I want to thank all of you who have read my articles with regularity since I began writing essentially every day from mid-March 2011 to the present juncture at mid-April 2011. I see from the statistics that are available to me on my readership that during this span of time I have had readers from across the globe, including not only the United States and Canada, but also from Russia, China, India, and a number of other countries in East and Southeast Asia.
I also want you to know that I am temporarily slowing the pace of my written output as I shift more of my energies to facets of the overall effort to get the message out about the need for a revolution in K-12 education in the United States and the specifics of the revolutiion that is needed. Even during this time of a relatively slower pace, I will be writing additional articles from time to time, and at a certain point I will resume the pace that you have witnessed over the course of the last several weeks.
It has become clear to me that what I have written thus far represents a very substantive start on a book that will be directly drawn from these and future articles. So keep reading, and when you feel so moved let me know your thoughts, either on the blog itself or at the email address listed on the New Salem Educational Initiative website.
Together those of us who show the necessary dedication and staying power will put in place the kind of intellectual underpinning and move forward with the kind of on-the-ground activity necessary to transform K-12 education, and thus to make the United States a true democracy.
Apr 11, 2011
Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family (Summary)
In this article I summarize the key points made in my recent five-part series, "Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family."
The following points are those carrying the thematic thrust of Parts I, II, III, IV, and V:
I) The teacher of the student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must be prepared to cope with the student's fear of failure. Students whose families have met with setback after setback, and whose ongoing struggles may at times feature daily crises, often have a desperate fear of failure. They do not like to be told that they are wrong or have made a mistake. They often want to stick with what they know, those already established skills that make them feel smart or capable. It is up to the teacher adroitly to design a program of high academic goals that moves the student from one small incremental step to the next, utilizing expressions of high praise for each genuine accomplishment. At some point the steps can become larger and the progress more rapid, but a student with a high fear of failure must be moved forward carefully toward desired goals related to grade level performance and above.
II) The teacher of a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must be ready to deal with the student's potential lack of focus on the academic task at hand. Reasons for a student's inability to concentrate may be rooted in physiology or social environment. In neither case should the problem be judged immediately as a case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I have rarely witnessed a case that could not be handled in ways other than prescription drugs, and I carry a strong conviction that an adroit teacher can seize a distracted student's attention with various pedagogical maneuvers and with a variety of efforts to build a strong human bond with the student and the student's family.
III) The teacher of a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must convey unconditional love and enduring commitment. I have generally found that students who have experienced some level of emotional or physical abuse readily respond to an attitude of warmth flowing from universal love directed toward that particular human being. It is very important to know, though, that some students from impoverished and dysfunctional famililes are not immediately responsive, and they may even exhibit very coarse and rude behavior. For these children the teacher's willingness to express unconditional love in the face of such challenging behavior is hugely important. When the teacher also expresses an ongoing and enduring interest in the student's future, beyond the current academic year of daily teacher-student interaction, this makes a deep impression on the student and deepens the impact of manifested unconditional love.
IV) The teacher of the student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must communicate absolute confidence in the student's ability. This requires the teacher first to get into her or his own brain that all human beings are smart and that all people with IQs of about 95 or above can in a reasonable length of time learn anything. People with IQs rising to the 120-150 level and above will, after any physiological or social impediments are overcome, at first learn at more rapid rates than those who are not naturally as quick. But as those who learn at more modest rates establish solid skill and knowledge sets at grade level or above, natural advantages become relatively fewer and all students proceed to acquire additional skill and knowledge at rapid rates. All people are smart. The true teacher must believe heart and soul that this is true.
V) The teacher of the student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family cannot shrink from the task at hand by claiming that the student brings into the school certain life challenges that are not of the school's making. The true teacher finds ways to overcome any associated obstacles and proceeds to design a viable plan that results in grade level performance or better for each student. This must be done in the absence of support from the student's parents if necessary, but usually there is someone--- a grandmother, grandfather, aunt, godmother, godfather, or family friend with whom the teacher can connect. The effort to establish a relationship with another caring adult who can be in the student's life magnifies the skillful teacher's own efforts and lays an even firmer foundation for the student's future success.
The teacher of the student from a poor and dysfunctional family has embraced the most important task in our society. An overhauled system of K-12 education, beginning with individual teachers who rise far above the current mediocre standard, will be the most important event as the United States becomes a country worthy of its democratic ideals. The key points summarized herein and developed in more detail in the immediately preceding series of articles indicate five important principles for teaching the child facing severe economic and social challenges. The teacher who successfully acts upon these principles in multiple cases of students facing such challenges will end the cycle of poverty for many families and contribute to the growth of democracy in the United States.
The following points are those carrying the thematic thrust of Parts I, II, III, IV, and V:
I) The teacher of the student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must be prepared to cope with the student's fear of failure. Students whose families have met with setback after setback, and whose ongoing struggles may at times feature daily crises, often have a desperate fear of failure. They do not like to be told that they are wrong or have made a mistake. They often want to stick with what they know, those already established skills that make them feel smart or capable. It is up to the teacher adroitly to design a program of high academic goals that moves the student from one small incremental step to the next, utilizing expressions of high praise for each genuine accomplishment. At some point the steps can become larger and the progress more rapid, but a student with a high fear of failure must be moved forward carefully toward desired goals related to grade level performance and above.
II) The teacher of a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must be ready to deal with the student's potential lack of focus on the academic task at hand. Reasons for a student's inability to concentrate may be rooted in physiology or social environment. In neither case should the problem be judged immediately as a case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I have rarely witnessed a case that could not be handled in ways other than prescription drugs, and I carry a strong conviction that an adroit teacher can seize a distracted student's attention with various pedagogical maneuvers and with a variety of efforts to build a strong human bond with the student and the student's family.
III) The teacher of a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must convey unconditional love and enduring commitment. I have generally found that students who have experienced some level of emotional or physical abuse readily respond to an attitude of warmth flowing from universal love directed toward that particular human being. It is very important to know, though, that some students from impoverished and dysfunctional famililes are not immediately responsive, and they may even exhibit very coarse and rude behavior. For these children the teacher's willingness to express unconditional love in the face of such challenging behavior is hugely important. When the teacher also expresses an ongoing and enduring interest in the student's future, beyond the current academic year of daily teacher-student interaction, this makes a deep impression on the student and deepens the impact of manifested unconditional love.
IV) The teacher of the student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must communicate absolute confidence in the student's ability. This requires the teacher first to get into her or his own brain that all human beings are smart and that all people with IQs of about 95 or above can in a reasonable length of time learn anything. People with IQs rising to the 120-150 level and above will, after any physiological or social impediments are overcome, at first learn at more rapid rates than those who are not naturally as quick. But as those who learn at more modest rates establish solid skill and knowledge sets at grade level or above, natural advantages become relatively fewer and all students proceed to acquire additional skill and knowledge at rapid rates. All people are smart. The true teacher must believe heart and soul that this is true.
V) The teacher of the student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family cannot shrink from the task at hand by claiming that the student brings into the school certain life challenges that are not of the school's making. The true teacher finds ways to overcome any associated obstacles and proceeds to design a viable plan that results in grade level performance or better for each student. This must be done in the absence of support from the student's parents if necessary, but usually there is someone--- a grandmother, grandfather, aunt, godmother, godfather, or family friend with whom the teacher can connect. The effort to establish a relationship with another caring adult who can be in the student's life magnifies the skillful teacher's own efforts and lays an even firmer foundation for the student's future success.
The teacher of the student from a poor and dysfunctional family has embraced the most important task in our society. An overhauled system of K-12 education, beginning with individual teachers who rise far above the current mediocre standard, will be the most important event as the United States becomes a country worthy of its democratic ideals. The key points summarized herein and developed in more detail in the immediately preceding series of articles indicate five important principles for teaching the child facing severe economic and social challenges. The teacher who successfully acts upon these principles in multiple cases of students facing such challenges will end the cycle of poverty for many families and contribute to the growth of democracy in the United States.
Apr 9, 2011
Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family (Part V): Establishing a Relationship with a Another Caring Adult
Call this student Belinda.
