Red Nose Day Pre-VFT Activity

Transcription

1 Red Nose Day Pre-VFT Activity Overview The following activities are designed to build awareness of poverty and related issues and to introduce the idea of social responsibility to students. They are intended to allow students to freely discuss the topics, explore what it means to get involved in a social issue. To strengthen understanding and awareness of poverty and issues around poverty, students will create mind maps and engage in guided discussions. They will learn facts about people in need in their communities and around the world. About Red Nose Day Red Nose Day is on a mission to end child poverty, one nose at a time. For more than 25 years, Red Nose Day has driven positive change through the power of entertainment, raising awareness and over $1 billion to make a difference for children who need it most. Money raised supports projects that ensure children who are living in poverty are safe, healthy and educated. To learn more, visit Target Audience Elementary and Middle School Students in Grades 3-8 Focus Questions What is poverty? o What are some of the root causes of poverty? What are some effects of poverty on individuals? On families? On neighborhoods and towns? o For older students, expand the conversation to include effects at the local, national, and global levels. What is the difference between a want and a need? What is the relationship between wants and needs and the lack of resources? What can be done to fight poverty? How can individuals and organizations help lift people out of poverty? What can I do? Objectives Students will: Define poverty Explain some causes and effects of poverty Explain the differences between wants and needs Describe the relationship between wants and needs and poverty Examine individuals and organizations assisting people and communities in need Implement a strategy or action plan that is designed to raise awareness or contribute to the fight against poverty Standards These activities could be used in conjunction with instruction that addresses the following College, Career, and Civic Life C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards and Common Core English Language Arts Anchor Standards. College, Career, and Civic Life C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards:

2 Economics By the end of grade 5: D2.Eco Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make. By the end of grade 8: D2.Eco Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society. Taking Informed Action By the end of grade 5: D Draw on disciplinary concepts to explain the challenges people have faced and opportunities they have created, in addressing local, regional, and global problems at various times and places. D Explain different strategies and approaches students and others could take in working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and predict possible results of their actions By the end of grade 8 D Draw on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem. D Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes. Common Core English Language Arts Anchor Standards: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7) Comprehension and Collaboration: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1) Materials Maslow s Hierarchy of Needs chart Mind Map Procedure

3 Note for the Teacher: These activities address sensitive topics that may have personal relevance to your students. Your students appreciate the safe and respectful environment you have established in your classroom. To maintain that feeling of safety and respect, please consider your students needs, your class profile, and your school community before introducing these activities. The following are strategies for engaging your students in learning activities about poverty: Provide opportunities for your students to contribute ideas in writing, rather than sharing verbally. Avoid asking students to discuss personal experiences with poverty, homelessness, or hunger. If you expect that conversations about poverty may elicit strong or negative feelings for a student, consider speaking with him or her in advance. As always, please be sensitive to individual students unique situations and follow your school or district s policy when it comes to the collection of personal information related to minors. 1. Distribute the mind map 1 included with this activity. Ask students to fill in on their own as much information about poverty as they can. (Note: For younger students, consider adding prompts to help them get started, such as Who? Why? and Where? Younger students may be more comfortable drawing pictures to record their thoughts and ideas.) 2. Allow students a few minutes to share their mind maps with a partner and then with the class. 3. Take a few minutes to discuss with your students what some of our attitudes about people in need might be. Ask them to think about how our attitudes about economically disadvantaged people in our neighborhoods compares to people in the same situation in other countries. Do we have any biases against people in poverty? Do we feel the same about people living in poverty in the United States as we do with those in other countries? 4. Share some statistics about poverty with your students. a. Poverty is the lack of adequate resources to be able to provide the basic needs of food, water, clothing, housing, medical care, and education 2. NOTE: you may want to also discuss relative versus absolute poverty with your students as well as extreme poverty. Additional definitions are available at the same site ( and elsewhere on the Internet. b. Around the world 3 : i. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. ii. 1.6 billion people a quarter of humanity live without electricity. iii. The number of children in the world is about 2.2 billion. The number in poverty is 1 billion (every second child). iv. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. c. In the U.S. 4 : 1 A mind map (also called a concept map) is a graphic organizer created by students to help them access prior knowledge about a topic. Mind maps can also help students identify connections between concepts and ideas. 2 Definition provided by the Poverty Program 3 Shah, Anup. Poverty Facts and Stats. Global Issues. 07 Jan Web. 15 Mar U.S. Census Bureau statistics

4 i. In 2014, the official poverty rate was 14.8 percent. There were 46.7 million people in poverty. Neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from the 2013 estimates. ii. The poverty rate in 2014 for children under age 18 was 21.1 percent (one in five children). The poverty rate for people aged 18 to 64 was 13.5 percent, while the rate for people aged 65 and older was 10.0 percent. iii. The weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2014 was $24,230. d. Additional resources for further information and statistics: i. Poverty Program (definitions, statistics) ii. Mapping Poverty in America (clickable map of every U.S. county) iii. Measuring Us against the World (graphs comparing the U.S. and other countries) e. Ask which information surprised them the most and why. 5. Introduce the idea of wants versus needs to your students. a. For younger students: Show pictures of basic needs, such as food and water, and items they may want, such as toys, books, and computer games. Ask students to identify each as a want or a need. Ask students to think about how they feel at school if they forget to eat breakfast or lunch? Can they concentrate on learning? How might that affect them if they were doing a job? What if they were trying to find a job? If a child s parent or guardian does not have a job, how might that affect the student s ability to do well in school? For further information and activities, consider these optional resources: i. ii. b. For older students: Display Maslow s hierarchy of needs 5 and have a brief discussion about what items or activities might fall into each category. Ask students, What happens when someone does not have enough food to eat or a place to live? How might that affect their self-esteem? Their ability to get a job? Their relationships? (Note: An optional sample of Maslow s hierarchy is included. You may want to conduct an Internet search to find other samples that are appropriate for your students.) For more information you may want to visit this website: i Ask students if they have any ideas about what the causes of poverty. Encourage them to consider their local community and state. Encourage older students to consider root causes of poverty at the national and international levels. Engage students in a discussion. Explain that there is no single cause of poverty. Poverty may be the result of one or more of the following (include as many causes as are appropriate for your students): Being born into poverty War Natural disasters Unemployment or under-employment 5 Maslow's hierarchy of needs describes how people have certain needs, and how as these needs are satisfied, people are able to strive to fulfill other needs. The hierarchy moves from basic needs to more social and intellectual needs.

5 Lack of education or access to education Cutbacks in social services Spousal abuse Substance abuse Trade agreements that reward countries that provide inexpensive labor Lack of child care or family care Lack of transportation Lack of access to health care Lack of political power; government corruption Prejudice and inequality Overpopulation Disease Mental health issues 7. Explain that knowing why a problem happens can sometimes help us understand ways to solve it. Discuss with your students how people help one another. Ask them to think about a time they needed help. Who helped them? Now direct the conversation to who might help people living in poverty. People who are engaged in the community might volunteer for an organization that helps others in need. They might donate time or money to a cause. a. Social engagement is getting together with others in the community to solve a problem. b. Community involvement means supporting people in the community by participating in events, visiting local stores, or joining a club. 8. With students help, create a list on the board of organizations that might help out. Explain to students that Red Nose Day is a campaign designed to bring people together to have fun, raise awareness of the issues and help lift children and their families out of poverty. It has been active in the UK for over 30 years and many families participate to raise money to help people in need. People participate in a wide and creative variety of ways, all designed to raise a laugh and help raise money. Encourage students to think about ways they and their families can get involved.

6 Maslow s Hierarchy of Needs Source: