Understanding and Working with Students & Adults from Poverty To understand and work with students and adults from generational poverty, a framework is needed. This analytical framework is shaped around these basic ideas: Each individual has eight resources which greatly influence achievement; money is only one. Poverty is the extent to which an individual is without these eight resources. The hidden rules of the middle class govern schools and work; students from generational poverty come with a completely different set of hidden rules and do not know middleclass hidden rules. Language issues and the story structure of casual register cause many students from generational poverty to be unmediated, and therefore, the cognitive structures needed inside the mind to learn at the levels required by state tests have not been fully developed. Teaching is what happens outside the head; learning is what happens inside the head. For these students to learn, direct teaching must occur to build these cognitive structures. Relationships are the key motivators for learning for students from generational poverty.

Key Points Poverty is relative. If everyone around you has similar circumstances, the notion of poverty and wealth is vague. Poverty or wealth only exists in relationship to the known quantities or expectation. Poverty occurs among people of all ethnic backgrounds and in all countries. The notion of a middle class as a large segment of society is a phenomenon of this century. The percentage of the population that is poor is subject to definition and circumstance. Economic class is a continuous line, not a clear-cut distinction. Individuals move and are stationed all along the continuum of income. Generational poverty and situational poverty are different. Generational poverty is defined as being in poverty for two generations or longer. Situational poverty exists for a shorter time is caused by circumstances like death, illness, or divorce. This framework is based on patterns. All patterns have exceptions. An individual bring with them the hidden rules of the class in which they were raised. Even though the income of the individual may rise significantly, many patterns of thought, social interaction, cognitive strategies, and so on remain with the individual.

Key Points School and businesses operate from middle-class norms and use the hidden rules of the middle class. These norms and hidden rules are never directly taught in schools or in businesses. We must understand our students‘ hidden rules and teach them the hidden middle-class rules that will make them successful at school and work. We can neither excuse them nor scold them for not knowing; we must teach them and provide support, insistence, and expectations. To move from poverty to middle class or from middle class to wealth, an individual must give up relationships for achievement.

Resources Poverty is defined as the "extent to which an individual does without resources. These are the resources that influence achievement: Financial: the money to purchase goods and services. Emotional: the ability to choose and control emotional responses, particularly to negative situations, without engaging in self-destructive behavior. This is an internal resource and shows itself through stamina, perseverance, and choices. Mental: the necessary intellectual ability and acquired skills, such as reading, writing, and computing, to deal with everyday life. Spiritual: a belief in divine purpose and guidance. Physical: health and mobility. Support systems: friends, family, backup resources and knowledge bases one can rely on in times of need. These are external resources. Role models: frequent access to adults who are appropriate and nurturing to the child, and who do not engage in self-destructive behavior. Knowledge of hidden rules: knowing the unspoken cues and habits of a group.

Resources of students and adults should be analyzed before seeking solutions to the situation. What may seem to be very workable suggestions from middle-class point of view may be virtually impossible given the resources available in poverty. Educators have tremendous opportunities to influence some of the non-financial resources that make such a difference in students’ lives. It cost nothing to be an appropriate role- model.

Teaching is what occurs outside the head. Learning is what occurs inside the head.

The focus in schools should be on learning. Instruction in the cognitive strategies should be part of the curriculum. Staff development should focus on a diagnostic approach rather than a programmatic approach. Efforts to promote learning should pay heed to what is in the student’s head. Insistence, expectations, and support need to be guiding lights in our decisions about instruction.

Learning structures Concepts Skills Content Cognitive Strategies (Fundamental ways to process information) Concepts (Store info & retrieve) Skills (processing of content) Content (“what” of learning)

Mediation Point out the stimulus (what) Give it meaning (why) Provide a strategy (how) Mediation builds cognitive strategies, and those strategies give individuals the ability to plan.

If an individual depends upon a random, episodic story structure from memory patterns, lives in an unpredictable environment, and has not developed the ability to plan, then… If an individual cannot plan, he/she cannot predict. If an individual cannot predict, he/she cannot identify cause and effect. If an individual cannot identify cause and effect, he/she cannot identify consequences. If an individual cannot identify consequences, he/she cannot control impulsivity. If an individual cannot control impulsivity, he/she has an inclination toward criminal behavior.

The true discrimination that comes out of poverty is the lack of cognitive strategies. The lack of these unseen attributes handicaps in every aspect of life the individual who does not have them.

Motivation for Learning No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship (of mutual respect). Comer

Emotional Resources Allow the individual to live with the feeling other than those they know. This allowance provides the individual the opportunity to seek options and examine other possibilities. How do you provide emotional resources when the student has not had access to appropriate role models?

Through support systems. By using appropriate discipline strategies and approaches. By establishing long-term relationships with appropriate adults. By teaching hidden rules By identifying options. By increasing individuals’ achievement level through appropriate instruction. By teaching goal setting.

Creating Relationships Emotional deposits are made to the student, emotional withdrawals are avoided, and students are respected. Support systems are simply networks of relationships. Clarify expectations- honor human beings worthy of respect and care to establish a relationship that will provide for enhanced learning.

Building Relationships

Deposits & Withdrawals

Creating Desire You want to do this because: Be in control Be smarter Win more often You won’t be cheated You will be safe when you are old Life is like a game- sometimes you get bad hands Mind is like a tool no one can take away

Mutual Respect