She first enrolled in the Salem, Inc., Educational Initiative at the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year, when she was a Grade 10 student. Her grandmother (we'll designate her Berniece) came to me, as so many parents and guardians do seeking academic assistance for a young person in the family, by reference from an acquaintance. In this case, the acquaintance was the mother (Joanne)of a student (Martha) who at that time was in Grade 11 and had seen a dramatic rise in her academic skill level during her four years of participation in the Initaitive.
Berniece was relieved and grateful when I called her upon receiving contact information from Joanne. She told me that Belinda had just come back to her home again after another failed attempt by Belinda's mother (Nanette)to get clean from a chronic drug habit. Belinda was struggling in school, particularly in math. But Belinda, Berniece told me, was bright and through most of her school years had done well. She wanted her to have a different kind of life than Nanette had made for herself, and she was afraid that her mother's latest failed attempt to get straight would weigh heavily on her. And she new that the onset of the high school years represented a crucial period during which Belinda would either rise to her potential or sink into the academic and life doldrums that had characterized so many other people in the family.
This kind of story is familiar to me and of the sort in response to which I go on high alert. Grade 10 is perilously close to being too late for many students unless I can capture their full focus and go into high gear on the academic recovery effort that is often necessary. I told Berniece that I would be happy to have Belinda as a student in the Initiative, and we set up a regular time for the weekly two-hour session.
Belinda arrived for the first session grumpy and asking when the session would be over. She did not, she said, need tutoring. I told her that everyone needs tutoring, that we all need to improve our knowledge and skills. I told her that I had many students who had been studying with me for a number of years, who were functioning far above grade level, and were now clearly on a college preparatory track. And I told her that her grandmother had in any case told me that she was struggling, particularly in math. So, I said, "Let's just work on a few things and see what should most be our focus."
I pretested Belinda at the Grade 8 level to see if her pre-Algebra skills were where they needed to be. She got no questions right on this pretest composed of 10 questions. I then tested her at the Grade 10 level in reading, giving her selections from a practice Grade 10 Reading Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA), since that would be the skill for which high school students are tested at Grade 10 in Minnesota. This brought considerably better news. Although she got only six questions right and gave evidence of significant vocabulary deficits, the pretest score was high enough to provide confidence that I could get her ready to take the actual reading MCA in April 2009 while still giving her seriously lagging math skills the attention that they would need.
Our path to success in these two skill areas was very winding and featured occasional lateral movement because of missed sessions. I provide transportation to almost all of my students, and I would always tranport Belinda home after our session. But Belinda's session fell on a Sunday, and her grandmother wanted to transport Belinda to our session on her way home from church. She would, however, sometimes forget our meeting time, and on other Sundays some afternoon church event would supersede our session in importance according to Berniece's and Belinda's perception.
So I began to call Berniece on her cell phone just after I got out of services at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, at a time I knew that other churches would also be wrapping up services. Many was the time that she would be very grateful because she was "about to forget," then increasingly I would get the response that, "Yep, thank you for calling, we're on our way." As far as the missed sessions for church events, I talked at some length to Berniece about the importance of regular attendance and expressed the hope that Belinda could stick to our session and return to church if she wanted to after our weekly session had concluded. And, as for the times that the Sunday session was missed, I would always find a make-up time. As time went on the missed Sunday sessions grew few and far between. Both Berniece and Belinda found the make-up sessions more inconvenient than the Sunday time, and the judgment became essentially that, "Dang, this guy doesn't give up. We might as well remember on Sunday."
Berniece and I began to forge a very strong bond in mutual support of Belinda's academic progress. From failing math grades Belinda went to a "C" and then a "B" in Algebra I. Berniece began to tell me whenever we would meet that she appreciated my tenacity and that she was so elated with Belinda's progress in math.
During our weekly session Belinda and I would indeed work on simultaneous equations, slope and y-intercept graphing, and the quadratic formula. But we would also work a great deal on explicit vocabulary instruction and grade 10 level reading comprehension exercises. Belinda achieved grade level performance on the April 2009Grade 10 Reading MCA, a test on which only about 33% of Minneapolis Public Schools students from impoverished families pass (by showing grade level comprehension).
Berniece in the meantime gained official custody of Belinda. Berniece and I talked continually and increasingly worked together when Belinda's performance in school suffered some setback. We would talk about other things, too--- things of note in the community, some unfortunate outbreak of violence, too many young lives being lost, what all of this said about the importance of the task at hand with Belinda. The bond that Berniece and I had forged grew stronger and stronger with each passing week, and eventually Belinda herself began to come around to the view that our task was indeed important. She was proud of the progress tha she had made.
As a Grade 11 student in academic year 2009-2010, Belinda entered the International Baccalaureate program at her high school and set her sights firmly on college. She began to drive herself to our Sunday sessions, occasionally forgot or got deterred, but most of the time she would respond by showing up upon receiving my call to her cell phone. She achieved a suitable enough score on her ACT to gain acceptance at the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul as she looks beyond high school graduation in June 2011 to matriculation at this university during academic year 2011-2012.
In Berniece I ultimately found an important partner in driving home to Belinda the importance of education as she sought a life different from those of her mother and a number of other family members who were traveling down roads to nowhere anyone would want to be. In a very few situations in which I can't really connect with a viable human support system, I just step in and perform the role entirely myself. I stress again that we cannot let family dysfunction be an excuse for not providing a high quality education to a student who needs that education all the more. But when a teacher's connection to a caring person such as Berniece becomes possible, the opportunity should be seized. One caring adult can make a huge difference. When two are on the same pages writing a script for a young person's success, and one of those caring adults is in the family, the realization of such success becomes all the more likely.
Berniece and Belinda have both asked if I will be available for academic instruction and mentoring as necessary next year when Belinda begins attendance at St. Kate's. I told them that I certainly would and reminded them of what I have told all of my students: "Remember that this relationship is permanent. This program never ends."
She first enrolled in the Salem, Inc., Educational Initiative at the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year, when she was a Grade 10 student. Her grandmother (we'll designate her Berniece) came to me, as so many parents and guardians do seeking academic assistance for a young person in the family, by reference from an acquaintance. In this case, the acquaintance was the mother (Joanne)of a student (Martha) who at that time was in Grade 11 and had seen a dramatic rise in her academic skill level during her four years of participation in the Initaitive.
Berniece was relieved and grateful when I called her upon receiving contact information from Joanne. She told me that Belinda had just come back to her home again after another failed attempt by Belinda's mother (Nanette)to get clean from a chronic drug habit. Belinda was struggling in school, particularly in math. But Belinda, Berniece told me, was bright and through most of her school years had done well. She wanted her to have a different kind of life than Nanette had made for herself, and she was afraid that her mother's latest failed attempt to get straight would weigh heavily on her. And she new that the onset of the high school years represented a crucial period during which Belinda would either rise to her potential or sink into the academic and life doldrums that had characterized so many other people in the family.
This kind of story is familiar to me and of the sort in response to which I go on high alert. Grade 10 is perilously close to being too late for many students unless I can capture their full focus and go into high gear on the academic recovery effort that is often necessary. I told Berniece that I would be happy to have Belinda as a student in the Initiative, and we set up a regular time for the weekly two-hour session.
Belinda arrived for the first session grumpy and asking when the session would be over. She did not, she said, need tutoring. I told her that everyone needs tutoring, that we all need to improve our knowledge and skills. I told her that I had many students who had been studying with me for a number of years, who were functioning far above grade level, and were now clearly on a college preparatory track. And I told her that her grandmother had in any case told me that she was struggling, particularly in math. So, I said, "Let's just work on a few things and see what should most be our focus."
I pretested Belinda at the Grade 8 level to see if her pre-Algebra skills were where they needed to be. She got no questions right on this pretest composed of 10 questions. I then tested her at the Grade 10 level in reading, giving her selections from a practice Grade 10 Reading Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA), since that would be the skill for which high school students are tested at Grade 10 in Minnesota. This brought considerably better news. Although she got only six questions right and gave evidence of significant vocabulary deficits, the pretest score was high enough to provide confidence that I could get her ready to take the actual reading MCA in April 2009 while still giving her seriously lagging math skills the attention that they would need.
