Diverse Environment and Working With Children

In an attempt to comprehend the surrounding world, the human brain downloads the surroundings. After establishing a sense of power over their settings, children are more likely to acquire sentiments of self-worth, confidence, and independence. Low-income parents are frequently overwhelmed by low self-esteem, sadness, and a sense of powerlessness. In Tyrel’s case study, the youngster admits to Mrs. Moran that his parents were ashamed about the eviction and that his mother couldn’t read, so they couldn’t respond to the meeting notice. Tyrel, a six-year-old boy, underperforms in school due to factors such as his socioeconomic background, race, and family. The teacher can think of creating a close bond of the relationship between her and the underperforming and stressed student. The teacher can do this by trying to discuss his reading assignments with Tyrel and trying to be friendlier. As explained by Beecher and Sweeny (2008), curiosity encourages students, especially elementary kids, to ask and the find answers to questions; making their brain build skills of prediction, deduction, expanded thinking and supporting their opinion. Such close bond will help in reducing Tyrel’s negativity to school.

Mrs. Moran should also try to preheat child’s memory network. This is by connecting the kid’s brains to the topics she wants them to study i.e. by looking at photos, videos, objects they own or that make them happy or even reading interesting stories that relate to the topics to be studied (Beecher & Sweeny, 2008). The eagerness prompted by reminders of their experience and the current interest’s acts as a brain bridge which makes the mind ready to link with the information to be learnt.

Ways in Which Tyrel’s Social, Economic Status May Affect his Academic and Cognition Development

Lack of materials like the extra books that may be needed for Tyrel’s studies which the parents cannot afford may affect Tyrel’s academic. When the parents are stressed due to poverty and other factors i.e. eviction, there is a lack of socialization with the six-year-old Tyrel. The social-economic status of the parents has also made them not to be involved in Tyrel’s reading assignment. The case study explains that the mother has another kid to cater for and she cannot afford to pay someone to take of them while she attends the meeting in school. All these challenges lead to by Tyrel’s poor performance in school which in turn makes him develop a negative attitude towards school.

Effects of the Influences on Tyrel’s Cognition Development

Social-economic status is strongly associated with a child’s cognitive ability which includes IQ, achievement test, and grade retention rates. The brain development of a child is influenced by the mother’s social demographic characteristics, personal characteristics, vocabulary, and knowledge of child development. In low-income homes, children speak in shorter and more grammatically simple sentence (Rothstein, 2015).They have fewer questions asked and fewer explanations given. This makes children raised in poverty experience limited language capabilities.

The Achievement Gap and how it Affects Tyrel

The achievement gap in education entails the disparity in academic performance between students. For instance, African-American students perform poorly compared to their peers. Also, students from low-income families have been said to perform poorly than those from high-income households (Beecher & Sweeny, 2008). Achievement disparities attribute to social-economic factors which are the primary influence for Tyrel. High-quality teaching which is higher than the student’s level is another cause of achievement gap. Other weaknesses revealed include English-language proficiency and learning disabilities.

Ways in Which Influences Affects Tyrel’s Social Development

The impacts are likely to affect Tyrel life which is subjected to a lot of stress both at school and at home. Coming from a low-income family and not being able to afford everything needed like the books could be one of the reasons to be withdrawn and to keep off from other kids due to lack of self-esteem. Paul’s poor performance could also make him keep off other children and could be the reason he is upset. Also, being an African-American student could be one effect that made Tyrel perform poorly in stereotype state exams (Beecher & Sweeny, 2008).

Three Strategies that Mrs. Moran Could Use to Work with Tyrel’s Parents and Their Importance

Social-economic status correlates positively with good parenting which is in turn related to academic achievement, and as such, the parents need to reconnect the child with fun learning. The teacher can do this by trying to empower the parents through motivation. The strategy is important as it can help the parents increase their perception of control of their social-economic status by showing them how to manage their resources better to be able to raise their children well despite the low income.

Initial academic skills correlate with the home environment where stress negatively affects academic skills (Rothstein, 2015). Mrs. Moran can advise the parents not to disclose their social-economic status to their child. Stress resulting from poverty and conflict from home impairs a student’s ability to perform in school (Rothstein, 2015). The importance of this strategy is that it will assist Tyrel to concentrate on learning rather than family problems.

The teacher can also organize with the school administration and come up with means to help the needy students. All students whether needy or rich should receive same opportunities for educational achievement. The strategy is important as it can assist Tyrel to acquire school materials that he may lack. Besides, it will also help in lifting his spirit as well as enable him to perform well; hence raise his self-esteem.

The downside of these strategies

One of the shortcomings of the strategies is that parents may not be ready and willing to work with Mrs. Moran in solving Tyrel’s academic problems. Also, the administration may fail to respond to the teacher’s request to assist the needy student. Tyrel could also refuse to embrace the changes introduced by the teacher.

Conclusion

Social-economic status, race, high-quality teaching, and family are found to be determining factors for the achievement gap. Students who come from low-income families, African American and Hispanic, perform poor in school as compared to their peers. The family is also a critical issue to a child’s learning and especially in building relationships. A child’s performance is determined by his family, and therefore, the family cannot be neglected in academic. The family, social-economic status, high-quality teaching, and race are the main determinants of the achievement gap for most students. This achievement gaps need to be closed to ensure that all students receive an equal and quality education despite their race and background.

References

Beecher, M., & Sweeny, S. M. (2008). Closing the Achievement Gap With Curriculum Enrichment and Differentiation: One School’s Story. Journal of Advanced Academics, 19 (3), 502-530.

Rothstein, R. (2015). The Racial Achievement Gap, Segregated Schools, and Segregated Neighborhoods: A Constitutional Insult. Race and Social Problems, 7 (1), 21-30.