Free A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne Page B

Each set of rules helps you be successful where you are. So, at school, laughing when being disciplined is not a choice. It doesn't help you be successful. It only buys you more trouble. Keep a straight face and look sorry, even if you don't feel that way."
    This is an example of teaching a hidden rule. It can be even more straightforward with older students. "Look, there are hidden rules on the streets and hidden rules at school. What are they?"
    After the discussion, detail the rules that make students successful where they are.
    WHAT DOES THIS INFORMATION MEAN IN THE SCHOOL OR WORK SETTING?
a Students from poverty need to have at least two sets of behaviors from which to choose-one for the street and one for the school and work settings.
? The purpose of discipline should be to promote successful behaviors at school.
a Teaching students to use the adult voice (i.e., the language of negotiation) is important for success in and out of school and can become an alternative to physical aggression.
? Structure and choice need to be part of the discipline approach.
r Discipline should be seen and used as a form of instruction.

     

CHAPTER 8

Instruction and Improving
Achievement
    ne of the overriding purposes of this book is to improve the achievement of resources, and numerous studies have documented the correlation J of students from poverty. Low achievement is closely correlated with lack between low socioeconomic status and low achievement (Hodgkinson, 1995). To improve achievement, however, we will need to rethink our instruction and instructional arrangements.
    TRADITIONAL NOTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE
    For years, and still very prevalent, is the notion that nearly all intelligence is inherited. In fact, the book The Bell Curve purports that individuals in poverty have on the average an IQ of nine points lower than individuals in the middle class. That might be a credible argument if IQ tests really measure ability. What IQ tests measure is acquired information. Try the following IQ test and see how you do.
    IQ TEST
1. What is gray tape and what is it used for?
2. What does dissed mean?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of moving often?
4. What is the main kind of work that a bondsman does?
5. What is a roach?

6. How are a pawnshop and a convenience store alike? How are they different?
7. Why is it important for a non-U.S. citizen to have a green card?
8. You go to the bakery store. You can buy five loaves of day-old bread for 39 cents each or seven loaves of three-day-old bread for 28 cents each. Which choice will cost less?
9. What does deportation mean?
10. What is the difference between marriage and a common law relationship?
    These questions are representative of the kinds of questions that are asked on IQ tests. This test is only different in one way: the content. Yet it illustrates clearly the point that the information tested on many IQ tests is only acquired knowledge. IQ tests were designed to predict success in school. However, they do not predict ability or basic intelligence. If middle-class students were to take this (invalidated) test, they could possibly have nine IQ points fewer than many students in poverty. Therefore, the assessments and tests we use in many areas of school are not about ability or intelligence. They are about an acquired knowledge base; if your parents are educated, chances are you will have a higher acquired knowledge base. A better approach to achievement is to look at teaching and learning.
    DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN TEACHING AND LEARNING
    The emphasis since 1980 in education has been on teaching. The theory has been that if you teach well enough, then learning will occur. But we all know of situations and individuals, including ourselves, who decided in a given situation not to learn. And we have all been in situations where we found it virtually impossible to learn because we did not have the background information or the belief system to accept it, even though it was