Our path to success in these two skill areas was very winding and featured occasional lateral movement because of missed sessions. I provide transportation to almost all of my students, and I would always tranport Belinda home after our session. But Belinda's session fell on a Sunday, and her grandmother wanted to transport Belinda to our session on her way home from church. She would, however, sometimes forget our meeting time, and on other Sundays some afternoon church event would supersede our session in importance according to Berniece's and Belinda's perception.
So I began to call Berniece on her cell phone just after I got out of services at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, at a time I knew that other churches would also be wrapping up services. Many was the time that she would be very grateful because she was "about to forget," then increasingly I would get the response that, "Yep, thank you for calling, we're on our way." As far as the missed sessions for church events, I talked at some length to Berniece about the importance of regular attendance and expressed the hope that Belinda could stick to our session and return to church if she wanted to after our weekly session had concluded. And, as for the times that the Sunday session was missed, I would always find a make-up time. As time went on the missed Sunday sessions grew few and far between. Both Berniece and Belinda found the make-up sessions more inconvenient than the Sunday time, and the judgment became essentially that, "Dang, this guy doesn't give up. We might as well remember on Sunday."
Berniece and I began to forge a very strong bond in mutual support of Belinda's academic progress. From failing math grades Belinda went to a "C" and then a "B" in Algebra I. Berniece began to tell me whenever we would meet that she appreciated my tenacity and that she was so elated with Belinda's progress in math.
During our weekly session Belinda and I would indeed work on simultaneous equations, slope and y-intercept graphing, and the quadratic formula. But we would also work a great deal on explicit vocabulary instruction and grade 10 level reading comprehension exercises. Belinda achieved grade level performance on the April 2009Grade 10 Reading MCA, a test on which only about 33% of Minneapolis Public Schools students from impoverished families pass (by showing grade level comprehension).
Berniece in the meantime gained official custody of Belinda. Berniece and I talked continually and increasingly worked together when Belinda's performance in school suffered some setback. We would talk about other things, too--- things of note in the community, some unfortunate outbreak of violence, too many young lives being lost, what all of this said about the importance of the task at hand with Belinda. The bond that Berniece and I had forged grew stronger and stronger with each passing week, and eventually Belinda herself began to come around to the view that our task was indeed important. She was proud of the progress tha she had made.
As a Grade 11 student in academic year 2009-2010, Belinda entered the International Baccalaureate program at her high school and set her sights firmly on college. She began to drive herself to our Sunday sessions, occasionally forgot or got deterred, but most of the time she would respond by showing up upon receiving my call to her cell phone. She achieved a suitable enough score on her ACT to gain acceptance at the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul as she looks beyond high school graduation in June 2011 to matriculation at this university during academic year 2011-2012.
In Berniece I ultimately found an important partner in driving home to Belinda the importance of education as she sought a life different from those of her mother and a number of other family members who were traveling down roads to nowhere anyone would want to be. In a very few situations in which I can't really connect with a viable human support system, I just step in and perform the role entirely myself. I stress again that we cannot let family dysfunction be an excuse for not providing a high quality education to a student who needs that education all the more. But when a teacher's connection to a caring person such as Berniece becomes possible, the opportunity should be seized. One caring adult can make a huge difference. When two are on the same pages writing a script for a young person's success, and one of those caring adults is in the family, the realization of such success becomes all the more likely.
Berniece and Belinda have both asked if I will be available for academic instruction and mentoring as necessary next year when Belinda begins attendance at St. Kate's. I told them that I certainly would and reminded them of what I have told all of my students: "Remember that this relationship is permanent. This program never ends."
Apr 7, 2011
Teaching the Poor Child From a Dysfunctional Family (Part IV): The Need to Communicate Absolute Confidence in the Student's Academic Ability
Most people are smart as a matter of native ability. Human beings are highly intelligent creatures. Some people have dramatically lower intelligence than most of their fellow humans because of some genetic flaw, and as a result these people have a degree of mental retardation that will make mastery of some academic material unlikely. But everyone with an IQ of about 95 or above can learn anything, given proper instruction and an appropriate amount of time.
So as I lay out an appropriately sequenced course of instruction in math or reading for a given student, I do so with a vision of total mastery. Some students take longer than others to master certain material, but everyone can do so over the course of time. I do not think very much in terms of one student being smarter than another. I just think in terms of the length of time that it is objectively going to take a given student to move through a sequenced set of assignments so as to reach the academic goal that everyone will reach in time.
At a certain point of content mastery, a student of objectively average intelligence starts to function very much like those who manifest intellectual quickness well above the norm (corresponding to IQs rising to the 120-150 range and above). This is the importance of ensuring that a student has mastered certain skills and aubject area content to the point of automaticity. When a certain skill or knowledge set is mastered to the point of automaticity (e. g., instant recall of multiplication tables, or immediate and unhesitating understanding of grade level vocabulary), the advantage of natural mental quickness becomes less acute, because a large skill and knowledge base becomes a surrogate for a high IQ: The learning process gets faster as skill and knowledge sets continue to accumulate.
The excellent teacher is highly conscious of the great intelligence that generally comes with being human. This is an especially important attitude to convey as a teacher greets a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family. That student may have an IQ in the 120-150 range or better but not give much evidence of such keen intellect at first. Life distractions, a growling stomach, not knowing exactly where one may lay one's head at night can be powerful impediments to the ability to think clearly. There have been many times when I thought that I might be dealing with a child who was not very naturally quick, but then sat with mouth agape as that young person got comfortable in the setting that I provided, got firmly focused on the tasks at hand, then reached a take-off point from which learning started to proceed at a torrid pace.
And then there have also been cases in which the initial impression was correct, and the designated material was mastered only gradually. But over time such a student will master a given amount of material, reach the take-off point, rise to grade level performance, and then start to rise even above grade level. It really is just a matter of time, patience, and elbow grease on the part of the student and myself. And once again my faith is bolstered that although rates of skill and knowledge acquisition vary, all people are smart.
So if educators are not successful in imparting strong skill and knowledge sets to all students, regardless of family economic circumstances and degree of functionality, educators have failed. They have taken on the task of educating a variety of human beings, all of whom are smart. It is not acceptable for an educator to say that some students bring into the school problems that are not of the school's making. We know this. But we should understand that the true teacher's role is to find strategies that move such a student along a continuum of success until that student has mastered material at grade level or better. The genuine professional finds ways to overcome obstacles by forging a pathway to success.
The excellent teacher must have absolute confidence in each student's academic ability. The importance of this is magnified in the case of a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family. Such a student is likely to have experienced many setbacks in life and to have her or his education thrown off track at one or many points. The excellent teacher builds the student's confidence by designing a program that will ensure incremental success, keeps goals high, and guides the student along a pathway for reaching the established goals.
Absolute confidence in each student's ability to learn must be felt in the gut, must be part of a long-established set of convictions. The student must always feel that the teacher knows heart and soul that she or he can learn. Once a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family begins to believe with the same ferocity in her or his ability to succeed academically, a revolution in intellect and spirit is achieved. Success builds on success, goals are reached, interest quickens, all things become possible, and the end of a familial cycle of poverty results in a very smart person leading future generations into the fullness of human potential.
So as I lay out an appropriately sequenced course of instruction in math or reading for a given student, I do so with a vision of total mastery. Some students take longer than others to master certain material, but everyone can do so over the course of time. I do not think very much in terms of one student being smarter than another. I just think in terms of the length of time that it is objectively going to take a given student to move through a sequenced set of assignments so as to reach the academic goal that everyone will reach in time.
