Entry #3

Good afternoon!

First and foremost, thank you for being here and sending me so many wonderful comments! I'm extremely grateful for the number of you who have shared links to the blog on social media, have asked questions about my research, and bother reading what I have to say in the first place. My ego is inflated, and I'm having a blast chatting with you!

Today, I'd actually like to elaborate on a couple of points that I touched on in my last two entries. The whole point of this blog is to start a conversation about what it will take for us to be better, kinder, and more cognizant teachers, particularly for students who may be experiencing poverty. With that goal in mind, I spoke in my first entry about pre-service teachers wanting to feel prepared going into this career. How can we be ready, when we don't know what to be ready for? Is feeling ready even a good thing, knowing how many complications there are out there? Then, in my second entry, I mentioned that making harsh assumptions about our students or buying into “deficit thinking” (Parker, 2017, p.4) completely derails the preparation process, because if we forget to question why students who experience poverty are the way that they are through a lens of understanding, we aren’t really doing our best to teach them in the first place. 

For more information, please visit:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/nova-scotia-child-poverty-report-card-2013

Now that we're on the same page, my question to you is this: if you’re the greatest teacher in the world – you rock your students' socks off with knowledge on a daily basis, you’re inclusive, and you have assessment strategies that blow your colleagues’ minds – can you fix the achievement gap? Even a little bit? I mean, assuming you’re doing everything right, you should at least be able to fix it in your own classroom, right? If you’re a good teacher, shouldn’t you being making such an impact on your students that you can bring your entire class to an outstanding level of academic achievement, regardless of their personal lives, interests, or skills?

I mean, no, that’s crazy – even typing it felt kind of dumb.

Teachers, for the most part, have one year to work with a group of students who they barely know, if at all. And, if you want to be a good teacher, I think that knowing your students is probably an obvious first step. But even knowing them doesn't guarantee you can reach them, or that you can help them reach their goals within a year, especially if we're talking about literacy. Reading and writing skills aren't pulled out of thin air and handed out as gifts, they take a lot of practice! Teachers try to reach all of their students and help everyone be their best - of course - but there are a lot of variables that prevent them from making their academic classes capable of writing university papers by the end of January.

But even though we know that teachers can't magically impose advanced reading and writing skills on students, we also know that there are a whole lot of people out there who think that that's how it should be. “If our teachers knew what they were doing, our kids would all be doctors!” They naively assume that a good, qualified teacher, who’s responsible for 25+ students at a time, should be able to just make the achievement gap and any struggle with reading disappear forever. That’s a lot of pressure though, because as much as teachers are there to teach, they're also mitigating classroom dynamics and students' personal histories. I think people also forget the amount of tension there is for students around academic identity - students who have been told that they're incapable or need support with reading are naturally going to view it differently than someone who has excelled at it all along. The older students get, the more stock they put into the labels that are associated with their learning, so if they’re labelled as “struggling,” chances are, their efforts will mirror what teachers think they’re capable of (Learned, 2016, p. 370). Even students who don’t fall into the self-fulfilling prophecy trap tend to be marred with insecurity, as they feel that they are defined by their need for support (Colyar & Stich, 2011, p. 136).  Even though teachers work desperately hard to bring their students to a level of proficiency, it's a real challenge when you think about all the barriers there are in such a diverse room of students.

These thoughts followed me during the Inter-University Research Network Symposium last week, May 24th and 25th. The event was hosted for researchers who received research funding from the NS Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. This funding is for research that looks specifically at supporting the learning conditions for Mi’kmaq learners, African Nova Scotians, and learners who experience poverty in schools. It was a two-day long conference in Truro where researchers met to share their work and discuss achievement gap in Nova Scotia, and I was happy to hear a lot of my questions being posed and discussed. What resources will assist teachers in helping struggling students? How do we increase a student's confidence? What makes a “helpful teacher” in the first place? What works, what doesn't work? How do we mobilize and develop these ideas? It was fascinating - all these accomplished people were gathered in the same room, comparing notes and acknowledging each other's contributions to a much-needed area of research. 

If you're interested in any of those research presentations (these brilliant, BRILLIANT presentations), the following is a list pulled from the IURN agenda detailing the speakers and their talks:

• “Closing the Achievement Gap through Early Social Emotional Learning: Building a Foundation with Early Childhood Educators in a Professional Learning Community.” Dr. Elizabeth Munroe, St. Francis Xavier University, Dr. Jessie-Lee McIsaac, Dalhousie University, and Dr. Jean Hughes, Dalhousie University
• The purpose of this study was to establish a Professional Learning Community (PLC) regarding social-emotional learning for early childhood educators. It was important that these teachers had a chance to be able to build knowledge through inquiry and shared understanding, and to better understand Social Emotional Learning (SEL) itself: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

• Reading Comprehension: Addressing the Achievement Gap for Children from Lower Socio-Economic Backgrounds.” Dr. Jamie Metsala, Mount Saint Vincent University 
• The purpose of this research was to examine factors that contribute to reading comprehension in young students: which aspects of oral language comprehension in fall contribute to spring reading comprehension? Do these change over the grades examined? Is there evidence of this developmental shift over grades 1-3?

