Students from Generational Poverty in the Classroom

https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/5-ways-help-students-affected-generational-poverty

Low SES students will more likely than not be present in class at some point in one's teaching career. Rather than reduce these students to a statistic or margin of error, it is highly implored that the teacher work to keep an inclusive atmosphere for these individuals instead of letting them fall by the wayside. For this reason I will elaborate on the use of the article, "5 Ways to Help Students Affected by Generational Poverty." The article states five seemingly innocuous sounding but incredibly vital methods to providing a caring and productive atmosphere for Low SES students.

1. Love the Student: The easiest to understand and hardest to apply, as student needs for this change with the individual. Low SES students will come from different backgrounds, different lifestyles, and will have much different ways to respond to instruction and discipline. The important factor in this is to figure out what they need and give it to them in a caring way to display that you are a support to them.

2. Expose them to Experiences: Low SES students may be severely limited in their ability to travel and experience much outside influence. See if you can provide this for them! Field Trips, books and material covering the subject of exotic and foreign lands, speakers from outside the general area. The students deserve

3. Give Plenty of Praise: Low SES students may struggle greatly with feeling included and accepted in the classroom environment, and praising them for their achievement and effort is a good way to counteract that! Be specific with it too: let the student know they're being praised for their actions in your class. "Good job" doesn't cut it, "I'm proud of your work on the literature project, It's genuinely well written." does.

4. DO NOT ASK FOR MONEY: This one should be more than obvious. No matter how much you might need for school supplies, you should never ask a student already in a potential struggle with their own family finances for economic assistance. It's nothing short of completely inappropriate.

5. Keep High Expectations: Low SES students should not be given a lower standard of achievement because of their status, but rather you as a teacher should work to bring them up to the standard regardless of what issue they have. They have the potential, the teacher simply needs to bring it out of them.

Source: 5 Ways to Help Students Affected by Generational Poverty. (2015, June 09). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/5-ways-help-students-affected-generational-poverty