At a certain point of content mastery, a student of objectively average intelligence starts to function very much like those who manifest intellectual quickness well above the norm (corresponding to IQs rising to the 120-150 range and above). This is the importance of ensuring that a student has mastered certain skills and aubject area content to the point of automaticity. When a certain skill or knowledge set is mastered to the point of automaticity (e. g., instant recall of multiplication tables, or immediate and unhesitating understanding of grade level vocabulary), the advantage of natural mental quickness becomes less acute, because a large skill and knowledge base becomes a surrogate for a high IQ: The learning process gets faster as skill and knowledge sets continue to accumulate.
The excellent teacher is highly conscious of the great intelligence that generally comes with being human. This is an especially important attitude to convey as a teacher greets a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family. That student may have an IQ in the 120-150 range or better but not give much evidence of such keen intellect at first. Life distractions, a growling stomach, not knowing exactly where one may lay one's head at night can be powerful impediments to the ability to think clearly. There have been many times when I thought that I might be dealing with a child who was not very naturally quick, but then sat with mouth agape as that young person got comfortable in the setting that I provided, got firmly focused on the tasks at hand, then reached a take-off point from which learning started to proceed at a torrid pace.
And then there have also been cases in which the initial impression was correct, and the designated material was mastered only gradually. But over time such a student will master a given amount of material, reach the take-off point, rise to grade level performance, and then start to rise even above grade level. It really is just a matter of time, patience, and elbow grease on the part of the student and myself. And once again my faith is bolstered that although rates of skill and knowledge acquisition vary, all people are smart.
So if educators are not successful in imparting strong skill and knowledge sets to all students, regardless of family economic circumstances and degree of functionality, educators have failed. They have taken on the task of educating a variety of human beings, all of whom are smart. It is not acceptable for an educator to say that some students bring into the school problems that are not of the school's making. We know this. But we should understand that the true teacher's role is to find strategies that move such a student along a continuum of success until that student has mastered material at grade level or better. The genuine professional finds ways to overcome obstacles by forging a pathway to success.
The excellent teacher must have absolute confidence in each student's academic ability. The importance of this is magnified in the case of a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family. Such a student is likely to have experienced many setbacks in life and to have her or his education thrown off track at one or many points. The excellent teacher builds the student's confidence by designing a program that will ensure incremental success, keeps goals high, and guides the student along a pathway for reaching the established goals.
Absolute confidence in each student's ability to learn must be felt in the gut, must be part of a long-established set of convictions. The student must always feel that the teacher knows heart and soul that she or he can learn. Once a student from an impoverished and dysfunctional family begins to believe with the same ferocity in her or his ability to succeed academically, a revolution in intellect and spirit is achieved. Success builds on success, goals are reached, interest quickens, all things become possible, and the end of a familial cycle of poverty results in a very smart person leading future generations into the fullness of human potential.
Apr 6, 2011
Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family (Part III): The Need to Convey Unconditional Love and Enduring Commitment
The teacher of the child from a dysfunctional family of very low income must be absolutely dedicated to the task at hand, convinced that she or he is doing the most important work imaginable, embued with unbounded love, and ready to signal a commitment that will endure.
By no means are all families of low income also described by the term, "dysfunctional." Many families of challenged economic circumstances struggle heroically to live up to middle class standards of behavior and attitude. Legions of poor parents want for their children the education and life opportunities that they themselves never had. Such parents tend to be very grateful for the concern expressed by other loving adults--- teachers, pastors, godparents, and any others in a position to show that they care--- who provide additional emotional support for their children as they seek their way in a world that can be very tough.
Nor are middle class and upper middle class families necessarily functional. Many suburban children endure familial situations in which their parents are more focused on career, social life, and self-promotion than they are the interests of the human beings that they brought into the world. We observe all too many young people of dysfunctional families whose economic means are substantial but whose other traits are described by divorce, addiction, and various forms of physical and emotional abuse.
When poverty and dysfunction combine, though, to bear down upon the life of a child the results can be particularly brutal, and the teacher of such a child must understand the importance of the task at hand. Each encounter that such a teacher has with such a child is weighty, even when the interaction seems to be routine and mundane. It is all the more important for a teacher of the poor child from a dysfunctional family to have abundant subject area knowledge and strong pedogogical technique. For the child of an impoverished and dysfunctional family deserves the education that only a real teacher of these descriptors can provide, and beyond the gravity of the need for educatonal opportunity also needs the ongoing presence of a dedicated, loving, and caring adult.
Such a teacher must be absolutely dedicated to the task at hand. She or he must appear at school or other academic setting each day prepared and ready to give everything that the real teacher possesses in the way of knowledge and pedagogical skill. Such a teacher proceeds with total faith that all children are intelligent, can master challenging content, and must have a solid knowledge base to show for thirteen years of K-12 education.
The teacher of the child of challenged economic circumstances must be firmly convinced that she or he is doing the most important work imaginable. Because nothing moves us closer to a true democracy than providing a quality education to a child whose family has been caught in the cycle of proverty for generations. Under these cirucmstances, mastery of the essential sequence of mathematics becomes a revolutionary act, knowledge of history and geography becomes a powerful means for moving through a previously unknown world, acquisition of scientific information becomes insight into the very heart of existence, and appreciatation for literature and art becomes an avenue for personal expression and human understanding. Through a quality education a child of poverty and familial dysfunction breaks through previous impediments of historical origin and contemporary circumstance.
Such a teacher must have unbounded love expressed unconditionally. That teacher will know that children facing one tumultuous situation after another without the steady presence of a loving adult is looking for love, even when that child is not engaged in very loving behavior. If such a child, for example, should burst out crying and say, "I hate you!," the reply from the loving and caring teacher must be, "Well, I love you, and I always will." Such a statement may have no discernible effect on the spot, but repeated over time will transform a life and turn disturbing irascibility into unremitting cooperation. All children crave love. When love is given consistently, under all circumstances, even when proper behavior lags and consequences must be extended, a deep impression is made, and a life is transformed. The power of such a teacher is just that great and the responsibility is just that daunting.
The teacher of the child from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must provide the enduring commitment that may be lacking in the life of a child shuffled from this relative to that relative, from this foster parent to that foster parent, from one group home to another. A new student of mine in the New Salem Educational Initiative will usually at some point ask, "When does this progam end?" "Never," I reply. "What do you mean?," will be the reply in turn. "I mean this program goes on forever." "You mean that you'll still be looking in on me even after high school?" "Oh, certainly," I say, "I work with college students, too, and I definitely want to see all of the wonderful things that you are going to do."
Teachers in conventional classroom situations many not have this opportunity to signal that they can provide ongoing academic instruction year after year as I do. But they can signal a willingness to assist as possible should the student come back to them with a scholastic inquiry, and they can certainly convey an enduring concern.
All people need to experience the power of deep and unconditional love that should come first and best from a caring parent. When such a parent is lacking, another adult must step in to provide the love that is missing. The true teacher has an abundant opportunity to take that step, and in so doing she or he sends into the world a young person whose successes, born of the security that unconditional love instills, have transformative impact on that one life and many others.
By no means are all families of low income also described by the term, "dysfunctional." Many families of challenged economic circumstances struggle heroically to live up to middle class standards of behavior and attitude. Legions of poor parents want for their children the education and life opportunities that they themselves never had. Such parents tend to be very grateful for the concern expressed by other loving adults--- teachers, pastors, godparents, and any others in a position to show that they care--- who provide additional emotional support for their children as they seek their way in a world that can be very tough.
Nor are middle class and upper middle class families necessarily functional. Many suburban children endure familial situations in which their parents are more focused on career, social life, and self-promotion than they are the interests of the human beings that they brought into the world. We observe all too many young people of dysfunctional families whose economic means are substantial but whose other traits are described by divorce, addiction, and various forms of physical and emotional abuse.
When poverty and dysfunction combine, though, to bear down upon the life of a child the results can be particularly brutal, and the teacher of such a child must understand the importance of the task at hand. Each encounter that such a teacher has with such a child is weighty, even when the interaction seems to be routine and mundane. It is all the more important for a teacher of the poor child from a dysfunctional family to have abundant subject area knowledge and strong pedogogical technique. For the child of an impoverished and dysfunctional family deserves the education that only a real teacher of these descriptors can provide, and beyond the gravity of the need for educatonal opportunity also needs the ongoing presence of a dedicated, loving, and caring adult.
