Linda Stockman

Capstone: Access to Education

April 1, 2020

New Ideas in Education

The important thing to understand how to teach children from poverty and trauma is

understanding the symptoms to recognize these individuals. Children that exhibit loud and

boisterous behavior that is not conducive to learning are their way of dealing with the

overwhelming emotions and need to escape from the trauma that they have experienced. Their

attempt to withdraw and disappear in the classroom might mean wearing a hoodie tight over their

head, curled up, head down on the desk, sitting quietly in the corner of the classroom. This is the

behavior they might have to do at home so they do not get mentally or physically abused further.

It is also important to note that chronic absenteeism is another symptom of stressors from

poverty and trauma. The missing school does not help the student’s stress levels.

The equity and equality graph is a visual representation of what the problem is in school

systems around the United States. Equality is defined as “the state of being equal, especially in

status, rights, and

opportunities”. Equity is

defined as “the quality of being

fair and impartial”

In the first image, all

three children have one crate to

stand on. This is equality

because everyone has the same number of crates. This is helpful for the tallest and the middle

person, it is still not enough for the smallest person. The second image is equity because each

person has the number of crates they need to fully enjoy the baseball game. This example can be

used to discuss school funding. Advocating for equality means that each school should get the

same amount of resources per student. It also means advocating for equity and recognizing that

some schools, typically in low-income communities of color, will need more resources. This

includes funding, experienced teachers, relevant curriculum. Some people need more support to

“see over the fence” because they are shorter. This issue is inherent to the people themselves.

The image implies that students in low-income communities of color and other marginalized

communities need more resources in their schools because they are inherently less academically

capable. These families need more help. Some people make the argument that these families

should help themselves. This is called deficit thinking, which is the ideology that blames victims

of oppression for their own situation. These assumptions make systematic forms of racism and

oppression invisible. Some people have more trouble seeing over the fence because of the

context around them. The last picture is the revised version of the equity vs. equality comparison.

The ground is edited because not all people start out at the same social or economic level. The

fence is also not the same size at each level because some individuals have to overcome larger

challenges based on their situations

 “Equity Mindedness” is another idea that has affected the way educators teach their

students. This concept refers to the perspective of thinking exhibited by educators who recognize

the patterns of inequity in education systems. These educators are willing to take personal and

institutional responsibility for the success of their students, and critically reassess their own

methods of teaching. A key to understanding equity mindedness is that educators need to be

race-conscious and aware of the social and historical context of exclusionary practices in higher

education. The Center for Urban Education has written a few ideas on how teachers can practice

equity mindedness. Teachers who are successfully equity-minded acknowledge that their

practices may not be working so they revise it to fit the student’s needs. They understand

inequalities as a dysfunction of the various structures, policies, and practices that they can

control. “Equity-Minded” educators question their own assumptions and recognize their own

stereotypes that harm student success. Result of this is that institutions and educators become

accountable for the success of their students and see racial gaps as their personal and institutional

responsibility
 Creating equity in the classroom across all school districts ensures all students are

introduced to the idea. School and district leaders must reform policies and practices that

currently contribute to opportunity and achievement gaps. Students of color, low-income

students, English learners, students with disabilities, and those who are homeless or in foster care

are more likely to fail math and reading and are less likely to graduate. In order to resolve the

achievement gap educational equality must be replaced with efforts that advance educational

equity ensuring all students have the resources they need so they graduate prepared for success

after

high

school. Schools must create a culturally competent environment that does not unconsciously

form biases against their students.

