Reviews
Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind: Practical Strategies for Raising Achievement by Eric Jensen
valjeanval's review against another edition
3.0
This book is full of good strategies, although not many of them were terrifically new to me. It's good advice that is much more difficult than the little vignettes make it seem to implement. Something about the author's tone is a little accusative, and made the non-strategy parts hard for me to get through. The author puts a lot of justifiable pressure on teachers to be the one thing that changes students lives. I get what he is saying, but at the same time recognize teachers need release too and making excuses is different from venting complaints about the odds stacked against us. Jensen leaves no room for that, and is pretty abrasive in his claim that kids are not the problem, you are.
I took a lot of notes, wrote down some strategies I thought might work with my kids, but at the end of the day, it didn't present me with the most achievable vision of success. He advises choosing one strategy and honing it until it's right, which I think is the best advice in the book.
I took a lot of notes, wrote down some strategies I thought might work with my kids, but at the end of the day, it didn't present me with the most achievable vision of success. He advises choosing one strategy and honing it until it's right, which I think is the best advice in the book.
fortheloveofreading2's review against another edition
4.0
This book definitely changed my attitudes that I held about the students I teach in a high-poverty school. It gave me the kick in the pants I needed to start intentionally being more positive in the classroom. Last year I got really bogged down by bad behavior, and this book reframed it for me and made me believe that it’s possible to teach high-poverty students and have them see as much success as their more affluent peers.
The one thing I did not enjoy about this book? The way the end moved so slowly. I felt that there were parts in the last 2 chapters that could have been cut out and it would not have changed anything about the overall message Jensen was trying to get across to teachers. But overall, I’m glad I read it; it’s making me excited to start planning to have a great year!
The one thing I did not enjoy about this book? The way the end moved so slowly. I felt that there were parts in the last 2 chapters that could have been cut out and it would not have changed anything about the overall message Jensen was trying to get across to teachers. But overall, I’m glad I read it; it’s making me excited to start planning to have a great year!
ksoanes's review against another edition
The really important fact about this book - this is good teaching for ALL students, not just those in poverty- however, for those students this is vital teaching. Practical reminders of strategies that should be in every teacher's bag of good instructional practices.
engpunk77's review against another edition
3.0
Read with a discussion group of teachers in my district. The guiding principle here is to take 100% responsibility for the learning of your students. Every problem we find in our classroom (poor motivation, retention, behavior, comprehension, etc.) is due to poor teaching on our part, nothing more.
This was difficult to accept, but since I'm not particularly confident in my teaching ability (half of my students perform poorly), I was willing to take it. There are many methods, strategies, and tips that will help us motivate our students to succeed, and they were applicable to elementary and middle school students (some even for high school, but fewer).
A quick and beneficial read for any teacher.
Update: Read this over again for another book study with a different group of teachers, and I focused on different things this time (now that I've already accepted the shocking "you are 100% responsible for every student's lack of achievement and their behavior" thing).
I realize this time that this has one chapter about poverty, but the rest is just a lot of effective teaching strategies, the kind you can find in most teaching books, but again, many of them are quite useful. It doesn't necessarily help you target poverty issues in any way. A pretty good book for teachers.
This was difficult to accept, but since I'm not particularly confident in my teaching ability (half of my students perform poorly), I was willing to take it. There are many methods, strategies, and tips that will help us motivate our students to succeed, and they were applicable to elementary and middle school students (some even for high school, but fewer).
A quick and beneficial read for any teacher.
Update: Read this over again for another book study with a different group of teachers, and I focused on different things this time (now that I've already accepted the shocking "you are 100% responsible for every student's lack of achievement and their behavior" thing).
I realize this time that this has one chapter about poverty, but the rest is just a lot of effective teaching strategies, the kind you can find in most teaching books, but again, many of them are quite useful. It doesn't necessarily help you target poverty issues in any way. A pretty good book for teachers.
iymain's review against another edition
3.0
It's ok. As far as practical strategies, I prefer Kagan's approach and there is significant overlap. Good motivational bits. Looks like some of this would fly better in ES than MS, but... we'll see!
book_cwtch's review against another edition
4.0
So many real-world strategies to engage ALL students in the classroom.
kbayko's review against another edition
5.0
As a teacher who was brand new to this demographic last year, I gobbled every piece of advice in this book! I love it when professional development books have real, practical advice. And as someone who reads a ton of professional development books, it was refreshing to find a book full of ideas I’ve never seen before!
This along with Dr Ruby Payne’s book, are absolute must reads for teaching students from poverty. Other professional development books I’ve enjoyed (to give you a gauge on what I like) include Reading Strategies, Responsive Classroom, The Four Zones of Regulation, Wild Card, the Essential 55, and Ditch that Homework.
This along with Dr Ruby Payne’s book, are absolute must reads for teaching students from poverty. Other professional development books I’ve enjoyed (to give you a gauge on what I like) include Reading Strategies, Responsive Classroom, The Four Zones of Regulation, Wild Card, the Essential 55, and Ditch that Homework.
clairelorraine's review against another edition
4.0
Actual concrete techniques! A bit hard to rate before trying any of them yet!
More...