Such a teacher must be absolutely dedicated to the task at hand. She or he must appear at school or other academic setting each day prepared and ready to give everything that the real teacher possesses in the way of knowledge and pedagogical skill. Such a teacher proceeds with total faith that all children are intelligent, can master challenging content, and must have a solid knowledge base to show for thirteen years of K-12 education.
The teacher of the child of challenged economic circumstances must be firmly convinced that she or he is doing the most important work imaginable. Because nothing moves us closer to a true democracy than providing a quality education to a child whose family has been caught in the cycle of proverty for generations. Under these cirucmstances, mastery of the essential sequence of mathematics becomes a revolutionary act, knowledge of history and geography becomes a powerful means for moving through a previously unknown world, acquisition of scientific information becomes insight into the very heart of existence, and appreciatation for literature and art becomes an avenue for personal expression and human understanding. Through a quality education a child of poverty and familial dysfunction breaks through previous impediments of historical origin and contemporary circumstance.
Such a teacher must have unbounded love expressed unconditionally. That teacher will know that children facing one tumultuous situation after another without the steady presence of a loving adult is looking for love, even when that child is not engaged in very loving behavior. If such a child, for example, should burst out crying and say, "I hate you!," the reply from the loving and caring teacher must be, "Well, I love you, and I always will." Such a statement may have no discernible effect on the spot, but repeated over time will transform a life and turn disturbing irascibility into unremitting cooperation. All children crave love. When love is given consistently, under all circumstances, even when proper behavior lags and consequences must be extended, a deep impression is made, and a life is transformed. The power of such a teacher is just that great and the responsibility is just that daunting.
The teacher of the child from an impoverished and dysfunctional family must provide the enduring commitment that may be lacking in the life of a child shuffled from this relative to that relative, from this foster parent to that foster parent, from one group home to another. A new student of mine in the New Salem Educational Initiative will usually at some point ask, "When does this progam end?" "Never," I reply. "What do you mean?," will be the reply in turn. "I mean this program goes on forever." "You mean that you'll still be looking in on me even after high school?" "Oh, certainly," I say, "I work with college students, too, and I definitely want to see all of the wonderful things that you are going to do."
Teachers in conventional classroom situations many not have this opportunity to signal that they can provide ongoing academic instruction year after year as I do. But they can signal a willingness to assist as possible should the student come back to them with a scholastic inquiry, and they can certainly convey an enduring concern.
All people need to experience the power of deep and unconditional love that should come first and best from a caring parent. When such a parent is lacking, another adult must step in to provide the love that is missing. The true teacher has an abundant opportunity to take that step, and in so doing she or he sends into the world a young person whose successes, born of the security that unconditional love instills, have transformative impact on that one life and many others.
Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family (Part II): Dealing with the Student's Lack of Focus
We'll call this child Gabrielle. Gabrielle is a nine year-old (going on ten) Grade 4student.
When Gabrielle's father (whom we'll call Benjamin) enrolled Gabrielle in the New Salem Educational Initiative, he expressed deep concern that she was behind in reading and lacked the ability to focus. He knew that there were potential biological reasons why Gabrielle might have difficulty focusing. He is himself a recovered drug abuser, and Gabrielle's mother (whom we'll call Monica) was using cocaine and other stimulants when she was pregnant with Gabrielle.
Benjamin is now a solid citizen with a good job and a serious commitment as a volunteer in a program designed to redirect lives away from the street into productive activities. But Benjamin has a volatile temper that sometimes is directed as verbal outbursts against Gabrielle. Monica no longer uses heavy drugs as she did when she was carrying Gabrielle, but she has no job and she lives a life in which a penchant for church activities vies with her fondness for the corner bar.
When Gabrielle is in Monica's care, the potential for neglect is present and occasionally activated.
Gabrielle is in a dual custody situation that finds her in both instances living in high-crime areas. She is an enormously observant little girl, and there is little in life at the urban core of which she is not aware.
So Gabrielle has reasons rooted in physiology, family, and environment to be distracted. When she enrolled in the Initiative, I anticipated that this might be a case in which the route to grade level performance would have to be especially carefully sequenced, and in which capturing Gabrielle's attention might prove very difficult.
In fact, Gavrielle responded immediately to my personality and to my pedogogical techniques. I had known Gabrielle's family since she was a babe in arms, and she knew me to be a person given to light-hearted banter, especially with children. As it turned out, she was looking forward to our weekly academic sessions and eager to please.
Still, Gabrielle does struggle with keeping her body still and her brain focused on the task at hand. We do a lot of reading out loud, during which I ask close and frequent questions about content and vocabulary. I ask Gabrielle to summarize sentences and passages in her own words, and I monitor her understanding of vocabulary very carefully. When I find that she needs a definition for a word, I'll say something like, "The word, 'maximum,' means 'the highest point' or 'the greatest amount' of something." Then I'll immediately ask, "What does 'maximum' mean?" At first, her attention might have already wavered and I would have to repeat the definition. But in time, knowing that I would probably pose the question right away, her attention became very sharp and she took pride in being able to recall the definition.
I approach math with Gabrielle in much the same way. I continually urge Gabrielle to think a word problem through before deciding whether to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. She knows that she will have to explain to me why she chooses one operation over another, whether a problem is a one-step or two-step calculation, and precisely what numbers are involved in the calculation to be done. I very frequently remind Gabrielle not to just look at a bunch of numbers in a word problem and start calculating, but to take her time and always have a reason for what she is doing.
Gabrielle does still fidget and squirm a lot in her seat, and she likes to get up to demonstrate something that is variously germane or tangential to the task at hand. I allow her to squirm for awhile, and I provide myself as audience to her demonstration--- even laughing with her, complimenting her on her creativity, or makng my own silly reply--- but then I quickly redirect Gabrielle back to the task at hand. She struggles sometimes to reposition herself in her chair and to regain her focus, but she has greatly improved in these matters of personal discipline.
Near the end of each two-hour session with my students I offer a granola bar and juice to those whose focus and accomplishment have been sufficient. Rarely is the latter not the case and a granola bar denied. Gabrielle has always earned her snack, and this is another motivational tool that I use to help Gabrielle achieve proper focus: "Uh, oh," I'll inevitably say at some point in each academic session, "that granola bar and juice are looking a little shaky," and typically Gabrielle will snap back to the material to be mastered.
Struggles to achieve focus are certainly not limited to children living in poverty and belonging to dysfunctional families. Many suburban parents now in fact angle to gain an "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)" label for their children so as to gain certain concessions that may boost their test scores and grades. The misuse of such labels is widespread these days. Inner city kids with behavioral issues who attend struggling urban schools often have a special education label thrust upon them so that they may be sequestered away from a regular classroom for at least part of the day.
A better approach for most kids who struggle with behavioral issues and an ability to focus is to understand the child's familial and environmental context, to observe carefully the particular behaviors and responses of the individual child, and to devise classroom management and pedagogical strategies that will help the student achieve the level of focus necessary for academic accomplishment.
For children from poor and dysfunctional families, the root causes for an inability to focus are typically mulitiple, complex, interacting, and stemming from causes both physiological and environmental. They fall within a predictable range of causes for anyone familiar with life in the inner city. They must be anticipated, but they are not insuperable.
Gabrielle is now reading and doing math fully at grade level, and she has an excellent chance to record grade level performance on both the Grade 4 Math Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) and the Grade 4 Reading MCA.
When Gabrielle's father (whom we'll call Benjamin) enrolled Gabrielle in the New Salem Educational Initiative, he expressed deep concern that she was behind in reading and lacked the ability to focus. He knew that there were potential biological reasons why Gabrielle might have difficulty focusing. He is himself a recovered drug abuser, and Gabrielle's mother (whom we'll call Monica) was using cocaine and other stimulants when she was pregnant with Gabrielle.
