Practices and Strategies for Teaching in Low Income Areas by

Addressing Inequity and Fostering Inclusion

morgruss — 2024-05-28 17:28:04 UTC

This text explains why addressing educational inequities is so important. It offers strategies and approaches for educators to create an empowering, supportive, and inclusive learning environment.

Resources

morgruss — 2024-05-28 19:48:18 UTC

Introduction

morgruss — 2024-05-28 19:55:07 UTC

Welcome to this toolkit. The links you will find in each category are aimed to help secondary educators teach students who come from lower income families or areas. In each category you will find several resources with descriptions of their purposes. There are resources aimed to help you engage with your lower income students, build a classroom community and relationships, how best to differentiate instruction for the purposes of inclusion, and resources to help you teach with culture in mind. All of these are extremely important when looking to teach students from low income households.

After engaging with this toolkit you should be able to identify practices and strategies to implement in your own classroom to best serve your students in low income areas.

Oakland Schools STEMi Truck

morgruss — 2024-05-28 20:02:56 UTC

Oakland Schools has a semi-truck that travels to different schools and presents students with different STEM career paths. These kinds of programs are extremely important for students who are not necessarily exposed to different post-secondary options.

A TED Talk to Consider

morgruss — 2024-05-28 20:03:28 UTC

In this Ted Talk, Kandice Sumner shares her experience as an educator and student facing inequities in school. A video worth a watch for a new perspective.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan

morgruss — 2024-05-28 22:10:26 UTC

Providing students with resources outside of school is an important part of breaking the poverty cycle. United Way for Southeastern Michigan is one of the programs in our area that aims to "advance equitable communities".

https://unitedwaysem.org/

Promoting Student Autonomy in the Classroom

morgruss — 2024-05-28 22:58:33 UTC

According to this article, students are more successful when they have an interest in what they are learning. Giving them a chance to have a say in their education, promoting their autonomy as learners, will help to increase overall engagement. Motivation is particularly important in low income areas as schools in these areas typically have fewer resources.

Eric Jensen Interview: Engaging Students With Poverty In Mind

morgruss — 2024-05-28 23:22:26 UTC

Eric Jensen, the well known author of Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind and Teaching With Poverty in Mind, discusses his "brain-based" approach to teaching low income students in this YouTube video. He discusses his findings, strategies, and practices for serving our students.

Building and Sustaining Relationships

morgruss — 2024-05-29 00:33:07 UTC

In this article, author Andrew Boryga compiles a list of strategies and procedures educators may implement to build and sustain relationships in the classroom. Some are activities to build into daily routines and some can be done here and there throughout the school year. Boryga backs up most of the activities on the list with some kind of evidence or teacher approval.

Building and sustaining relationships is the foundation to a successful student, especially in low income districts.

DonorsChoose

morgruss — 2024-05-29 00:47:06 UTC

DonorsChoose is a site that allows educators to build a wishlist for their classroom. Ms. Sumner briefly mentions this site in her TED Talk above. Anonymous donors may go on to this site and choose to sponsor a classroom. A fantastic resource for teachers in schools with limited funding.

Why Student-Teacher Relationships are Important

morgruss — 2024-05-29 14:17:47 UTC

This article explains the importance of building strong relationships with students. Understanding why these relationships are so crucial may motivate you to implement strategies in your classroom. According to the article, teacher-student relationships are one of the foundations of effective classroom management.

Strategies to Engage Students in the Classroom

morgruss — 2024-05-29 14:27:29 UTC

This article from Harvard Business Publishing lists ten "creative" strategies to engage your students. There are ten different activities or procedures that when implemented may increase student participation, engagement, and performance.

TED Talk: Every Kid Needs A Champion

morgruss — 2024-05-29 15:06:34 UTC

Rita Pearson's perspective on building relationships with students: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like."

Pearson discusses how important relationship building is in this TED Talk.

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

morgruss — 2024-05-29 15:17:58 UTC

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs depicts basic human needs in a pyramid format. When basic needs are met, it is said students will perform at a higher level. The lower tiers of this pyramid are sometimes more important in low income areas.

