Millions of school-age students in America live in poverty. You don’t have to teach in a blighted urban area or a depressed rural region to teach students who are from a poor family. The lives of poor students are often very different from those of their more affluent peers. They cannot look forward to an abundance of presents on their birthday. ...

Last week, someone asked me, “How do you work on social skills with your students in the classroom?” I have had Social Skills as a separate lesson from the curriculum when I felt that we needed intense instruction on a specific skill. I will show you how I taught two skills in my class but the lessons can be adapted to ...

A few weeks ago as I was visiting many of the teacher blogs when I found a post I thought it was interesting. The inspiration of the post came from "What Privileges Do You Have?," based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. ...

It is not practical for any new teacher to work in isolation. New teachers who do not feel nurtured in their school environment, are usually to first to consider the prospect of leaving their teaching positions. While starting out can be uncomfortable, there are ways to approach teachers that can naturally lead to collaboration which is a necessary and vital ingredient ...

Recently, while involved with a school where the majority of the families experience poverty, I noticed that a number of the male students were wearing dress shirts and ties. Given that this school did not have a uniform, the students most often wore jeans and hoodies, not shirts and ties. I also noted that when in the school, the majority of ...

If we don’t take a stand, who will? It happens in restrooms, in hallways, at recess, on playgrounds, in locker rooms, in cafeterias...any place in a school where adult supervision is minimal. Generations of students have suffered verbal and physical abuse at the hands of other students. Despite intensified attention by educators, the problem of bullying continues to worsen. How much ...

Popular kids in high school — and average kids who think they’re popular — tend to do well, psychologists say. About 15 to 20 percent of high school students are rated as likable by their classmates, reports the New York Times. They tend to have closer friendships, to excel academically and to get on well with most others, including parents — ...

My dissertation was on adolescent motivation for school, and it has been read and enjoyed by ones of people. I was told when I graduated from UC Berkeley that every time someone downloaded my dissertation, I would get $1 in royalties. I have, to date, received $1. (1) Because I am feeling generous today, I will give you the results for ...

h4. *Psychological Factors* Let’s get back to our middle school friends. One of the psychological factors that helps to explain middle school students is Identity Development. Have any of you seen that scene in Zoolander in which Ben Stiller looks into a puddle, sees his reflection, and says “Who am I?” only to be splashed in the face by the puddle ...

h4. *Social Factors* The following is a confabulated transcript based on a conversation with one of my 6th grade middle school students. He was referred to me for special education testing because he was suspected of having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He reported hating his English teacher and was constantly being kicked out of class for getting out of his seat ...

Consider the following vignette: * Mrs. Berdine tells her 1st grade class that it is time to line up to go to art class. Little 6 year-old Daniel races to be first in line but is narrowly beaten out by James, who also wanted to be first. Daniel explodes, screams at James that he is going to kill him, and pushes ...

We come to the final and most personally rewarding part of the whole deal. This has to do with the things that happen outside of the classroom. How do you teach and teach well, and yet not spend your entire life teaching? h4. 1. Eliminate clutter I have previously mentioned my clean desk. Get rid of superfluous crap. The way to ...

You can have the most fascinating lesson plan in the world, but it will not work if your students believe you do not care about them. A good teacher-student connection will make everything in your class run smoothly. Without it, nothing will. Students of all ages need to feel that their teachers like them and approve of what they do. Fortunately, ...

So, here is a game plan: Let’s help 1,000 families out of poverty and show the nation what that takes and what makes it so difficult. Then let’s spread the idea of "Circles":http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/3458-what-are-circles into 1,000 communities for the purpose of giving people something they can do about the condition of poverty. With a large, assertive voice, let’s say that poverty is ...

One of the things that is incredibly difficult in parenting is looking a screeching, kicking, hysterical toddler and dealing with him or her lovingly…..and being able to flip your internal switch as quickly as she does after it’s over. From tantrum to happy, from hurtful words to loving and giggling. From, “Go to timeout” and “I hate you, Mommy” to “Can ...

“Johnny and Gina are troublemakers and Betty and Frank won’t talk!” It can be hard to reach the troublemakers and the quiet students in your class. I thought about ways that I try to engage all of the learners in my class and the most effective techniques for teaching them. At the beginning of the year I like for my students ...

Should we, as teachers, ignore poverty and other external factors affecting our students? This question was explored from different perspectives in a recent Washington Post article. I argue, as many others did in the article, that there needs to be a sense of realism around the entire subject. It would be an injustice to ignore the students’ background (handicaps) and simply ...

CAMP PENDLETON, CA – In Liz Wing's reading class, the war seemed far away. In the quiet room at Stuart Mesa Elementary School on Camp Pendleton, three second-graders sat at a curved table. Wing sat across from them, orchestrating a series of exercises to hone their pronunciation skills. Andrea Hoffman, 8, ran her index finger across the page of a workbook, ...

Poverty has no pity. It strikes hardest at its most vulnerable victims—our children. Few other professionals are more keenly aware of this sad fact than teachers. Even those educators who do not teach in high-poverty areas will work with children whose home lives are marked by scarcity instead of comfort. In fact, according to the Children’s Defense Fund, one in ...

I once went on a blind date in which I was asked the following question about my job as a school psychologist: “So, what’s your favorite kid problem?” In my head, a sarcastic thought bubble popped up and responded, “I just LOVE when they can’t read! It’s my favorite!” But I knew what he meant, so I responded politely that I ...