Benjamin is now a solid citizen with a good job and a serious commitment as a volunteer in a program designed to redirect lives away from the street into productive activities. But Benjamin has a volatile temper that sometimes is directed as verbal outbursts against Gabrielle. Monica no longer uses heavy drugs as she did when she was carrying Gabrielle, but she has no job and she lives a life in which a penchant for church activities vies with her fondness for the corner bar.
When Gabrielle is in Monica's care, the potential for neglect is present and occasionally activated.
Gabrielle is in a dual custody situation that finds her in both instances living in high-crime areas. She is an enormously observant little girl, and there is little in life at the urban core of which she is not aware.
So Gabrielle has reasons rooted in physiology, family, and environment to be distracted. When she enrolled in the Initiative, I anticipated that this might be a case in which the route to grade level performance would have to be especially carefully sequenced, and in which capturing Gabrielle's attention might prove very difficult.
In fact, Gavrielle responded immediately to my personality and to my pedogogical techniques. I had known Gabrielle's family since she was a babe in arms, and she knew me to be a person given to light-hearted banter, especially with children. As it turned out, she was looking forward to our weekly academic sessions and eager to please.
Still, Gabrielle does struggle with keeping her body still and her brain focused on the task at hand. We do a lot of reading out loud, during which I ask close and frequent questions about content and vocabulary. I ask Gabrielle to summarize sentences and passages in her own words, and I monitor her understanding of vocabulary very carefully. When I find that she needs a definition for a word, I'll say something like, "The word, 'maximum,' means 'the highest point' or 'the greatest amount' of something." Then I'll immediately ask, "What does 'maximum' mean?" At first, her attention might have already wavered and I would have to repeat the definition. But in time, knowing that I would probably pose the question right away, her attention became very sharp and she took pride in being able to recall the definition.
I approach math with Gabrielle in much the same way. I continually urge Gabrielle to think a word problem through before deciding whether to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. She knows that she will have to explain to me why she chooses one operation over another, whether a problem is a one-step or two-step calculation, and precisely what numbers are involved in the calculation to be done. I very frequently remind Gabrielle not to just look at a bunch of numbers in a word problem and start calculating, but to take her time and always have a reason for what she is doing.
Gabrielle does still fidget and squirm a lot in her seat, and she likes to get up to demonstrate something that is variously germane or tangential to the task at hand. I allow her to squirm for awhile, and I provide myself as audience to her demonstration--- even laughing with her, complimenting her on her creativity, or makng my own silly reply--- but then I quickly redirect Gabrielle back to the task at hand. She struggles sometimes to reposition herself in her chair and to regain her focus, but she has greatly improved in these matters of personal discipline.
Near the end of each two-hour session with my students I offer a granola bar and juice to those whose focus and accomplishment have been sufficient. Rarely is the latter not the case and a granola bar denied. Gabrielle has always earned her snack, and this is another motivational tool that I use to help Gabrielle achieve proper focus: "Uh, oh," I'll inevitably say at some point in each academic session, "that granola bar and juice are looking a little shaky," and typically Gabrielle will snap back to the material to be mastered.
Struggles to achieve focus are certainly not limited to children living in poverty and belonging to dysfunctional families. Many suburban parents now in fact angle to gain an "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)" label for their children so as to gain certain concessions that may boost their test scores and grades. The misuse of such labels is widespread these days. Inner city kids with behavioral issues who attend struggling urban schools often have a special education label thrust upon them so that they may be sequestered away from a regular classroom for at least part of the day.
A better approach for most kids who struggle with behavioral issues and an ability to focus is to understand the child's familial and environmental context, to observe carefully the particular behaviors and responses of the individual child, and to devise classroom management and pedagogical strategies that will help the student achieve the level of focus necessary for academic accomplishment.
For children from poor and dysfunctional families, the root causes for an inability to focus are typically mulitiple, complex, interacting, and stemming from causes both physiological and environmental. They fall within a predictable range of causes for anyone familiar with life in the inner city. They must be anticipated, but they are not insuperable.
Gabrielle is now reading and doing math fully at grade level, and she has an excellent chance to record grade level performance on both the Grade 4 Math Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) and the Grade 4 Reading MCA.
Apr 4, 2011
Teaching the Poor Child from a Dysfunctional Family (Part I): Overcoming the Student's Fear of Failure
Call her Jaqueline.
She is eleven years old (going on twelve),a Grade 6 student, and the eldest child of two from a single mom who is 27 years old. We'll call Jacqueline's mom Clarissa and her little brother, a Grade 3 eight year-old (going on nine), we'll name Terrence.
I have known the family since Jacqueline was in Grade 1. Jacqueline has on occasion attended the New Salem Missionary Baptist Church Tuesday Tutoring program that I also coordinate, but this program depends on the student's own transportation and requires familial initiative lacking in Jacqueline's family. Only this year have I been able to get Jacqueline into consistent participation in the small-group program of the New Salem Educational Initiative, for which I do provide transportation.
As a Grade 1 student, Jacqueline caught my attention as a bright, peppy, sweet little girl with a winning smile that she flashed frequently at the antics I go through as part of my relationship-building with young children. Over the years she continued to show many signs of personality consistency along these lines, but time has taken its toll, as it does for too many inner city kids: She has seen, heard, and smelled far too much.
Jacqueline's mother, Clarissa, comes from a natal family situation in which the adult role models were scarce and parental attention minimal. Clarissa's academic progress went seriously off course from middle school onward, and when she became pregnant at sixteen years of age, she enrolled at an alternative school through which she almost got a high school degree but little education; she now works intermittedly and with insufficient dedication toward a GED. Clarissa sings in a church choir and avails herself of church activities in behalf of herself and her kids, but many of the old habits remain. She is undereducated and infrequently employed. She no longer does hard drugs, but she goes through long stretches of time when she lapses into heavy marijuana use, even in the presence of her kids. One night when I brought Jacqueline and Terrence (he is also enrolled in the Initiative) back a bit early from a tutoring session, Clarissa was caught by surprise, furiously attempting to hide a joint in her hand behind her hip as I gave my report on the kids' academic progress.
So Jacqueline is at this point far too wise in the ways of the world of the inner city. She has not herself succumbed as yet to the usual temptations connected to the street life, but she has a jaded view of the world and trusts only those adults who prove that they deserve that trust and are worthy of respect. At the present time, the most dependable adults in Jacqueline's life are myself and a radiantly wonderful godmother who rides as close herd as she can over Jacqueline and Terrence.
As with so many kids whose families have endured move after residential move; frequently disconnected telephones; electricity, natural gas, and heat the deactivization of which is an ever-present threat; and what sometimes seems like one family emergency after another--- Jacqueline carries many emotional scars and a deep fear of failure. This is the most notable change in her persona at Grade 6 from what it was at Grade 1. Once an ambitious and enthusiastic child ready to take on the world, Jacqueline is now very retiscent to do anything that could result in an error in a life that has known far too many setbacks.
My approach with such a child is akin to what behaviorist psychologists call "successive approximations," small steps successfully taken that get ever closer to the desired outcome. I present a concept and an assignment that calls upon Jacqueline to stretch just a bit but moves her toward a goal well within her reach. If, for example, the Grade 6 task that she must accomplish is adding fractions that demand conversions to common denominators, we first review multiplication tables that are famliar but not thoroughly memorized. With that accomplished, we also run a quick review of the simple division that will be necessary to reduce fractions for some answers. Then we proceed to add fractions with common denominators. And in time, with several skills properly reviewed and highly praised on my part for their successful applications, we proceed to go through the process of actually finding common denominators.
Much of this is accomplished with my trusty yellow pad, on which I sketch out examples and spin off problems on the spot. I do have prepared exercises from which I can draw, but in cases such as Jacqueline's I prefer the immediacy of the yellow pad. As we work side by side, I give high praise for each genuine accomplishment and comment as to how intelligent and insightful she is. Jacqueline beams, then I go into one of my silly verbalisms, including a bit of a rhythmic, "Oh, yeah--- oh, yeah--- oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah" with a kind of dance motion well known to inner city kids. Again, Jacqueline beams, and I seize the opportunity to implant serious ideas such as, "You have done such a good job and, you know, this is so important, because nothing is as important as your education."
