http://livinglearninginpoverty.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-poverty-...
Thanks, Rachel, for the link to another fascinating excerpt on the effects of poverty on academic achievement! It referenced a statistic families that were known to have a history of domestic violence were significantly correlated to a decrease in math and reading tests and an increase in behavior issues with suspensions. It is not difficult to see the direct correlation between behavior issues and domestic violence... Poor performance in school makes sense as well... Right now I have a student that is dealing with this issue right now. Her home life is laced with the issues that come with the effects of poverty in which there is 8 children. Her mama is the only one working and has amazing strength, Faith is the backbone of this woman. Her Daddy is angry and discontent. Her oldest brother ran away from home a few weeks ago because he was "beaten up" by his step-daddy. DSS became involved, and hasn't changed a thing. She went to the hospital 2 weeks later, when she tried to come between her daddy and mama when they were in a physical fight. She wasn't hurt too badly so it was a quick trip. Yesterday she came into the classroom inconsolable, as it turns out there was a big conflict and her daddy left and hadn't come back yet. All of this is the bad news, the good news is that she is performing excellently on her academics, she is the best student in my classroom Her behavior leaves some to be desired, but she is doing much better this year than last year. She was in the principal's office often last. She is a child that despite the odds, I have been able to reach. I haven't sent her to the principal's office once!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Affects of poverty on academic performance and behavior...
Wow, as this year draws close to end I am exhausted and quite frankly perplexed. I have been teaching 1st grade for 11years. The past 5 I have been in a school with 97% poverty. This year has been extremely difficult! I have class of only 14, 9 boys and 5 girls. At the start of the year 11 were barely @ grade level or below. My deck was stacked; but, I had plenty of hope that I would succeed in helping them all. My experience at the school in the previous 4 years had been successful; although none of those classes had more than 3/4 of the class low achievers.
What surprised me most was the lack of independence that this group had. This would prove to be the bane of their existence in first grade. The class was extremely needy, I used all the strategies that I have used in the past to increase independence with little or no avail.
Low academic performance was a negative factor in my classroom this year; yet, behavior was far more detrimental. I experienced many of the typical bad behaviors that were easily controlled with positive discipline. But I found it to go far beyond these...
I decided to research how poverty affects behavior and academic performance. My past years experience found that even though poverty was a factor, for the most part first graders were first graders. Once again this year was different. In speaking with other teachers and staff at the school; many experienced the worst year of their career. One, who had been a part of our school community for over 20 years, told me that she had always loved her job even with all the challenges. This year was different for her, she had told her husband the other night that she didn't think she could continue with her job.
Teaching with Poverty in Mind, a book written by Eric Jansen, shed some light on the risk factors of poverty. He uses the acronym EACH: Emotional and Social Challenges; Acute and Chronic Stressors; Cognitive Lags; Health and safety issues. The risks factors seem insurmountable and are becoming more dominate. The excerpt listed effects of these risk factors such as: reduced cognition, creativity, and memory; impaired attention and concentration; diminished social judgement; reduces motivation, determination and effort; reduces neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells). These effects are reflected in my children and are in the majority. It also gave new and interesting ways to empower students. It suggested restitution, that students who disrupt class will be expected "make it right" by doing something positive for the classroom.
Researching the topic of the affects of poverty on academic performance and behavior has given me some tools to use in future classrooms.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/How-Poverty-Affects-Behavior-and-Academic-Performance.aspx
What surprised me most was the lack of independence that this group had. This would prove to be the bane of their existence in first grade. The class was extremely needy, I used all the strategies that I have used in the past to increase independence with little or no avail.
Low academic performance was a negative factor in my classroom this year; yet, behavior was far more detrimental. I experienced many of the typical bad behaviors that were easily controlled with positive discipline. But I found it to go far beyond these...
I decided to research how poverty affects behavior and academic performance. My past years experience found that even though poverty was a factor, for the most part first graders were first graders. Once again this year was different. In speaking with other teachers and staff at the school; many experienced the worst year of their career. One, who had been a part of our school community for over 20 years, told me that she had always loved her job even with all the challenges. This year was different for her, she had told her husband the other night that she didn't think she could continue with her job.
Teaching with Poverty in Mind, a book written by Eric Jansen, shed some light on the risk factors of poverty. He uses the acronym EACH: Emotional and Social Challenges; Acute and Chronic Stressors; Cognitive Lags; Health and safety issues. The risks factors seem insurmountable and are becoming more dominate. The excerpt listed effects of these risk factors such as: reduced cognition, creativity, and memory; impaired attention and concentration; diminished social judgement; reduces motivation, determination and effort; reduces neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells). These effects are reflected in my children and are in the majority. It also gave new and interesting ways to empower students. It suggested restitution, that students who disrupt class will be expected "make it right" by doing something positive for the classroom.
Researching the topic of the affects of poverty on academic performance and behavior has given me some tools to use in future classrooms.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/How-Poverty-Affects-Behavior-and-Academic-Performance.aspx
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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