When school resumes in the fall, many changes will be made to arrival times, lunch periods, and breaks, among other things. How everything will look is not yet clear, but one thing is: the pandemic has changed the children who will walk through those doors and how they learn. We have all felt the stress of life during coronavirus. We have had to think about things we normally took for granted, like whether the store would have toilet paper. Simple tasks—say, picking up milk—have become a complex mission requiring forethought, a face mask, and hand sanitizer. Many of us have had to juggle personal and professional obligations or, worse yet, have suffered job loss, illness, or the death of a loved one. Students’ brains have been overloaded by the stress of the pandemic and all of its demands on them and their families. That stress will surely linger for them, especially if their classrooms are dramatically different in the fall. It will affect learning for many of them, especially those who have been thrust below the poverty line by COVID-related unemployment. And while poverty is a problem far too large for educators to address alone, there are things we can do to help affected students learn. The effects of stress and poverty on the brain Even as states begin to reopen, the pandemic has crowded out other priorities and clouded our picture of the future. Any large experience like this not only overloads the brain but also impairs its function. In their book Scarcity, authors Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir call this “tunneling.” Our mental focus narrows and pushes aside anything that does not fit into the tunnel. For example, the weekend before the first day of school, you may forget to walk your dog or even that you have dog.
Poverty itself changes a child’s brain. Studies show that growing up low income affects brain development. Poverty also seems to lead to attention difficulties: children in low-income families are nearly twice as likely to have moderate or severe attention deficit disorder than children in higher-income families. Even if a child has healthy brain development and escapes ADD, the chronic stress of poverty crowds the brain, and a crowded brain works less effectively than it could. When the stress is relieved, brain function can be restored. A fascinating study of sugar cane farmers in India demonstrates this effect. Because the farmers are paid only once a year, they go from being poor—the majority pawn something just before the harvest—to (relatively) rich in a short period. Researchers who asked farmers to take the Stroop test, which measures fluid intelligence, just before and just after the harvest found that farmers got 25% more items correct when they tested after. This corresponds to about 10 IQ points. Make room for kids to grow Poverty is an ongoing stressor crowding and hampering the brain. And, unlike the pandemic, poverty does not always go away. While many people, including students, will have their mental stress ease as things slowly return to normal, those coping with poverty will still be burdened. In addition, more students will be in poverty than before the pandemic because of its impact on the economy. The fall classroom may have students in their seats, but only part of their brains will be present.
So, how can a school or classroom help children un-crowd their brain? How can we give children a “post-harvest” brain? Many scholars have written extensively on this. For this post, I’ll address three important factors that low-income students need to have addressed: bandwidth, power, and hope. 1. Bandwidth You may have developed tricks during the pandemic to cope with the demands, like leaving a face mask in your car at all times. This relieved you from having to remember a mask whenever you did venture out. This kind of tactic eased your “bandwidth” load, opening up a tiny bit more space to remember other things. Eric Jensen, in his book Teaching with Poverty in Mind, gives a few ideas on boosting bandwidth for students:
2. Power During the pandemic, one significant source of stress has been the powerlessness many of us have felt. The not knowing what will happen next and the conflicting guidance we’re receiving. The ability to make choices and act upon them can feel difficult. Students, especially those from low-income families, experience powerlessness every day. They do not have control over their home environment, which is likely to be unpredictable. Consider, for example, that countless low-income families suffer a utility shutoff on any given year. Classrooms can give students opportunities to exercise power. Here are two specific ideas on how, from Jensen:
3. Hope A person whose mental bandwidth is consumed with survival cannot focus on the future. The definition of “hopelessness” is the absence of positive thoughts about the future. Crowding out hope for the future may very well be the most important loss for a student because school calls for an investment today—time, energy, focus—that can lead to a benefit in the future. If the demands of school do not recognize a student’s life situation and obstacles to learning, a student can learn that school is not a place for them to succeed. Performing poorly or dropping out are the logical consequences. Here are a few ideas from Jensen for engendering hope in the classroom:
Look to the future With more and more students coping with the stress of scarcity, now is the time for making sure school supports them to reach their full potential. During the pandemic, we have all experienced scarcity: of information, of certainty, of hope. Use your experience to help students succeed this fall.
