Advocacy: Conversation-related Lesson Plan

Objective: Students will be able to apply their newfound knowledge of the historical relations
between the Dominican Republic and Haiti to determine potential root causes and solutions to
the issue of poverty across bateyes.

Student-friendly Objective: Today, I will learn about the relationship between the Dominican
Republic and Haiti and think about reasons and ways to get rid of the poverty in bateyes.

Do Now: Prompt students to craft a series of reasons why they think that poverty pervades in
certain communities. As a whole group, students will share their hypotheses while one student
writes down such reasons. Ultimately, such a Do Now will allow students to enter the
PowerPoint presentation with the lens necessary to better comprehend the historical relations
between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Introduction to Historical Content: While there are a wealth of literary texts available
regarding the historical tensions between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the majority of
them are not age-appropriate for my students. Thus, I will share with them an annotated
PowerPoint presentation, in order for them to develop a basic understanding of how the
Dominican Republic and Haiti have related with one another across many decades. Also, such a
presentation will introduce my students to how such tense relations between the two countries
have directly shaped life in bateyes.

Group Work (Table Groups): Students will have the opportunity to more deeply analyze and
hypothesize the root causes and potential solutions to address the issue of poverty in bateyes.
Students will have a total of fifteen minutes to engage in such conversations and record their
ideas amongst the members of their assigned tables. Note: Students will have colored copies of
the images within the teacher-led PowerPoint presentation to use as evidence to support their
ideas.

Concluding Reflections: Students will be asked to respond to the following questions:

 What is the biggest issue we have learned about that exists within bateyes?
 Why do you think that such an issue is worth talking about?
 What is one thing we can do to address such an issue in the community of Batey
Libertad?