Through her small-group sessions with me this year, Jacqueline's confidence has steadily returned. I talk with Jacqueline's godmother frequently and am always apprised of the latest crisis in the family's never-ending onslaught of challenges. I know that on some days I will have to work extra hard to reignite Jacqueline's sense of confidence.
The fear of failure in many poor children from inner city families is ever present. The adroit teacher must use successful strategies building a string of incremental successes, and that teacher ideally has deep knowledge of the child's life circumstances so as to anticipate acute lapses into fear. Then that potentially demobilizing fear must be converted into its opposite: The sense of personal self-worth and foundation of confidence that all successful human beings have.
She is eleven years old (going on twelve),a Grade 6 student, and the eldest child of two from a single mom who is 27 years old. We'll call Jacqueline's mom Clarissa and her little brother, a Grade 3 eight year-old (going on nine), we'll name Terrence.
I have known the family since Jacqueline was in Grade 1. Jacqueline has on occasion attended the New Salem Missionary Baptist Church Tuesday Tutoring program that I also coordinate, but this program depends on the student's own transportation and requires familial initiative lacking in Jacqueline's family. Only this year have I been able to get Jacqueline into consistent participation in the small-group program of the New Salem Educational Initiative, for which I do provide transportation.
As a Grade 1 student, Jacqueline caught my attention as a bright, peppy, sweet little girl with a winning smile that she flashed frequently at the antics I go through as part of my relationship-building with young children. Over the years she continued to show many signs of personality consistency along these lines, but time has taken its toll, as it does for too many inner city kids: She has seen, heard, and smelled far too much.
Jacqueline's mother, Clarissa, comes from a natal family situation in which the adult role models were scarce and parental attention minimal. Clarissa's academic progress went seriously off course from middle school onward, and when she became pregnant at sixteen years of age, she enrolled at an alternative school through which she almost got a high school degree but little education; she now works intermittedly and with insufficient dedication toward a GED. Clarissa sings in a church choir and avails herself of church activities in behalf of herself and her kids, but many of the old habits remain. She is undereducated and infrequently employed. She no longer does hard drugs, but she goes through long stretches of time when she lapses into heavy marijuana use, even in the presence of her kids. One night when I brought Jacqueline and Terrence (he is also enrolled in the Initiative) back a bit early from a tutoring session, Clarissa was caught by surprise, furiously attempting to hide a joint in her hand behind her hip as I gave my report on the kids' academic progress.
So Jacqueline is at this point far too wise in the ways of the world of the inner city. She has not herself succumbed as yet to the usual temptations connected to the street life, but she has a jaded view of the world and trusts only those adults who prove that they deserve that trust and are worthy of respect. At the present time, the most dependable adults in Jacqueline's life are myself and a radiantly wonderful godmother who rides as close herd as she can over Jacqueline and Terrence.
As with so many kids whose families have endured move after residential move; frequently disconnected telephones; electricity, natural gas, and heat the deactivization of which is an ever-present threat; and what sometimes seems like one family emergency after another--- Jacqueline carries many emotional scars and a deep fear of failure. This is the most notable change in her persona at Grade 6 from what it was at Grade 1. Once an ambitious and enthusiastic child ready to take on the world, Jacqueline is now very retiscent to do anything that could result in an error in a life that has known far too many setbacks.
My approach with such a child is akin to what behaviorist psychologists call "successive approximations," small steps successfully taken that get ever closer to the desired outcome. I present a concept and an assignment that calls upon Jacqueline to stretch just a bit but moves her toward a goal well within her reach. If, for example, the Grade 6 task that she must accomplish is adding fractions that demand conversions to common denominators, we first review multiplication tables that are famliar but not thoroughly memorized. With that accomplished, we also run a quick review of the simple division that will be necessary to reduce fractions for some answers. Then we proceed to add fractions with common denominators. And in time, with several skills properly reviewed and highly praised on my part for their successful applications, we proceed to go through the process of actually finding common denominators.
Much of this is accomplished with my trusty yellow pad, on which I sketch out examples and spin off problems on the spot. I do have prepared exercises from which I can draw, but in cases such as Jacqueline's I prefer the immediacy of the yellow pad. As we work side by side, I give high praise for each genuine accomplishment and comment as to how intelligent and insightful she is. Jacqueline beams, then I go into one of my silly verbalisms, including a bit of a rhythmic, "Oh, yeah--- oh, yeah--- oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah" with a kind of dance motion well known to inner city kids. Again, Jacqueline beams, and I seize the opportunity to implant serious ideas such as, "You have done such a good job and, you know, this is so important, because nothing is as important as your education."
Through her small-group sessions with me this year, Jacqueline's confidence has steadily returned. I talk with Jacqueline's godmother frequently and am always apprised of the latest crisis in the family's never-ending onslaught of challenges. I know that on some days I will have to work extra hard to reignite Jacqueline's sense of confidence.
The fear of failure in many poor children from inner city families is ever present. The adroit teacher must use successful strategies building a string of incremental successes, and that teacher ideally has deep knowledge of the child's life circumstances so as to anticipate acute lapses into fear. Then that potentially demobilizing fear must be converted into its opposite: The sense of personal self-worth and foundation of confidence that all successful human beings have.
The Importance of No Child Left Behind (Summary of Parts I, II, III, IV, and V)
This article concludes a series that I began several days ago focused on the importance of No Child Left Behind. In this concluding article I summarize the key points made in the previous articles.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was proposed by President George W. Bush in June 2001 and passed by an overwhelming margin on a bipartisan vote in both houses of the U. S. Congress; Ted Kennedy was a key sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. The law effectively mandates that 95% of all students in K-12 public schools show grade level performance as measured on a standardized test. Data are disaggregated according to economic status and ethnicity, and grade level performance must be met by students within each category. Failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two years in a row obligates a school district to offer students enrollment in another school; a third year of failure to make AYP mandates free tutoring; a fourth year of not making AYP continues free tutoring and puts the school on notice that it will be restructured if failure continues; a fifth year mandates planning for restructuring; and a sixth year results in implementation of the restructuring plan.
Opponents of No Child left Behind have offered several insubstantial criticisms:
1) Some say that standardized testing is not as flexible or "authentic" as demonstrative approaches such as portfolios, projects, and presentations.
In fact, standardized tests represent the the most objective means of fairly judging a particular student's knowledge and skill base.
Some say that the administration of an annual standardized test encourages teachers to "teach to the test."
In fact, we should hope that this is true, because a properly constructed math or reading test features the key material to be learned at a given grade level; and teaching to the test assures that substantive academic content is offered to students, many of whom in numerous schools have for year after year received little academic content at all.
2) Some opponents of No Child Left Behind object to federal mandates to the states, seeing this as another intrusion of the federal government into the lives of people and the governments closest to them.
In fact, the sort of training that teachers receive from education professors is highly similar across the country, so that local control has always been an illusion. Education in the K-12 public schools of the United States would be improved by a nationally consistent approach to subject area content in the manner of the best systems of East Asia and Europe.
3) Some critics charge that so much focus on reading and math results in a "narrowing of the curriculum."
In fact, there is very little in the way of a curriculum in K-6 schools across the United States, and a typical approach to middle school devalues subject area curriculum in favor of student socialization skills. Subject area courses in the typical high school are frequently poorly taught, but not narrowed by No Child Left Behind.
And reading should in any case be taught in a subject area context, so that the skill of reading is an agent for acquiring broad and deep academic knowledge.
4) And some critics say that No Child Left Behind is too punitive, placing harsh judgment on schools that fail to make AYP, unfairly castigating teachers, and lumping many schools with overall good performance records with those that are obviously struggling.
In fact, the standards set forth by No Child left Behind are applied to all schools fairly, holding them accountable for properly educating students of every economic and ethnic category. This is precisely what disaggregation of the data is supposed to do, and any school that fails to educate students of all descriptors is not a good school, whatever its previous reputation.
