Understanding Poverty in the Classroom: Changing Perceptions for Student Success

People who live in poverty consider life in different ways than those who have adequate basic resources. Many educators tend to see the world through their middle-class worldview. Because of this, they do not understand these significant and often rational differences. They may misinterpret behavior they see and ascribe negative connotations to how their students are reacting. Their assumptions can affect the quality of both the teaching and the learning that happens. Most teachers have real passion for educating their students but their experiences limit how they relate to the challenges some of their students face daily.

Understanding Poverty in the Classroom:

* Identifies perceptual differences
* Teaches strategies to address the special needs of children from poverty
* Encourages teachers to learn about the neighborhoods where their students live and what to look
for in those areas
* Confronts myths about poverty and reinforces learning with specific illustrations

This resource is interactive with exercises that increase the reader's learning and provides specific tools to improve the educational process for teachers, students, and parents.

Beth Lindsay Templeton, director of Our Eyes Were Opened, is a community activist, innovator, minister, consultant, teacher, and writer. She began her career as a secondary mathematics teacher and for the last twenty-eight years has worked at United Ministries, a non-profit in Greenville, South Carolina.