Tamara Griffith
Learning Unit: Poverty & Homelessness
"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
~ Winston Churchill
When I first began teaching my students about social justice and advocacy, my students brainstormed a variety of social and environmental issues that the world faced today. Afterwards, I posed the following question to students: If you could change the world by solving one of its problems, what would you change, how would you change it, and why?
The vast majority of my students (approximately 71%) indicated that they would want to solve problems related to world hunger, poverty, and homelessness. Because my students were so invested in this topic, I decided to create an advocacy-related unit centered around these themes. However, because 72% of my school's population meets the threshold for poverty, I knew that I would need to approach this topic carefully, but in such a way as to allow my students to understand their own power to overcome any adversity, especially adversity related to these issues. By the end of the unit, my students not only understood the power of their voices and their actions, but they utilized that power to benefit the greater community of Fort Walton Beach, FL.
Conversation-Related: Poverty & Homelessness Introduction
While many of my students had some background knowledge of what it meant to live in poverty or what it meant to be homeless, I wanted my students to realize that not all poverty and not all homelessness are created equal -- that there is a spectrum for each, a spectrum that may be different than the ideas or stereotypes that are often portrayed by society.
A copy of the slideshow used throughout this lesson is included below.
Throughout this unit, students answered a variety of quick-writes and turn-and-talks in order to develop an informed opinion about this topic, one that was not swayed by personal experiences, bias, or negative stereotypes. Students first pondered whether or not charity was enough to solve the problems of poverty and homelessness. Examples of some students' responses are included below.
While my students did not all agree as to whether or not charity (the act of giving resources such as food, water, and clothing) would be enough to solve the problem of poverty and homelessness, students were able to formulate their own ideas about the benefits of charity. During the turn-and-talk that ensued afterwards, students said the following:
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Charity would help, but only as a temporary fix.
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Charity is a band-aid for this problem.
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It helps people who receive the aid or resources, not everyone experiencing this injustice.
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People experiencing these issues would be better served through education.
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Simply giving donations to those who are less-fortunate doesn't mean that you care about the poor.
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The government, organizations, and charities should work together to create a better solution.
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Money alone isn't enough to solve this issue.
Even though my students had not yet learned much about this issue, they were already beginning to hypothesize solutions to improve the reality for people in poverty and ways that they could increase awareness, thus demonstrating that they know their voices and actions have value.
Once students had completed this quick-write and had had the opportunity to discuss it, they were shown the two videos below to better develop an informed opinion related to the injustice of poverty.
After watching these videos, students completed a turn-and-talk, where they discussed their reactions to these videos with their table groups. Some of their reactions are included below:
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25 children died during that video? That would be our entire class plus Mrs. Griffith!
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People living in poverty must be really hungry and malnourished -- even on $2 a day, you would only be able to get one thing off the dollar menu because of tax, which isn't very healthy.
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Naming the baby Innocent suggests that people are born into a life of poverty and don't have much control over their situations.
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If over 40% don't go to school, that means that we've already become more educated for them -- and we're not even qualified to get jobs.
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I think my field trip money might be better donated.
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It was surprising that THREE people have more money and resources than 58 countries. If they shared even a little bit of their wealth, some parts of the world would be so much better off.
As I listened to students' reactions, I was so proud and amazed at the compassion and kindness they expressed. None of them blamed the poor for their situations; instead, many were angry at the harsh reality and injustice of poverty.
To further push students' thinking regarding this injustice, students viewed a variety of images related to poverty and answered questions that required them to make inferences about the quality of life a life of poverty entailed. Examples of the images and questions students responded to are included above. Artifacts from this portion of the lesson are included below.
The artifacts above illustrate students' work throughout this process and provide samples of what the final products looked like.
The artifacts to the left illustrate three student samples for each of the images and questions posed. As students completed their questions, they were able to use the visual images to help them develop informed opinions about how poverty affects people, how society judges people living in poverty, and how poverty affects people's overall quality of life and opportunities available. Many students wrote about the ill effects from malnutrition, lack of health care, and lack of education, all of which had to be inferred from the images, thus demonstrating that students went beyond the teacher-provided text to develop their own ideas and opinions.
After completing the gallery walk, students reflected upon which image impacted them the most and what they had learned about the injustices of poverty. Some of their responses are included below.
Reading over students' reflections makes it clear that many of my students want to take action and join the fight against this type of injustice. Even though many of my students live at or below the poverty line themselves, many of them wrote that seeing the living situations of others who were even less fortunate than they made them infinitely more grateful for what they did have and were becoming more aware of the ways in which they could advocate for themselves and others.
Conversation-Related: "What is Poverty" Analysis
To help my students truly empathize with people living in poverty and/or homelessness and to help them better understand the injustices related to poverty so that they could develop a more informed opinion about this issue, I had my students analyze the essay "What is Poverty?" by Jo Goodwin Parker, which depicts a life in poverty from the point of view of someone living in poverty. A copy of the text provided to the students is included below.
