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I am a Bachelor of Education student at St. Thomas University who is about to become a teacher.

My work, both in my university and public school classrooms, has led me to reflect deeply on how poverty affects student life and learning. I have been looking for a way to offer my reflections and to wonder aloud. Therefore, I have decided to enter into a four week film study on socio-economic factors in education.

Each week, I will chose one film that to which I will watch and respond. My reflections will take the form of words, images, videos, and sounds.

So, please follow along! Feel free to watch the videos yourself (if you are able) and certainly to leave comments on the items I post on my chalkboard.

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First, I will be exploring No Place Called Home. I have chosen it because:

1. I learn best through stories and this film tells the story of one family. (In the summary, it says that it follows Kay Rice and her 8 member family as they struggle to find affordable housing.)

2. It seems to me that affordable housing is one of the biggest obstacles to poverty. (My previous career was as a United Church minister and I had a fair number of conversations with players in the community about this problem.)

This film is free for the public to view. If you are having trouble opening the link, please right click on the image.

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This cinéma vérité documentary is an intimate look inside one family's struggle with poverty. Kay Rice, her partner Karl and 6 children move from town to town in search of affordable housing. Unable to find steady work, the Rices rely on food banks and charity to make ends meet. "I know we're poor, but it's what we are, not who we are," says Kay, as she embarks on a fresh start by fixing up a rundown rental home. When things turn sour with the landlord, Kay fears his veiled threats may mean losing her children and decides to take him to court. In capturing the stark realism of a life with few options, No Place Called Home puts a face on what it means to be poor in Canada.

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This cinéma vérité documentary is an intimate look inside one family's struggle with poverty. Kay Rice, her partner Karl and 6 children move from town to town in search of affordable housing. Unable to find steady work, the Rices rely on food banks and charity to make ends meet.

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By telling the Rice Family's story, No Place Called Home captures very well what it feels like to be impoverished.

I have created this word image based on what I heard the people in the film express. They echo the emotions I have heard from impoverished people with whom I have worked in the community.

When students come into our classrooms, they do not leave the rest of their lives behind. They carry all of these emotions with them. Some are louder than others, depending upon the day. This is important to remember always when working with our students. It is also important to ask: What is that child feeling inside today? How can I find out? How can I respond?

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It seems to me that poverty is not a choice; poverty is, instead, a lack of choices.

Throughout No Place Called Home, the family has to make lots of choices but they never have the choice to stop being poor.

Here are some of the choices that Kay Rice had to make:

1. to stay with an abusive husband to have financial security or to leave and struggle

2. to live in an unsafe and unhealthy house to keep the family together or to split the children up to go to better houses

3. to eat from the garbage or not eat at all

4. to pay the rent or feed her children

5. to buy clothes for one child or for another

6. to tell the truth about how many kids she had or to lie to be given a place to live

As teachers, what power can we give our students? Can we give them agency to make good choices in a world where there are usually none? What choices do we have to make as teachers?

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Article: "Profiles in Poverty: Tanya Hatt"

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Article: "Profiles in Poverty: Tanya Hatt"

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Text of article:

New Brunswick, the province where I reside, is a poor province. As this article says, there is a 26.7% poverty rate among children. I am told that the school where I am practice teaching has one of the poorest postal codes in Canada. Poverty is real and I am in the centre of that reality.

I want to share with you the story of one of the mothers from my town, which appeared in our local newspaper.

When I hear stories like this, I keep reflecting on the question: How do I respond as a teacher? What can I do? What can't I do? What are the resources I have available to me to help?

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St. Stephen - In 1973 Tanya Hatt was born into poverty in St. Stephen, and in 2019, some 46 years later, little for Hatt has changed.

She has lived through the death of her parents and brother, and through a divorce which wiped out the years of hard work she had put into trying to build a stable, middle class life for herself and her 12-year-old son.

As I interview her, she pauses for a minute as she remembers something, and reaching down to her purse says, "I brought you a gift," handing me a mason jar full of homemade jam.

