inner city

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inner city
By Julianne

I moved from an affluent neighborhood to a central city school last year. There are several things I noted that seemed to help in dealing with these students. First, I had to be very, very consistent, moreso than with my
previous students. You may be the only consistent thing in these kids' lives. Second, I made sure the rules were quite strict. Because the upper grade students are often pushing the limits, our first grade students were held to a higher level of discipline than I had experienced before. This makes the transition to higher grades easier for them and maintains a calm, disciplined atmosphere

throughout the school. A schoolwide discipline plan is one of the keys to a good inner city school, in my opinion. Finally, as I taught these kids I wasn't able to assume that they had any background information to build upon. If I wanted to talk about pineapples, for example, I had to bring in a pineapple for them to see and taste. They just don't have much in their everyday lives to learn from.

I just read a study that concluded that the one most important factor in the test scores for any particular school is the socio-economic level of their neighborhood. We can't do anything about that. So it becomes frustrating at times trying to raise those reading scores in the face of situations you cannot remedy. I'm so glad good teachers are coming to the inner city to teach. I hope you stay!