Final Thoughts on Teaching with Poverty in MInd

     I am thankful that I read this book and was reminded about how many different problems/concerns our students could be bringing to school on a daily basis.  It is easy to focus on what we are trying to teach our students and forget the fact that they have many things on their plate in addition to schoolwork.  If a student is worried about where they are going to get their next meal, if their electricity is going to be shut off, or if they are even going to have a place to call home etc., school can be the last thing on their mind.

     Furthermore, I had not thought about the extent that poverty can cause cognitive lags.  When we found out in class that there can be a thirty two million word gap over four years between children living in welfare homes compared to children living in professionals' homes........I was shocked.  These students would be going to school on a very uneven playing field.  The good news is that according to the book, brains are designed to change.  However, it's a bit scary to think about the gap that we are trying to overcome.

     One of the important successful school-wide factors that grabbed my attention and gave me hope that we can make a difference is relationship building.  I think the staff and our school as a whole is consciously working to make sure that we form these relationships and that we don't have any students that are being overlooked.  This is a great step towards meeting our students' needs whether they come from welfare homes or professionals' homes.

     At the very least, I believe reading this book helped make me more aware of what our students can be up against outside of the school's walls.