Throughout my long conversation with her, I'm repeatedly struck by how this simple and thoughtful gesture encapsulates the message that she repeats.

"Poor people are the most vulnerable population, but they are also the most generous," Hatt tells me, emphasizing without community support, those vulnerable populations drift towards what the more fortunate often consider them to be - a drain on society.

"The difference between poor people and rich people is opportunity and support," she states succinctly, before telling me about the many low paying jobs she has worked from the age of 14, in an effort to claw her way towards economic stability.

"I used to laugh that I'm everybody's favourite poor person, because when people have conversations with me or hear me speak - I'm not what they assume a person living in poverty is."

She's right. The myths surrounding poverty are as tired as the academic and statistic filled conversations people have about it.

"Through no fault of my own, I grew up in a poor family who didn't have as many opportunities for financial independence as other families did," she says.

Canada offers a fairly robust welfare system intended to support those who for one reason or another are unable to support themselves, but as with most complex issues, solutions tend toward bureaucracy and away from a human understanding and the flexibility required to truly tackle the problem.

"I am what I consider the average poor person," she tells me.

"I did very well I school, and I bought into the idea that if you work hard and you study hard, you'll be okay. You'll have a nice house, and a nice car, and a nice life.

"That was not the truth."

Hatt can't afford to fix her furnace, hence heats her house in the winter with kerosene, which costs $1 an hour, further limiting her ability to climb out of the pit of poverty.

Twenty-five hundred-years ago, a Chinese philosopher named Confucius said, "in a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of."

There is a 26.7 per cent poverty rate amongst children in Charlotte County. There is also a hidden and insidious opiate abuses which wreak havoc on families in our communities.

In New Brunswick in 2018, the rate of suspect opioid overdoses (who responded to naloxone) overall was 15 per 100,000 people. But the highest rate was reported in the Saint John Health Region, with the number almost doubled at 28.7 per 100,000. Statistical anomalies aside, it's a disturbing number to be presented with.

"There are misconceptions that people deserve to be in the situation that they are in, that they must have done something to create the situation," she tells me.

"What the facts say are that most of the people living in poverty in our community are children. So when you say that they are lazy and useless and drug addicts and not trying to help themselves - they're eight-years-old. And to demonize and demoralize their parents for having poor coping skills to deal with a life that is monstrous helps nobody.

"Yes, sometimes they self-medicate," she says.

Hatt tells me that, "it's impossible to save money because I don't make enough just to live. I can't get ahead enough to fix my furnace, and the only loan I can get is at 35 per cent interest. I fell for that trick when I was 18 years old and I never will again."

She adds she recently got a vehicle, and even though it's old and unreliable, "it might as well be a Cadillac, because it has changed my opportunity in this world."

"When you live rurally, you need a vehicle or else you're paying half of your paycheck in taxis to get to where you need to go."

But it is not just economic insecurity that the poor deal with. There is a distinct perception in society that those who struggle are lesser.

"If you drop out of school because you couldn't cope, or because you had to work to help feed your family, and then you make a couple mistakes, you now have criminal record, no GED, likely no family doctor, and a sense that you've tried but failed, and so what's the sense in trying, because people like me don't get ahead.

"And then you have a generation of people that have learned a sense of hopelessness. And when you're looked upon as a scourge and as a drain upon society - who would want to ask for help? And if you somehow manage to, you get intermittent and overworked social workers and mental health workers. There isn't a long-term, integrated approach to helping the individuals that live in poverty."

In fact, it's estimated 1 in 7 people live in poverty in Canada, and 21 per cent of single mothers raise their children in poverty, compared to 7 per cent for single fathers. Statistically, it's estimated around 15 per cent of New Brunswickers live in poverty - slightly higher than the average across the Atlantic provinces. Data shown by Statistics Canada shows the highest percentage of the population living in poverty across the country to be those under the age of five.

There are a plethora of people like Tanya Hatt living in Charlotte County. People who despite their best efforts, continue to struggle, and live in poverty. The success of a community is usually considered to reside in metrics like employment rates, population growth, income levels, and education levels. These are all important metrics to be sure, but perhaps another way of measuring success is how well a community treats its most disadvantaged.

