While we certainly live in a country with 'abundance,' it often seems this abundance is nowhere near equally divided. I tend to believe that those of the "must do so by choice" mindset have likely not encountered a situation where poverty had an impact on their life. For instance, our lives are impacted by poverty each and every single day simply by interacting with our students. We witness the effects of poverty every day when we have students who come to school hungry, tired, lacking necessary skills, etc.
Coming from a background in social work, I feel I was a bit more prepared to handle the circumstances facing students who are experiencing poverty. For teachers new to Title 1, poverty may be a completely foreign topic. Educating teachers about our students and their struggles (and their strengths) could be a powerful tool is moving towards looking at the whole child as opposed to just the academic piece.
I think that it's easy to think that problems really don't exist if we aren't face-to-face with them everyday. Once in a while there is a mention in the newpapers about poverty in the US, but with the amount there is, you would think it would be up front, and center on a daily basis. I don't think we like discussing this because there is such a pervasive view that people are poor by choice. As I mentioned in the intro blog, the US was espoused to be the place where you could get rich simply by hard work. If you aren't rich, you must be lazy. Interestingly enough, this view is usually held by people who aren't poor. Until you walk a mile in someone elses shoes, you can't imagine what their lives are like. On a personal note, My son was born while we were living in Mexico, after 2 years we moved to Venezuela. Me, a lily-white, comfortable suburban girl facing poverty on an extreme level. It was quite shocking and devastating to see how people lived and I cried quite a bit my first year outside of the US. It definitely helped to be exposed to it before I became a teacher. As Amy said, not knowing what poverty is like and then having it be in front of you, day in and out, can be quite overwhelming. Many teachers do not know how to react.
Wow Stephanie! What an incredible experience you bring to our students! I agree with you wholeheartedly that "until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, you can't imagine what their lives are like." I often wonder if students sometimes look at us and think, "You have no idea about my life." It breaks my heart to think of what some of our students deal with in their daily lives and, while I can't say I understand how they feel, I hope that everyday they leave school knowing we care.
I sometimes struggle with pushing them in the classroom because my mind goes to the "how awful things might be for them." When that happens I have to quickly block out that thought and remember that, while things might be tough, they are ALL still capable and intelligent individuals who do not have to be 'victims of circumstance."
You are so right! They don't have to be victims of circumstance. You and I believe it and we believe in them, but I wonder if they believe it themselves? No matter how much I try to make them believe in themselves, and their futures, I wonder if it will stick. Their lives are so, "here and now", thinking of the future, even middle school, is hard for them.
Stephanie this is true. Our kids are all about immediate results and what they can see right in front of them. My approach to getting them to think about tomorrow is to continuously talk about my yesterday. When I was their age, I was much like them. I have real conversations with them. More importantly they have no rooms for excuses. They are kids, but I remind them regularly that your situation and circumstance can make you sad, tired or even angry but your daily choses (actions) will determine if you move from a bad place to a better place or from a bad place to a worst place.
I agree with you ladies, it is hard to understand how our children live in poverty if we have not experienced it ourselves. I however, grew up just like most of the children that we teach. I am from this same neighborhood so I am very familiar with how their lives are at home. Does it make it easier for me to deal with no. It just makes me want to push them harder because I know where they CAN go if just one person can believe in them. You ask does your love and support make a difference? I say ABSOLUTELY! It was a teacher who made me believe in myself, who told me I was smart and could be and do anything I wanted to in life. Sadly it wasn't my parents because my dad was on drugs and my mom was working constantly and left my grandmother (her mother) to care for my sister and I. It gets really tough at times but if we don't give up I am most sure we will hear back from these babies in future years about how we touched their lives in some way. It was my second grade teacher who touched my life and I wrote her in a class assignment in middle school, high school and invited her to my college graduation! Not to mention, I went back to visit her while she was still teaching numerous times during my college experience just to tell her what an impact she had on my life. I think we have to tell our students all the things that life has to offer (college, a healthy life style, etc...) because they don't know, they don't see past their backyards. So I believe we are the bridge for them, from their worlds into the big unknown world. We have the power to impact these kids in such a positive way. It's not easy but what worth having is? :)
After loosing my father in '88, my life changed. I went from a well off family to a single mother watching every penny to make sure all the bills were going to get paid. I see myself in a lot of our children at Rogers and when I was at Samoset. I hated my life because things that I was once able to do now has come to a hault. I know for myself talking about the death of my father is still difficult but I feel that it is important that my children know that I am not that different than them. Even though life has giving me lemons, I had to find away to make lemonade. I try to give them some of my history on how my life changed all the way around from the time we moved here and till now. People pick because I am always looking for ways to save money but it's because the time after loosing my father and watching my mom work hard just to make ends meat to keep our house and keep food on the table. It was hard but we pulled ahead of the wicked world and so can our children with the right guidance and experiences that we can give them.
Evelyn, I always find sharing a little of myself with the students and parents allows them to have some type of connection with me. Often times they walk into my classroom and I can see in the way they talk, carry themselves, and look at me that they think I know nothing about how they live and what they go through on a daily basis. To them I look and speak like a child who grew up with a "silver spoon in my mouth" and had no struggles what so ever. But after I share a little of my story with them their guards go down and they begin to trust me. This is not always the case, sometimes I have to work a little harder, but when they see I am just like them, they tend to open up and trust me and work with more.
I want to explore the idea expressed on page. 12 under the sub-topic Poverty in America. What are your thoughts?
