Poverty in Chicago School Systems Lesson Plan Your Name: Emma Smith Title of Lesson: Disadvantages Students in Poverty

Face in Education Grade: 5th STANDARDS (3.W.2) Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. (PO 2.) Predict the results of an investigation based on observed patterns, not random guessing. LESSON SUMMARY/OVERVIEW The sustainability connection/lens associated with my lesson plan is Poverty. The lesson will be a class project where the students will be given individual bags with different candies in them. Each bag of candy will represent a certain disadvantage faced by students living in poverty. The lesson focuses on values thinking to stem the class discussion and encourage students to talk about how real poverty is in education and how it can effect everyday lives. After students open their bags, each student will be able to choose one of the effects that poverty has on students and write a short paragraph in the form of a public service announcement, to inform people of the consequences from this issue. Lastly, students will analyze the likeliness for this trend to occur based on evidence. Students will begin to think about poverty in education and the effects our values have on our decisions. The goal of this lesson is for students to write about, explore, and analyze the effects poverty has on a students well-being and future. OBJECTIVES Students will be able to identify causes and effects of poverty on students. Students will be able to predict the likeliness of trends to continue to occur in poverty. Students will be able to construct a paragraph about one particular poverty effect and how it is related to education. Students will be able to assess how their own values play a role in decision-making and apply values thinking to situations of students in poverty. ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION Based off of the paragraph the students write I will assess them by how the students apply the information about the effects of poverty on education, use values thinking, and analyze the trends and likeliness for an issue to continue. I will also walk around the class during the lesson asking thought-provoking and engaging questions to check for understanding and comprehension throughout. PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE Students need to know what poverty is. Students need to know what a Title One School is. Students need to know how a school is funded. Students need to know the issues occurring in the Chicago public schools right now. MATERIALS 6 bags of M&Ms with 5 in each (1 of one color and 4 of another) 6 bags of Skittles with 10 in each (6 of one color and 4 of another) 6 bags of jelly beans with 10 in each (9 of one color and 1 of another) 6 bags of Hershey kisses (7 silver and 3 gold)

VOCABULARY/KEY WORDS Poverty- state of being extremely poor Poverty line- estimated minimum level of income needed to secure the necessities of life.

TEACHING PROCEDURES The lesson will begin by showing the video, Poverty in Early Education https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsOU5TmCvVE, which has pictures and music, to accompany facts

about poverty and education for children. Prior to beginning the video, I will introduce the topic and tell students why we are learning about poverty and what they should be thinking about throughout the video. I would say Today, we are going to begin diving into poverty and the real effects it has on students here in America and on their education and values. We are going to start with a short 5 minute video which includes startling statistics about poverty. As you watch, I want you to think about your experiences and how they are different, or similar, to those discussed in the video. You may take notes in your notebooks as well. This video will serve as an introduction to the topic and students may take notes on the different effects poverty can have on students in their notebooks. Then after the video, students will break into groups of 5 people, 6 total groups, to begin the activity. The activity is going to discuss poverty in Chicago school systems in particular and the types of effects it has on the students, their values, and the future trends that will occur from living in poverty. The activity starts by giving each group of students 4 different bags of candy. o The skittles will represent 6 out of 10 African American students living in Poverty in Chicago today. o The M&Ms will represent 1 out of 5 students in Chicago living in poverty today. o The jelly beans will represent 9 out of 10 of the students living in poverty in Chicago, whose parents did not graduate from high school. o The 7 out of 10 Hersheys kisses will represent the children in poverty of Chicago who live in single family homes. o The students will not be told which bag of candies represents which effect or issue. o The students will be given the number of candies described relating to the population. They will work together to decide which bag corresponds to either children from single parent homes, African-American children, ratio of children living in Poverty in Chicago, and percentage of students whose parents did not graduate. The students be able to figure out which bag relates to what by making predictions within their groups and thinking about possible reasons they think this. The only information that they will have is that what all of the bags represent (ex: children from single family homes). As a class, we will tally our predictions and go over the right answers to see how close we were. Then as a class we will go over the answers and gather some of their opinions, thoughts, surprises, etc. Some of the possible opinions or thoughts the students could have is that they are surprised how many students actually live in poverty. Some guiding questions I could ask are: o How does knowing this information make you feel? o Do you think about yourself and your life differently after learning about poverty? o Do you think your background and your parents background has effected your life today and the choices you make? o How do you think your values effect your choices? How could students of poverty benefit from thinking with values thinking? After this portion, students will work individually to apply their knowledge about the topic from the day, and from the three other lessons thus far, to write a public service announcement. This mini-writing will have students identify an effect poverty can have on students and then they will also have to analyze the likeliness for the trend to continue. Students will have to apply their own values on education, then think about the students values in Chicago. Students will have 30 minutes to write a 5 sentence PSA. Example PSA: Currently, poverty is an issue effecting our entire world. As Americans, we are shielded to the poverty happening in our own country. Chicago is a city struggling with an extreme poverty issue that is turning into an education issue for students. Children are the future of our country and we need to

help them achieve success by supporting them and valuing education. Take a stand and support the students of Chicago by spreading awareness to others because we can make a difference. I will share my example public service announcement with the students and then give them a worksheet to fill out and write their own. Public Service Announcement Template

Directions: You will have 30 minutes to write a 5 sentence minimum PSA regarding one of the topics from this weeks Poverty unit. You want your announcement to inform, inspire, and show your stance on the topic. You could talk about Poverty within the education system, how school districts are funded, or even the types of ways you can support change, for example.

With poverty being the main focus in their lives, and their parents usually not graduating high school, students will have to assess if these students values are the same as their own. Students may share their announcement at the end of the lesson if they choose. RESOURCES YouTube. (2014). Poverty in Early Education. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsOU5TmCvVE. WAYS OF THINKING CONNECTION Values thinking is the ability to be able to examine the effects our values have on our decisions. The influence of values on our decisions is often unconscious, and people tend not to think about their values. Sometimes people dont know exactly what their values are, or why they have them. The lesson plan has students think about their own values on education that they may not have assessed in their lives. For example, if your parents value school, you most likely value education as well. In the lesson, students are asked to examine the value of education to students in poverty. With the facts and statistics showing that 9 out of 10 students parents that live in poverty in Chicago did not graduate from high school, students must analyze the values of these children. Once the students think about the education problem and poverty issues based on values, I believe they will have a deeper understanding as to why poverty is a trend and it is hard to overcome.