Poverty: A Challenge Teachers Face

Every day, I wake up to a beautiful home, a well-stocked fridge and pantry, clean clothes ready to go, and no fear of having to skip a meal.  Then I go to work and see children come in with broken shoes and no coats regardless of the cold, and pocketing breakfast leftovers because the things they serve at cafeteria breakfast are like a rare privilege to them, or because they know they may not have a dinner meal available to them later.   It may not be obvious to the world, but the children in poverty know.  They know they have different lives than I do.  For my project challenge topic, I chose to learn more about the feat of authentically educating children in families of extreme poverty.  Activating their background experiences to keep them engaged is a challenge at times, and I am curious as to what I may learn by choosing this topic.  Who am I to claim that I know exactly how these children feel?  What magnitude of learning can come from my decision to delve into this topic?

            The questions go further than just wondering what I can do as a teacher.  It absolutely must be an issue for administrative staff to build rapport with families of extreme poverty.  The ways that my life differs from lives of those in poverty must be even more apparent for the lives of administrative staff, simply due to their stature and salary.  How do they keep families in poverty motivated or even interested in communicating with them with confidence and continued interest in public school education?

            I may not be able to provide meals for all of my students each day, but I can at least provide them with a plethora of food for thought.