Teaching with Poverty in Mind - Ch. 4

Teaching with Poverty in Mind

The recommendations Eric Jensen has spelled out for schools and communities to address children’s physical, social and emotional well-being are definitely positive actions that our Rugby community and school can accomplish. Of course, this is not going to happen overnight but I believe we are on the right track and have the ability to achieve our goals. We have already executed many of the suggestions and have formed a committee of caring and responsible stakeholders who will want to make this happen.

In reflecting on the first factor of “support of the whole child” I feel that we do fall short due to being in a rural community with minimal psychologist and counseling resources. This is difficult when there may be just one school counselor, for example, who has multiple responsibilities and who, by law, is required to refer students who need extensive counseling to outside resources.  We do however, provide children access to before and after school tutoring, and our RTI process has been an amazing process that has ‘caught’ a lot of students who might otherwise fail classes. The caring and willingness of staff at RHS to attempt new teaching techniques and to develop professionally is truly impressive. Without their enthusiasm and willing hearts, there would be many students who would be ‘falling through the cracks’.  I appreciate that our district has now started a PTA and that we are offering a few FACS classes that teach important topics and skills to students, but at this time we do not offer parenting skills, nutrition, and “how to help my child study” classes (for example) for parents, which I feel would be beneficial.

In reflecting on the second factor of “hard data”, I feel that we as a district do collect plenty of data but that due to time constraints and our failure or inadequacy of interpreting that data, we fall short in this area.  I am excited to be a part of the Strategic Planning Committee and that interpreting data training has been suggested. It is extremely impressive what the Student Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) data collection system can report. Once all staff is trained in using data, I am optimistic that they too will see the benefits of using it to improve student engagement, individual student learning and instructional strategies.

The factor of “accountability” makes an individual really think. I like that staff opinion has been valued and that there are various committees that involve many staff. This is much more efficient and creates more personal buy in from all staff than having the changes come from the top down. The morale is much better and the responsibility is not on any one person; it’s a group effort and instead of placing the blame on others or on parents, we realize we can reach students with a conscientious and collaborate effort and can celebrate the successes together.  I believe that we are truly on the way to making even more positive changes in our district because I can see that we already have.

“Relationship building” is a vitally important factor as well.  While classroom teaching for nine years in another district north of here, I experienced that having a positive relationship with the students and their parents was insurmountable in achieving trust and compliance from students and their parents. It was astounding to me how much the students appreciated my high expectations of their behavior and their academics and how many parents requested me to be their child’s teacher.  I am ecstatic that the mentor/mentee groups have been formed here at RHS and that we are attempting to build better relationships with students.  Having a positive relationship with a stable, honest, and caring professional in a place where students are required to be for 28% of a student’s awake time will most definitely be a positive action that we can take as a district.

I appreciate the next factor/recommendation of “enrichment mindset” as well because it’s always important to provide all students with access to programs and organizations that they can excel at.  Rugby High School is the perfect size school that is small enough where students know each of their classmates and probably everyone in the building. And it’s large enough where we offer many classes that help students prepare for college and also classes they can take that give them college credit.  The number of career and technical education classes we offer is increasing and these classes give students opportunities and career ready skills that improve their chances to be successful in the world of work.  The extra-curricular activities RHS offers such as sports, drama, speech, FFA, FBLA, NHS, Fine Arts Club, Sources of Strength, and much more give students even more opportunities to excel, collaborate with others and to practice working with others. 

Our next steps should be to continue improving our school using the stakeholder survey results and having the professional development match the individual needs of staff.  I look forward to seeing what the Strategic Planning Committee recommends and then being a part of the positive changes that will occur.