If you would like to share your experience of poverty in Charlotte County, please contact me at andrewsutton@stcroixcourier.ca

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Profiles in Poverty: Tanya Hatt - The Saint Croix Courier

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St. Stephen - In 1973 Tanya Hatt was born into poverty in St. Stephen, and in 2019, some 46 years later, little for Hatt has changed. She has lived through the death of her parents and brother, and through a divorce which wiped out the years of hard work she had put into trying to ...

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On top of all the other problems that poverty creates is stigma. No Place Called Home the effects of stigma, mostly through Kay Rice's role as a mother.

It is because of stigma that it is difficult for her to access the assistance that she needs. For instance, she is reluctant to give a potential landlord a form to fill out in order to receive money because she might be labelled a "welfare case". Later, when her family becomes homeless, Kay labels herself as a "bad parent" and this leads her to feel suicidal.

This documentary was filmed 17 years ago and that stigma continues today. Tanya Hatt describes it this way:

"What the facts say are that most of the people living in poverty in our community are children. So when you say they are lazy and useless and drug addicts and not trying to help themselves - they're 8 years old. And to demonize and demoralize their parents for having poor coping skills to deal with a life that is monstrous helps nobody." ("Profiles of Poverty" in The Saint Croix Courier)

There are a lot of needs that we are not in a position to help with as educators but we can attack the problem of stigma. We can teach our students to be filled with compassion as we model for them how to really listen to multiple voices and not fall victim to the single story. In this case, the single story is a society that tells us that being poor is wrong; that being poor makes you lesser than. Perhaps most importantly, we can treat our individual students with great respect and equability that is not dependent on their living situation.

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This song "Hard Times Come Again No More" was written by Stephen Foster in 1854. It seems as though socie-economic challenges have also been a part of our society.

In No Place Called Home, the grandmother talks about how poverty has been generational for their family, saying people who grow up poor usually stay poor.

It does not seem like we make much progress. That can seem overwhelming as a teacher. It makes me ask: Can I really make a difference in a child's life? What is within my control?

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Joel Plaskett Performs "Hard Times" on Vault Sessions | JUNO TV

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The concept of home is such an important one for children and adults alike. Shelter is a basic need. For most children, home is a place of safety and belonging and a space where they explore who they are and find their self worth.

For children whose families struggle to find affordable housing or who are challenged by homelessness, the concept of home can be more of a fantasy than a reality.

What happens when we share stories like this one in our classrooms? How do students in the margins receive the words, "Come over to my house; come over and play"? Is this book helpful because it shares so many different images of houses? These are questions I need to ask of each and every resource that I use in my classroom. How is it positive? How might it be challenging to some?

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For week two, I will explore Four Feet Up. I have chosen it because:

1. Again, it tells the story of a single family who is dealing with poverty. I really do think that when we focus in on one story at time then the issue of poverty because relatable and perhaps less overwhelming.

2. It is told through the eyes of a child. So often we talk about children and not to children. They are the experts of their realities.

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In this personal documentary, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Nance Ackerman invites us into the lives of a determined family for a profound experience of child poverty in one of the richest countries in the world. 20 years after the House of Commons promised to eliminate poverty among Canadian children, 8-year-old Isaiah is trying hard to grow up healthy, smart and well adjusted despite the odds stacked against him. Isaiah knows he's been categorized as "less fortunate," and his short life has seen more than his share of social workers, food banks and police interventions. His parents struggle to overcome a legacy of stereotypes, abuse and dysfunction. More than anything, they want Isaiah and his siblings to have access to opportunities they never had. Ackerman spent 2 years with Isaiah and his family. As her portrait of the family unfolds with the help of Isaiah's creative input, curiosity and zest for life, so do Ackerman's own feelings about the responsibilities of Canadians to raise all children as our best investment in the nation's future.

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In this personal documentary, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Nance Ackerman invites us into the lives of a determined family for a profound experience of child poverty in one of the richest countries in the world.