What bridges the gap between a culture of despair and a future of hope for children who live in poverty? Many Americans believe that low-socioeconomic level equals low outcomes. This is far from the truth and those who believe otherwise stifle what a child can accomplish. Children who come from generations of poverty or those who find themselves there because of life’s circumstances still dream, have hopes, Poverty does not mean a person is unable to succeed. Children who live in poverty can meet high expectations and standards. When we as educators understand and embrace this truth, outcomes for children who live in poverty will change. In a 2012 Huffington Post article, “Good Teachers Create the Future,” Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust, states: “Good teachers—and counselors and social workers and school principals—matter. They matter a lot to kids of all sorts. But they especially matter to kids of color and kids who are growing up in poverty.” Too often the consequences of poverty eat away at what children can do academically. Yet, there is still hope. Hope lies in what educators do between the first and the last bell of each school day to equip children with the necessary skills to catch up, move forward, and succeed in the 21st century. Effective educators of children who live in poverty understand the important role of connecting, validating, educating, responding, leading, and succeeding with children who live in these environments. As a child of poverty who dispelled the assumptions that low-socioeconomic levels equal low outcomes, I dedicate my life to educating children who come from environments where the norm is lack rather than plenty. In my journey to lead children of poverty, I have formulated six effective practices. Connecting and ValidatingEverything that takes place in a school is built on relationships and validation. Building relationships is often considered a “soft” principle and is overlooked when devising strategies to educate children who live in poverty. However, effective educators know building relationships is a critical step before introducing content. Students connect and build relationships with individuals before they connect with an institution. Johns Hopkins University Professor Robert W. Blum contends that lasting, meaningful relationships with at least one caring adult in the school are the cornerstone of connectedness. Hand in hand with connecting is validating. Validating means understanding where the student is coming from and not allowing this knowledge to deter a commitment to teaching that student. The focus is shifted from what a student doesn’t have or know to what that student has and can do. Furthermore, it means listening to a student verbally and nonverbally. After a relationship has been established, the attention moves to believing. Effective educators believe that these students can be successful. Believing in someone causes effective educators to respond in a different way. The masterful facilitators of learning understand that “Caring is nurturing; believing is strengthening. Caring is validating; believing is promising. Caring is responding; believing is empowering (from “Unmasking the Truth: Teaching Diverse Student Populations,” Middle Matters, February 2006). Seven ways to connect to and validate children who live in poverty:
Educating and RespondingIf children who live in poverty are ever going to have a chance to move forward in life, we must ensure experienced teachers who are highly qualified stand at the door of each classroom. This is the only way to guarantee students will be met at their current level and prepared to move to higher levels. Effective educators of children who live in poverty acknowledge challenges that are often not experienced when working with other groups. Children who live in these environments struggle with language, reading, writing, and mathematical skills. These children often do not grow up in environments where they are exposed to doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, teachers, accountants, or professions that call for more advanced skills and degrees. The only part of a child’s life that an educator can control is in the school and in each classroom. What happens there often determines success or failure for these children. Classrooms where children who live in poverty can soar are welcoming and inviting and structured. Instruction is engaging and culturally responsive. Data are constantly used to inform instructional changes. Each student is given multiple opportunities to succeed and is allowed to demonstrate mastery through learning style or intelligence. Educators can take steps to identify those who show early warning signs of struggling with instructional material. The appropriate response depends on the need of each child and the understanding that one size does not fit all. Responding includes ensuring time is built into the school day to teach, reteach, and advance instruction. These forms of interventions contribute to the success of each child. Seven ways to educate and respond to children who live in poverty:
Leading and SucceedingAs district, building, and classroom leaders, we set the tone for educating children who live in poverty. If we accept ineffective instruction, we can expect low outcomes. If a culture of low expectations and despair is accepted, students will never rise above mediocrity. On the other hand, if effective instruction is the norm, the result is positive outcomes. If every child is taught to his or her strengths, every child will perform and master content at higher levels. If high expectations and hope are accepted, children will be prepared to be successful in school, life, college, and career. If children are cared for and believed in, they will learn to be resilient. If instructional time is masterfully facilitated, students will rise above what is expected. Seven ways to lead and succeed with children who live in poverty:
From Despair to HopePoverty cannot be used as an excuse to educate students ineffectively. Children who live in poverty face challenges and circumstances that impede their understanding and learning. Although poverty may hinder the educational process, it does not sentence children to a life of failure nor does it cancel out opportunities to succeed. According to Kati Haycock (Education Watch: Minnesota, 2006) “Good teachers make good schools. Students who get several effective teachers in a row will soar no matter what their family backgrounds, while students who have even two ineffective teachers in a row rarely recover.” Low expectations, ineffective instruction, low level programming, and limiting institutional practices must be eradicated. The crucial focus of 21st century educators must be to continuously find ways to help children who live in poverty build a bridge from a culture of despair to a future of hope. |