It is obviously no secret that those students who are low
achieving and make small progress are those who are in poverty or extreme low
economic status. Along with that, the schools where most of these students
attend do not have access to highly trained teachers to give them a better opportunity
to succeed. Now knowing the definition of ‘poor’ and ‘low-income’, it astounds
me how these students ever become successful in life. It is disheartening as a
teacher that we can only do so much in the classroom and try to teach students not
only the subject matter but life lessons so that they can achieve more than
their parent/guardian. I personally do not know the least bit of what it is
like to grow up with this status. That is why it is ever so important to have
knowledge of the definitions and understand the case studies and examples given
through this course and through media. There are so many educational issues
that develop all because of a student’s economic status.
Ch. 8 Question: What does your school already do to
help students who are in poverty or low income status? How could these programs
be better? If there is no need in your school, what could your school do for
those schools that do have the need?
If you take a look at my blog, I listed some of the steps my school takes to help students in poverty in my Ch. 8 post. We often extend SW minutes on the IEP to provide these students with emotional supports, and every year, the Key Club raises funds and donates specific items of need to impoverished families within our school. What is wonderful, however, is that the community is also taking steps to support these children as well. A local church donates "snack packs" every week on Friday to send home with the students of families with low-income or living in poverty. This helps take care of the kids on the weekend when they don't have the free/reduced lunch services. These are only a few of the ways my school helps these students out.
ReplyDeleteIn answering your post, I have to say some of the same things that Kaylie listed her schools does. We actually do all of the same things she mentioned. I forgot that we also have support groups and next year will have a counselor in the building. At Christmas we have a coat and mitten drive so that we can give these to the neediest students and usually instead of giving each other gifts we find a way to donate by our grade level team, gifts to one of the neediest families.
DeleteI believe students making small progress and those labeled as slow achievers come from all spectrums of income; poor, middle-class and wealthy. Having means does not mean aptitude corresponds. Similarly not having means does not make a student automatically less talented. While I find it to be no surprise that poverty is a distraction to the learning process, I think slower or underachieving students come from all walks of life. The area I struggle with is the whether or not it's the teachers responsibility to tackle the sock-economic distractions. From a moral standpoint my heart tells me yet. But as we struggle with educators coming under so much scrutiny and increased accountability as it relates to students' performance and test scores, is this really fair?
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