Eric Jensen, author of more than 30 books on topics ranging from equity to student engagement to brain-based learning, recently spoke to ASCD about his latest release, Teaching with Poverty and Equity in Mind (ASCD, 2022).
It’s been more than a decade since you wrote Teaching with Poverty in Mind (ASCD, 2009). What pushed you to revisit the topic and expand on it in a new book?
I decided to not just revise it but to start over because I was a different person when I wrote the original book. Over time, I've started to understand more and more of my own biases, my own stories, my mindsets—and how they influenced my first edition. I've come to understand that in some ways, the biggest change needed to happen in me. This book is a reflection of that change.
In your new book, you urge teachers to set the bar higher in their classrooms—to reach more students in more engaging and profound ways. Why is this important?
Just telling teachers to raise expectations is a useless step. Their own biases prevent them from seeing, hearing, and acting upon higher expectations. I say to teachers, “If you're not walking the walk, kids probably won't believe you. If you show up every day doing the same old thing, yet you expect kids to make changes, you're not being authentic.” When teachers bring authenticity and transparency into the classroom, their students start respecting them. So, instead of telling kids to do more and challenge their own goals, teachers could model that for them.
Another way to raise expectations is to never dumb down your curriculum. Kids tell us year after year that they are bored half of the time in their classes, but they still get dumbed-down curriculum because teachers don't expect them to be able to know it. When kids don’t understand something in the curriculum, you can pause, backstop, and build up a skill set or lead a review. It's amazing what happens when you make learning relevant.
So much of raising expectations is getting teachers to commit to this change personally. That means, number one, be a role model for your students. Don't just show up and do the job halfheartedly. If the job isn't for you, that's a different story.
Why do you believe engagement is the key factor in the academic success of economically disadvantaged students?
Engagement is critical for multiple reasons. If you want kids to be excited about learning, let their body jumpstart their brain. For example, ask them to stand up, stretch their bodies, and march around the classroom or dance. Once students are in what I call an agitated state—and I use agitated in a broad sense—their brain is sort of going, OK, what's next? It's like energizers flip the switch in the brain. It's not just that it juices up the brain chemicals that are critical for learning—norepinephrine, dopamine, and cortisol. It actually biases the brain so that they’re more open to the next thing that's offered.
When teachers keep students engaged in the process, then the process itself keeps the learning alive. When I do a training, I pause at about 30 minutes in and I ask those in the audience to work together to see how many engagement strategies they’ve noticed me using. And most of them will come up with 5 or 7 engagement strategies. And then I put the list up on the screen and they see that I've used 15 or 20 of them. The takeaway from this is that when you embed engagement processes into the learning, it just flows.
Can you describe what a class-wide “in-group” is and what it sets out to achieve?
One of the biggest reasons that kids either stay in school or drop out has to do with belonging. It's gotta feel like a good place. It's gotta feel like if they're in their own “class club” so to speak, as if it’s the “in-group.” If kids don’t feel like they are part of the in-group within the first few days, they'll just look for groups outside of the teacher's class. Some of those groups could be with friends. But their school experience must be that they belong in a class group every day that respects culture, gender, academic standing, and other differences.
Great teachers orchestrate a class to make kids want to be in the class. They do that through things like directing the class toward a common goal. The takeaway is that kids who feel like they're in “the group” usually love coming to class. Kids are generally pretty social and belonging is a critical brain-based event that influences much of the daily direction we take.
You emphasize the importance of habit formation to brain development. How can teachers foster habit formation in students, in particular those who have suffered from instability and trauma?
Everyone has habits in their life, but the focus in this particular book is on taking a good idea and turning it into a life skill or an academic habit or a personal habit to make positive changes.
Common phrases we all hear daily are ones such as, “Yeah, I’ll get back to you later this week.” But in the book, I mention authentic intentions. Authenticity means you commit to a day, time, and place. So your response to the statement above might be, “Sounds great, what day would be best for you?” You keep squeezing this down until it's no longer just, “Yeah, I'll get back to you.” It's a time, date, and place commitment and it’s authentic.
You can have an amazing classroom if you're willing to do one small purposeful thing today, turn it into a habit tomorrow, and keep doing it over time.
Eric Jensen
In terms of working with students in poverty, what should schools be focusing on as they try to recover from the worst of the pandemic?
Teachers need to focus on the things that matter the most—community support and getting students’ brains moving forward quickly (e.g., building thinking skills with movement and engagement). Memory, processing, and thinking skills have fallen by the wayside. But they are a key part of the catch-up process to grade-level and beyond.
Another part of recent pandemic-related challenges is many teachers were—and still are—struggling with their own health issues. For some, dealing with those issues would mean taking a day off. For most educators, it would mean changing fitness, nutrition, and sleep priorities. When teachers are fatigued and just barely making it to class every day, kids notice that and they see their fearless leader struggling. Tired or sick role models can be discouraging for kids. What I’m sure of is that we must show kids a better future, not allow for, or foster despair.
What is the biggest thing you want readers to take away from your book?
The most important part is start with yourself. This isn't about pointing fingers, but about having really clear, actionable steps. The book offers dozens of targeted tools that matter the most for kids who grew up with adversity. For example, do students get a chance to write or share their voice often? Is their teacher a role model of self-care for their students? Are students getting a robust upgrade in memory and thinking skills? So, what could teachers do differently? Take small, crucial steps (like the ones from the book) and turn those into a habit and let them run for 30 days.
When those become automatic, you're ready for the next step. We are all an aggregate of our habits. I want everyone to know that you can have an amazing classroom if you're willing to do one small purposeful thing today, turn it into a habit tomorrow, and keep doing it over time. I start about one new habit a month. Not too exciting is it? But in the last five years, it adds up. Start a new quality habit monthly and you can really see some amazing things happen. I never tell people it's easy. But it’s worth it. Make easy choices and you’ll have a hard life. Hard choices, easy life.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for space.
Teaching with Poverty and Equity in Mind
Learn how you can succeed with the students who need you most in ways you never thought possible.