• “Redressing the Achievement Gap with Vulnerable Populations at a Vulnerable Age: Identification of classroom-level Middle Schools literacy practices to address the Achievement Gap.” Dr. Anne Murray-Orr & Dr. Jennifer Mitton, St. Francis Xavier University”
• The purpose of this work was to investigate the literacy practices of teachers in grades 5-8. There was a focus on culturally relevant pedagogy and its intersections with critical race theory, being mindful of what teachers are doing to mindfully think about privilege and pedagogy.

• “Promising Practices for Supporting Achievement Gap Students – Promising schools based pedagogical practices to support the academic achievement of rural students affected by poverty.” Dr. Ann Vibert & Joanne Tompkins, Acadia University
• The purpose of this study was to examine the unsung accomplishments of teachers working in high-poverty schools – critical theory and critical pedagogy and relations to literacy. The focus of the work was on developing schools that supported student-centered academic success and being resourceful rather than be distracted by deficit.

• “Culturally Based Inquiry to Support Mathematics Achievement: Student achievement in middle school mathematics through an evaluation of “Show Me Your Math,” a program designed to address the achievement gap in math among Mi’kmaw students.” Dr. Lisa Lunney-Borden, St. Francis Xavier University
• The purpose of this research was to emphasize the value of inquiry projects and collective sharing – “coming together to learn together.” By creating math projects that celebrate Mi'kmaw heritage language and historic terminology, curriculum outcomes can be met, and the work can be made more relevant to students.

The presentations were incredibly well done, and I was grateful just to sit and listen. There was one moment in particular during these presentations that’s really stayed with me, though. While I was listening to her presentation with Dr. Joanne Tompkins, Dr. Ann Vibert from Acadia made a powerful statement that I think sums up what I’ve been trying to articulate in those post so far:

“We can’t out-teach poverty.”

Dr. Jennifer Mitton-Kukner and Dr Anne Murray-Orr
from St. Francis Xavier University presenting at the
Inter-University Research Network Symposium.

Though it shocked me for a moment, she’s absolutely right. She wisely pointed out that poverty is a socioeconomic situation that pervades every aspect of life and access for children and parents. What schools do, or should do, is provide better academic support for kids coming from poverty, and therefore, provide a source of hope. There’s so much more to addressing the issue of poverty than what teachers can do, especially in a country like Canada, but there are spots of light in Nova Scotia for supporting these kids who need help. Dr. Ann Vibert was really getting at the fact that poverty is a systemic issue, and that systemic issues have systemic solutions. Teachers can help, but they can’t fix, despite their best efforts.

Now, before you get upset with me for being a pessimist, understand that positive change is happening. Of course it’s frustrating that we can’t change the world overnight, but, in the meantime, there is a whole lot of good that can be done to support students closer to home that makes an impact. It’s been proven that implementing a breakfast program in a school improves academic achievement for all students, but especially those who come from low-income families (Rampersaud, 2005, p. 754). According to Greenhow (2009), students who experience poverty benefit from explicit instruction in internet use, as they tend to be less confident in their skills compared to high-income students (p. 69). Goddard (2000) also found that teachers who exhibit collective teacher efficacy – “the perception that the efforts of the faculty as a whole will have a positive effect on students” (p.480) – is positively associated with student success (p. 501). There are practices and programs that schools and their students can benefit from, beacons of support and opportunity that absolutely impact the lives of students who experience poverty. Can teachers destroy poverty with scented markers and dioramas? No, probably not. But we can be there for our students. We can be kind, we can create safe spaces, and we can generate opportunities that will potentially benefit their self-esteem and academic success.

 All in all, my point is this: even if you're the greatest teacher the world has ever seen, you can't turn the world on its head within a week of stepping into a classroom. Poverty is such a pervasive force in our society, it's unreasonable to expect teachers to be the only champions of change. Teacher burnout is real folks - it happens when teachers overwork themselves trying desperately to help students be their best, trying to please people who think that all students should be scholars by the end of Christmas. Instead, what needs to happen is a collaboration between teachers on local, perhaps provincial level. Talk with fellow teachers about effective practice, about implementing school programs, and how to make some waves that will benefit your students. 

Again, thank you for reading! I realize that thinking about poverty in this way isn't exactly inspiring or exciting, but I think it was still an important thing to discuss. Please leave me a comment - tell me what you think, what you've done in your classroom to be more equitable, or anything at all! 

Talk soon,

Savannah MacDonald

...

Colyar, J., & Stich, A. (2011). Discourses of Remediation: Low-Income Students and Academic Identities. The American Behavioral Scientist, 55(2), 121-141.

Goddard, R. D., Hoy, W. K., & Hoy, A. W. (2000). Collective teacher efficacy: Its meaning, measure, and impact on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 479-507.

Greenhow, C., Walker, J. D., & Kim, S. (2009). Millennial learners and net-savvy teens? Examining Internet use among low-income students. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 26(2), 63-68.

Learned, J. E. (2016). “Feeling Like I'm Slow Because I'm in This Class”: Secondary School Contexts and the Identification and Construction of Struggling Readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 51(4), 367-371.

Parker, D. C. (2017). The impact of professional development on poverty, schooling, and literacy practices: Teacher narratives and reformation of mindset. Cogent Education, 4(1),1279381.

Rampersaud, G. C., Pereira, M. A., Girard, B. L., Adams, J., & Metzl, J. D. (2005). Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105(5), 743-760.