’t it time for a
real change
• Get a New Understanding
• Brains can and do change everyday. But if the
experiences stay the same, so will the brain!
We must change things.
• Use the I’ll show you how approach.
Getting on board- Isn’t it time for a
real change
• The “Academic Brain” Attitudes/mindsets
must be strengthened for success.
Getting on board- Isn’t it time for a
real change
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S - Skill-Building
H - Hope & Growth Mindset
A - Accommodations
R - Relationships
E - Enriched Engagement
Accommodations for Weak Working
Memory in Students
• Use the “pause” technique. Every few
minutes, pause, to let content sink in.
• Chunk content into smaller chunks to aid
understanding, then review.
• Do a fast physical activity 1st to activate
frontal lobe uppers.
• Use games for skills and building working
memory.
Wow’s
• If you don’t teach it, don’t punish kids for not
being good at it.
Wow’s
• Stop telling kids to pay attention and start
teaching them how to do it.
Wow’s
• Accommodations are not a special gift, a
bonus, extra or an unfair advantage. What
they do is to “level the playing field”.
Wow’s
• You have much more to do with how your
students turn out than you may have
previously thought.
Let’s Simplify…
• 1. Agree on a clear, smart path
• 2.“Buy-in” from yourself
• 3. Commit to implementation
Remember
• DNA is not your destiny. Sometimes the apple
does fall far from the tree.