Module 2 Application Activity: Social Operating System Strategy Мар Read Chapter 6 of Teaching with Poverty in Mind. On page 149, the author uses the graphic shapes below to illustrate core social attributes needed for school success ( many of which are underdeveloped in children of poverty). In each shape, fill in the heading. Under the heading describe how you would apply each of these skills to help a student in poverty. Most students need to strengthen these specific areas to increase their chance for success in school.
These qualities can improve a classroom climate and increase a student’s’ chance for success in school. Reward and Reciprocity – a reciprocal relationship (smiley face) This is the ability to experience one positive action, because of another positive action. Students can be rewarded with doing random acts of kindness with their peers. Doing these positive friendly actions, will create a much nicer and cooperative atmosphere for learning. When you are teaching students who have been raised with different backgrounds, it is important to be able to meet their emotional needs in order for them to reach their full potential.
Our focus, as instructors, are to get students to learn what you are instructing, every day and to do it in an inviting and positive environment. Way before planning and beginning your instruction, you need to get to know your students. One way to show your class that you are excited about their learning is to give them a student inventory. This is a positive and private way to showcasing their differences and areas where they may have deficits they can work on. This shows them that you are interested and want to get to know them as students.
Use that information for your lesson plans. Teachers have the power to turn a student’s thinking around. Set the standards high so every student can learn, especially if you incorporate UDL into your lesson plans. Let them know that you are in their court and understand where they are coming from. Give them plenty of opportunities to show their learning in multiple ways. These teaching methods are designed to engage the students and their brains in a positive way, and takes into account the whole student. There are certain key features to turning negative factors into successful ones.
Most children have the ability to adapt to survive their circumstances, but not enough to do well in school. Attention, sequencing, and processing information are all areas needed for successful learning, but tend to be lacking with children living in poverty. Take the time to get to know your students and build a rapport. Yes, it may take a bit of work in the beginning, but it is well worth the effort in the long run.
Use a variety of different strategies to be successful and create those positive relationships with your students. Here is a list of student interest inventories to use: https://printables. cholastic. com/shop/prcontent/StudentInterest-Survey/9780439303026-028 http:// www. livebinders. com/play/play? id=475167 … ability to manage emotional states... (Arrows) Before students can manage their emotions, they need to be able to identify them. Students should be taught specific vocabulary to recognize their feelings. One activity you can do with your students is to use a ‘feelings’ chart and offer different scenarios which can be discussed with their partners. If students are younger, make sure that the chart has faces to go along with the words.
Say, “Look at the list of feelings or characteristics. As students, we can have a lot of feelings that can change every day! Let’s see if you can tell which emotion I am trying to describe. ” You can then instruct your students’ different situations, for example someone who may be slamming the door and yelling, can have the description of anger or being furious. Hearing your student’s responses will help you to know areas where you may need to do a little extra work or teaching other strategies. Make sure that you students know that they are responsible for their own choices and behaviors.
Ask your students, if they understand that when they encounter areas of emotion that they can choose how they will respond – they can either walk away, be kind or they can hurt someone with their words or actions. You can also bring meditation or breathing exercises into the classroom at the beginning or end of the class period, to either open your minds to learning or create a relaxed state of mind. You can show them that they are in charge of their breathing and the next time they are feeling angry, anxious or unable to go to sleep, all they would have to do is breathe. Show them how to do this.
Explain that they will need to close their eyes, count their breaths – in-2-3, out-2-3, and be as mindful of their bodies as possible. Have the class do this together, and afterwards have a discussion of feelings. Do they feel better? Do this whenever your students seem to need a break in their learning or to get ready for an assessment. Make sure that your students know if they are feeling angry or upset, that they could sit quietly doing their breathing exercises. Teaching students how to deal with their feelings without getting into a physical or verbal altercation, is something that needs to be taught.
It is not an area that students are going to understand automatically, without that explicit teaching. Here is a list of feelings or emotions to use in the classroom: https://www. cnyc. org/sites/ default/files/feelings_inventory_0. pdf https://s-media-cacheako. pinimg. com/originals/0f/7d/3b/ 0f7d3b8162f2074da3577bbfaa32a459. jpg https:// childrenscenter. sa. ucsb. edu/CMSMedia/Documents/ ParentSupport/FeelingWords. pdf Socialization – peer interaction (medal) teraction (medal) Socialization is the ongoing process an individual goes through when gaining their personal identity.
They learn the norms, values, behavior, and social skills which would be appropriate to their social position. Students learn what is considered “normal” in given situations and learn what would be socially acceptable through appropriate behavior. For example students, especially ones living in poverty, need to be explicitly taught listening skills when doing cooperative learning activities. Teachers should have well-defined goals for their students, and have wellmanaged behaviors in the classroom, in order for students to model for appropriate learning.
Teachers need to expect to have to fill in a lot of these socialization gaps, into a child’s education. We have to teach things that used to be taught at home, such as manners and social skills. Socialization in the classroom could be teaching students how to interact with others on the playground, what to do when a substitute teacher is in the classroom, what do you do when there is a fire drill? Students need to know how to interact with the same children, of the same age, in the same classroom every day that they are in school. What do they do if they don’t get along with someone?
How do I make friends? Why can’t I just yell across the room? You teach them these skills before they will need to use them. You want them to know what to anticipate when it happens, so there is no confusion about their expectations. There are a lot of activities that you can do with your students to help them with socialization. For younger students you can do ‘Simon Says’, just to get them working together as a group. For older students you can use a modified version of the game ‘Crossing the Line’. This helps with peer interactions and a strong feeling of camaraderie.
