Introduction
This book may be unsettling for you. You'll be addressed as if you're sitting right across from me and we're having a conversation.
We are going to start with a lie.
The lie is one of the most damaging, inexcusable, and widespread lies of the last 100 years. The lie has ruined millions of lives. The lie has cost our economy trillions of dollars. This lie has changed the course of education, and hence America's economy, social structure, and culture.
You have been told many lies as an educator. It's time to set the record straight. Because when you become more aware of what's hurting you and your students, you'll likely choose to grow, change, and get better results in the classroom. Or, you'll quit. That halfway in-between zone is not going to make it for you anymore.
Here's the lie: "All students deserve a high-quality public school education." As a nation, we superficially espouse this lofty ideal—and then fail to back it up with better pay for our teachers, reliable funding, realistic policies, and action. We can get rah-rah about meritocracy, hard work, and earning your way "up the ladder," but this lack of follow-up on our supposed values has become comfortably accepted by too many.
Countless students have been misled about opportunities and subjected to lower expectations. Many have found that their culture is unwelcome at school, have faced discrimination, and have been excluded from gifted classes. Millions of students of color have been assigned less-skilled, less-experienced, and undertrained teachers, often with a temporary certification. Innumerable students from poverty have been steered away from challenging or lucrative career opportunities because of perceptions of weaker character or intelligence.
Most of us in education are guilty. The good news is that times are changing. I am hoping you are reading this book because you are considering being part of the change. But why change, and why change now?
When teachers succeed with middle-income and upper-income students, they will assign a positive impact to their role. In fact, in surveys, most teachers say they are doing a "pretty good job." They believe they work hard to help their students succeed, and sharing credit for that success seems justified. Who could blame them?
But what happens when you ask teachers about the negative impact of their role in a school with students from poverty? There is rarely a self-assigned responsibility for disparities in academic outcomes. Instead, most teachers have a narrative to explain students' lack of academic success. Many teachers use "code speak" to describe why their proficiency scores, engagement responses, and discipline numbers are lower with poor students. Some teachers will play the sympathy card: "Bless their hearts. They come from poor families; you can just guess what that's like." Many use the character card: "He's just not motivated," or "She's got an attitude that won't stop." Some teachers play the bad-seed behavior card: "Well, you know his father's in prison, so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Still other teachers play the "times have changed" card: "Our student body has changed; kids used to be better disciplined, speak English, and work hard. Nowadays, it's all different." If this is how staff members at your school speak to one another, your students may have a bleak future.
Roughly half of students who start school in the United States will struggle. These students often experience some form of marginalization: They live in poverty, they are students of color, they are immigrants, they are English learners, or they have special needs. The majority of these students will start school below grade level, and somehow, after 13 years of school, most will not have become proficient in reading, writing, or problem solving. They will have fallen behind their peers of higher socioeconomic status. Too few ever catch up.
So there you have it: plenty of reasons to explain why students from poverty will always struggle in school. But if it's inevitable, why did I write a new book on teaching students from poverty? You'll find out as you explore each of the nine chapters in this book.
Before I introduce each chapter, keep in mind that I have chosen to exclude many of the basics of teaching. This book assumes you already know how to plan lessons, set up your room, handle transitions, and design and conduct useful formative assessment. If not, there are other books that cover those topics well. This book is designed to fill in the gaps that are unique to teaching students from poverty and takes a fresh approach with equity in mind. I hope you find this approach to be valuable.
The book is organized around core equity questions. The first chapter is about discovery; it asks you to "Start with Yourself." Chapter 2, "Conscious Connections," gives you three critical relationship levels to reach with your students. Chapter 3 explains how to "Raise the Roof" by fostering high expectations in ways that matter most.
Chapter 4 explores "Equitable Environments" as one of the core paths to your success. Chapter 5, "Rousing Relevance," introduces you to what matters most in students' school experiences; relevance and engagement are pretty high on most students' lists. Chapter 6 has you "Scaffold Scorekeeping." You'll learn how to provide high-quality feedback in ways that will work for every student. In Chapter 7, you'll learn how to move "From Discipline to Coaching." This chapter shows you a simple three-part path to fostering better behaviors. You'll learn the secrets to de-escalation and other classroom climate challenges.
In Chapter 8, "Cognitive Climbers," we'll explore the powerful accelerated learning tools that I've used for decades to help educators become amazingly good at teaching. You'll get reminders of how to build equity in every class. The last chapter is "The Emerging You." The core tenet here is that change is not easy, but it is doable. You'll learn how to reset your brain for a new path forward, and you'll discover what tools and resources you will need to be a successful teacher.
As an educator, you likely value learning and growing. Every chapter in this book will be putting those values on the line. This book is about growing you. We will start with a bit of unlearning, clearing debris, and dispelling myths.
Printed by for personal use only
