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Ms. Foote’s Classroom Edit display name

  • Youth Connection-Howard Area Alternative High School
  • Chicago, IL
  • Nearly all students from low‑income households

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Most of my kids come from homes in which education is not a priority. Often, drugs, alcohol or gangs take precedence. When I ask them to tell me about their first memory of being read to, they rarely tell of bedtime stories or sitting on mom or dad's lap. Their first recollection is in either preschool or grade school. My kids are smart, but they have been lacking in opportunities to tap into all that intelligence and creativity. Their vocabularies are so lacking that it keeps them from understanding books that are well-below their grade levels. When low vocabulary is combined with no reading strategies, the result is a person who is ill-equipped to comprehend what he/she is reading. This then leads to a person who thinks he/she is not very smart, but they don't want anyone else to know that. So, they begin to build up defenses and ways of avoiding anything that could reveal that weakness. When they arrive in my room, they have well-fortified walls built up for me to break down.

About my class

Most of my kids come from homes in which education is not a priority. Often, drugs, alcohol or gangs take precedence. When I ask them to tell me about their first memory of being read to, they rarely tell of bedtime stories or sitting on mom or dad's lap. Their first recollection is in either preschool or grade school. My kids are smart, but they have been lacking in opportunities to tap into all that intelligence and creativity. Their vocabularies are so lacking that it keeps them from understanding books that are well-below their grade levels. When low vocabulary is combined with no reading strategies, the result is a person who is ill-equipped to comprehend what he/she is reading. This then leads to a person who thinks he/she is not very smart, but they don't want anyone else to know that. So, they begin to build up defenses and ways of avoiding anything that could reveal that weakness. When they arrive in my room, they have well-fortified walls built up for me to break down.

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About my class

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