Campuswide Interventions That Improve Student Acheivement

"One of the reasons that middle-class students do better in school is that their parents intervene to lessen the impact of the roller coaster."

I had seen evidence of this in my own high school, but had never made the connection. The truth in this has been shown over and over again. If I or others of equal or even higher SES than I had any issues in school, if our grades were slipping, if we had issues with other classmates, if we had problems with a teacher, if we had questions about the validity of a grade, or even if we just had questions on an assignment would be right there by our sides or representing us and getting us the solutions, answers or processes started. I did have friends in lower SES groups, and it is true that when they had issues they had no back-up, no support, no prize-fighters willing to go into the ring instead of them. When those friends had an issue with a teacher, even if the teacher was the one in the wrong, my friends lost without the support of their guardians. I think this is a sad and unappreciated truth.

Working With Students from Poverty: Discipline

The list of behaviors inherent in poverty I found very interesting. These are all things that are of course stereotypical, but as such have never been brought into the light long enough to be taught and assessed and dealt with for what they are. The lower SES status of people in poverty most definately is a culture all it's own, and no matter how much we have to lump everyone together to get these guidelines and generalizations, they are still valuable information that teachers and educators need to be aware of and should not be shielded from simply because they are a sensitive subject that no one else wants to discuss.

Building Learning Structures Inside the Head

I thought it was interesting how Dr. Payne discussed that how a student poses a question in a situation can be telling of that particular student's reading comprehension score. The example given was that in a situation where a student would ask, "Do you have any more?" if a student asks, "You don't have any more?", a statement, not a question, than their reading/comprehension scores are probably lower than average. This particular problem was lumped right in with the inability to answer questions worded differently with practice questions. This information I felt was a bit general and a little disturbing, and I found myself self conciously wondering how many times I have used a statement in a question format, and whether perhaps this means that I'm not quite as proficient as I had previously assumed!

Understanding and Working With Students and Adults from Poverty

"To move from poverty to middle class or from middle chass to wealth, an individual must give up relationships for achievement."

I thought that this what a particularly interesting concept in that it follos with that negative view that one must step on all of the little people to reach the top, but at the same time it appreciates that when one is being dragged down by groups of peers that have a negative view of authority figures, laws, work and rules than I can see and have seen in my experience how that can prevent any change from happening. Success is gained by going through the right channels, meeting new people, and hard work.

Taking Middle Schoolers Out of the Middle

"Should the nurturing cocoon of elementary school be extended for another three years, sheilding 11-year-olds from the abrupt transition to a new school, with new students and teachers, at one of the most volatile times in their lives?"

I am of the firm belief that middle school is one of if not the most important social stage of an individual's life. Putting off the school transition is I feel coddling and even more damaging than the 5th to 6th grade transition could ever be. The social skills balanced with the academics at a time when hormones are running wild is so unbelievably important that in my high school you could recognize nearly at a glance those who had not experienced middle school due to home schooling or some other such alternative. While the 6-12 schools seem more promising, there is still an innocence that I feel needs to be protected, even among blood-thirsty middle schoolers.