Simply Psychology explains the concept in further detail in their article: Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

Establishing Relationships with Students in Urban America

morgruss — 2024-05-29 15:20:52 UTC

High School Principal Kate Gallagher wrote this article detailing the importance of developing relationships in urban education settings. She also mentions Maslow's Hierarchy and the "Every Kid Needs a Champion" TED Talk. Gallagher lists some tips for developing positive relationships with students.

YouTube Video: Building Relationships as a Foundation of Trauma-Informed Practices in Schools

morgruss — 2024-05-29 15:33:42 UTC

Trauma-informed teaching in low income school districts is an extremely important practice. This video explains how building relationships is an important part of trauma-informed teaching.

Toolkit: Relationship Building Strategies

morgruss — 2024-05-29 15:36:09 UTC

This toolkit goes into a deep dive of different relationship building strategies. The toolkit provides additional resources for each strategy and a step-by-step of how to implement each strategy and why you should implement each strategy.

Low Income Areas and Engagement

morgruss — 2024-05-29 16:24:19 UTC

In this article the author goes over the ways income affects classroom engagement. For each article the author provides advice for what educators can do for their students depending on circumstance.

IRIS Module: Defining Differentiated Instruction

morgruss — 2024-05-29 17:53:01 UTC

This IRIS module explains differentiated instruction. As you move through the module it explains the process, instructional elements, strategies, and more. It also tells the reader when differentiated instruction might be necessary.

YouTube Video: It's Not as Hard as You Think

morgruss — 2024-05-29 18:59:21 UTC

Differentiating instruction may seem like an intimidating task -- coming up with individual instruction for each student? It sounds impossible, but according to this video, it is not as hard as you think. This clip explains differentiating instruction and how best to alter instructional needs for different students.

Resisting Deficit Thinking: "Teach Up"

morgruss — 2024-05-29 19:33:01 UTC

This article talks about the concept of "teaching up" and how it relates to students from low income households. The idea that when you raise expectations and content for students, they will actually perform at a higher level. This article is all about moving from the "pedagogy of poverty" to the "pedagogy of plenty".

Differentiated Lesson Planning

morgruss — 2024-05-29 19:43:21 UTC

This module includes information on how to incorporate differentiated instruction in your lesson planning. There is a video that explains the process as well as several templates and resources so that you can try the process yourself. They walk you through an example lesson plan to help you understand what it looks like to differentiate a lesson plan.

Differentiated Lesson Plan Template

morgruss — 2024-05-29 19:46:53 UTC

This is a free editable template on Teachers Pay Teachers for a differentiated lesson plan. Teachers found this template to be very helpful in their lesson planning and their planning for differentiated instruction.

Defining Culturally Responsive Teaching

morgruss — 2024-05-29 20:43:42 UTC

In this brief article the author defines culturally responsive teaching. The website, Understood, has a multitude of resources for incorporating culturally responsive teaching in your classroom. They even have a how to guide: How to use culturally responsive teaching in the classroom

Books for the Culturally Responsive Teacher

morgruss — 2024-05-29 20:52:34 UTC

This article lists 11 different "contemporary diverse" novels for middle school readers. These books depict a wide range of stories, backgrounds, nationalities, and more. It is important to fill libraries with all different kinds of books, especially in areas where there may be fewer resources.

Why is Culturally Responsive Teaching Important in Low Income Areas?

morgruss — 2024-05-29 20:54:58 UTC

This 2015 study details the need for "culturally relevant teaching" in low-income areas. The author argues for the implementation of culturally relevant teaching in low-income areas as a way to see student achievement improve.

Fact Sheet: Culturally Responsive Education

morgruss — 2024-05-29 21:05:07 UTC

This is a quick fact sheet to look over to understand the need for culturally responsive teaching. It provides some research-proven solutions for educators to consider.

Examples for Your Classroom

morgruss — 2024-05-29 21:08:46 UTC

Here is an article that details the why of culturally responsive teaching, but also some examples that you may introduce in your classroom. Different activities and procedures that will create a safe space to be a culturally responsive educator.

Video: Dr. Zaretta Hammond Presents on Culturally Responsive Teaching

morgruss — 2024-05-29 21:12:18 UTC

One of the big names we see in lots of culturally responsive teaching literature is Dr. Zaretta Hammond. She has done lots of research on the subject and wrote a book entitled Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. This video is a presentation she gave in San Francisco where she discusses culturally responsive teaching.