Posted by:
Perry Montoya
Posted on: May 22, 2001 at 11:32 AM
Message:
Addressing Diversity/Equity is a monumental task.
We begin by offering a class, "A Framework for Understanding Students from Poverty". This is based on materials developed by Ruby Payne. We have adapted it to meet the needs of Mesa teachers. In this class, teachers look at poverty through eight different lenses including a financial lens. We also have graphic organizers and instructional strategies that address specific issues concerning learning for students from poverty.We have been teaching this class for one semester. In that semester, we have had nearly 500 teachers/administrators take this class. Our goal of "addressing diversity/equity" is one that is incremental in nature. Once a facet of diversity/equity is addressed, a new layer is exposed
because of the new learning. Comments from teachers include, "You not only changed my thinking, you changed my heart." "I used the Future's wheel to teach cause/effect and for the first time I had a great day with my severe behavior problem student." "I understand why cooperative learning can be difficult for students from poverty. I will have more patience and take it one step at a time." "I always thought of poverty to include only financial. I see that it is much more and relationships/role models plays a critical role in working with students of poverty." "Thank you for teaching me about the language registers. The research on students of poverty and the language registers is powerful. I am working at building the formal register with all
students and specifically students from poverty." We are giving teachers tools to help understand and teach students from poverty. Our success has been in the comments from teachers and in the
evaluation of the class - over 90% excellent in the area of "has application for my teaching/classroom". While working with students from poverty is just a facet of diversity/equity, in our district it is a beginning.
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