Thank you everyone for another great class. The night was filled with some presentations and some great conversations. For your last post of the class please take a few moments to reflect on poverty in the classroom, what you took away from our class and how you think your teaching will, can, or should change. Have a great end of the year.
Skip
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Wow, time sure does fly! I thoroughly enjoyed our class and feel that I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from participating. All of you have taught me so much in a short amount of time. I was blessed by the experiences that each of you shared during class. Thank you to Skip and Gary for facilitating this class for us!
ReplyDeleteOur school supplies the first set of student materials at the beginning of each year. Because the school is private, the cost is covered by student tuition. The office keeps a bulk supply of student materials that may be purchased at a discounted rate as students run low throughout the year. Some of the supplies that may be purchased at the office include crayons @ $0.25, folders @ $0.10, glue stick @ $0.15, pens at $0.07, and spiral notebooks @ $0.10 each. Some teachers request additional classroom supplies from parents throughout the year such as Kleenex, paper towels, Clorox cleaning wipes, and Magic Eraser sponges. These purchases obviously add an additional financial burden to parents who are already paying out a tremendous amount in tuition. Our administration is very firm with us to watch carefully the additional monetary requests we make throughout the year. It all adds up very quickly.
I have been inspired to seek out an opportunity to listen to Donna M. Beegle speak. I think it would be fascinating to hear what she has to say. I checked out her calendar on-line and she doesn’t have any future speaking engagements close by in the near future. If any of you hear or know otherwise, please let me know.
In the article, “Overcoming the Silence of Generational Poverty”, I really appreciated the recommendations made on pages 17 - 19 to aid teachers in helping students to successfully attain literacy. I am going to keep those close at hand so that they may be frequently referenced. I believe the advice given in those 14 statements can be generally useful in building a positive classroom climate and rapport with students.
-Darla
This class on "Community of Learners" has confirmed in my mind how much I enjoy and learn best from an honest and open discussion with a "community" of excellent teachers. I am so glad we have been able to meet together and we don't have to complete all of our coursework on-line!
ReplyDeleteThis last week's discussion on poverty hit a nerve with me. I like to think of myself as a sensitive, respectful teacher, but as I read through some of the articles on poverty, I realized some of my thinking on this issue needs to be analyzed. I was struck with the idea of how "middle-class" conventions frame most of what we think and how we communicate. We tend to assume everyone thinks (or should think) like we do. We assume everyone understands our analogies and inside jokes. The last few days I have been thinking about some of the children in my class who might fall into category of poverty, and all the strikes they have against them. Rather than feeling pity for them and thinking, "Boy, I sure hope they make it...", I've been challenged to think, "I need to believe in them and communicate my belief in them".
This has been a great class. It has made me think and challenged my thinking. I look forward to more interaction with this group. Thanks Skip and Gary!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for a good class! I enjoyed listening to everyone. My voice is coming back slowly but surely. The article I was going to talk about is actually a website on poverty in our schools from the University of Michigan. It has some interesting information on poverty and five or six graphs to look at. One graph in particular caught my attention. It was a graph comparing poverty levels in all the developed nations of the world. According to this graph, the United States has the second highest poverty level of all developed nations. Mexico was the only country listed after us. Why is our poverty level so high compared to the other nations in the study? Here’s the link to website: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/salas.356/home
Thanks again for the pizza, Amy! I would also like to thank Skip and Gary for a great class! Have a good weekend! Caitlin.
Last night was a great night of presentations and discussions!! What a way to end the class. I will miss you guys(woman)! For my presentation I used No Excuses Seven Principals Who Set the Standard for High Achievement by Samuel Casey Carter and How Do You Sustain Excellence? By Douglas B. Reeves. I enjoyed hearing each person’s own accounts of either living in poverty (situational) or knowing someone who has/is in poverty. You are a very compassionate, self-reflecting group of educators. The issues of poverty are profound and complicated. The articles provided by Skip were insightful. I especially enjoyed reading Overcoming the Silence of Generational Poverty by Donna M Beegle. Melissa lent me her book See Poverty… Be the Difference. Since I teach in a school that has a high percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch I am interested in finding strategies/approaches to being more sensitive to these students. The first priority I have for all of my students is to make sure they feel safe and valued in my classroom. This is right in line with Donna’s first recommendation if we want to promote literacy and learning in our students.
ReplyDeleteThe statistics were interesting to consider. Even after reading the material and reflecting on my own thoughts and practices I will probably always struggle with some level of bias. I think continual education and a willingness to open our minds and hearts is critical to really being compassionate. I also believe, and I forgot who recommended this last night, going on home visits is one of the most powerful things we can do for our students. There is nothing like a dose of reality outside of the classroom to inform us of the realities of our student’s lives.
Thank you Gary and Skip for making this class so informative and practical. Throughout the entire course, I was able to take something from our discussions/topics and actually incorporate them into my classroom. That does not always happen!
ReplyDeleteThis week’s topic on poverty was very insightful. I appreciated both Ray and Skip being so willing to share their personal stories. I opened my eyes a little wider when it came to the idea of what type of homework assignments I am sending home. I also totaled up the items requested for our kindergarten supply list and it was crazy! It would cost between $25.00-$35.00 dollars for each family.
