Teaching with Poverty in Mind, Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Embracing the Mind-Set of Change



It's often heard that students born poor are destined for a certain kind of life. That is simply not true anymore. With new research into the brain and its functionality, new discoveries are being made about the possibilities of impoverished students.



Neuroplasticity and Gene Expression

"The most crucial concept to keep in mind when working with any population of underachieving school-age kids is this: brains can and do change." says Eric Jensen at the opening of this section. Different studies have collected evidence to support that brains can change, that new genes can be expressed based on our actions, and that the brain can even change size! All these studies have shown positive growth effects on the brain with such activities as playing music, language training, and video games. There are also studies that show negative effects on the brain and the loss of gray matter, like in a chronic pain situation. So we, as teachers, must find a way to limit the losing activities and heighten the gaining activities.



Changing IQ

IQ, one of the main pieces of evidence in determining a student's potential success, is actually a fluid measure, it can and does change with environment and care. Most of those environmental factors happen in early childhood, but some, like amount of schooling, are ongoing in life. Though we cannot effect how our students live at home, we can effect how they feel about school and whether they will stay in long enough to recieve the IQ benefits of schooling.



Fluid Intelligence

Sometimes, we tend to think that what happens in math class stays in math class, and that language arts is on the other end of the educational spectrum. But in fact, there are some skill sets that are beneficial to both, indeed, all curricula. Instead of creating a host of contextual and nontransferable skills in our own classes, we should be encouraging and engaging the fluid intelligence, the skills that are non-contextual and easily transferable to any field. Building this fluid intelligence is one of the keys to successfully changing the brain and setting the student up for success. Some websites to help with that are www. soakyourhead.com and http://www.lumosity.com/.



The Brain's Operating System

This section refers to the set of rules and regulations set up in the student's brain that governs their behavior, motivation, and ability at school. These things are a must in the system:

• The ability and motivation to defer gratification and make a sustained effort to meet long-term goals.


• Auditory, visual, and tactile processing skills.


• Attentional skills that enable the student to engage, focus, and disengage as needed.


• Short-term and working memory capacity.


• Sequencing skills (knowing the order of a process).


• A champion's mind-set and confidence.

These skills are necessary for studying, paying attention, succeeding in the classroom, and generalizing to the outside world. But our low-SES students' brains are not here yet. "Most low-SES kids' brains have adapted to survive their circumstances, not to get As in school. ... It's up to us to upgrade their operating systems - or see a downgrade in their performance." (pg. 57, TWPIM)

Educational Intervention and Long-Term Enrichment

The book supports early childhood education as a way to improve the brain's functioning, the earlier the better. Pre-K programs and afterschool programs for K-5 are usually the most effective way of changing the brain for the better. However, one study that the book mentions, Williams et al., 2002, was a study done on middle school students. "Teachers were trained to deliver a program emphasizing five sources of metacognitive awareness: knowing why, knowing self, knowing differences, knowing process, and revisiting." After this program was implemented, the students showed increased outcomes in reading, writing, homework, and test taking.

Action Steps

They way to approach these ideas is with a plan for action. All the research in the world won't give you a plan, it'll just support an effective plan if it's designed. So here's how schools can get started:

• Change staff members' mind-sets so they are more positive and open to change
• Invest in the staff so that they feel included, supported, challenged and nurtured
• Support on-going collaboration between staff and team members
• Encourage staff dialogue of success stories
• Gather quality data of processing and sequencing as well as memory and attention

What NOT to do:

• Focus only on the basics (drill and kill)
• Maintain order through show of force
• Eliminate or reduce time for arts, sports, and physical education
• Increase classroom discipline
• decrease interaction among students
• Install metal detectors
• Deliver more heavy lectures

This chapter ends with the line, "The first prerequisite for change is your belief in it - and your willingness to change yourself first."