Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #111 with our 3rd returning guest, whose interview episode #74[i] made an impact on many of our listeners (and me) as we were right in the first few months of the Pandemic. If you are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi, and I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 

You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 

Going back to today’s guest and our first interview—while many of my questions for our guest,  on episode #74 were focused on Horacio Sanchez’s, book The Education Revolution [ii]published by Corwin Press, that addresses the decline in empathy, increase in obesity, and the impact of implicit bias on minority students, our conversation turned to focus on the problems we were seeing in the world at that moment (July 2020) highlighting the need for racial change through an understanding of race and culture. I knew that Horacio was deep into his next book, The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development but had not read it, nor made the connection between this book, the implicit biases that we all have, how to understand where they originated from in order to self-correct them and where to even begin to make these changes. If you have not yet watched our first interview, I recommend reviewing it before this one.[iii]

A Bit About Horacio

Horacio Sanchez who is recognized as one of the nation’s prominent experts on promoting student resiliency and applying brain science to improve school outcomes as they relate to diverse topics such as overcoming the impact of poverty, improving school climate, engaging in brain-based instruction, and addressing issues related to implicit bias. His new book was just released in January of this year, The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development and Functioning.[iv] If you follow Horacio on Twitter @ResiliencyInc, you will see the excitement this book is creating with educators around the country who are receiving their books, attending his trainings and learning how to Improve outcomes for students in poverty by understanding their developing brains.

I highly recommend following Horacio on LinkedIn, as he has a daily brain tip where he shares brain tips and how they are relevant for student learning.

Horacio’s new book covers how economic hardship is changing our students’ brain structures at a genetic level, producing psychological, behavioral, and cognitive issues that dramatically impact learning, behavior, physical health, and emotional stability. But there is hope.  He offers solutions that will change minds, attitudes, and behaviors. You will learn about how problems develop between people of different races, how the brain develops in persistent poverty, and how it might react to solutions.

In addition:

The lack of culturally competent instruction and its impact on students of color Poverty's effect on language development and how it can be positively influenced The importance of reading How to counteract the effects of the widespread stress in lower SES environments

Remember: “Children make up 23% of the U.S. population and account for almost 33% of those living in poverty, making the education system our most distressed institution. In The Poverty Problem, you’ll learn how to increase students’ perseverance and confidence and positively impact outcomes by arming yourself with research-based instructional strategies that are inspiring, realistic, and proven to work.”

Welcome back Horacio, it’s wonderful to see you again, even though I feel like we have kept in touch since last July through other projects, social media, and I’m always learning something from your posts on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for coming back on the podcast to talk about your new book, The Poverty Problem.

Q1: Horacio, it seems we were just getting started as we ended our last interview, with our discussion on the change needed to take place in or educational system as it relates to the lack of culturally competent instruction and its impact on students of color. We talked about this, with some ideas of change, and wonder what do you think needs to happen for these changes to take place with clear, science-based strategies for these changes?

Q1B: Why did you call the book The Poverty Problem vs The Poverty Solution?

Q2: What about poverty’s impact on our brain. Can you explain how the outcome of poverty’s load compromises decision-making regardless of intellect?

2B) How can schools turn around poverty

Q3: How does poverty affect language development resulting in language processing difficulties? What are some recommendations for this?

Q4: What can be done to combat the fact that poverty leads to a negative self-image? How can we teach our children the important character skills necessary to build their own life path when they might not feel like they have a chance to begin with?

Q4B: What about growth mindset vs skill building?

Q5: We spoke about the protective risk factors in our first interview and how poverty and resiliency are so closely correlated, but can we talk about how we can build protective factors in all students with a resiliency plan?

Q5B: How do you get your children to stick to routines and still remain a positive, supportive parent vs yelling and being a stressor?

Q6? Is there anything important that I have missed?

Thank you Horacio for the time you have taken to share your work with us on this podcast. If anyone wants to learn more about your programs, books, or find you, they can go to https://www.resiliencyinc.com/

People can follow you on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsanchezceo/ or Twitter https://twitter.com/ResiliencyInc where I have mentioned you share valuable brain tips and how to apply them at home or in the classroom.

Your book, The Poverty Problem can be found https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-poverty-problem/book276652

BIO: Horacio Sanchez has been a teacher, administrator, clinician, mental health director, and consultant to the Department of Education in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and other states. His diverse education and background have helped him to merge research, science, and practice which is why he has been so successful in the field of neuro education. His best-selling book, The Education Revolution published by Corwin Press, addresses the decline in empathy, increase in obesity, and the impact of implicit bias on minority students. 

RESOURCES:

A Brief Guide to Embodied Cognition: Why You are Not Your Brain by Samuel McNerney Nov. 4th, 2011 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/a-brief-guide-to-embodied-cognition-why-you-are-not-your-brain/

REFERENCES:

[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate” https://www.achieveit360.com/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/

[ii] The Education Revolution by Horacio Sanchez https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-education-revolution/book249726

[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate” Published on YouTube July 27, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57XnrSSQqw

[iv] The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development and Functioning by Horacio Sanchez (January 2021) https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-poverty-problem/book276652