Teaching With Poverty in Mind
By Eric Jensen Chapter 6: Instructional Light and Magic The final chapter of our book study looks at the implementation of what would have been called a few years back, a paradigm shift. To successfully implement the Five Share Factors we must first buy into this idea that even financially disadvantaged students can learn. Next is the challenge to sort through the many new strategies and apply them in our classrooms – knowing how and when to do each thing. I believe that we as a staff know that all students can learn, but we also know that our students come to us with different levels of preparedness and abilities. (Do I hear an “Amen!” from the kindergarten teachers?) This is not an excuse, but a reality that we face daily and use to guide our instruction. I especially like that the author recognizes that no one teacher can integrate ALL of the strategies mentioned in the book, but encourages us to “shine a spotlight on what matters most” and then to “get ready for the magic.” Mr. Hawkins, the imaginary teacher who was counting down the years to his retirement in Chapter 1, has seen the light and is now on board. He takes us through a typical Monday and shows how some of these new ideas can work in a classroom. Before class he:
In the first 10 minutes he:
During core class time he:
During the last 10 minutes he:
It looks like a lot of “extra” that falls outside of the instruction which we are expected to give, but really, it doesn’t take much time once we are comfortable with it. Many of you instinctively do similar activities already. My plan is to choose one or two strategies from the book and try them for a quarter, and tweak some of the rituals I currently have in place. And I hope I never underestimate what can be accomplished by fostering caring relationships with our students. Most of us have read The Help or seen the movie. As I close, I picture a chubby, preschool girl repeating through her tears the wisdom she has learned from her beloved maid, Aibileen – “I is kind, I is smart, I is important.” If our students can believe that of themselves, we will all be successful. Comments are closed.
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