Together, we reviewed the different types of literary conflict: man vs. self, man vs. man, man vs. environment, and man vs. society so that students would be able to articulate the ways in which the injustice of poverty could impact a person's life by creating a variety of different conflicts or problems. Afterwards, students annotated the text specifically looking for types of conflict, completed a conflict graphic organizer, and then answered text-dependent questions so that they could develop an informed opinion about how poverty creates a series of hurdles for those affected to overcome. Artifacts from this lesson are included below.
As this student annotated the text, he pondered the cause and effect relationship between poverty and quality of life. He reflects about how the situation of poverty can impact a person's life. The completed graphic organizer demonstrates this students' ability to think beyond the words of the text that was provided him in order to develop his own informed opinion about poverty. For example, he articulates that Jo will have the added burden of protecting her children from the cruelty of the world, implying that their reality is cruel enough without the pervasiveness of negative stereotypes. Additionally, as he considers the contrast between the negative stereotypes and the image of poverty portrayed in the text, he considers how poverty can have long-lasting effects upon those inflicted by it, thereby demonstrating his ability to think beyond the text.
Throughout this student sample, this student extends beyond the text to consider the reality of people living in poverty from a place of empathy. She critically engages with the text through her annotations, questioning the largely negative image of poverty that is emphasized. When reflecting upon the types of conflict a life of poverty creates, she extends well beyond the text with ideas such as "average people don't have to deal with this (cracked hands from daily hand-washing in ice-cold water) because they have dryers and washers to do this. It sounds like a small problem, but to them, it is a very real, everyday struggle." This shows that students are not only able to develop informed opinions that extend beyond the text, but they are also able to consider the privilege with which they themselves have.
Once students were able to articulate the different conflicts or problems that can arise out of poverty in order to help them understand the injustices associated with it, students completed a quick write in which they brainstormed different stereotypes society upholds regarding the impoverished. Some of their responses are included below.
When completing this quick-write and sharing with the class afterwards, students were quick to assure me and the class that the stereotypes they wrote down were not their personal opinions or beliefs. Many of them also remarked how unfairly these stereotypes were towards people in poverty/ who were homeless as these stereotypes merely relegated people to little if nothing more than a living situation that was difficult to get out of. As students shared and discussed their responses, they spoke of educating the public about poverty to help the general public be more empathetic and compassionate towards people who already have it tough enough, thereby demonstrating that they know their voices and actions have value. Throughout the day, each of my classes added to an anchor chart listing common stereotypes about the homeless/ people living in poverty. This anchor chart is pictured to the left. Students then utilized this graphic organizer to assist them in comparing and contrasting the image of poverty depicted by society's negative stereotypes to the image of poverty depicted by someone living amidst poverty. The criteria for this assignment is included below.
As students completed this assignment, they were able to demonstrate their knowledge of the injustices surrounding poverty and their opinions regarding these injustices. To view examples of student work from this assignment, scroll through the student samples below.
This sample illustrates that this student was able to apply her knowledge of the poverty stereotype to the text "What is Poverty" to articulate that the negative images of people living in poverty are not always true. In addition, she demonstrates that she is developing her own thoughts and opinions about this injustice rather than solely relying upon the ideas in the teacher-provided text. For example, she suggests that people in general should stop being selfish and instead develop a more positive view of those living in poverty.
This example also demonstrates that students are developing ideas that evolve past the text that they were given. For example, after analyzing how the stereotype and the text portray people in poverty, this student came to the conclusion that unlike the negative stereotype suggests, people who live in poverty can be, and often are, good, hard-working people who merely have unfortunate circumstances.
Action-Related: Change for Children Campaign
To increase the impact of this advocacy unit, students completed several action-related advocacy opportunities, which not only served as extensions of student learning, but also gave students the opportunity to see how their actions were valuable to other members of the community. One of these action-related advocacy opportunities was the change for children campaign.
For this action-related event, my students ran a school-wide campaign to raise money to benefit Children in Crisis, a local group home for youth. Without this group home, many of these children would be on the streets, or placed in the system, separated from their siblings. In fact, many of these children were taken off of the streets. The money raised from this event -- which was nearly $1200 over the course of a week -- went directly to this non-profit to make a difference in the lives of children who perhaps would otherwise continue to be affected by poverty and homelessness. Additionally, a few of my students are placed in a Children in Crisis group home, so this campaign allowed students to effectively advocate for themselves and others.
Artifacts from this action-related event are included below.
The money that students raised through the Change for Children campaign represents their ability to advocate for themselves and others. A group of my students was able to use their voices to take action, convincing our entire school community to rally for the cause. Teachers paid $10 to wear jeans for the week. Homerooms competed to collect the most in donations. Ultimately, over 100 children within the Children in Crisis network benefited from the advocacy of my students, students who merely wanted to use their voices and their actions to make the world a better place.
