Ruby Payne


My school had Ruby Payne come and speak about the 10 Actions to Understand and Educate Students Application of a Framework for Understanding Poverty.  It was the most amazing PD I have ever received and really hit home on so many points. She helped us understand why our students act the way they do.
She spoke about how school norms are built around the dominate culture. Usually the dominate culture within a school building is middle class. This makes it hard for students of poverty to understand what is being asked of them.
She touched on the differences between generational and situational poverty. She gave us 5 areas that students of generational poverty are not understood.
As for difficult students, she said to ask them 2 questions. Who cares the most about you? and Who do you care the most about? If students do not mention an adult they are at risk. School staff need to ensure they find someone on staff who will spend 4-5 minutes a day with this student. Studies show, if this is done, these at risk students will succeed.
Lastly, she spoke about males and how their brains are different from females. She showed us a clip on YouTube by a speaker named Mr. Gungor who speaks about these differences. The males have a “nothing” box. Inside this box males hold nothing. When males are upset they retreat to their nothing box and when they are extremely upset they cannot talk. The best thing for adults to do is to have males drink 8 to 10 ounces of water.  When we confront them and ask them what is wrong they will not say anything. This makes the adult mad. Dr. Payne advised to have males physically move or work with a partner and even involve them in relational activities.
She was amazing and all our staff enjoyed it and feel they are understand how to deal with our students better. 

 Traci Williams

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