Poverty

Templeton: Understanding Poverty in the Classroom

            After reading this chapter on poverty, many ideas and questions were formulated in my mind regarding poverty and how to teach children who face these unfortunate circumstances. I am currently interning at an at-risk school with 100% of the children receiving free lunch. This chapter provided many examples of how to encourage and effectively teach children in poverty. In regards to high residential mobility, children feel insecure in their current environments and often have trust issues stemming from constantly moving. Once these children become comfortable in one school and one house, they must soon move and be introduced to a new environment with new, unfamiliar faces. Children in these circumstances may also be at-risk for needing additional interventions, but since they do not remain in one school district for enough time, they do not receive the proper help needed. Overcrowded living arrangements are often prevalent in the homes of children in poverty because some families need additional adults living in the home to help with bills and other responsibilities. This hinders the children in these homes ability to find a quiet space to practice school material and do homework. Lack of access to basic resources proves to be troublesome with children in poverty. Research has proven that children who read more books during the summer are more prepared to begin school in the fall. Children in poverty do not always have access to books; therefore, they are more susceptible to the “summer slide” than their middle- and high-class counterparts.

            Reading this chapter proved to be very beneficial to me in regards to my future teaching environment. I plan to work in at-risk, high poverty schools. Seeing these problems from a teacher’s perspective and examining successful ways to help combat these problems in the classroom will better prepare me for the future. The author, Templeton, wrote this with teachers in mind and wrote as if talking or discussing these matters with a teacher.

            I agree with Templeton that we, as teachers, should not continuously make excuses for children in poverty, and to also have expectations for them. I have found that when I have had expectations for a child, he or she strived to meet those expectations, and ultimately succeeded. Also, Templeton discussed that poverty does not have to be a prescription for academic underachievement. If we know the factors that contribute to academic failures by children in poverty, then we can adjust our teaching and work even harder to try to decrease the likelihood of these underachievements occurring.