Action-Related: Socktober Drive
One day, one of my students told me that she was interested in doing a campus-wide Socktober drive to tie into our poverty and homeless unit because it was a social issue she felt very passionate about. Unfamiliar with Socktober, I had asked her for more information. She explained that Socktober was a donation drive where people donated new or gently used clothes, blankets, and toiletries to local homeless shelters during the month of October. Once I had obtained the principal's permission to have my students organize the school-wide drive, they did.
The entire school watched the video below during PIERS, our homeroom, so that students would know what their donations would be going to.
Once PIERS classes watched the video, they were told that there would be a competition among the different PIERS classes; the class that brought in the most donations would receive a doughnut party.
So, every Friday throughout the month of October, my students collected the donated items from each class, tallying the donations for our local homeless shelter, Fresh Start. Artifacts from this donation drive are included below.
At the end of the month, my students collected the final donations and made the final count: 623 items were donated by our Pryor community to benefit our local homeless shelter. A representative from the shelter came to speak to my students about the impact that their advocacy had made upon the lives of the several families housed in their community.
These actions demonstrate that my students knew about the injustice of poverty and were willing to take initiative to organize a donation drive to benefit a shelter in the local community. Because my students were able to recognize that their voices and actions have value, they were able to get our entire campus involved in their advocacy campaign, thereby benefiting several families in the community at large.
Action-Related: Rummage for a Reason
Each year, my campus participates in an "angel tree," which is a Christmas tree with the names of children in need of basic necessities within our school. In the past, these angels who have sponsored students have been teachers, businesses, churches, or other community members. After teaching my students about poverty and advocacy, however, they wanted to join in, showing they know their actions and their voices are valuable.
Students to be sponsored for the angel tree compose "Dear Santa" letters indicating the items that they most need and want. These letters are then vetted based on high, medium, and low need. Then, they are cross-referenced with the free-and reduced lunch list to ensure that the students chosen to be placed on the angel tree do, in fact, qualify. Sample "Dear Santa" letters are showcased in the PDF below.
In order to determine how many students that my class could sponsor, students engaged in a Rummage for a Reason. My students completed another donation campaign. This time, though, the donations would be sold at a rummage sale outside of our middle school. Proceeds from this rummage sale would be used to sponsor students from the angel tree to procure their needed and wanted items. Sample flyers from this event are included below.
Students from the class showed up at 6:00a.m. on the morning of the rummage sale, ready to advocate for their cause. Throughout the day, students shared the reason for the rummage sale with community patrons, adding on why they were personally invested and how they were seeking to help alleviate some of the effects of poverty for some of our community children. As a result, many community members donated without buying anything from the rummage sale. All in all, $1372 was raised through the rummage sale and donations. Wanting to keep the momentum of advocacy going, students requested that all left-over donations for the rummage sale be donated to SOCKS, a cage-free, no-kill animal shelter and thrift store. Several students and parents took these remaining items to SOCKS at students' request, showing that students were able to take the lead to advocate against injustices.
Images from the rummage sale are included below.
Once students had raised money to sponsor students, they were able to request students from the angel tree to sponsor. To maintain student dignity and confidentiality, students' names were not placed on the tree; instead, students were referred to as Boy 42 or Girl 13, for example. Because my class's rummage sale had been so successful, they were able to choose 26 students off the tree. My class was given a list of needs and wants for each of our 26 angels, a snapshot of which is included below.
With the help of six parent chaperones, I took 21 students of my own to Walmart to shop for the angels they had chosen off of the tree. Each student had a budget of $50 to spend on each of their angels. Having made arrangements prior to shopping with Walmart, all of my students met me at a special register an hour after we met at Walmart to check out our purchases. Images from our shopping trip are included below.
Once we had obtained the gifts for the angels the class was sponsoring, students met in my room after school to wrap and tag the gifts. Images from this portion of the action-related advocacy event are located in the slideshow below.
One of the key sentiments that I have reiterated to my students is that, sometimes, you have to have faith and trust that your voice and actions are valuable. My students lived this sentiment throughout the entire process of Rummage for a Reason -- they never knew the identities of the students they helped. Despite not knowing these students' identities, my class remained positive and passionate about advocating for better resources and opportunities for those living in poverty.
Teacher Reflection
Throughout this unit, as my students learned more and more about the injustices associated with poverty, they developed strong, passionate opinions about them and a stronger desire to step up and take action to benefit both our school and greater community. While their actions did not end poverty, they did show that my students were able to advocate for those affected by poverty through the completion of several action-realted events.
Personally, I was deeply affected by the empathy, compassion, and outrage students expressed while learning about the injustice of poverty. In a world where it seems like so many are quick to pass judgment and blame, my students never did; instead, they sought to take initiative and take action to help better our community, strengthening their voices in the process.