Finally, I would really enjoy attending one of Donna Beegle’s seminars; I hope she makes it to the great northwest soon. Maybe we could have a fun, educational girls weekend (Ray, you are always welcome).
Amy
Thanks Skip and Gary for the way you organized our class. I learned a lot from everyone. Having everyone research and present a topic with discussions was a great way to amplify each subject we covered. Notice how few times anyone’s article or point they brought forward were the same. I loved that! Yet, we all have the same general goal of educating all of our students so that they can reach their greatest potential in both academics and character. I gained so much. Thank you everyone.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed everyone’s presentations they were very informative. Amy and Darla’s visual on the whiteboard really brought forward how hard it is for us to comprehend what the backgrounds of our students are, and it showed how multilayered people’s lives are. I have always tried to be equally receptive, compassionate, and motivating to all of my students, but I think that better understanding more of the thoughts, emotions, and struggles of students experiencing poverty will really change the way I interact with them.
I think that Donna Beegle’s article has excellent tips and I will definitely be able to implement them. I really like her idea of encouraging them with a future by offering suggestions and knowledge about different kinds of jobs they’d be great at doing. Bottom line is that they need someone to believe in them and encourage them in a nurturing way.
I had the scariest night last night. My neighbors across the street got into a fight in their front yard at about 10 ish. Her screams were so blood curdling and fearful that I and another neighbor expressed that we were waiting to hear gunshots. I and other neighbors called 911 right away and the police came. Everyone seems to be fine. They have a four year old and a six year old. I can’t imagine what it would be like for those kids to have heard their mother scream like that, and their father yell. I don’t know them very well and it still is bothering me right now. It took me a couple of hours to relax from that before I could go to sleep, and then my youngest woke me up at 12:00 a.m. (sleep walking) afraid of something he had been dreaming about. It just really brought to mind how we really don’t know what life is like at home for our students.
I don’t live in the worst neighborhood, but it is a very working poor area that becomes Romaine Village down the street. There are a lot of children that feed into Elk Meadow and Pine Ridge. My children are always telling me about their bus rides and how scary they are because of how some of the children behave. They constantly say, “Mom, you have no idea what goes on down the street.” That just tells me more about working hard to achieve Ray’s analogy of “add drops into everyone’s bucket.”
Thanks for the pizza and candy Amy and Darla. That was a nice treat!
Have a great weekend!
Thora
Thank you Gary and Skip. This class was very informative and I really appreciate how it was formatted. For my personal learning style, having open discussions and a comfortable environment to learn and share was perfect. I am going to take a lot of valuable insights and information from this course.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to thank Darla and Amy for the wonderful dinner. Pizza and soda was such a treat. I thought your presentation was very well thought out and effective. The visual on the whiteboard really suited the topic. It proved how it is nearly impossible for a student dealing with so many barriers to achieve academic success.
This week’s topic really struck a chord with me. I teach at a school that is a Title 1 school and I have experienced having homeless students in my classroom. One family lived in a car, another family lived with multiple other families, and another family lived at a shelter. As a new teacher, this was very hard for me to handle. I wanted to help so much, but I knew I couldn’t “fix” the situation. Fortunately, I could help in the classroom by praising these children for their work and efforts, by being a positive mentor, by helping them get in touch with our FAN advocate, by showing compassion and concern. As our economy continues to suffer, so will our families. We are going to see more homeless and poverty stricken families and children. I learned that it is my RESPONSIBILITY to be AWARE of the barriers associated with poverty and ways to help families overcome their situations, if possible.
Thanks again to everyone! What a great start to our Master’s Program!
Melissa
It is sad that this class is over. I have learned so much and feel that I will be a better teacher because of this experience. I so appreciate Gary and Skip taking the time from their busy principal's schedule to teach this class. The reading material and class structure really helped us broaden our awareness of the diversity we face in the classroom. We will all miss Ray with his transparency and his enthusiasm for the teaching profession. Poverty is an issue that is becoming more and more a problem in Bend. Like others mentioned, as educators we need to work with the families to know our students, have high expectations for all our students, and provide a learning environment that nurtures the whole person. Thanks for the great presentations and for the pizza and goodies. We have a great cohort group!
ReplyDeleteHave a good week! -Diane
Thank you again for a great class. I see poverty in my room everyday and the effects that it has on my students. I have been listening and loving on my kids even more since our class. I have been more aware and attentive to their needs. Thank you for helping me open my eyes even more to be more aware of each student.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the research and creative presentation that was given by Darla and Amy.
-Melanie Kent
What a great and appropriate first class of our masters program at Concordia. I know that each one of us has a much deeper understanding and compassion for all the diverse types of learners in our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share a funny connection that I had made with the reading in the Beegle article but we ran out of time in class. I grew up in working class poverty as a child. My parents worked hard at low wage jobs and could barely make it each month. I never noticed that we were different because my parents loved me and put me first no matter what. When Beegle wrote about her family using golden soft margarine tubs for dishes I recalled so clearly how our family had an over abundance of plastic food containers. Maybe that is why I now do the same thing! I am so thankful that my family made it out of poverty and always pushed higher ed for me. They gave me a dream and helped me pursue it.
I have a book recommendation for all of you. It is one of my very favorites! It is called Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It is a story of a homeless man and an art dealer who became friends. It is so beautiful and insightful on the issues of poverty and purpose in life.
Thanks Gary and Skip for a great class!
Donna