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How learning observing poverty feels . . .

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How learning observing poverty feels . . .

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Last week, I spent some time talking about what poverty feels like for those who are impoverished. While I was watching this film, I paid attention to the feelings that were welling up in me.

I realize that, while it is hugely important to listen to the experiences of those experiencing the effects of this problem, it is also important to recognize poverty as a problem that belongs to everyone.

So, I took note of those feelings, to put myself in the story, moving from an observer on the sidelines, and I created this piece of word art.

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This film was all about an 8 year old named Isaiah, poverty, and images. Isaiah loved to draw and he loved to take pictures. At one point, the filmmaker remarks that that is the way he best communicated with the world.

Many of the images that were chosen for the film are very powerful and have helped me to understand things better.

The image that I carry with me still is the image of the apple tree. The story is set in Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, which is known for its abundance of apple trees. The filmmaker talk about the disconnect between the abundance of food for some and the hunger of others. As

I was watching and listening, I came to see poverty as not having a ladder. It's as if those who do not experience poverty have ladders that they can bring to be able to reach whatever they need from the tree of life. But, not only are those who are poor unable to reach the fruit, but they don't even have access to a ladder they could borrow.

In the classroom, how do we ensure that everybody gets a turn on the ladder? That sounds so simple but I imagine it's one of the hardest things we will face as teachers.

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Article: "Efforts underway  to replace school lunch programs during COVID-19 closures"

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Article: "Efforts underway  to replace school lunch programs during COVID-19 closures"

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This article is focused on Saint John, New Brunswick, and is talking about how people are working together to offer bagged lunches for students as they are out of school.

There is a realization that for many students the only time that they eat is at school with breakfast and lunch programs and free snacks being offered.

This has been close to my heart as I have helped with this in our town. We have a program that supplies families with backpacks of food. Normally, students in need would take home a backpack every Friday full of food to help their families through the weekend. Now, we are delivering these backpacks. It has been a good opportunity to see where students from my school live and to meet parents. It certainly does help me to reflect each week on the issues of food security specifically.

I know, though, that so many families are suffering greatly right now because of this barrier to food access for their children and many have lost jobs or have reduced incomes. The socioeconomic issues of our communities seem to have taken centre stage as this pandemic rages on.

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When Erin Rideout, director of the Inner City Youth Ministry learned Friday that schools across the province would be closed for a minimum of two weeks, she said her first thought went to students who rely on the school lunch program.

The organization provides about 47,000 free and subsidized lunches a year in three schools in three Saint John neighbourhoods through the Lunch Connection Program.

"It was of concern for the families in the neighbourhoods where we work because many of them rely on these food programs for their kids," Rideout said.

"And where it's a surprise for many families, maybe they didn't have a chance to go out to the stores and prepare."

3 lunch-bag locations

Starting Monday, families will be able to pick up bagged lunches at three locations from noon to 1 p.m. Those locations are PULSE Inc. at 251 Wentworth St., the Nick Nicolle Community Centre in the old north end and outside, at the splash pad in Crescent Valley. Those pickups will run from Monday to Friday.

"It's kind of grab and go," Rideout said of the 500-plus lunches that will be prepared.

"We'll be preparing the bagged lunches each day in a community kitchen in the south end at the St. John the Baptist/King Edward School."

Food security is a real issue in Saint John. - Erin Rideout

Rideout said all public health recommendations and guidelines are followed in the preparation and asked people to not attend the lunch pickup if they are sick or have travelled.

Rideout said they are working closely with schools to get the information out to families, and using social media as well.

"I think this will be a relief and help to sort of ease some of the anxiety and maybe a little bit of fear that's in our communities right now. It's one less thing for people to worry about."

Rideout said there were a few different reasons why the organization was concerned, including knowing many families would not be receiving their child tax credit until Friday.

"Food security is a real issue in Saint John and in a lot of these communities, and we want to make sure that they will be continued to be supported."

At the Fredericton Community Kitchens, Cassandra Blackmore, the incoming executive director, said the organization will be working quickly over the next few days to get something in place to help those students who relied on the Student Hunger Program.

