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Poverty
Amber Whiting
Saint Marys University of Minnesota
Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs
Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standard 3 & 5
EDUW 694 Classroom Environment
Catherine Anderson, Instructor
July 28, 2015

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Selected Wisconsin Teacher Standard Descriptors

Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS) 3: Teachers understand children learn
differently.
The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and the
barriers that impede learning and can adapt instruction to meet the diverse needs of pupils,
including those with disabilities and exceptionalities.
Knowledge. The teacher understands how students learning is influenced by individual
experiences, talents, and prior learning, as well as language, culture, family and community
values.
Dispositions. The teacher respects students as individuals with differing personal and
family backgrounds and various skills, talents, and interests..
Performances. The teacher seeks to understand students families, cultures, and
communities, and uses this information as a basis for connecting instruction to students
experiences (e. g. drawing explicit connections between subject matter and community matters,
making assignments that can be related to students experiences and cultures).
Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS) 5: Teachers know how to manage a classroom.
The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to
create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in
learning, and self-motivation.
Knowledge. The teacher recognizes factors and situations that are likely to promote or
diminish intrinsic motivation, and knows how to help students become self-motivated..
Dispositions. The teacher is committed to the continuous development of individual
students' abilities and considers how different motivational strategies are likely to encourage this
development for each student.
Performances. The teacher analyzes the classroom environment and makes decisions
and adjustments to enhance social relationships, student motivation and engagement, and
productive work.
Danielson Domains

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Domain 2: The Classroom Environment

Component 2a: Creating and Environment of Respect and Rapport
Elements: Teacher interaction with students.
Pre-assessments
Self-Reflection Assessment of Classroom Environment Related to WTS 3 &5
I have been a teacher for three years at Lannoye Elementary School. It is one of the
smallest elementary schools within the Pulaski School District, with an enrollment K-5 of 226
students. We have a student population that consists of 17% Special Education students and a
free and reduced level of 11%. This is quite an anomaly as most usually you will have a free and
reduced lunch rate that is higher than the special education rate.
The Pulaski Community School District is located in Pulaski, WI. It includes seven
schools that serve 3,835 students in grades PreK through 12. The Pulaski Community School
District spends $9,868 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 60% on instruction,
36% on support services, and 5% on other elementary and secondary expenditures. The Pulaski
Community School District has fifteen students for every full-time equivalent teacher, meeting
the Wisconsin state average. The Pulaski Community School District had a grades 9-12 dropout
rate of 1% in 2009. The national dropout rate in 2007 was 4.4%. In the Pulaski Community
School District, 13% of students have an IEP (Individualized Education Program) and 21% are
in an economically disadvantaged situation. An IEP is a written plan for students eligible for
special needs services. The Pulaski Community School District also serves 1% English
Language Learners (ELL). ELL students are in the process of acquiring and learning English
Language skills.
I have five students on my caseload. Three of the five students are in fifth grade, one is in
second grade, and one is a First Grade student. Of all my students, only 1one is living in an

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economically disadvantaged household. This student has struggled with being hungry, exhibiting
appropriate school behavior, and having sufficient clothing.
All of my students have very different personalities. They range from quiet and
hardworking to busy and impulsive. Given all the varying needs of my students, they cannot
always be met in small groups. I service my student in both an inclusive and pull-out setting as
specified on student IEPs. My fifth grade students all have Other Health Impairment (OHI) due
to some variance of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). I would classify two of my fifth grade
boys as fidgety and inattentive. They struggle with long term projects. They both receive support
in the classroom for math and out of the classroom for reading. The other fifth grade boy also
receives support out of the classroom for math. As their needs and reading levels are all so
different, I meet with each of them independently. One of these students really loves art and the
other likes collaborative work and video games. The female fifth grade student struggles more
with processing information. She has a hard time keeping up in class and needs assistance with
project completion. She enjoys talking about her family, American Girl dolls, and horses.
My second grade student is diagnosed with a specific learning disability (SLD). He is
behind his peers in math and reading and he receives support in and out of the classroom in both
areas. He also receives support on writing in the classroom. He is very active and enjoys
anything athletic. My first grade student is also diagnosed with SLD. He is very behind his peers
academically and socially. He receives support in reading and math, both in the classroom and
out. He also receives support for some specials and on the playground. He is inattentive, fidgety,
silly, distractible and a direction to his peers. He loves farming and anything to do with tractors.
All of my students are extremely easy to motivate. Sticker charts, prize boxes, listening to music,
and lunch with me, are all motivation techniques I use regularly.
Within are district we have many curriculums that the district uses. In pull-out situations,
I use programs like Leveled Literacy Instruction (LLI), Lexia on the Ipad, Successmaker on the

