https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i105vkXVok
Many things can have an impact on a child’s development and their ability to construct knowledge. One example of something that can have an impact is poverty. While poverty alone doesn’t directly affect a child’s development it can cause other things to happen. In these cases a parent, sometimes, cannot be available to the student as often as necessary. This can cause the student to fall behind in their development. According to Chaya Kulkarni, the director of Infant Mental Health Promotion, “Brain development is heavily dependent on relationships and that primary care relationship is probably the most important one.” This shows how the relationship between parent and child is incredibly important to the child’s development; especially at a young age. Another way poverty can have an impact on development is with nutrition. Sometimes a parent cannot provide nutritious meals and this can cause the parent to stress over this. When the parent is stressed about providing for the family they can become distracted and not be able to attend to their child in all the ways they need and this can have a negative effect on the child. When I am a teacher I need to keep this in mind. A student’s home life can have a direct impact on their day in school and I need to be prepared to cater to each individual students’ needs.
Excellent post, Sarah! I especially appreciate the video. I think this post relates back to what we learned about Urie Bronfrenbrenner’s idea of context. Bronfrenbrenner believed that a child’s surroundings affects how they learn in the classroom. In this case, the child coming from a household in poverty would be part of the child’s microsystem. This microsystem would then, in turn, have an impact on the child’s education.
You also made an excellent point about nutrition. I am so thankful for programs such as the Free and Reduced Meal program which offers free or reduced price breakfast and lunch to students who qualify. However, I am curious, do you think that the Free and Reduced Meal program does enough? Should it be expanded to include supper for after school programs? Should all students, regardless of household income, take part in a school or federally sponsored nutrition program to ensure that students are getting the nutrition they need to be successful?
Hello,
I like that you added a video, but I felt that the blog lacked a lot of substance. I believe that you could have added one or two more reasons why poverty affects a child’s education.
This video, a TED Talk about how if you don’t fix poverty nd education, you fix nothing, maybe be able to help give you a few more reasons, as well as back up a few of you r claims. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zONB5wcMkug
Great post, Sarah!
The video was really interesting! After watching it I felt like I needed to do additional research on how poverty has a negative impact on students learning development. I found a great acronym called: EACH.
E: Emotional and Social Challenges
A: Acute and Chronic Stressors
C: Cognitive Lags
H: Health and Safety Issues
http://www.ascd.org
Each of these factors pose a major impact on a students learning ability when that specific student is facing poverty or comes from a low income family. This in turn causes these students to become academically and socially challenged.
However, actions can be made as a teacher to help these students succeed both in school and in their social life.
Like you said, by understanding each student individually and learning where they come from; that can in turn help you become the best that you can as an educator and encourage these students to achieve success!