"It's very important to us to find a way to help facilitate this anyway we can. We're not able to say right now how we're able to do that. This all happened very suddenly."

In addition to providing brown bag lunches each school day, the group has a backpack program that sends food home with students each weekend for their familiesm and it also hosts cooking classes.

Blackmore said the group will be meeting over the next few days to come up with solutions and plans.

"We're going to do our best to reach these families."

Any family in need of immediate assistance should contact Fredericton Community Kitchens.

Social media assistance

In Charlotte County, a Facebook page created by Elizabeth Eldridge of St. George looks to bridge the gap.

Charlotte County Community Helping Group aims to help students who would no longer have access to school food programs.

"I just got thinking about the kids," Eldridge said. "I know the backpack program, the breakfast programs in the school system around here are really, really well used."

With the abrupt closures of the schools Friday, Eldridge said there wasn't time to come up with an immediate plan to fill the gap, so she decided to find a way to help students and families.

"The individuals who were responsible for the program went above and beyond in many cases to do the best that they could, but they're working with limited funds, limited resources."

When requests for assistance come into the Facebook page, the page puts a call out for help. From there, someone agrees to be the drop-off point and delivery person. Donations are put in a box and set outside. The volunteer delivers it to the privately provided address and leaves it outside.

"The really cool thing about it is that it's a way to support people in need without any physical contact at any point."

Eldridge said she's overwhelmed by the response, given the page was only created and posted Saturday.

"It just makes your heart burst."

Asked about the breakfast and lunch programs affected by the closure of schools, Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters Monday that private companies are stepping up to help.

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Efforts underway to replace school lunch programs during COVID-19 closures | CBC News

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When Erin Rideout, director of the Inner City Youth Ministry learned Friday that schools across the province would be closed for a minimum of two weeks, she said her first thought went to students who rely on the school lunch program.

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An important setting in Isaiah's life is the ravine that is behind his home. Its symbolism struck me as a ravine is almost like a pit caused from a streams erosion. It is a depressing image but it is within that place that Isaiah finds some comfort and a sense of childhood joy and wonder.

Isaiah's parents approach being in the ravine differently. The filmmaker commented that his father was waiting for the day when he could pull himself out of the cycle. His mother, on the other hand, said she only lived day by day, refusing to look to the future because it would only depress her.

My instinct is to try to pull people out of the ravine. But I need to realize that I cannot do that. So, my role as a teacher, is to perhaps help students to learn and to to find wonder and a sense of self-worth despite the ravine.

Child poverty is a huge systemic problem. As the film points out, the government promised to eradicate it and 20 years later it had only gotten worse. I do not have the power in me to tackle poverty. So, how do I work within it?

This Raffi song came to mind when thinking about this. We have a duty to turn this world around, which the filmmaker emphasized but, as teachers, if we can turn the world of one child even a little bit, we will be doing our jobs.

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At the beginning of the film, Isaiah talks about a woman named Debbie whom we meet later. Debbie is someone who once was a single mother who lived in poverty, but her circumstances changed. She says, "I am one of the lucky ones because I had support." Now, Debbie tries to be a support to families like Isaiah's.

It occurs to me that the snake that Isaiah befriends and takes home to be a pet is symbolic in that way. Isaiah nurtures and cares for it and is its support. That is something that he searches for in his life, often talking about how he wishes his mother would spend more time for him.

At one point, Isaiah watches as the snake sheds its skin and is very excited. I think that this is an unusual but wonderful image that captures how I want to be as a teacher. I want to be there for those moments of transformation, where the students shed outgrow one skin and get comfortable with the next.

I do not think, as teachers, we should underestimate the importance of simply offering support.

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Here is a picture of Isaiah today. His mom is on the left and the filmmaker is on the right.

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It is like that children's story "How to Heal a Broken Wing". It is not an easy thing to do. A feather that has fallen out cannot be put back. However, if we give children a place to rest, some of our time, and a little hope, then, like a bird, they may fly again.

