Speaker to teachers: Learn to understand poor kids

The speech came on the coattails of the release of state report cards.

WARREN— On the same day that Warren School District learned it was in academic watch for the third consecutive year, teachers and community members listened to a national speaker discuss how to relate to children in poverty.

Middle-class teachers can help children in poverty by recognizing that the student does not relate to the world in the same way as a middle-class child, said Cathy Hamilton, a national speaker on how poverty affects academic achievement.

“The poor children aren’t the problem,” said Hamilton, who has lectured before all but a handful of the district’s employees. “The way we prepare for them is.”

Hamilton’s public speech came on the coattails of state report cards released Tuesday. Warren was placed in academic watch for the third consecutive year, and Youngstown schools were placed in academic emergency, prompting a state review.

Both districts are among the poorest in the Valley. About 25 percent of Youngstown families live below the poverty line, and about 22 percent of Warren families live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But Hamilton implored the audience in Warren G. Harding High School to recognize the differences in how children in poverty relate to the world, including their reactions to stressful situations and relationships.

“We can misinterpret where people are coming from when they go into survival mode,” she said.

Hamilton emphasized the differences in survival modes: fight, flight and freeze. She said that flight and freeze can sometimes be misinterpreted as not trying or not caring but that teachers need to recognize the coping mechanism to find a way to help students.

“You can’t have a group of kids in a room without having a range of emotions,” she said.

The two most important things to a child in poverty are survival and relationships, Hamilton said, and teachers need to appeal to both of those rather than expect students to adhere to middle-class social norms.

“When you want to change a social behavior, you have to tell that youngster what you want,” she said.

Hamilton’s public speech and her work with Warren schools staff members is one part of a number of efforts the district is making to reach students, said district Superintendent Kathryn Hellweg.

The district will complete a seminar with Ron Clark, a nationally recognized educator known for his 55 classroom rules, and will have an open house of counselors and support agencies for community members from 8 p.m. to noon today at Lincoln K-8, Hellweg said.

“I want our staff to understand our children and their families better so that we’re aware of the different challenges our students have in being successful in school,” said Hellweg, who has known Hamilton for eight years.

Hellweg said it is important to recognize the differences in educating students who live in poverty while keeping high expectations.

“We don’t always realize how much power people in education have in terms of impacting a child’s life,” she said.

“We can make a difference in the life of every child we come in contact with every day.”

rrouan@vindy.com