No Child Left Behind is in political trouble because it is the most serious challenge in United States history to the failed K-12 schools run by the education establishment. That establishment is backed by powerful lobbies, and many politicians receive hefty campaign contributions by the education establishment that those lobbies represent.
If we let ill-founded arguments and gossamer catch-phrases bring down No Child Left Behind, we will lose our best chance in United States history to apply appropriate pressure on our failed K-12 public schools to undertake meaningful change.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was proposed by President George W. Bush in June 2001 and passed by an overwhelming margin on a bipartisan vote in both houses of the U. S. Congress; Ted Kennedy was a key sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. The law effectively mandates that 95% of all students in K-12 public schools show grade level performance as measured on a standardized test. Data are disaggregated according to economic status and ethnicity, and grade level performance must be met by students within each category. Failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two years in a row obligates a school district to offer students enrollment in another school; a third year of failure to make AYP mandates free tutoring; a fourth year of not making AYP continues free tutoring and puts the school on notice that it will be restructured if failure continues; a fifth year mandates planning for restructuring; and a sixth year results in implementation of the restructuring plan.
Opponents of No Child left Behind have offered several insubstantial criticisms:
1) Some say that standardized testing is not as flexible or "authentic" as demonstrative approaches such as portfolios, projects, and presentations.
In fact, standardized tests represent the the most objective means of fairly judging a particular student's knowledge and skill base.
Some say that the administration of an annual standardized test encourages teachers to "teach to the test."
In fact, we should hope that this is true, because a properly constructed math or reading test features the key material to be learned at a given grade level; and teaching to the test assures that substantive academic content is offered to students, many of whom in numerous schools have for year after year received little academic content at all.
2) Some opponents of No Child Left Behind object to federal mandates to the states, seeing this as another intrusion of the federal government into the lives of people and the governments closest to them.
In fact, the sort of training that teachers receive from education professors is highly similar across the country, so that local control has always been an illusion. Education in the K-12 public schools of the United States would be improved by a nationally consistent approach to subject area content in the manner of the best systems of East Asia and Europe.
3) Some critics charge that so much focus on reading and math results in a "narrowing of the curriculum."
In fact, there is very little in the way of a curriculum in K-6 schools across the United States, and a typical approach to middle school devalues subject area curriculum in favor of student socialization skills. Subject area courses in the typical high school are frequently poorly taught, but not narrowed by No Child Left Behind.
And reading should in any case be taught in a subject area context, so that the skill of reading is an agent for acquiring broad and deep academic knowledge.
4) And some critics say that No Child Left Behind is too punitive, placing harsh judgment on schools that fail to make AYP, unfairly castigating teachers, and lumping many schools with overall good performance records with those that are obviously struggling.
In fact, the standards set forth by No Child left Behind are applied to all schools fairly, holding them accountable for properly educating students of every economic and ethnic category. This is precisely what disaggregation of the data is supposed to do, and any school that fails to educate students of all descriptors is not a good school, whatever its previous reputation.
No Child Left Behind is in political trouble because it is the most serious challenge in United States history to the failed K-12 schools run by the education establishment. That establishment is backed by powerful lobbies, and many politicians receive hefty campaign contributions by the education establishment that those lobbies represent.
If we let ill-founded arguments and gossamer catch-phrases bring down No Child Left Behind, we will lose our best chance in United States history to apply appropriate pressure on our failed K-12 public schools to undertake meaningful change.
Apr 2, 2011
The Importance of No Child Left Behind: Part V (The Assertion That the Approach is Too Punitive)
Along with the litany of catch-phrases ("teaching to the test," "narrowing the curriculum," "one size fits all") that I have previously exposed as describing nothing substantive, there is also the assertion from opponents of No Chlid Left Behind that the approach is "too punitive." This criticism is as flimsy as the others.
There are three essential shapers of human behavior: positive reinforcement, which introduces a reward for desired behavior; negative reinforcement, the withdrawal of reward when behavior turns toward the undesirable; and punishment, the application of aversive measures for undesired behavior. Punishment is most effective when combined with positive reinforcement, such as higher teacher salaries for those who provide instruction that raises student achievement to grade level or better, or public recognition and enhanced funding for effective programs that do the same. But there is no doubt that punishment is an attention-getter that can motivate people to change behavior in ways that would lead to these rewards.
So punishment is a legitimate psychological strategy that quickly exposes an existing problem. Schools that have for years, decades, and in some cases for a half-century or more failed to educate all of their students deserve the punishing effect of the No Child Left Behind measures that lead to increasingly serious consequences for failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). And while many of the failing schools are those situated in inner city communities facing multiple societal challenges, some are schools that previously were considered good and even elite.
This latter matter has received a good deal of attention by critics of No Child Left Behind. How can good schools be branded as failures because they have not made AYP as defined under No Child Left Behind? The answer is that schools that fail to educate their poorest populations, their immigrant populations, and their populations of color should not be called "good schools." The key difference between these so-called "good schools," typically located in more affluent communities, and inner city schools is that the latter generally have as a majority of their student bodies students of the type that the "good schools" are failing. Such "good schools" are not any better at educating poor students, students of color, and immigrant students than are those institutions that we know obviously to be "bad schools" based on the aggregate performance of their student bodies.
This is the whole point of disaggregating the data, so as to see how schools are performing, not just in school-wide average test scores, but also among varous ethnic and economic groups. A major responsibility of public schools in a democracy is to be the great social leveler, giving everyone the knowledge and skill base to succeed in life. Schools that do not fulfill this reponsibility deserve to be punished. When schools do an about-face and start to fulfill the democratizing function of the public schools, they are then entitled to have punishment cease. And good public policy would then find ways to reward the teachers responsible for the turn-around.
Just because punishment is uncomfortable does not make it wrong. If a school wishes to escape the punishing effect of having its institutional image tarnished with public proclamation of failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress, the effort should be to articulate and implement the policies that would yield success in making Adequate Yearly Progress.
There are three essential shapers of human behavior: positive reinforcement, which introduces a reward for desired behavior; negative reinforcement, the withdrawal of reward when behavior turns toward the undesirable; and punishment, the application of aversive measures for undesired behavior. Punishment is most effective when combined with positive reinforcement, such as higher teacher salaries for those who provide instruction that raises student achievement to grade level or better, or public recognition and enhanced funding for effective programs that do the same. But there is no doubt that punishment is an attention-getter that can motivate people to change behavior in ways that would lead to these rewards.
So punishment is a legitimate psychological strategy that quickly exposes an existing problem. Schools that have for years, decades, and in some cases for a half-century or more failed to educate all of their students deserve the punishing effect of the No Child Left Behind measures that lead to increasingly serious consequences for failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). And while many of the failing schools are those situated in inner city communities facing multiple societal challenges, some are schools that previously were considered good and even elite.
This latter matter has received a good deal of attention by critics of No Child Left Behind. How can good schools be branded as failures because they have not made AYP as defined under No Child Left Behind? The answer is that schools that fail to educate their poorest populations, their immigrant populations, and their populations of color should not be called "good schools." The key difference between these so-called "good schools," typically located in more affluent communities, and inner city schools is that the latter generally have as a majority of their student bodies students of the type that the "good schools" are failing. Such "good schools" are not any better at educating poor students, students of color, and immigrant students than are those institutions that we know obviously to be "bad schools" based on the aggregate performance of their student bodies.
This is the whole point of disaggregating the data, so as to see how schools are performing, not just in school-wide average test scores, but also among varous ethnic and economic groups. A major responsibility of public schools in a democracy is to be the great social leveler, giving everyone the knowledge and skill base to succeed in life. Schools that do not fulfill this reponsibility deserve to be punished. When schools do an about-face and start to fulfill the democratizing function of the public schools, they are then entitled to have punishment cease. And good public policy would then find ways to reward the teachers responsible for the turn-around.
Just because punishment is uncomfortable does not make it wrong. If a school wishes to escape the punishing effect of having its institutional image tarnished with public proclamation of failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress, the effort should be to articulate and implement the policies that would yield success in making Adequate Yearly Progress.
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