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How To Heal A Broken Wing by: Bob Graham

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As my third film, I have chosen Poor Kids. I have chosen it because:

1. Like the previous films I have explored, it tells the stories of individual children. This time, however, we will be looking at three girls from different families who struggle with poverty. I want to bring the lens out wider.

2. The summary seems to suggest that the filmmaker wants to connect these individual stories to the broader picture of poverty in America. (While I have chosen to drift away from Canadian content, I do believe this will still be very much relevant to my context.)

PLEASE NOTE: This documentary may be difficult for the general public to access. I have accessed it through my university's library system. If you are in America, you can view it for free on the PBS website.

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The final film I have chosen is titled Class Divide. I have chosen it because:

1. It moves us further out to look at an entire community instead of just one child or a handful of families.

2. It offers a comparison between the quality of life and education for the rich people in the area and the poor people.

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Hbo Class Divide New York City Poor and rich children and their families

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What Poverty Looked Like When I Was a Child

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What Poverty Looked Like When I Was a Child

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As I was watching this film, I heard several children talk about how they are perceived and how those perceptions are problematic for them. This got me thinking about how I saw "poor kids" when I was a child.

I made this word art to reflect how I saw poverty. I am embarrassed today about how I understood poverty then. But I recognize that I inherited my understanding from the society that surrounded me.

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I grew up in a small community. In my elementary school, there were about 100 kids. We all knew who was "rich" (I was.) who was "poor" and who was "middle class". Looking back now, I realize how much class affected how you were treated.

In the film, when I watched the mother giving her child a haircut, it reminded me of something from my elementary school experience. One teacher would constantly get angry with the students who needed haircuts. "Get that hair out of your eyes!" she would bark. "Tell your mother you need a haircut," she would demand. "If you don't get those bangs cut, I'm going to take the scissors and do it myself," she would threaten.

I realize now that she was basically mocking the children who lived in poverty. They were treated as different, as less human. There were lots of episodes like this throughout my childhood years, unfortunately.

I have made a few promises to myself for my teaching career. One of those is that I will try my very best to not make students feel badly for things that are beyond their control.

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One of the most relatable scenes in the film for me was when the boy was arguing with his mother, trying to convince her to buy him name brand sandals. Despite the fact that they were living in a homeless shelter, he saw this as a need for himself. As adults, we can sometimes diminish the concerns of our youth but these are real issues. This boy talked about how people at school mock his clothes and his situation. This is no small thing.

At a different point in my life, I did some work with a boy who dropped out of school after middle school. He was bullied relentlessly for being poor. People made fun of his shoes, his teeth, even his schoolbag. They bullied him until he had no friends. It caused great mental health issues that persisted throughout his life and contributed to him continuing to be entrenched in poverty.

Poverty can cause mental illness and it can be the result of mental illness. We saw this in the film. One woman talked about how her life caused her to sink into depression. Another woman talked about how her mental illness caused her to lose her ability to work and pushed her into poverty.

In this case, it is not so much the children with poverty that we need to focus on as educators but on everybody else. We need to do a lot of teaching around issues of class but, not just facts and figures, teaching that moves students to compassion.

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This work has been very rich for me. By looking at one specific aspect of culture (poverty), I have been able to learn some important general concepts.

I have been able to see that who a person is greatly affects their experience of school, their ability to learn, and how they learn. So, while these films have made me sensitive to the stories of children in my classroom whose families struggle socioeconomically, it has also made me sensitive to the unique stories of each and every child that I will have the pleasure of teaching.

My biggest take away has been to LISTEN. I do not have to change the world. I just have to listen to one child at a time.

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This week, I watched as Dolly Parton read her children's book Coat of Many Colours live on YouTube as a goodnight story for children. It is based on her song, which is about growing up poor and having her mother make her a coat out of rags. She was proud of it but when she wore it to school, the other kids made fun of her. It was a powerful story to listen to as an adult and I looked over to see my 10 year old son with tears in his eyes.

