Druid Magazine

In Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It, veteran educator and brain expert Eric Jensen takes an unflinching look at how poverty hurts children, families, and communities across the United States and demonstrates how schools can improve the academic achievement and life readiness of economically disadvantaged students. Jensen argues that although chronic exposure to poverty can result in detrimental changes to the brain, the brain's very ability to adapt from experience means that poor children can also experience emotional, social, and academic success. A brain that is susceptible to adverse environmental effects is equally susceptible to the positive effects of rich, balanced learning environments and caring relationships that build students' resilience, self-esteem, and character. Drawing from research, experience, and real school success stories, Teaching with Poverty in Mind reveals * What poverty is and how it affects students in school; * What drives change both at the macro level (within schools and districts) and at the micro level (inside a student's brain); * Effective strategies from those who have succeeded and ways to replicate those best practices at your own school; and * How to engage the resources necessary to make change happen. Too often, we talk about change while maintaining a culture of excuses. We can do better. Although no magic bullet can offset the grave challenges faced daily by disadvantaged children, this timely resource shines a spotlight on what matters most, providing an inspiring and practical guide for enriching the minds and lives of all your students.

In this galvanizing follow-up to the best-selling Teaching with Poverty in Mind, renowned educator and learning expert Eric Jensen digs deeper into engagement as the key factor in the academic success of economically disadvantaged students. Drawing from research, experience, and real school success stories, Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind reveals * Smart, purposeful engagement strategies that all teachers can use to expand students' cognitive capacity, increase motivation and effort, and build deep, enduring understanding of content. * The (until-now) unwritten rules for engagement that are essential for increasing student achievement. * How automating engagement in the classroom can help teachers use instructional time more effectively and empower students to take ownership of their learning. * Steps you can take to create an exciting yet realistic implementation plan. Too many of our most vulnerable students are tuning out and dropping out because of our failure to engage them. It's time to set the bar higher. Until we make school the best part of every student's day, we will struggle with attendance, achievement, and graduation rates. This timely resource will help you take immediate action to revitalize and enrich your practice so that all your students may thrive in school and beyond.

This research-based resource details the difficult but necessary work that K-12 teachers must undertake to positively impact students living in poverty. A companion to Poor Students, Rich Teaching, this book outlines three new mindsets that enhance teaching and strengthen students' learning: the positivity mindset, enrichment mindset, and graduation mindset. The author includes implementation strategies and lesson-planning tools. Benefits Understand the urgency of addressing US poverty and how it affects students. Learn three powerful mindsets to strengthen an attitude of academic optimism. Positively influence students' emotional states to impact achievement. Build students' cognitive capacity to support learning in spite of the challenges they face. Communicate the importance of autonomy and choice to engage all students for success. Contents Preface Introduction The New Normal Part One: Why the Positivity Mindset? Secrets of the Positivity Mindset Boost Optimism and Hope Build Positive Attitudes Foster Choice, Control, and Relevancy Change the Emotional Set Point Lock in the Positivity Mindset Part Two: Why the Enrichment Mindset? Secrets of the Enrichment Mindset Manage the Cognitive Load Develop Better Thinking Skills Enhance Study Skills and Vocabulary Build Better Memory Lock in the Enrichment Mindset Part Three: Why the Graduation Mindset? Secrets of the Graduation Mindset Support Alternative Solutions Prepare for College and Careers Lock in the Graduation Mindset Appendix A: Rich Lesson Planning Appendix B: Running Your Own Brain References and Resources Index

Empower students with proven strategies for brain-friendly instruction! This revised fourth edition offers more than 1,000 brain research–based teaching strategies along with reflections, affirmations, sidebars, bulleted lists, quotable quotes, and a wealth of instructional tools. The author shows how to improve instructional effectiveness, plan standards-based lessons, and optimize student learning with practical techniques such as: Matching instruction with learners' developmental stages Responding to unique learning styles with differentiated techniques Using assessment as part of instruction Addressing the learning needs of students in poverty Managing students' emotions with music and energizers Practicing positive teaching mind-sets to enhance student results

Publisher description: This book presents the definitive case, based on what we know about the brain and learning, for making arts a core part of the basic curriculum and thoughtfully integrating them into every subject. Separate chapters address musical, visual, and kinesthetic arts in ways that reveal their influence on learning.

