Creativity key to teaching kids in poverty

from The Gary Post Tribune

BY SHARLONDA L. WATERHOUSE Post-Tribune staff writer

Dealing with generational poverty requires enterprising teaching tactics.

Renowned educational researcher and theorist Ruby K. Payne offered that advice to more than 300 Northwest Indiana educators Tuesday at Calumet High School.

Problem: Student won't do classwork in a particular class.

Payne's theory: He simply doesn't like the teacher.

"In generational poverty, it is a form of dishonesty to work for someone you don't like," the author and motivational speaker told the crowd.

Parents in poverty may even support their child's refusals.

The secret? Teachers must endear themselves to students.

Payne said research on 25,000 Minneapolis children showed an emotional bond with an adult, including teachers, is stronger than peer bonds.

Payne said investigations found the 1999 Columbine High School shootings were done by "boys with no significant attachment to any adult."

But attaching to students doesn't necessarily mean being nice, she warned.

"In poverty, the distinction between niceness and weakness is not understood," Payne said.

She exhorted educators to not show fear if threatened, not excuse behavior but don't necessarily confront.

For example, when a class clowns disrupts lessons, a confrontation isn't worth the time, Payne said, especially since those in poverty view being entertaining as a value.

"Entertainment takes away the pain," she said.

Strike a deal instead.

Payne relayed the story of how a teacher told a child that if he were genuinely funny, he could save his jokes and she'd give him a 20-minute comedy routine on Fridays. He did and amassed an audience.

Another teacher rationed a class clown five jokes an hour.

In contrast, a poverty culture doesn't laud high grades as a value, Payne said, relaying a story of how she once had a smart student who refused to make A's because he "wouldn't have any friends."

He'd lose respect with B's, but she negotiated with him to embrace C's, vowing that
no matter how hard he worked, she wouldn't give him higher.

Sounds funny, but Payne, who spoke on invitation by Lake Ridge Superintendent Sharon Johnson-Shirley, was serious that removing socio-economic communication barriers in class could increase learning.

Lauren Chappelle, a Lake Station counselor said, "It's great to know social norms and how to relate to people. A lot of times, you just think a student can't learn, but the problem may be the way they were brought up."

Rose Vis, a parent educator for Parents As Teachers in Hammond said knowing strategies can help in interpreting behavior and not taking some actions "for granted."