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computer, Just words, and Wilson, as well as other older reading programs. I use Successmaker
and Direct instruction for pull-out math instruction. Our math curriculum is Stepping Stones. I
use this as my model to build math instruction on a day to day basis. I then differentiate lessons
to assist each student with lessons that target their math needs.
When I am in the classroom with students, I support based on need. In some rooms my
focus is behavioral and in others it is academic. At times I support other rooms through Team
teaching. We build the IEP to best support each individual student. I have included a copy of my
schedule from last year to demonstrate the variety of my work day.
I feel that when it comes to creating classroom respect and rapport, my process is a little

different. When in a pull-out situation, I am almost always in a 1:1 ratio. This allows me to really
get to know each of my students. It helps me identify their likes and dislikes. This helps me
personalize my instruction so that when, for example, I know a book is going to be challenging, I
can relate it back to something they enjoy. When I am in the classroom I support all students, so
this in turn helps my student feel supported and respected. They respond to this by being more
willing to receive help. The other students often think it is cool when I come into a class as I am

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a different person. The students are very respectful to me because of the novelty of my presence.
I return this respect by being friendly and helpful to them.
I have many ways I track progress of students, including using graphs. Most of my
curriculums have a built in tracking system. I share these with students to help motivate them to
do better. When my students work very hard on something, praising them for their effort allows
them to have pride. I only display work if I can make it confidential. This is important to me as I
am sensitive to my familys feelings. I dont want them to be able to know whose stuff is what.
But the kids can share their work with their parents at any time. I feel I set high expectations and
assist students to achieve it.
I think that managing my classroom is fairly easy. I am fully prepared for class each day.
I set out all the needed materials on the table ready to go for the day and I have a bucket of
emergency supplies within reach so I dont have to get up to find these items. I lose some
efficiency in setting up when I have groups that are back to back. I have made changes to have
each group have a different bucket to save time, but I still have to get the bucket off the shelf and
get materials out. During this time the students know they are to read until we are ready for class.
We teach expected classroom routines at the beginning of the year and throughout the
year. This helps decrease inappropriate behavior. One classroom procedure we teach is entering
the room and what to do when you enter. Another routine we teach is going to the bathroom
before entering the classroom. I monitor behavior mostly in the classroom setting due to being
1:1 in my room.
I classroom materials are purposely arranged at a level where the children have
access to it. They know where they can sit for different interventions (another procedure taught
at the beginning of the year). I am organized in that I have different buckets for each group and
each type of intervention. I make sure the students know how to open computer based
interventions independently. They know what areas of their environment they can manipulate

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and which they cannot. We also have an alternate empty classroom for students who demonstrate
behavioral issues.
I feel that a strength of mine is organization. I share my room with another special
education teacher so I feel there needs to be organization to facilitate sharing a space. You need
to know which groups are in the classroom when to maximize the space and learning potential.
Each teacher needs to have dedicated personal space to store materials. Interventions that are
currently being used have to be clearly labeled and neat so either of us can find them if needed.
Due to our schedules and limited time, I would say a challenge of mine is
supervision of paraprofessionals. I meet with mine periodically throughout the school year but I
still feel we carry out things too differently. I have shared the legalities and so forth to my
paraprofessionals and I still witness incorrect behaviors. When I address these issues, we get
nowhere. I have shared my concerns with my principal, but I still witness incorrect behaviors by
the paraprofessionals. I am still learning how to effectively teach a paraprofessional so they will
carry out the IEP the same way I would.
Essential Question to guide Personal Learning and Growth
What Brain-based research strategies and techniques will help my student who is
economically disadvantaged? (Will enhancing communication with parents and teachers increase
student achievement in the classroom?)
Synthesis of Research
The exceptional condition I chose is poverty. I chose this condition because there
are many students in my district who qualify as low socioeconomic. There are students on my
caseload whose families struggle with poverty. I am always looking for strategies to benefit my
students.
The Pulaski Community School District is located in Pulaski, WI and includes 7 schools
that serve 3,835 students in grades PK through 12. The Pulaski Community School District
spends $9,868 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 60% on instruction, 36% on
support services, and 5% on other elementary and secondary expenditures. The Pulaski

