Questions for Dr. Payne

My take from reading your book is that you are advocating teachers to teach kids from generational poverty the culture of the middle class. While on the surface this seems to be reasonable because if they are going to move upward in “class”, they should know the norms of that class. But how do we ask students to assimilate into a class that they may deem as oppressive?

Your book leaves itself open to being characterized as stereotypical. Do you really believe that poverty is experienced by all demographics the same way? Are there not more differences between poor whites, African-Americas, Latinos, etc.? And shouldn’t we as educators be cognizant of these differences if we are to reach these groups of students?

Impact on Professional Practice

One thing I will try to do is to be more aware of how I address students. The part about parent vs. adult voice rang home to me. I can think of student who I have in class. His parents are completely out of the picture as he lives with his grandma. In addition to playing two sports and his schoolwork, he works as many hours as he can possibly fit into his schedule to help out his grandma. He’s a great kid. I remember one outburst he had with one of his coaches that he shared with me the next day. I was shocked at his and other kids’ accounts of how insubordinate he was in this situation. Now, looking back, I think that coach addressed him using a parent voice while I was able to effectively talk with him about the incident because I talked more in an adult voice. Our high school students have so much on their plates as is, let alone the fact that many have to take care of their families. Talking with the correct voice is something I will make a conscience effort to do.

I think that my position allows me to create relationships with my students more than some of my colleagues. I have some of my students for three years. We also film many school and community events outside of school hours. So I get a chance to be with them inside and outside of school more than most. Our school also has implemented homeroom where we have the same kids from their freshmen year until they graduate. Payne says, “a successful relationship occurs when emotional deposits are made to the student, emotional withdrawals are avoided, and students are respected” (pg. 111). I have never made a list of deposits and withdrawals, but overall I think I do a pretty good job in this area. Where the Payne text can supplement what I already do is for those individuals in poverty. I will really try to build relationships with those students before handing out a laundry list of “do’s and don’ts” where they have no authorship.

Key Understandings

I found the whole chapter dealing with the characteristics of generational poverty to be particularly useful and worth sharing. Specifically, the ideas of the matriarchal structure, multiple relationships, the nature of the male identity and the ever-changing allegiances in generational poverty families is something that colleagues and administrators should be aware. Not to pass the buck, but it seems to be something that really needs to be considered at the lower grades. Our school district has more than 50% of its students on free and reduced lunch, a number that has to be higher in our elementary buildings (we have a rather large number of kids who don’t graduate, so it is natural to assume there are more lower SES students in the lower levels than in high school). Payne’s diagram of a family from generational poverty on page 55 is particularly distressing to someone like myself who comes from a middle class family. I don’t know how elementary teachers do it. And it is no wonder that our male elementary teachers are latched on to by our students after Payne’s description of the male identity in generational impoverished families. Those male teachers could be the only structured relationship those kids have with a male in their lives. As far as sharing with our female teachers, those generational poverty characteristics lend insight into why students may clash with female teachers and lash out inappropriately in school. If, as Payne describes, the mother is the “martyr” for her children, it is easy to understand why students who come from this background buck at situations where female teachers are trying to discipline them in their classrooms.

Another understanding that I would share is the section on patterns of discourse. Molding students into concise writers is tough enough when you speak the same “language”. It is even tougher knowing that the students take the long way in telling/sharing a story. It is something that I have never thought about and I doubt most of my colleagues have as well. I’m not familiar with how to teach young kids to start writing, but I am familiar with students who take a while to tell a story. I have had one particular student for the past two years whose storytelling mirrors the examples Payne provided. Now I have the tools to try to help her focus that for school when she writes a treatment or other form of pre-production in class.

The final understanding I would share is the difference between using an adult voice than a parent voice. When reading that chapter, I could think of many times teachers used their parent voice when talking to me when I was in school. Because I came from a functional, two-parent middle class home I didn’t buck at hearing teachers using that parental voice. But as Payne says, many of my students who come from generational poverty are forced into parental roles by the time they reach me in high school, it is imperative to use an adult voice with those students.