Undersanding the Students We Teach: Poverty in the Classroom

Review of Professional Resource:

The article that I have chosen to include is titled: "Understanding the Students We Teach: Poverty in the Classroom." from the magazine: "The Clearing House". It was written by Missy M. Bennett.

This article was about a study on the conditions of life students who live in poverty and how this impacts our job as future teachers. It discusses the effects of a project, college students were asked to take a “driving tour” to look into the lives of students and discover the place in which they call home. They were asked to answer specific questions and consider different thoughts about transportation, community, employment, and residence.

The article addressed the lack of discussion and information that future teachers get on the issue of poverty. Diversity is a topic that is usually covered yet socioeconomic status is usually not included and this subculture has great effects on students and classrooms and is something that needs to be discussed. It is imperative to realize and understand how these socioeconomic differences will play a role in the classroom as well as learning how to adapt to these circumstances and allow your classroom to be a place where everyone feels comfortable and accepted. “Themes that emerged were development of awareness of socioeconomic differences, development of empathetic rapport and caring attitudes, and development of a commitment to culturally responsive teaching.” (Bennett) The article recalls that according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2008) 12.7 percent of the United States is living in poverty. This is higher in certain states and lower in others but overall in a class of 30 students, 3 of them would be living in poverty. This is reason enough to be knowledgeable as a teacher but also assist students in the classroom in understanding others around them. The professor who conducted these driving tours took 60 papers she received and has provided the most valuable insights. She notes the one student said, “ I did not expect to see people living in situations like this—in homes that appeared to be unsafe to live in.” For many students, they cannot begin to imagine a life unlike there own and therefore by proving this literature we are able to give them a glimpse and educate them about others. Students in the class were asked to comment on how project impacted their understanding of their future classroom. One student said, “Not everyone’s home life is pleasurable and school is sometimes an escape. Some students use it to rebel and express their pain.” By allowing both teachers and students to become educated about the lives of others both can be more understanding of others. It is important for everyone to realize that no one’s lives are easy and everyone struggles but that each person is going through something different. We must learn to understand other’s differences but also to embrace everyone and learn to interact together as a successful classroom community.

I was immediately drawn to this resource due to both it’s relevance with the topic of poverty but also because it describes the lack of information given to individuals planning to teach about this subgroup. Poverty is prevalent in many communities around the country and will more than likely be something that, as future teachers, we come across in our classrooms. This article did not address literature specifically, rather the need for development of responsive teaching. By understanding that these situations are occurring in the lives of many students, we must help them to feel unified through literature in the classroom. It also helped me to better understand the need for this type of literature in the classroom. The article was addressing college level individuals who were still uneasy and unable to understand individuals they were interacting with because of the socioeconomic differences. This lack of knowledge made it clear that these individuals who had more than 12 years of school had yet to be exposed to this subculture and therefore the need for this literature in the classroom. This article was a great resource and I hope to inspire others to look into this issue, especially those becoming future teachers and maybe when placed, take a look at the surrounding area to really get a feel for the individuals you will be interacting with.

This project was done at Georgia Southern University.

Student quotes and information came from the article:

Bennett, Missy M. "Understanding the Students We Teach: Poverty in the Classroom." The Clearing House Aug. 2008.