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Community School District has 15 students for every full-time equivalent teacher, with the WI
state average being 15 students per full-time equivalent teacher. The Pulaski Community School
District had a (grades 9-12) dropout rate of 1% in 2009. The national (grades 9-12) dropout rate
in 2007 was 4.4%. In the Pulaski Community School District, 13% of students have an
IEP (Individualized Education Program) and 21% are in an economically disadvantaged
situation. An IEP is a written plan for students eligible for special needs services. The Pulaski
Community School District serves 1% English Language Learners (ELL). ELL students are in
the process of acquiring and learning English Language skills. (Pulaski Community Schools)
The Elementary school where I currently teach, Lannoye Elementary, is one of the
smallest within the Pulaski School District. Our enrollment K-5 is 226 students. I have been
teaching for 2 years. We have a population of 17% Special Education students and our poverty
level is 11%. I have 5 students on my caseload. I have three 5th grade students, one 2nd grade
student, and a First Grade student. Of my students, only one is living in an economically
disadvantaged household. This student has struggled with hunger, appropriate school behavior,
and having the correct clothing. We have resources within our community to help families and
students. (Pulaski Community Schools)
Students who are living with poverty can appear off task, unwilling to learn, or distractible. They
may appear to put forth less effort, or be argumentative. Often poverty students act silly and
appear less intelligent. 70% of students who drop out of school have spent time living in poverty
for at least a year." (Jensen, 2013)
This is the first year I have worked with a family that has so much need. I worked
closely with our school counselor and other staff to provide the family with support. The
resources listed below, especially the PACE program, are often recommended to families in need.

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The resource that I am most excited about is Pulaski Area Community Education
(PACE). The director is Dan Heck. This is one of best ideas I ever seen. The PACE program was
set up in the 1930s. It is similar to a parent teacher organization, but on a grand scale. This
program provides summer school activities, swimming lessons, health and fitness classes, and
recreational activities for students. The community is involved with classes for senior citizens.
The senior citizens can volunteer at the school and in return they can get property tax relief. It is
a brilliant idea! I could not imagine a better way to make community members happy than to
give them a tax break. This benefits the school in that you have seniors working with children
and they have a lot to offer. The children are happy to see grandparents or neighbors at school.
When the students feel that others value education, they will put a high value on education. The
PACE program offers classes for anyone in the community including dog obedience classes,
dance classes, sewing, food preservation, etc. The program gives students lists of tutors or other
places to go for help.
The Pulaski United Foundation provides activities such as pancake breakfasts, brat fries,
and other social gatherings. Many times this organization would be the one to organize benefits
for families in need after a crisis or tragedy. The community pulls together for people who may
have had a fire or if one of the family members has become very ill. It is one of the best parts
about the school and community relationship. The student who I have been working with just
had a sibling born with a heart condition, so this program can help compensate some of the loss
of work with meals on wheels and other offerings. I anticipate that this organization helps
families in need during the holidays. We have a Christmas tree project each year to purchase gifts
for the families who need it most, and it stays within the community. The Pulaski United
Foundation may also sponsor hearing screening, vision screening, or other health related
programs. When I have students who need a pair of glasses or a hearing screening, I can contact

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this organization. They also work with the school to provide an after school snack program. We
send home a backpack of a specified color so it is private for the students.
There are six different variations of poverty: Situational poverty, Generational poverty,
Relative poverty, Rural Poverty, Urban poverty, and Absolute poverty. Situational Poverty is
often caused by a sudden crisis or loss. These events could include but are not limited to:
Environmental disasters, Job loss, Medical conditions, or Family separation. Generational
Poverty is when families have been in poverty for over two generations. These families are often
not equipped with the resources to get out of their situation. Relative Poverty refers to economic
status. They have an insufficient income to meet societys average standard of living. Rural
Poverty refers to nonmetropolitan area (under 50,000 people). They often have more single
families, less access to community resources, and less job opportunities. Urban poverty refers to
metropolitan areas (greater than 50,000 people). They often have more stressors, violence, noise,
crowding, and dependency on community resources. Absolute poverty is rare in the United
States. This refers to scarcity of basic living necessities like running water families. They have to
focus on day-to day survival. (Jenson 2009)
Poverty also involves risk factors that can impact the population in a variety of ways. The
four primary risk factors afflicting families living in poverty are: emotional and social
challenges, acute and chronic stressors, cognitive lags, and health and safety issues. (Jenson
2009)
Families that are in poverty for a long or short period of time may have had challenges
accessing health care, proper nutrition and vocabulary. It has been shared that a mother of a
student living in poverty may use the same number of words when talking to their children as an
upper, middle class student comes to school already using. (Payne 2008) This lack of vocabulary
impacts a students ability to be familiar with words. In creates challenged for students when
using them when communicating, reading, and writing.

