A Cognitive Approach to Understanding Poverty

About the Course
This course will provide participants with an opportunity to explore how poverty affects behavior and academic performance in students. Participants will be engaged in ensuring a positive school environment that embodies respect and inclusivity. Participants will discuss the mindset of change and how accountability strengthens the SHARE model. Participants will collaboratively create a school-wide resource of strategies to encourage students to participate emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally.
Required Text:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Recognize how having a framework of poverty can help better understand students living in poverty and what can be done to ensure success.
- Identify the ‘hidden rules’ of school and access what children living in poverty need to know in order to be successful at school.
- Implement a school-wide plan for engaged learning where relationships are reaffirmed and emotional, cognitive, and behavioral participation at school is encouraged.
- Develop a school environment where a child’s risk factors do not impair his or her success, including enrichment activities for students.
Reviews
Jolie Hendricks
I learned a ton! Just wish it was spaced out more. Perhaps give 2 weeks per assignment? It would give more time to truly engage with the material for busy and overwhelmed teachers, especially those of us on a trimester system who have report cards and conferences during the class.
Tracy Starr
I love this class and the ideas presented. It offers you a different perspective and a way to look at leveling the playing field for our students of a variety of economic levels.
Lynda Micikas
The topic of the class is important and very worth learning about. I thought the book was interesting and also quite valuable to read. The discussion prompts were, generally, quite good at promoting reflection.
By way of suggestions, I would have liked to see:
1) more participation in discussion by the facilitator. I would think that the goal of discussion is not just for the students to swap ideas, but also for the students' thinking to be challenged and probed and expanded by the thoughtful involvement of an expert in the subject. I would have enjoyed -- and benefited from -- that. kind of expert involvement
2) more thoughtful journal assignments/prompts. Asking professionals to outline the major ideas of a chapter seems a bit juvenile. I guess it's fine if you really think that we won't read the chapters otherwise. But perhaps you could increase the value and challenge of the assignment by requiring some discernment and justification...e.g., phrasing it something like this: "Please choose six ideas from Chapters xx - xx that you think are crucial to an educator's understanding of students (and/or adults) from poverty. For each idea, explain 1) why you think it is crucial, and 2) how understanding it will impact your teaching in the future. Be specific." That kind of assignment achieves the goal of making sure that the student read the book, but ALSO, because it would require some comparative thinking and defending would be much more thought-provoking and valuable to complete.
All-in-all, though, I am glad to have taken the class. Very helpful!Thanks!
Leave a Review
CEA COpilot allows users to create their own bundles and receive a set discount rate based on how much credit
classes they take! Essentially, the more enrollments you add to a single transaction, the
bigger the discount you receive.