'I'm poor, I'm single, I?m a mom, and I deserve respect': Advocating in Schools As and With Mothers in Poverty.

SINGLE mothers; PARENT-teacher relationships; ROLE playing; POVERTY

Poor single mothers frequently experience interactions with school staff as intimidating, if not disrespectful and insulting. In this article I explore the use of a role play of a typical school meeting, designed as an advocacy project by a group of single mothers in poverty and used with school staff. The exercise made visible habits of negative evaluation as well as ?infantilization? and ?deskilling? of the mothers by school staff. Such advocacy is valuable but needs to be accompanied by broader, critically oriented staff development. Such efforts should include classes on poverty and privilege and should help staff understand how power differentials function to disempower single mothers in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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