Personal Narrative: My Teaching Career In Glendale, Arizona

Nelson Mandela once said, "Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom” (Make Poverty History, 2005). Gwinnett county is third in the country when it comes to a high poverty rate, with 14% of the population living below poverty (Family Promise of Gwinnet County, 2013). As an educator it is important to familiarize with the county of which one is to teach in, and poverty is an issue in Gwinnett county. One must understand the affects of poverty on

In Ruby Payne's “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” she endeavors to provide educators with strategies to teach children from poor families, but Ruby Payne went wrong when she just took a mental image from a classroom and began analyzing on what she saw without enough evidence, her principal message was that poverty is not simply a monetary condition. She describes it to her audiences as a culture with particular rules, values, and knowledge transmitted from one generation to the next.

Many kids in the United States have been affected by poverty at some point in their lives. In fact, one in five children have been affected by poverty. A survey was done within the last year by the Scholastic company that interviewed a group of the State Teachers of the Year and asked them what they thought were some of the effects of poverty. Some popular answers were that it affects the way you perform in school greatly and that we need more anti-poverty programs to help out with these children. Poverty affects the success of students in many ways. These include not having the academic achievement that more advantaged kids did, not having experiences other kids did, and not having the early development they needed.

Issues of poverty relate to multicultural education because they are both obstacles to overcome as a teacher. In addition, these two might even come hand in hand. In some cases, a child might have to deal with both of these in his/her education, as well as their own learning. To teach a multicultural classroom, one much teach the diverse groups of students in a way that all cultures, ethnicities, and national heritages can learn. Incorporating poverty, including white poverty, into a multicultural classroom means that the teacher must also teach according to their backgrounds and home life. I am passionate about reaching out to those students, so that each and every one of them feel comfortable, excited, and enthusiastic about their learning and education.

A Framework for Understanding Poverty is a book, written by Ruby K. Payne for the purpose of helping educators impact their students in poverty through opportunities. This book examines experiences from all economic classes in order to evaluate the differences in education among each class. Payne talks about the different types of poverty and the resources needed to be a stable and educated person. Poverty is “the extent to which an individual does without resources”.

People in poverty are as diverse as any other socioeconomic class. They present, a wide array of values, beliefs, experiences, backgrounds, and life chances. In order to be responsive to the needs of students, it would be helpful to

In her essay, “All Kids Should Take Poverty 101,” Donna Beegle discusses the issue of poverty. She wants to help people understand and in turn decrease poverty in America. She suggests the solution of educating children in the k-12 system by having them take, “Poverty 101.” In teaching children “Poverty 101” it will help them understand the reality of poverty and not just the stereotypes they believe. Beegle hopes that will help empower those in poverty to help change their situation and will help those who do not live in poverty understand its true causes. Beegle’s solution was effective because she used her own personal stories to incorporate into her argument. Her lack of statistics and facts fail to strengthen the argument.

12 – When considering an approach in understanding and teaching the student of poverty both Ruby Payne and Eric Jensen provide insightful strategies and resources. I found both author’s works to be very compatible. Having read very little on teaching and understanding those living in the lap of poverty both books are defiantly thought provoking, while building a good foundation.

Assuaging poverty is one of the gist missions of the Harlem Children’s Zone. In the United States today, exceeding “13 million” children live in poverty. We understand that children, who experience the backlash of poverty, often live in an unpleasantly conditions, unstable homes, and are at a great distance less likely than other children to get a favorable education and/or sufficient health care. The exposure to life of poverty more often limits learning abilities; bringing about the inability of getting the best jobs and earning maximum income, making it impossible for them to live up to their full potential, which will more like result in imprisonment.

Finally, this journal has enlightened me and my thought process of generalizations pertaining to urban schools: “When we think of low poverty schools the first thing that comes to mind are inner urban schools. Again, this process is considered a stereotype because many urban schools perform well and meet required standards. Unfortunately, there are urban schools across the nation who has a high demand for teachers and resources. Teacher.com is a comprehensive resource for information. It is in partnership with California State University-Rossier online. It provides state specific information on how to become a teacher, areas that are in demand of teachers, teacher pay in those areas, teaching credentials, teacher certification tests, alternative teacher certification and more. Its objective is to provide all information to become a teacher anywhere in which you reside. Sadly the schools that have the highest demand for teachers are the

A Framework for Understanding Poverty is a valuable tool to the helping profession. It has a lot of good information about the cultural differences between classes. It offers practical solutions to many problems commonly encountered when educators have problems with their students who live in poverty. The book helps educators to assist students who live in poverty survive in the middle-class world. Payne 's work has been eye opening in

As Connell, White and Johnston (1990,p.9) state, 'There is not a “culture of poverty”, nor any key “deficit” that makes poor people different from everybody else and therefore and educational problem'. Teachers and Education Assistants need to adapt into the culture of poverty and be sensitive and understandable to the extensive bar of needs that children of poverty bring to the classroom and they need to consider the cultural values of these children as they arrange their learning. The basis of Groundwater-Smith, Ewing and Le Cornu's opinions in the article is they position readers to view that the teachers dispositions low income students and that rarely the educators offer the same level or enough aid and attention than the other students and they are less likely to succeed in school when compared with the more advantaged children. According to Groundwater-Smith, Ewing and Le Cornu's and Geoffrey D. Borman and Laura T. Rachuba they both state that students from lower income families may not have as high expectations from their parents, teachers or their peers within the school. The students may also not be confident in their own abilities and

In my opinion, A Framework for Understanding Poverty written by Ruby Payne does a wonderful job of giving insightful information about those living in the lap of poverty. I read many comments citing Payne as being stereotypical. She was also called out for making excuses for those who do not do well on tests or are achieving below grade level due to generational poverty. Whereas, I read it as educators should not put the blame on children living in poverty, but rather she too gives insight so that educators are mindful of the hurdles that these children face.

In this time and age the United States contains a high number of students in the public schools who are under the poverty line. Poverty is defined as the state of being really poor financially. Poverty in the United States has become a complicated problem that causes a variety of diverse challenges for children and their families. Although the economy of the United States is showing great signs of improvement, poverty remains a serious issue. While examining poverty and children education in several articles all authors seem to agree with the fact that poverty does have an affect in the academic development of a child. However, there are several disagreements in other areas. The authors that this essay will be

I am attending Concord College to further my education. After graduating with an Elementary Education Degree, I would like to teach in an elementary school in Southern West Virginia. Preferably, I would like to teach in a kindergarten environment. While teaching I plan to further my career with a Master’s degree. I would like to be able to reach those children that aren’t as fortunate as others. As a teacher I will not only teach the children, but they in turn, will teach me. Education is one of the most important aspects to the success of the country. It is important for everyone to feel a part of that success; therefore, I feel strongly about teaching students to succeed.