In an equitable classroom environment students of all backgrounds have the same

opportunities to learn and develop their knowledge. To create an equitable learning environment

educators must be culturally competent and possess the ability to communicate and work

effectively across cultural lines. In fostering cultural competence there are three distinct

dimensions each of which plays a unique and valuable role in prompting student equity

institutional, personal, and instructional. Institutional is defined as the policies and values of the

district and school administration. At the institutional level, this includes ensuring appropriate
policies and values are advocated across the district and school administration. Personal is

defined as the cognitive and emotional processes that educators must engage in to become

culturally responsive. The personal level this involves critically reflecting on one’s attitudes and

beliefs about oneself and others to uncover biases. Instructional is defined as the materials,

strategies, and activities that form the basis of instruction. At the instructional level, this

encompasses material activities and teaching strategies that represent a variety of backgrounds

and cultural experiences.

The teachers must develop cultural competence in order to practice it in their classrooms.

This provides long-term sustained professional development that enriches the teacher’s cultural

understanding. Some diversity training recommendations include providing numerous

opportunities for skill-based training, with a specific focus on effective communication and

cultural considerations inside and outside the classroom. The school can ensure that the training

addresses the needs of the constituency base and that the training exercises are relevant and

specific to the community. The teachers should explore the intersections between ethnicity,

socio-economic status, culture, and race as dimensions of diversity. Investigate managing

unconscious bias and assumptions harbored by the district community members can help them

realize changes in their own classrooms. They should also develop training on communication

styles and the delivery of effective feedback when responding to prejudicial or culturally

incompetent remarks. Part of the training should include how to strategize ways to cultivate

diversity allies, forge partnerships, and build relationships across cultures. Teachers must be

introduced to equity mindedness so they can recognize these biases and make changes to their

own curriculum so that all students can benefit from the learning.
 New ideas and strategies are constantly being proposed to the education community.

Individuals are trying to make the learning experience for their students better be changing their

curriculum based on what their students need. These are a few of the ideas and strategies that I

found most interesting. These skills start developing at the classroom level and then rise higher

as the district starts to see results from the new methods that are being practiced.

Educators who work with children who are victims of poverty and trauma run the risk of

picking up the stress of their students. This can lead to burnout and even leaving the profession.

The elevated stress levels are caused by educators’ mirror neutrons picking up the pain from the

student who has been impacted by trauma and poverty. Educators can protect themselves by

practicing healthy habits in their personal life. This may include exercise, healthy eating, good

night's sleep, and relaxing hobbies. Eductors must be ready to handle the lives of their students

experiencing poverty or trauma. If an educator is already committed to other things in their lives

and does not want to be overwhelmed they might unconsciously walk away from the student, tell

their own story, or change the subject. This discourages the student from opening up again

because they were not heard the first time. It is important for teachers to develop their own

resiliency and capacity in their teaching. Capacity is being aware of your own limitations, shame,

vulnerability, and courage. Once the educators are equipped, the first thing they can do is greet

their students by name with a smile. The intention is to build a relationship with the students, not

just from what they see on paper, but to get to know them personally, asking them about what is

important to them. They have not been seen or heard appropriately by other people in their lives.

The educator can become that missing person in their life, filling that socioemotional gap by

making time for the student to be seen and heard in the classroom. The educator also needs to
listen beyond the surface. This tells the educator how the student experiences his or her world in

words, tone, and body language.

The educator should also build positive, enriching relationships. Acknowledging the

student’s resilience is key to becoming their ally. Resiliency comes from the power of the life

force, the will to live and to own one’s own life, the energy that counteracts the annihilation of

trauma. The fact that the student shows up to school means that they are resilient. They are

survivors and the educator should celebrate with your students by affirming their strengths, their

efforts, and their dreams. Create a safe atmosphere for learning. Addressing the challenges of

teaching students from poverty is to create a safe environment for learning. The educator should

greet them with a smile and welcoming words as soon as they step into the classroom. They

should also ask how each student is doing and about their interests and who they are. Creating a

safe environment that enriches the students’ emotional safety and where making mistakes is part

of the learning process that creates a positive learning environment gives the student a safe place

to share their answers and ideas. Give the students a sense of control.

Children living in poverty come to class with a diminished sense of control in their lives.