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There are several research-based strategies that can aid students in low economic
households have success in school. I am going to touch on nine brief strategies. One of them is
respect. This does not mean you have to be friends with the student. This means set high
expectations and high quality of assistance. Acknowledge them in and out of the classroom and
make sure your non-verbal body language matches what you are saying to the students. Your
gestures and you tone of voice will allow a student to truly feel helped and not judged. (Payne
2008)
Another strategy you can use is collaborative work. (Payne 2008) Facilitate friend groups
and do collaborative and partner work. Allow students to be involved outside of the classroom
through extracurricular activities. Vocabulary building is essential and directly corresponds to
student growth. Encourage students to build vocabulary. Allow them opportunities to use formal
language. For young children, you can call them something catchy using Fancy words (Fancy
Nancy), Juicy words (Janet Berry, first grade classroom), Ooh lala Vocabulary (first grade
classroom Lannoye Elementary). For older students, you can encourage them in more age
appropriate ways. Practice this concept by asking students for alternate words they could use to
make their work more juicy, interesting, or fancy. This can also be modeled through reading.
Read texts with these words in them so the students can hear them, stop and think out loud about
the meaning, or read a text and have the class come up with an alternate word and then read the
text using the class word.
For students in poverty, it is often challenging to complete work at home due to a variety
of family dynamics. So you may want to allow time in class for students to complete their work.
(Payne 2008) Teach rules and hidden rules (Payne 2008). Students may have a hard time with
voice volume or personal space. Jensen 2003 talks about fighting in home with poverty and how
it needs to be taught about lack of acceptability at school. Ruby Payne also discusses how rules

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while eating may be different depending on your social class. Set clear guidelines and
expectations. Within a childs home environment, there is probably a different set of rules. They
may laugh while being punish because this dissolves conflict in their home, while this is frowned
upon in a school setting. To help a student with understanding this, be sure to teach them the
rules of school and how to behave in this different environment.
Students living in a low social economic status may struggle with abstract concepts.
Teachers need to model how to transfer concrete items to abstract ideas. (Payne 2008)This can be
done using pictures or other form of media. It is encouraged to use manipulatives for math,
gradually releasing the support so it can grow into an abstract idea or concept. Teach students to
ask questions. Model asking questions, have student share questions while reading, and as they
get older, have them write their questions down. This is important as it allows students to think
more in depth about the world and material around them.
Finally build relationships with the family. (Payne 2008) Think about how parents are
greeted when they come into the school for conferences, meetings, and other school events. Try
to make these meetings friendly and warm by asking about the family, conveying that you care
about their child, and acknowledging you know they care about their child too. Also provide
them with the support necessary to help their child at home. Make sure the interventions are
simple so they can complete them in a fun way. Communicate positives. Students often have
many negatives that a teacher must report out, but also chose to share the successes.
Using these strategies and the community resources, I feel I will be able to help the
students and families as their situation warrants. These strategies, as well as the community
resources, can benefit the student that I have in mind. By creating respect and encouraging
collaborative activities you can increase a student involvement. Encouraging vocabulary
building and teaching clear expectations are important to a students success. Providing students
time to work in class, teaching to ask questions, and model creating abstract ideas can help a

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student develop an in depth think philosophy. It is important to build relationships with students
and families so everyone can feel successful.
Professional Implications of Research
I feel that learning strategies to help the student that I have in mind can be very
beneficial. I discussed nine strategies in my research paper to increase rapport and success for
student who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The first on was respect. I
feel that in my classroom I set high expectations. I feel the students are able to feel successful
when then are an active member in tracking their progress. This positive experience may be one
of the only positives they get in a given day so these things I am going to keep doing.
The second strategy was acknowledging them. I am going to try to increase my
interaction with student outside the classroom by participating in conversation at lunch and
recess. I also am going to attend at least two school functions that my students may potentially
attend. I am also going to communicate these events in a newsletter. I am going to be aware of
both my voice tone and my nonverbal body language. I feel I am good at conveying what a mean
and being patient with students but I feel after my research it is especially important to be
consciences of.
The third strategy I discussed was collaborative work. This is hard in my classroom
because my ratio is almost always 1:1. I am going to use this to help students by increasing my
communication with teachers. I am going to suggest groups and partners that work well with the
student I have in mind. I can implement lunch with a friend on a reward chart or Ipad time during
recess.
The fourth strategy is vocabulary building. This is essential and directly corresponds to
student growth. I will encourage students to build vocabulary by introducing them to new
vocabulary and allowing them to use it in their reading and writing. It will be fun to see if the
students can participate in word play allowing them to change words and rewrite the story. I will

