LaQuanda Kirk
Edl 780
Blog Post #3
Wright State University
Spring 2012
May 17th 2012
Prompt 3: Questions for Dr. Payne
If you had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Payne over coffee, what are two open-ended questions you would likely ask her regarding the framework?
Dr. Payne: As an urban educator I often feel like I am fighting a losing battle. I would like to know what ideas you have to keep teachers encouraged and moving in the right direction when they feel like their efforts and understanding the uniqueness of the students who come from poverty is not having any real effect. How do you suggest dealing with a building that might not be presenting good role models for students? How do you get a reluctant staff involved?
Dr. Payne. What advice would you give an educator who has a passion for reaching those who have been marginalized? What specific training, skills and abilities are needed to make a real difference in the life of the most disenfranchised student. Can this be done in the classroom, or does this need to be done at the curriculum or front office level , or can real change happen at the classroom level?
Bibliography
Payne, R. K. (1996). A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Highlands, Texas: aha! process INC.
LaQuanda,
ReplyDeleteI really like the second question that you listed! I'm not sure if it is an imagined question, or if that is truly how you feel about marginalized students, but I appreciate the passion and apathy with which it was written.
I hope that you already feel that change can, in fact, happen at the classroom level. After all, that is part of the core idea that we have all learned through the process of teacher education.
Good luck, and I* hope to one day see your name on a list of the most influential teachers in the US!
I love both of your questions but #1 is the one that I can relate to the most. While my district is not urban in it geographical location, the majority of the students and parents in the district have an urban mind set and/or attitude. The district moves in the right direction with policies, programs and the like but only a small handful of parents are involved or really truly care. This in turn makes the teachers feel as if what they are doing really doesn't matter, most of the students and parents don't care or do not support what the teachers are trying to do. While the teachers are trying to be good role models, it becomes harder and harder to remain one when they are receiving no support from the outside (let me say administration helps and offers help in my district but ususlly not in the manner it is needed). The questions you have outlined in #1, I think, could be solved by correcting one point and the other points would be easier to solve if they did not solve themselves. I would love to ask the same questions of Payne and of administration and staff of a district where these issues are not issues and to see how they solved or avoid these problems.
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