REFLECTION ZONE: Teaching With Poverty in Mind

End of Chapter 2

Some of the most important skills teachers should foster are social skills and problem-solving skills.  If students are taught social skills to resist peer pressure they stay in school longer, do better academically, and get in less trouble. p39-40

Low SES children are often subject to health and safety issues like malnutrition, environmental hazards, and insufficient health care.  Kids raised in poverty have more cells in their body "under siege" and therefore their ability to concentrate, learn, and behave appropriately are diminished. p41-42

Effects of Health Issues on School Behavior & Performance p43
school absences, tardiness rates, incidents of illness during class, rates of undiagnosed or untreated health problems or disabilities

Action Steps p43-44
provide physician on site, work with local pharmacy for access to meds, have a dentist make school visits, provide tutors to help students who miss classes to catch up, improve staff awareness about health-related issues
Anyone finds it difficult to listen, concentrate, or learn if they don't feel well. 
Does your school do any of the action steps listed or any additional steps to help out with health and safety issues?

Chapter 3

The brain CAN change - it is designed to change.
Positive Changes can occur from quality nutrition, exercise, and learning.  Negative changes can result from long-term neglect, chronic drug abuse, and boredom.
Research shows that IQ may be affected by the following factors:  home environment/living conditions, early childhood experiences, educational interventions, amount and duration of schooling, and quality of nutrition.
To succeed in school, students need to have an academic operating system in place.  The must-haves are: p55

• ability and motivation to defer gratification and make a sustained effort to meet long-term goals

• auditory, visual, and tactile processing skills

• attentional skills that enable the student to engage, focus, and disengage as needed
• short-term and working memory capacity
• sequencing skills
• a champion's mind-set and confidence

These skills help form the foundation for school success and can give students the capacity to override the adverse risk factors of poverty.
The operating system can be improved through many activities such as: physical activity, playing chess, the arts, and music.   Low SES kids' brains have adapted to survive their circumstances, not to get As in school.  Teachers need to upgrade their operating systems in order to make a difference in their academics.
Action Steps

• Change Staff Members' Mind-Sets
• Invest in Staff
• Support Ongoing Collaboration
• Encourage Staff Dialogue
• Gather Quality Data

Do you feel all the teachers in your school fully believe that EVERY kid can succeed?

REFLECTION ZONE: Stakeholders

I think all teachers are stakeholders, but I specifically chose the team of 6th grade teachers as a group of stakeholders in our district.  This is a group of people who have a stake in our school and greatly impact our educational system. 
One thing this group of teachers does each year is the cookie dough fundraiser. These teachers double check each student's order and count the money that each of their homeroom students bring in.  One year, when I had 28 students in homeroom, I alone had over $10,000 sitting in my desk.  It took quite awhile to count the money (each time I picked up an envelope and felt or heard coins jingling I would cringe), call the parents of the students who are short or over to make sure everything was accurate, and to record how many dimes, quarters, $1, $5, $10 bills, $14 checks... were collected for the records of our district office.  It is a pretty time consuming project. 
The profit we make is quite large. Money earned from this fundraiser is used for MANY things and experiences that greatly impact our students. It pays for the gas needed for buses for fieldtrips so students pay $0 for the fieldtrips and the food they eat on these trips during their 6th grade year.  Specifically the money is used for the Camp Wapo experience where students attend camp, eat breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and spend the night in cabins.  This is an expensive fieldtrip that is funded entirely by the cookie dough fundraiser.  We usually have money left over.  This money has gone towards the purchase of the following things for all students in the middle school.

• sleds for recess
• recess equipment
• a large tv for the media room
• equipment for the workout room and phy ed. dept.
• Some years we put the extra money in a cd that would come due during their junior year, and they could use this for their prom.

There is a great deal of extra time and energy that goes into this fundraiser.  The impact of this fundraiser and the benefits reaped from this group’s hard work are also great. Primarily the sixth graders receive the most benefits, but so do other middle school students.  Students are impacted by this group again as juniors in high school.  I view the 6th grade team of teachers, as well as all teachers, as a group of stakeholders in our district.