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69 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, September 28, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 16, 2004 Speaker gives teachers a taste of poverty By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune "Don’t drop out of school. Someday you’ll want a good job," a teacher told Donna Beegle when she was a high school freshman. But for the 15-year-old with her heart set on marriage and motherhood, a job — like school — was just a source of stress. As her farm-working family moved from the cotton fields of Arizona to the vegetable and fruit crops of Oregon, she had seen her dad work 16 hours a day and come home with enough money to pay rent or buy groceries, but not both. She had seen her five brothers sleep in a U-Haul trailer because the family’s apartment had only one bedroom. She had seen officials at social service agencies and police stations talk down to her petite mother from behind their high counters and glass windows. To a student living in poverty, "stay in school to get a good job" doesn’t sound like much — just more hard work, long hours and little respect. "You’ve never met anyone who has moved up," Beegle said. Advertisement Beegle left school then, but eventually she went back and moved up. The one-time dropout now has a doctorate in educational leadership and her own consulting business to train teachers, police and human service professionals on how to reach people who live in poverty. She gave a presentation to Medford teachers and administrators Wednesday, sharing her experiences and her research into poverty. "She gives a different perspective on what kids are doing at home," said Julie York, the district’s special services supervisor who oversees programs reaching out to low-income students. "It’s a chance to just have an awareness of how it affects someone and how to reach them best." Beegle returned to the classroom when she was 25. Her marriage was over and she was responsible for two small children. She took a life-skills class designed for low-income women in transition so she could get housing assistance. There, she realized a GED might help her care for her kids. The teachers in the program got to know her, shared their experiences and listened to her dreams — all keys to building relationships with students in poverty and urging them on, she said. "For a student from generational poverty, their teacher might be the only stable person they know who is making it," Beegle said. If students can identify with a person who thinks education is important, they are more likely to think that, too, she said. Once she made the connection, she went from her GED to her doctorate in 10 years. From those first adult-education teachers to a professor who helped her with grammar, mentors guided her path. She found that story repeated over and over in her doctoral research on students who earned bachelor’s degrees despite at least three previous generations of their family being mired in poverty. "As teachers, we have to include mentoring in our job description," Beegle said. She urged mentors to believe in students, show them that education is a way out of poverty, and introduce them to the middle class — the manners, the grammar and the networks of connections. Mentors also must understand the background of the kids they guide, she said. "We know we have to make knowledge relevant for it to stick, so we make it relevant for the middle class child," Beegle said. "That leaves the kids of poverty going ‘What? What are you talking about?’ " She encourages teachers to visit the neighborhoods where all their students live. Go to a grubby grocery store with a limited selection of fresh produce in a poor part of town. Try to cash a check in an impoverished neighborhood. Beegle asked each school to come up with two ways to reach out to poor families based on the information she provided about living in poverty. Teachers and administrators spent the afternoon at schools discussing her presentation. "I’m eager to get into the schools," school board member Cynthia Wright said. "She gave them tools. I want to see what difference they will make." Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Beegle offers public seminar Oct. 5 The Medford Police Department is bringing Donna Beegle here for an all-day training seminar Oct. 5 for its officers. The seminar will be open to health and human-service workers, students and the public, Lt. Mike Moran said. It will be at the Smullin Center, 2825 E. Barnett Road, Medford. The cost to attend is $50 and includes lunch. Attendees must pre-register by Sept. 29 by calling Moran at 774-2224. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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