It is interesting that for students in poverty, I always think about how to help them from a teacher’s perspective, but rarely think how can we bring the topic of poverty to school. I believe it is not only I’m in early childhood and young children may not easily get this concept–It’s also about culture. I think that in my culture, people in poverty are embarrassed with their financial condition and it is not a comfortable topic to be talked in public for them. I love the way how did teachers integrate this topic to their curriculum, I think it is an excellent social studies topic, yet it builds up students’ empathy on people in poverty. However, I do think that educators should be more thoughtful about this topic because I’m sure there are people from other cultures that not quite comfortable talking about their financial situations.
“Teaching students about this history helps them understand the discriminatory housing policies and practices that created conditions of poverty and segregation in public housing and elsewhere in their communities while also learning about those who fought to resist them.” (Goodman, p23)
Goodman, S. (2018). It’s not about grit: Trauma, inequity, and the power of transformative teaching. New York: Teachers College Press.