Teaching with Poverty: The Impact and Strategies

By: Matt Bergman

About Me

@mattbergman14

• bergman-udl.blogspot.com/• learn-lead-grow.weebly.com/

Essential Questions for Today:

● What is poverty?

● How does poverty impact our classrooms?

● What strategies can we use to overcome the challenges of poverty in our classrooms?

% of Americans Living in PovertySource: US Census Bureau

46.3 million Americans

We see the impacts of poverty in our classroom

Lack of motivationCognitive lagsChronic tardinessInappropriate behaviorLack of parental involvementHigh transience rates

But do we understand what poverty really is?

Poverty is “the extent to which an individual does without resources.”

- Ruby Payne

SOURCE: Payne, R. (1996). A framework for understanding poverty . Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc.

In the United States, the official poverty thresholds are set by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Persons with income less than that deemed sufficient to purchase basic needs—food, shelter, clothing, and other essentials—are designated as poor.  In 2011, what was the poverty threshold of a family of 4?

$23,018

SOURCE: Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. United States: ASCD.

Source: US Census Bureau

How Poverty Occurs…

Situational Generational Absolute

Relative Urban Rural

SOURCE: Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. United States: ASCD.

Situational

Generational

Absolute

Relative

Urban Poverty

Rural

Source: William P. O'Hare, The Forgotten Fifth: Child Poverty in Rural America (2009).

Source: William P. O'Hare, The Forgotten Fifth: Child Poverty in Rural America (2009).

Barrier = PovertyMany of our students come from poverty,

which we cannot control

We can control how we can help our students in our classrooms

Strategies We Can Use to Overcome the

Challenges of Poverty in our Classrooms

Tip 1: Build Relationships

"No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship." James Comer (1995)

Tip 2: Create a Stable Environment

Tip 3: Encourage a Growth Mindset

Lowering expectations does not work!

Reading to your child is a critical element of cognitive

development. 36%of low income parents read daily to their kindergarten aged

child.

SOURCE: Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. United States: ASCD.

Tip 4: Reading is the Key to Vocabulary Development

The Matthew Effect

Keith Stanovich

What can we do?Provide

access to a variety of reading

materials

Opportunities to read in

schoolSupports in

placeReading

through a social lens

4 A’s Model: What assumptions does the

author make? What do I agree with from the

text?What do I argue with from the

text?What do I want to aspire to from

the text?

A mother’s role is critical in the development of

vocabulary. According to research,  by the time MOST children start school, they will

have been exposed to 5 million words and should know about

13,000 of them

SOURCE: Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. United States: ASCD.

Tip 5: Developing Vocabulary Strategies

“The achievement gap is largely a vocabulary gap.”

How do you choose words to teach?

Tier 3 – Domain

SpecificTier 2 –

General Academic

Tier 1 – Everyday words that we use

Beck, I.L., McKoeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.

What can we do?Multiple opportunities Meaningful interactions

Word Walls

Word Wall

Tip 6: Oral Language is Important!

Teachers use Academic Vocabulary and “smart words” in the classroom.

Embed higher-level synonyms and explanations within language.

Never use slang.

Tip 7: Increase Engagement

One last thought…“Do what you can, with what you have,

where you are at.” Theodore Roosevelt

Thank You!

● For questions:● mattbergman14@gmail.com

● For more Web 2.0 ideas! ● @mattbergman14 (Twitter)● learn-lead-grow.weebly.com/ (Website)● http://bergman-udl.blogspot.com/ (Blog)

ReferencesBeck, I.L., McKoeown, M.G., & Kucan, L.

(2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.

Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. United States: ASCD.

Payne, R. (April 2008). Poverty and learning: 9 powerful practices. Educational Leadership, 65(7), 48-52.