How Poverty Affects Assessment

For this weeks blog, I decided to combine both my EDUC 410 and EDUC 350 experiences because I feel that they play a part in each other. My learning experiences happened in 410 this week by a continuation of our conversation about assessment. Assessment is a very important topic in our classroom and it needs to be handled carefully. The way our students are assessed is very important and can be done it a multitude of ways. Our topic this week in 350 was about poverty and how our students living in poverty are affected. You may be thinking how do assessment and poverty play a part in one another? The answer is, there are many ways.

            In 350, we learned that if a student is living in poverty, when they come to class there are many other things that could very well be on their mind, instead of learning. Did they eat a good breakfast that morning? What about a good dinner the night before? Did mom and dad fight last night? Was dad taken to prison the night before? Did they get up and get their younger siblings ready for school along with themselves and wake their parent up for work? For my outside research this week, I wanted to take a deeper look into whether or not a lot of resources that talk about effects on student’s education actually talked about poverty. I found a sociology journal that explained factors that affect student performance. Nothing was mentioned specifically about children living in poor conditions. This made me wonder how many educators don’t actually take the time to think about whether or not their student is hungry before they stuff their little brain full of addition and subtraction. http://www.csus.edu/faculty/m/fred.molitor/docs/student%20performance.pdf

            Standard 4 in the NCTCS is Student Learning. This relates directly to understanding students and their development. Their development in the classroom is very important. That’s where our assessment comes into play. We know that not all students need to be assessed by a test, some need to show what they know by a project or oral explanation. I feel that another important part in standard 4 is understanding what our students are actually going through because everything a student goes through and lives through ultimately affects their learning.

            A large amount of information and connections were made that can be reflected on this week between the two classes. I feel that the most important to me was realizing that if my student’s tummy is growling, I can’t expect to properly assess them, in whatever way that may be, before those needs are met. Learning is so important. I love to watch children learn new things. That’s one of the many reasons I chose to teach. Tests are important. I completely believe that. However, if a student does well in my class all year and I see them growing, I’m not going to let a test define them. There are so many ways to assess a student’s learning, but that can’t take place until their needs outside of the classroom are met.

            In my future classroom, I will be my student’s biggest supporter. I will make every effort I can to show their learning in whatever way is best for them. I will also greet my students with a smile every day because that may just be the only smile they see all day. I will feed my students if they come in hungry. We have no clue what our students go through when they leave our care at 3:00 p.m. each day. I will strive to remember that every single day. Will there be days I forget that? Of course. I’m human. I will mess up and get upset over silly things. But, my goal at the end of every day will be to stop and think about the precious little faces that look up to me and make sure that every need they have is met.