Angela Maiers Educational Services: Blog Action Day 08: Poverty or Funds of Knowledge?

Ohhh, you teach at that school with those kids, with poor families like that???

For thirteen years, this is what I heard as an inner city school teacher. With 100 percent of my students qualifying for free and reduced lunch services and a 130 percent mobility rate, poverty had daily influence on teaching and learning, but it was never a hindrance in the capability and capacity of my students and their amazing families.

As a teacher, I had two choices, I could listen to the yeahs, buts, and well's and lower my expectations using poverty as an excuse to not demand rigor and engagement from my students,or....I could learn about the lives my students were living and search for what Luis Moll calls their Funds of Knowledge:

'cultural practices and bodies of knowledge and information that households use to survive, to get ahead or to thrive' (Moll, 1992, p.21)

I chose the later. I entered their homes and lives not as teacher and expert, but as learner. I came to know my students and their families in new and distinct ways and with this knowledge , I quickly learned of their strengths. I began to see households filled with rich cultural and cognitive resources rather than homes missing library cards or other traditional measures of literacy and learning. I met families that were not too lazy to come to school because they did not care, but rather because they were working three jobs to give their children a better life than the one they had themselves. I learned from my students and families about the most important Habitudes of perseverance, adaptability, and courage.

I would not wish poverty on any child. The challenges are immense, but they are not determinant of any student's success. All children have the capacity and potential to achieve, if we build upon their funds of knowledge rather than focus on the deficits of poverty.

Here are some ways we can uncover and tap into those funds:

Home Visits-this is nothing new, but often a visit to the home is a sign of bad news. Enter your students homes as learners, with the mission of identifying the assets and privileges of the household.
Ask Questions that help you uncover the skills, knowledge, expertise and interests that families own, which can serve everyone in the classroom.
Invite Families In-Nothing builds value and confidence like being asked to share your expertise. When parents are included in the learning experiences of children, it is a win-win for everyone.
Be Aware-Be constantly aware of how the culture of each home is represented, valued, and celebrated. These social, cultural and intellectual resources can become important curricular elements.
Using the Funds-What if we took the information gathered from a parent questionnaire, a home visit, a conference with a family and created a unit of study around it, integrating the literacy and learning that goes on inside the home with the literacies in our classroom? The possibilities are endless!

I learned an immense amount about each one of my students and connected with them in ways that I could never have if I had not tapped into their amazing funds of knowledge. What kind of indelible mark would be able to leave on students learning lives and more importantly their spirit, if we were committed to searching for, exploring, and valuing the funds of knowledge they and their families possess?

Photo on Flickr by nobis-scotia