I have not heard back from the professionals I am trying to be in contact with so I have decided to do the alternative option for this week. I decided to listen to the podcast from September 10, 2013 on the #edchat radio station. This podcast was titled The Challenges of Teaching Students in Poverty. This podcast brought many different views and provided me with a great deal of eye opening information about poverty and how large of an impact it can have on students and learning. As they brought up in the conversation it is easy to think of poverty of one type of thing and that all people in poverty are going through the same thing. This is very far from the truth. There are many different types of poverty and in many different types of areas.
One great statement that was mentioned is that poverty is not an excuse, it is an explanation. This is a very profound statement that all educators and administrators need to be aware of. Children that are in poverty have many things that they are concerned about on a daily basis. Some are just in survival mode, not knowing if they will make it home with out being killed or if they will be harmed by someone in their home. When these are the concerns that fill their day, they often times do not have time to worry about hours of school work each evening.
Another issue children in poverty have, especially those in urban areas is a lack of understanding of teachers. Many times teachers are not from middle class and have not had to live a life like those in poverty. It is harder for them to truly understand what the children are going through on a daily basis. Teachers need to educate themselves about the lives of students in their area so that they are better equipped to teacher and help them when needed. The podcast also talked to the fact that teachers need to inform themselves about the different supports in their area for those in poverty. Teachers can help their students get support and resources they may not be aware of on their own.
As professionals and educators we need to do all we can to help children in poverty and be informed about the issues that effect our students and all students.
http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1222:jackstreet54&catid=86:edchat-radio-&Itemid=249
Kassie,
ReplyDeleteI really liked the statement “poverty is not an excuse, it is an explanation” that you discussed through the podcast. It is too bad that sometimes we come across individuals who use poverty as an excuse. We always think of the children and students to be in poverty and what the teachers can do to help and support them, but what if the teacher is impoverished? What happens now? Life is unexpected and sometimes in certain situations the educator may be facing poverty issues themselves. It is also great if the supervisor would provide resources and make services available for the educators to enroll in.