Jordan

Henika
One Computer One Project

Students will be able to:

1. Respect others through exposure to a life different than their own
2. Explore opportunities to bring social change both locally and nationally
3. List and understand reasons how/why someone might end up homeless
4. Interpret International documents and the issues they address
5. 5. Empathize with children who live in poverty while brainstorming ideas on
how they can help solve the problem



Essential Questions


1. How can poverty affect the future of a child in the United States
2. Who is in charge of the protection of children who are living in poverty
3. What are some things you can do to help the fight against poverty in
America?
Standards
NETS-T
4. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making Students use critical
thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and
resources.

a. Identify and define authentic problems and
Significant questions for investigation

b. Plan and manage activities to develop a solution
or complete a project

d. Use multiple processes and diverse
Perspectives to explore alternative solutions


Assesment:
Attention Grabber:
We would start class with a journal entry, the students would be asked to write for
3-5 minutes about the favorite things they own in their house. This will get their
minds thinking about material things that they own and will prepare them for the
class discussion on poverty and homelessness in America.


Lesson:

First we will break the students up into 4 or 5 small groups depending on the
number of students present of the day of the discussion, we are aiming to have
about 4-5 members in each group. Once they are separated we will write the word
HOME on the board, I will ask the class to take a minute to discuss with their groups
what that word means to them.

After giving the class a minute to discuss we will ask them to give us some words
they used to describe home and will make a word web on the board with their
answers

Once we have a solid word chart for the word home we will ask the students to then
list some activities they do at home. We are looking for answers like eat, sleep,
watch tv etc

After giving the students a minute or two to give us some activities we will ask them
to picture themselves getting ready for school that day and have them imagine
having to do those activities in front of strangers at a shelter or in a car because that
is where they live. We would then ask the discussion question: What would it feel
like to get ready under these circumstances? Do you think it would be hard to
accomplish your goals or concentrate on them under these situations?

Next we will write the word Poverty on the board, we will again give the students a
minute to discuss in their groups words or emotions that come with the word. After
taking some suggestions on feelings and words that go with poverty we will ask:
What are some characteristics of Poverty? Can you tell if someone is poor, if so,
how?

We will then take a minute to explain that poverty can be hidden and that someone
in our classroom or in our group of friends may be suffering from poverty and we
may never know. It is important for the students to understand we need to tread
carefully and respectfully around the topic of poverty because we never know who
is affected.


Next we will pass out copies of a simplified version of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child from 1989.

We will explain to the students that this was the first legally binding document to
incorporate international rights to children.

We will then explain that the convention vows that all children under the age of 18
should be protected from harm.

We will then put up this website on the one computer and student will take turns
reading.
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/plainchild.asp


The students will then be asked to take a couple minutes, look at the different
principles agreed upon in the convention and ask them What are some examples
you may have seen locally or in your lifetime of a child in poverty and explain which
principles were being infringed upon based on the convention.


After discussing different examples for a few minutes we will ask the students to
brainstorm some ideas on how to fight against poverty. After giving them a minute
or so to think we will ask if anyone wants to give us an example. After taking some
examples and writing them on the board we will end and discuss the avenue of
discussion as a teaching technique.


Closer

For homework we will have the kids write a one page response to the question: Why
is poverty and homelessness a problem for youth in America?