Sunday, March 8, 2015

Poverty Chapter 5

I feel that one of the most important facts from chapter 5 and what I have come to realize myself over time is the importance of reading to your child, and making every parent aware of this.  The articles that were presented during our last session stated that those children who come from lower income families are about 32 million words behind a child coming from an upper class home.  I agree with the statement of making a child smarter one word at a time, the more we speak to our children the larger it will expand their vocabulary and may even get them reading at a younger age.

There was also talk about the AVID program that is taking place at school's in Bismarck and how it is working for them, this sounds lie a very good program and may also be good for our local school's.  A fact that seems to come up in every session is teaching the whole student, there are many school's talked about in the book that are high-poverty and they are working with the students to meet adequate yearly progress, even though many of the student's come from families that receive free or reduced meals.  Our schools in Rugby do not have near the students on free and reduced lunches, but there are some that come from homes where they are living with very little, and this is affecting how they do in school.  We need to remember this as teacher's and try to guide these student's in the right direction, to maybe prevent this from happening to them also when they have a family.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Poverty, chapter 4

One of the biggest take aways from this chapter was focusing on the whole child, making sure we are there for them in every way, but not feeling sorry for them.  As we discussed some of the ways that our school is meeting the needs of students, we found there are many ways that we are not able to help all students that come from homes with poverty.  I thought that we had more accommodations for some of these students, but now realize there is only so much we can do for them.  After going through the list of where we rank, I find there are some that do not apply to our schools, while others should probably be more of a priority.

In order for some students to make it in this fast paced world where nobody may be standing up for them, we may need to step in and try to help.  I do believe that we have different tutoring programs to help students that struggle with academics, but we do not have mental health counseling, access to medication, housing and utilities, dental care, life skill classes that will help with finances, health and housing, medical care and psychology.  When you take a good look at all of these things we are failing some of students by not providing these services.

I do feel that with all of the professional development classes that we are taking, it should help all staff be aware of what is happening with the students in our community.  The more we are informed of what is happening with those students in poverty situations, may be an eye opener to always make sure that we are treating all students fairly.  If a child comes from a home of poverty, they are not able to control the situation, if they have a goal in mind to work towards a better lifestyle, it is up to us to offer support and help them achieve this goal.