Role Models and Emotional Resources

1. Role Models and Emotional Resources Chapter 5 Understanding Poverty Ruby Payne

2. Systems • System: group in which individuals have rules, roles, and relationships • Functional system: meets needs of members • Dysfunctional system: does not meet needs of members

3. Systems • Example of dysfunctional system: • Young person must look after aging, ill, parents, depriving her of opportunity to be a child • Her need to be a child is not met—she becomes dysfunctional • Improper role models—or lack of role models---adds to dysfunction

4. Emotional development • Dependence: need others, i.e. parents • Independence: self-sufficient • Interdependent: work with other adults

5. Dysfunctional development • Child asked to assume role of adult at early age • Hinders emotional development • As adult, needs to be child (dependent) and adult (independent) at same time • This fluctuation between stages causes dysfunction---”co-dependency”

6. Role models • Child needs appropriate “role model” to go through sequential emotional development stages • Improper “role model” availability leads to lack of building of “emotional resources”

7. Replenishing “emotional resources” • Support groups • Establish long-term relationships with adults who provide appropriate role model • Teach goal-setting

8. Where does the school fit it? • Need to establish schedules, instructional arrangements that allow student to stay with same teacher for 2 or 3 years • Must be mutually agreed upon • Teachers and administrators become much more important as role models • Development of “emotional resources” crucial to student success • Build self-esteem • Sense of purpose • Allow them to “be a child” now—did not have chance before

9. Where does the school fit in? • Support groups—after school homework help • Appropriate discipline strategies ---discussed in Chapter 7 • Increasing student’s achievement by appropriate instruction—Chapter 8

10. Where does teacher fit it? • Realize how important a strong adult role model is to this student---and provide it