ReplyDelete[Some of us may think, "Surely where there s so much abundance,
people who live in poverty must do so by choice."]
While we certainly live in a country with 'abundance,' it often seems this abundance is nowhere near equally divided. I tend to believe that those of the "must do so by choice" mindset have likely not encountered a situation where poverty had an impact on their life. For instance, our lives are impacted by poverty each and every single day simply by interacting with our students. We witness the effects of poverty every day when we have students who come to school hungry, tired, lacking necessary skills, etc.
ReplyDeleteComing from a background in social work, I feel I was a bit more prepared to handle the circumstances facing students who are experiencing poverty. For teachers new to Title 1, poverty may be a completely foreign topic. Educating teachers about our students and their struggles (and their strengths) could be a powerful tool is moving towards looking at the whole child as opposed to just the academic piece.
I think that it's easy to think that problems really don't exist if we aren't face-to-face with them everyday. Once in a while there is a mention in the newpapers about poverty in the US, but with the amount there is, you would think it would be up front, and center on a daily basis. I don't think we like discussing this because there is such a pervasive view that people are poor by choice. As I mentioned in the intro blog, the US was espoused to be the place where you could get rich simply by hard work. If you aren't rich, you must be lazy. Interestingly enough, this view is usually held by people who aren't poor. Until you walk a mile in someone elses shoes, you can't imagine what their lives are like.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal note, My son was born while we were living in Mexico, after 2 years we moved to Venezuela. Me, a lily-white, comfortable suburban girl facing poverty on an extreme level. It was quite shocking and devastating to see how people lived and I cried quite a bit my first year outside of the US. It definitely helped to be exposed to it before I became a teacher. As Amy said, not knowing what poverty is like and then having it be in front of you, day in and out, can be quite overwhelming. Many teachers do not know how to react.
Wow Stephanie! What an incredible experience you bring to our students! I agree with you wholeheartedly that "until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, you can't imagine what their lives are like." I often wonder if students sometimes look at us and think, "You have no idea about my life." It breaks my heart to think of what some of our students deal with in their daily lives and, while I can't say I understand how they feel, I hope that everyday they leave school knowing we care.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes struggle with pushing them in the classroom because my mind goes to the "how awful things might be for them." When that happens I have to quickly block out that thought and remember that, while things might be tough, they are ALL still capable and intelligent individuals who do not have to be 'victims of circumstance."
You are so right! They don't have to be victims of circumstance. You and I believe it and we believe in them, but I wonder if they believe it themselves? No matter how much I try to make them believe in themselves, and their futures, I wonder if it will stick. Their lives are so, "here and now", thinking of the future, even middle school, is hard for them.
ReplyDeleteStephanie this is true. Our kids are all about immediate results and what they can see right in front of them. My approach to getting them to think about tomorrow is to continuously talk about my yesterday. When I was their age, I was much like them. I have real conversations with them. More importantly they have no rooms for excuses. They are kids, but I remind them regularly that your situation and circumstance can make you sad, tired or even angry but your daily choses (actions) will determine if you move from a bad place to a better place or from a bad place to a worst place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you ladies, it is hard to understand how our children live in poverty if we have not experienced it ourselves. I however, grew up just like most of the children that we teach. I am from this same neighborhood so I am very familiar with how their lives are at home. Does it make it easier for me to deal with no. It just makes me want to push them harder because I know where they CAN go if just one person can believe in them. You ask does your love and support make a difference? I say ABSOLUTELY! It was a teacher who made me believe in myself, who told me I was smart and could be and do anything I wanted to in life. Sadly it wasn't my parents because my dad was on drugs and my mom was working constantly and left my grandmother (her mother) to care for my sister and I. It gets really tough at times but if we don't give up I am most sure we will hear back from these babies in future years about how we touched their lives in some way. It was my second grade teacher who touched my life and I wrote her in a class assignment in middle school, high school and invited her to my college graduation! Not to mention, I went back to visit her while she was still teaching numerous times during my college experience just to tell her what an impact she had on my life. I think we have to tell our students all the things that life has to offer (college, a healthy life style, etc...) because they don't know, they don't see past their backyards. So I believe we are the bridge for them, from their worlds into the big unknown world. We have the power to impact these kids in such a positive way. It's not easy but what worth having is? :)
ReplyDeleteAfter loosing my father in '88, my life changed. I went from a well off family to a single mother watching every penny to make sure all the bills were going to get paid. I see myself in a lot of our children at Rogers and when I was at Samoset. I hated my life because things that I was once able to do now has come to a hault. I know for myself talking about the death of my father is still difficult but I feel that it is important that my children know that I am not that different than them. Even though life has giving me lemons, I had to find away to make lemonade. I try to give them some of my history on how my life changed all the way around from the time we moved here and till now.
ReplyDeletePeople pick because I am always looking for ways to save money but it's because the time after loosing my father and watching my mom work hard just to make ends meat to keep our house and keep food on the table. It was hard but we pulled ahead of the wicked world and so can our children with the right guidance and experiences that we can give them.
Evelyn, I always find sharing a little of myself with the students and parents allows them to have some type of connection with me. Often times they walk into my classroom and I can see in the way they talk, carry themselves, and look at me that they think I know nothing about how they live and what they go through on a daily basis. To them I look and speak like a child who grew up with a "silver spoon in my mouth" and had no struggles what so ever. But after I share a little of my story with them their guards go down and they begin to trust me. This is not always the case, sometimes I have to work a little harder, but when they see I am just like them, they tend to open up and trust me and work with more.
ReplyDelete