Poverty and Early Childhood

This week, I learned about how poverty affects children living and going to school in Georgia. One  thing I find very interesting about my conversations with my connection overseas is her mention of the similarities between rich and poor children. I believe it is a common misconception that poor children have very different problems than children who come from rich parents. Here is my conversation about the similarities poor and rich children can go through.

I am currently teaching on the other end of the spectrum - extremely high income children in a private school.

Before moving to Morocco, I taught Title 1 in GA and we saw a lot of issues from poverty including malnutrition, gangs and missing parents.  Kids came to school with little to no background knowledge and without basic skills.  (Kindergarteners who didn't know their colors, shapes, how to count to 3 etc.)  This set them in a pattern of being behind for their entire school career.

The biggest issue I knew as a teacher was that I had no idea of whether anyone talked to my kids after they left me.  Often students went home to empty houses and were not talked to, monitored or cared for.  When I first arrived in Morocco, I taught at a different private school with EXTREMELY wealthy children and found that they often had the same problems.  They were being raised by a maid or a nanny, so there was someone there, but no one to talk to them or "care" for them.

For both of these communities, I found that the biggest thing that the kids needed was attention.  They crave your attention and the knowing that someone truly cares for them.

Sometimes this is the case and sometimes it is the opposite case. To add, in some cases, poor children have it better. My stepfather grew up very poor. He always ate the same foods like, casseroles that were easy for mom to stretch and use as leftovers. He remembers wearing the same clothes all the time and being hungry often. His experiences of being poor as a child motivated him to work very hard, go to college and make a 6 figure salary.  He and my mom love in a very nice neighborhood and have no worries of getting the bills payed. In contrast, I know some adults who have had things handed to them their entire life with no lack of food or clothes. They however have grown to be lazy and have no desire to make something of themselves. This, in my opinion, is a failure on the parents part for not installing these types of values in their children. They were not home enough and spent more time working than giving their children what they really needed.

A website I use often

I would like to share a website that has come in very, very handy for me over the years. 

http://www.zerotothree.org/

They are a non-profit organization that was started over 35 years ago. Their mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.

This week the newsletter had information on how to help children potty train. Included are parents and professionals inputs on the subject. Some describe their approaches to it so that a parent or teacher can find the best approach for the child. This was one specific issue discussed this week. There are always a variety of issues in each newsletter. I really enjoy reading the new scientific studies that come out. There is a section on the website that directly discusses the issue of diversity and how young children can benefit from this integration.  It is under the policy section which I find very helpful in how to help my local community and communities from across the country. 

My connections to other teachers

This week, I connected with a teacher working in Morocco. I found her by searching for "teachers who travel for work" in the google search engine. Her blog showed up and I found it very interesting. She shares resources for teachers all over the world. I found it very useful if you would like to see also: http://www.rakisradresources.com/

She travels for work teaching at various schools from around the world. Her home base is in Georgia. She teaches 3 rd grade. One thing I found most interesting about conversations is the main goal the country has for their children. She says learning multiple langues is a main focus for teachers in Morocco. The language "of the streets" is Darija, a distinct dialect of Arabic mixed with French, Spanish and Berber.  Schools are differentiated by the main language of instruction.  Public schools teach in Classical Arabic (which is quite different from Darija), but must offer at least a little bit of French.  Most private schools are bilingual - half French and half Arabic.  Her sons attend a school like this. There are also private schools where the main language of instruction is French, but at least a little bit of Arabic must be offered.  At the most expensive and exclusive end of the spectrum, are the International and Spanish schools, where the main language of instruction is English or Spanish with at least a little bit of French and a little bit of Arabic offered.  She teaches at the International School of Morocco where the main language of instruction is English, but French and Arabic are offered daily.

As a teacher, she uses differentiated instruction, project based learning and the flipped classroom model.  She is very constructionist in nature and encourages her students to connect their learning to their own personal experiences to build their own understanding.

She is referring me to another teacher that she knows that works in Australia so I am excited to learn more about teaching there. In the following weeks I will be able to share more of that. 

A website I love using is zerotothree.org

I signed up to receive newsletters for Baby to Kid and Baby's Steps. I like this organization because I love working with very young children and I want to make sure I know of any new research that comes out. This website is easy to use and understand.