Teaching the Way the Brain Is: Working Successfully in an Urban Classroom with Children Who Live in Poverty

Authors

Linda Ann H. McCall, Georgia Southern UniversityFollow

Abstract

During the past three decades, growing attention has been paid to the idea of mind/brain-based teaching and learning—an exciting approach, rooted in neuroscience research, that proves the interrelatedness of the mind, brain, and body. The purpose of this report is multifold: (a) to explain why mind/brain-based teaching and learning is relevant to children growing up in poverty; (b) to offer a review of the findings in cognitive neuroscience; (c) to offer a review of the findings regarding the effects of poverty on the developing mind/brain; (d) to identify themes emerging from these findings (i.e., research and understanding, communication, multiple intelligences, emotions and climate, patterning); (e) to describe my urban classroom settings and my struggles therein; (f) to share cross-curricular practical strategies that I have applied successfully with children living in poverty that reflect the research and emergent themes; and (g) to offer a summary/conclusion with implications for practice.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

McCall, L. H. (2018). Teaching the way the brain is: Working successfully in an urban classroom with children who live in poverty. National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Journal, 3(1), 38-48. https://doi.org/10.20429/nyarj.2018.030105