You could even use this game when teaching information from your lesson plans, to see if you students are on the right track for learning. Your classroom should be a safe atmosphere where it’s okay to make mistakes. Many children learn through trial and error. Teaching them appropriate and socially acceptable ways to behave when a mistake is made is equally important. You need to tell them that if someone makes an error, no one should yell at them or laugh, you shouldn’t throw things or shut down. In fact, you should purposefully incorporate this idea into your lessons.
For example, present a problem where someone’s answer is incorrect. Say, “Robbie says that he is correct. Is he? Why or why not? Discuss with your teams and be prepared to state your answer. ” The more cohesive the class acts and reacts as a unit, the more learning that will occur. Affiliation – reliable relational bonding with loved one (heart) These skills are defined as using reliable or relational bonding with others. Many students living in poverty struggle to relate to others, due to their chaotic backgrounds, uncertainties of future or other influences.
You can improve a student’s learning experience through cooperative learning or other supportive group time. It should reinforce the norms that have been agreed upon by both teachers and their peers. For example, rules in the classroom which were created to build an atmosphere for learning. There are so many factors for teaching this skill such as how to make appropriate, ‘good’ friendships and how to keep them to building rapport with other adults. There can be a lot of team-building activities with this module. Something that you can do in the classroom, is to give students jobs to do in the classroom.
It gives them a purpose to come to school every day, because their team is counting on them. It can also provide a measureable way to take pride in their work. If you are using a positive behavior incentives, such as team points, it should also be posted where everyone can see it and monitor their behaviors. As a teacher, especially when working with low SES student, it is important to begin each class building a rapport with your students. Showing them how to create strong relationships, instill hope, provide respect and show success by creating rituals, can be something that all students can look forward to.
Recently, I saw a few video clips of teachers who have created individualized handshakes which have clearly made a positive difference in the lives of these students. Most of them are living in poverty, and to have an adult who cares enough about them, to make a personalized greeting would make anyone feel special. Mr. Hawkins showed another way to incorporate formalities that would only occur in your room, and that is to have a class song that gets played before the students are ready for learning.
He even gave them a moment or two to socialize with their peers before the lesson started. Additionally, you could also share with your student’s moments in your own life that they can relate to, areas that you struggled with and how you solved your problem, and in the end show them how to be a good role model. Doing this will create a set of new rules for them to live by. https://www. google. com/url? sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&v ed=0ahUKEwiewcrV9LSALWDWSWKHbB6C70QtwllJTAE&url=https%3A%2F %2Fwww. youtube. om%2Fwatch%3Fv %3DIOjgcyfc2r8&usg=AFQjCNGSZCjiqysdu7ymjxu4aBgbfUjaiw&b vm=bv. 149760088,d. bGg Theory of Mind – empathy (thought cloud)
Theory of mind is the understanding that people don’t share the same thoughts, struggles and feelings as you do. This type of thinking develops during childhood. The ability to think outside of yourself, doesn’t occur overnight, but over time and in a predictable order. Students who live in poverty struggle to build empathy for others because it requires a different set of rules that they are not equipped with.
By the time they are entering school, students can differentiate how some behaviors or acting in certain ways, can get you want you want. Eventually, over time, students can even make predictions about how someone feels or thinks, through behaviors or actions. Having empathy is crucial to building healthy relationships with others. Teaching empathy is a skill which should begin at home with modeling and interacting with the child. It can help them to understand others thoughts and feelings. One way to do this is through conversations and people watching’.
For example say, “John looks sad. He must be upset that he can’t go out in the rain to play. ” One way to teach this in the classroom is with books. When using books you should ‘think out loud’ with your students and talk about the way a character is thinking or feeling. This helps to develop theory of mind, because it encourages children to think about other people’s’ perspectives. Ask the students what characters might do next in the story or why do you think (character name) is so happy? Then ask if they can connect that exact emotion, to a time when THEY were happy.
These types of conversations will deepen their understanding of their own thoughts and feelings, show how others might be thinking differently, and how we all act based on what we are thinking and feeling. Here is a list of books you can read to your students from pre-K to secondary school to teach them empathy: https://www. commonsensemedia. org/lists/books-that-teachempathy# Sensory Awareness – perception of social cues (bottom bar) This area deals with a student’s awareness and how they process relevant social cues.
Students can develop these skills through role playing, providing direct instruction, and then using follow-up discussions. Students can work in cooperative, smallgroups as long as you explain to them the importance of thinking about their behavior and how it can impact others. For example you can explain that, how you act at home will be greatly different from how you would behave in school or church. You can teach specific strategies with students living in poverty, such as being aware of how others are behaving and picking up those types of social cues, which can also be used in the classroom.
One way that you can teach social learning, is through an activity of interviewing people they look up to such as a coach, grandparent or even a teacher. Explain that they will need to create questions to ask, listen to their speaker with respect and then process that information into an organized writing assignment. Tell them that they will be practicing on peers in the classroom first, before doing the formal interview with your special person. All of these skills must be explicitly reviewed and how it will look when giving the interview. As a class you should come up with the questions together.
These should help you to get interesting and informative answers, such as: How were you as a student when you were my age? Who was your favorite teacher? What was the hardest thing you had to deal with when you were a child? Review pointers about how to listen mindfully. Encourage your child to look at your eyes when they are talking. When focused on someone’s face, you can see how someone’s expression may change from where they are happy or sad. Show them how they can use their phone to record the conversations, to make it easier for you to be attentive with your speaker.
You will also need to remind them to say ‘thank you’ when they are finished with the interview. Important people in our lives can tell us stories about their experiences that helped shape who they are. It will create a little window into why they are the person that they are. This can be crucial for children living in poverty – the understanding that just because something happens in someone’s life, doesn’t mean it is the end. They can learn how to overcome tragedies. Listening and reflecting on others’ life experiences can help us decide how to act mindfully in similar situations.
