A Framework for Understanding Poverty (16 page)

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?

If the research had to be summed up in three words, these are the three (at left) that seem to appear repeatedly. Traditionally in schools we have provided insistence, and since the mid-1970s we have added expectations as part of the discussion. It is, however, the notion of support that must be provided to students now.

What is appropriate support? I am not talking about a fuzzy-feel-good notion of support; I am talking about what girders are to a bridge. The supports these students need are cognitive strategies, appropriate relationships, coping strategies, goal-setting opportunities, and appropriate instruction both in content and discipline. The true discrimination that comes out of poverty is the lack of cognitive strategies. The lack of these unseen attributes handicaps in every aspect of life the individual who does not have them.

The Virginia State Department of Education (1993) identified the following four responses as being effective in promoting learning for at-risk students: developmental preschool programs, supplemental reading programs, reducing class size, and schoolwide projects in prevention and support. These four responses could allow for relationships, support, insistence, and development of cognitive strategies. A study of low-performance schools (in which some children achieve) looked at the external resources that students bring to the school (Anderson, Hollinger, and Conaty, 1993). What seems to be more important than involvement and coming to school by parents is whether parents provide insistence, expectations, and support at home. Perhaps we need to rethink the focus of parent training.

In conclusion, as we adapt and flex our instruction to meet the needs of these students, cognitive strategies and support need to be integrated with insistence and expectations.

INSISTENCE EXPECTATIONS SUPPORT

WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION MEAN IN THE SCHOOL OR WORK SETTING?

? The focus in schools should be on learning.

? Instruction in the cognitive strategies should be a part of the curriculum.

a Staff development should focus on a diagnostic approach rather than a programmatic approach.

• Efforts to promote learning should pay greater heed to what is in the student's head.

• Insistence, expectations, and support need to be guiding lights in our decisions about instruction.

CHAPTER 9

Creating Relationships

Locate a resilient kid and you will also find a caring adultor several-who has guided him.

- Invincible Kids, U.S. News & World Report

he key to achievement for students from poverty is in creating relationships with them. Because poverty is about relationships as well as entertainment, the most significant motivator for these students is relationships.

The question becomes, How does a formal institution create relationships? Two sources provide some answers to this question. These sources are (i) the recent research in the field of science and (2) the work Stephen Covey has done with personal effectiveness.

Margaret Wheatley, in her book Leadership and the New Science (1992), states quite clearly:

Scientists in many different disciplines are questioning whether we can adequately explain how the world works by using the machine imagery created in the 17th century, most notably by Sir Isaac Newton. In the machine model, one must understand parts. Things can be taken apart, dissected literally or representationally ... and then put back together without any significant loss ... The Newtonian model of the world is characterized by materialism and reductionism-a focus on things rather than relationships ... The quantum view of reality strikes against most of our notions of reality. Even to scientists, it is admittedly bizarre. But it is a world where relationship is the key determiner of what is observed and of how particles manifest themselves ... Many scientists now work with the concept offields-invisible forces that structure space or behavior (pp. 8-13).

Wheatley goes on to say that, in the new science of quantum physics, physical reality is not just tangible, it is also intangible. Fields are invisible, yet:

[They are the] substance of the universe ... In organizations, which is the more important influence on behavior-the system or the individual? The quantum world answered that question: It depends ... What is critical is the relationship created between the person and the setting. That relationship will always be different, will always evoke different potentialities. It all depends on the players and the moment (pp. 34-35).

Teachers and administrators have always known that relationships, often referred to as "politics," make a great deal of difference-sometimes all of the difference-in what could or could not happen in a building. But since 198o we have concentrated our energies in schools on "achievement" and "effective teaching strategies." We used the Newtonian approach to teaching, dissecting it into parts. Yet the most important part of learning seems to be related to relationship, if we listen to the data and the potent realities in the research emerging from the disciplines of biology and physics.

When students who have been in poverty (and have successfully made it into middle class) are asked how they made the journey, the answer nine times out of to has to do with a relationship-a teacher, counselor, or coach who made a suggestion or took an interest in them as individuals.

Covey (1989) uses the notion of an emotional bank account to convey the crucial aspects of relationships. He indicates that in all relationships one makes deposits to and withdrawals from the other individual in that relationship. The chart on the next page lists some of these deposits and withdrawals.

The first step to creating relationships with students and adults is to make the deposits that are the basis of relationships. Relationships always begin as one individual to another. First and foremost in all relationships with students is the relationship between each teacher and student, then between each student and each administrator, and finally, among all of the players, including student-to-student relationships.

What, then, is meant by relationship? (Should students become my personal friends? Should I go out with them?) A successful relationship occurs when emotional deposits are made to the student, emotional withdrawals are avoided, and students are respected. Are there boundaries to the relationship? Absolutely-and that is what is meant by clarifying expectations. But to honor students as human beings worthy of respect and care is to establish a relationship that will provide for enhanced learning.

What are the deposits and withdrawals with regard to students and adults from poverty? (See chart on next page.) By understanding deposits that are valued by students from poverty, the relationship is stronger.

How does an organization or school create-and build-relationships? Through support systems, through caring about students, by promoting student achievement, by being role models, by insisting upon successful behaviors for school. Support systems are simply networks of relationships.

Will creating healthy relationships with students make all students successful? No. But if we make a difference for 5% more of our students the first year and 5% more each year thereafter, we will have progressed considerably from where we are right now.

Adapted from Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

In the final analysis, as one looks back on a teaching career, it is the relationships one remembers.

WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION MEAN IN THE SCHOOL OR WORK SETTING?

For students and adults from poverty, the primary motivation for their success will be in their relationships.

If your school or work setting presently affords few opportunities for building relationships, find ways to establish natural connections that will enable this vital resource to take root and grow.

Conclusion

ne of the topics as yet untouched is the need to grieve and go through the grieving process as one teaches or works with the poor. The Kubler-Ross stages in the grieving process are anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. As one meets and works with a particular family or individual, there is such frustration and, ultimately, grieving because many situations are so embedded as to seem hopeless. It's like dealing with the legendary octopus; each time a tentacle is removed, another appears. Particularly for the adults, so many choices have been made that virtually preclude any resolution that would be acceptable from an educated perspective. Yet the role of the educator or social worker or employer is not to save the individual, but rather to offer a support system, role models, and opportunities to learn, which will increase the likelihood of the person's success. Ultimately, the choice always belongs to the individual.