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model thinking as a read allowing students the opportunity to see how you can think about
reading as reading to learn.
The fifth strategy is reducing homework. Homework can be a challenge for students in
poverty due to lack of parent understanding or a lack of value in school work, It may also be
hard. I have one curriculum that does require nightly reading. For this I am going to
communicate with parents the expectation. I also will allow an alternate time for students to read
if it is a struggle to be completed at home.
The sixth strategy that is discussed are teaching hidden rules. This is something that I
have to work on with my student regularly. We do this twice a week and after long breaks. I
teach him classroom and school expectations. For example some of the hidden rules we work on
last year were; In the lunch room we do not eat are food if we drop it on the floor so it is
important for it to stay on our plate. We also worked a lot on walking in the hallways. Even
though he can run in his home he cannot run in school. We work on using the urinal correctly.
There were many rules that were hidden to him because of lack of exposure. We are going to
continue to work on these school behaviors and I am going to include them in the newsletter to
be sent home so his parents are familiar with the skills we are working on.
The seventh strategy is using concrete things. This particular student is not quite to the
age where we can connect big abstract ideas but we will begin connecting these ideas in math.
We will work on it with addition and subtraction. I with start by using manipulatives and
pictures, transitioning by using the gradual release model, to numbers and symbols as the year
goes on. This is something I currently do with most of my student but I am going to be more
aware as we work through certain concepts.
The eighth strategy is teaching students to ask questions. It is important to model asking
questions while reading. This is something the students can also practice. The can just do this
talking out loud to demonstrate they are thinking about what they are reading.

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The final strategy is building relationships with the family. I am going to focus on this
area next year increase communication and hopefully increasing parent involvement. I am going
to be aware of how parents are greeted when they come into the school for conferences,
meetings, and other school events. Try to make these meetings friendly and warm by asking
about the family, conveying that you care about their child, and acknowledging you know they
care about their child too. Also provide them with the support necessary to help their child at
home. I am going to include parent communication to ensure interventions are simple and fun.
Communicate positives. Students often have many negatives that a teacher must report out, but
also chose to share the successes am going to do this through a newsletter and daily google doc.
Research Based Action Plan
My focus for the upcoming School year is going to be communication. My essential
question is Will enhancing communication with parents and teachers increase student
achievement in the classroom? I want to more effectively communicate with students, parents,
and stakeholders. I plan achieving this by using newsletters and google docs to communicate
with parents and teachers weekly. I want to use these relationships to enhance my current
relationships with my students.
1) I will create a weekly newsletter for each student to communicate action plans and
successes.
2) I will create a google doc for each family to enhance daily communication.
3) I will meet with each teacher weekly to talk about strategies and adjust accordingly.
Anticipated Implementation
I will create a newsletter for each of my families before the school year. I will
include things they would like to share from over there summer vacation. I will allow them to
share advice and strategies they use when working with their child. I will include what would
they like to see for their child this school year. And I will include there preferred method of
communication.

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Then I will create a newsletter to showcase materials being used, vocabulary, and
successes being made. I will communicate with classroom teachers to share individual
achievement in the classroom.
For the teacher I will create a guiding document to share progress and action plans that
are working and changes that need to be made I think this is important to it is based on positives.
Anticipated Outcome
My anticipated outcome is that the student will have more success and the family will be
more involved.
Post assessment: Reflection
What Worked and Why
1. I feel that the newsletters are going to work nicely to communicate positive
information.
2. I feel that communicating more often will allow teacher and parents to feel more
informed about what is going on in my classroom and the progress their student is making..
What Did Not Work and Why
1. I think that time is going to be an issue. Last year I was lucky if I go 30 minutes of
prep time and I am unsure that this is effective given all the things I want to do.
2. I also think that teachers are often apprehensive so if you are continually discussing
strategies, many of which need roughly a four week implementation plan where in the first
weeks you will see increased behavior, this may strain relationships over enhancing them..

Resources

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Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging students with poverty in mind: Practical strategies for raising
achievement. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind what being poor does to kids' brains and what
schools can do about it. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
Payne.(2008) Educational Leadership: Nine powerful practices. Highlands, TX: aha! Process.
pulaski.k12.wi.us. (n.d.). Pulaski Community Schools. Retrieved July 9, 2015, from
http://www.pulaski.k12.wi.us/

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Newsletter

Meet the Teacher

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Questionare

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