Understanding Poverty in the Classroom identifies perceptual differences, teaches strategies to address the special needs of children from poverty, encourages teachers to learn about the neighborhoods where their students live and what to look for in those areas, confronts myths about poverty, and reinforces learning with specific illustrations.

Children of low socioeconomic status often enter school with poor skills, leading them to be misidentified as learning disabled. Educators in Grades K–12 can allocate resources for special education services more effectively and meet the needs of low SES students by preventing students from being placed in the wrong program and by providing readiness supports.Offering an in-depth look at schools that have realized effective results in remarkable time frames, the authors challenge educators and parents to consider how low expectations can affect student achievement—and emphasize optimism as a necessary tenet of schools' day-to-day teaching/learning programs and school-community relationships. This resource provides: Training resources for teaching low SES students Assessment tools for identifying learning needs Strategies for building relationships of trust and collaboration throughout the school community Data charts that illustrate the increase in student achievement from schoolwide initiatives A bibliography and glossary of pertinent research and terminologyWith these strategies and tools, schools can meet the developmental and environmental needs of their most vulnerable students and watch student achievement and confidence soar!

Regenia Rawlinson shares compelling details from her own poverty-stricken childhood and how her own experiences shaped her mindset and what she had to do (and is doing) to make her personal transcending journey. This ground-breaking book outlines ten of the ideas that contributed to the mind-set she adopted while living in poverty and their lifelong threat is a must read for anyone born, grew up, or living in poverty. Social service workers, pastors, community leaders, educators, and other individuals working with people living in poverty will find this book an invaluable resource. Rawlinson explores why this mindset is so destructive and how to transcend it to move from poverty to prosperity.

Drawing upon decades of research and myriad authentic classroom experiences, Kathleen M. Budge and William H. Parrett dispel harmful myths, explain the facts, and urge educators to act against the debilitating effects of poverty on their students. They share the powerful voices of teachers—many of whom grew up in poverty—to amplify the five classroom practices that permeate the culture of successful high-poverty schools: (1) caring relationships and advocacy, (2) high expectations and support, (3) commitment to equity, (4) professional accountability for learning, and (5) the courage and will to act. Readers will explore classroom-tested strategies and practices, plus online templates and exercises that can be used for personal reflection or ongoing collaboration with colleagues. Disrupting Poverty provides teachers, administrators, coaches, and others with the background information and the practical tools needed to help students break free from the cycle of poverty.

When the first edition of Teaching with the Brain in Mind was published in 1998, it quickly became an ASCD best-seller, and it has gone on to inspire thousands of educators to apply brain research in their classroom teaching. Now, author Eric Jensen is back with a completely revised and updated edition of his classic work, featuring new research and practical strategies to enhance student comprehension and improve student achievement. In easy to understand, engaging language, Jensen provides a basic orientation to the brain and its various systems and explains how they affect learning. After discussing what parents and educators can do to get children's brains in good shape for school, Jensen goes on to explore topics such as motivation, critical thinking skills, optimal educational environments, emotions, and memory. He offers fascinating insights on a number of specific issues, including * How to tap into the brain's natural reward system. * The value of feedback. * The importance of prior knowledge and mental models. * The vital link between movement and cognition. * Why stress impedes learning. * How social interaction affects the brain. * How to boost students' ability to encode, maintain, and retrieve learning. * Ways to connect brain research to curriculum, assessment, and staff development. Jensen's repeated message to educators is simple: You have far more influence on students' brains than you realize . . . and you have an obligation to take advantage of the incredible revelations that science is providing. The revised and updated edition of Teaching with the Brain in Mind helps you do just that.