Resources like this are such a wonderful way as teachers to help children to think about class issues. Not only do they teach about the issue at hand, but they present issues as stories, in much the same way these documentaries have done. A story is often the best way to help learners relate to a reality that might be far different from their own.

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"Goodnight with Dolly" | Episode 2 | Dolly Parton reads "Coat of Many Colors"

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During this COVID-19 time of isolation, I have seen a number of people around the world record and post their version of this song "Rise Again". The song was written in Cape Breton, where I am from, when I was a child.

When I was growing up, the economy there had collapsed as the coal mines and steel plant shut down and the fisheries struggled. Many people were leaving the island and, many of those who were left, struggled financially. This song became an unofficial anthem of resilience and hope for us as it is now.

I wanted to end my post with this song because, when it comes to socioeconomic issues, it is easy to get sucked into darkness. These problems came seem insurmountable. But there is great hope in all of this.

As I have listened to these stories, I have been filled with a sense of purpose. I have uncovered for myself what I must do as an educator in order to honour and help children who live in poverty. The hope is that others will listen too and do the same, allowing these children to rise up. The boy in the film made this point so strongly when he said that school was his only hope in getting out of this cycle. We, as educators, represent school. In many ways, we are that hope.

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In the film, we see what happens to the children who lived in the projects as they watch their community being gentrified. As time goes on, these children become more and more disempowered, losing confidence and identity as their community connections are taken away. The community whose story they once knew and were once a part of changes dramatically.

The rich children who came to live in the new expensive condos have almost no connection to the community. Instead, they are sheltered from it, kept inside high tech schools and walking green paths above the streets to avoid interaction.

As I look ahead to my planning for my students, I will be sure to create lessons that help connect the students to their community. I want them to feel empowered by these connections and to know and be part of the community stories. I believe that this support is incredibly important.

We see evidence of how helping students strength community connections positively affects learning. It is demonstrated in the following article about the Rise and Shine program.

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Article: "Helping Students Rise and Shine

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Article: "Helping Students Rise and Shine

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This article tells the story of high-poverty school in Portland, Maine, which is only a few hours from where I teach. It explains how the school went from low-functioning to high-achieving due largely to a morning program designed for grade 3 to 5 students.

Each day, students get to choose how to spend the first 40 minutes of the day, participating in fun and challenging activities which they choose from a big menu. The activities are varied (from poetry to archery to sewing) but they all depend upon involvement from the outside community.

By changing focus from test scores to how to create motivated and engaged students, this school was able to increase the amount and quality of learning that happens there.

Ross, F., Gendron, M., Nogar, D., & Queen, M. (2018). Helping students rise and shine. Educational Leadership, 75(6), 81–84.

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In Class Divide, none of the children really have a choice. The rich kids have their expectations clearly laid out for them: they are to perform well in school and become successful adults. I was struck by the teenager who says that his goal is to become a self-made millionaire by the time he turns 27!

The poor children had even less choice. We know by now that the cycle of poverty is not a choice. In the film, they say it is easier for a child in a developing country to move out of poverty than one in America. I suspect the same hardships exist for impoversihed kids in Canada.

A program like Rise and Shine gives children choice, which is especially important in the life of of child who gets very little.. Programs like this recognize that choice is a huge motivator to learning and to success. I want to incorporate choice into my lesson plans and let students draw upon their own strengths and interests.

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The film shows the huge differences between experiences available to rich kids versus poor kids. While children in higher socioeconomic levels can travel, enjoy a variety of activities, and build a more global view of life, children in lower socioeconomic brackets only experience the world that is at their front door.

So often, I wonder if the content and methods being used to teach our students who struggle with poverty are at all relevant to them. Might it be difficult, for instance, to learn about your province or country, when you barely ever travel to the other side of your small town? It seems to me that it is extremely important to contextualize what we are teaching, to root it deeply in the environment with which are students are most familiar - their neighbourhood.

As I go forward, I will draw upon familiar elements to meet outcomes. The Rise and Shine program had great success with this. I do believe that my students will learn much more when learning is relevant.

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Sesame Street: People in Your Neighborhood with Bob