Households limit the choices for nutrition and entertainment. A students’ acting out in the

classroom can be a sign of their loss of control and way to attempt to regain control. Educators

might give them time and space to regain composure when emotional control has been

temporarily lost. Giving the students more perceived control over their lives in the classroom can

lessen this misbehavior. Give the student a task or responsibility to fulfill for the teacher of the

class. Change the perception of making a mistake or giving a wrong answer to be an opportunity

to teach that a person can learn more from a wrong answer than a correct one. The educator

should also use a calm voice to teach. An educator can facilitate a safer atmosphere for students
from poverty and trauma by teaching and talking in a calm voice. Loud voices can be stressors

for the student. An educator’s soothing voice can calm the students down and set the pace for the

classroom. The tone can free their bodies from tensing up and locking their brains from learning.

The classroom should also be a place to teach emotional skills.

Gratitude is an important emotion to teach. If a student does not respond with gratitude

for something an educator has done for them, it may be because she has not been taught

gratitude. The educator should find opportunities throughout the day to teach important emotions

so the students learn it as the norm. Working with students who act out is also challenging. Their

behavior is a cry for help that gets missed at the moment as tight teaching schedules,

interruptions, and emotions come together to create a situation where the student is removed

from the classroom and sometimes from the school by way of suspension. If the educator can

realize that the behavior is a symptom of stressors from the past, then the discipline does not

require the student to leave the classroom. A student whose stress level is running high may act

out to distract from the fact he does not understand the lesson. Knowing the why of the behavior

can lead to positive actions to address the behavior instead of a punitive approach that takes the

student away from the learning environment. The educator of a withdrawn student will need to

proceed slowly, continuing to create a safe place to be, a calm voice, and a gentle approach to

invite students to open up on their own. With this approach, the educator may discover

significant physical and emotional needs in the student’s life.

The most important cognitive skill that an educator can use to address the stress and

neglect of poverty in short-term working memory skills. Daily practice a few minutes a day, the

growth of the brain shows up on brain scans. This can be done with number sequences and with

words making sentences and telling a story. Teaching reading skills can help students develop
skills further. The skills that come together to develop reading skills can be shared at an early age

by caregivers reading to a child and allowing the child to read on their own. Parents from poverty

sometimes cannot read themselves or do not have the resources to buy books. The parts of the

brain involved in reading develop over a long period in gestation and are therefore susceptible to

problems and concerns. This is why some children from poverty have difficulty reading due to

poor nutrition, poor parental habits, and limited health care resources. Providing reading classes

and involving students in reading across the curriculum will assist in alleviating this symptom

from poverty and trauma. Building a student’s vocabulary builds brain structure. Incorporating

vocabulary can add words to a student who has been traumatized not only increases their ability

to speak with a wider range of words, increasing vocabulary builds new structure in the brain for

learning. Vocabulary building not only strengthens the structure of the brain, but it also adds

words that may access and give a voice to the feelings and stressors that have been driving their

behavior. Important to teach students from poverty how to self-regulate their emotions and their

behaviors. This can mean a lack of quality attunement time and social skills from the first three

years of life. This is because of neglect, they have learned little empathy. The educator can begin

to teach students self-regulation by teaching in a calm voice so that the stressors are not

triggered.
 Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_equity

https://www.thinkingmaps.com/equity-education-matters/

https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/columnists/geoff-masters/what-is-equity-in-education

https://www.thebalance.com/equity-in-education-4164737

https://www.waterford.org/education/equity-early-education-principle/

https://teacherfunder.com/why-equity-in-education-is-important/

https://www.oecd.org/education/school/38692676.pdf

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/10-equity/

https://www.hanoverresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Equity-in-Education_Research-

Brief_FINAL.pdf

https://www.thoughtco.com/promoting-student-equity-and-engagement-4074141

https://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/polar-plants/creating-an-equitable-classroom-through-

establishing-respect

https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/visualizing-school-equity