A Framework For Understanding Poverty

I find this a fascinating book.  I am learning to look at my students and myself very differently.  Learning the language of poverty has provided me communication tools that have been useful when I speak with parents and kids in the community at Pioneer.  I understand much more clearly the struggles that my students must overcome to achieve the dreams they have for themselves.  I grew up in a very affluent community as did my own children.  Wow, did we have it easy.  I am stunned at the resiliency of these kids and yet also struggle to understand how this cycle continues.  Reading the chapter that explains the role of language and story and how everything is a narrative that does not always begin in a logical, to me, place explains a lot of what I see in student writing and class discussion.  I see patterns in the families of my students that come right out of this book and while it scares me I also feel empowered that I could possibly affect change in someone's life.