Wednesday 19th April:
What makes a "good" life?
Learning Intention: We are learning to understand what poverty is and what makes a good life.
Success Criteria: I can use my own words to explain what it means to live in poverty, and can reflect on what I believe makes a good life.
Success Criteria: I can use my own words to explain what it means to live in poverty, and can reflect on what I believe makes a good life.
Think, Pair, Share: Comments or reflections on this video. What did it make you think about?
In your small group, read through the cards and make a decision about how necessary each item is for a person to have a good life. For each card, think: "How important is this to have a good life?" Discuss your thoughts with your group members, and decide where to place your card along a "Good Life Road" - an imaginary line from ‘very important’ and ‘not important at all’.
Once finished, be prepared to share with the whole class.
Questions to consider:
- What did groups have in common? What was different?
- Would all classes have the same result? At Mandama? In Geelong? Australia? Other countries?
- How do we know if we have a "good" life? What does this actually mean?
- Do our lives actually reflect what we say is important?
- What connections can we make between the thinking in this activity, the picture book from this morning, and the people in the video we watched earlier?
- Do you think it is possible for people living in poverty to be able to have a good life?
Journal Entry 1: "What makes a 'good' life?"
Reflect on what you believe makes a "good" life. You may also like to record your feelings about today's session, or answers to any of the discussion questions above.
Friday 21st April:
How many people are affected by poverty?
Learning Intention: We are learning to understand how big a problem poverty is.
Success Criteria: I can use our class as a model of the world's population to explain how many people in the world are affected by extreme poverty.
Success Criteria: I can use our class as a model of the world's population to explain how many people in the world are affected by extreme poverty.
Whole class activity to visualise global statistics about hunger, access to water and sanitation, and resource distribution.
Small group discussion (using talking chips)
- How do you feel about that activity? What did it make you think about?
- What surprised you? What did you learn?
- How did those sitting feel when given their 5 tokens? How did those standing feel?
- Did anyone think about how they were going to share the tokens?
- Did anyone think about what they could do to get some of the larger pile of tokens?
- Would those standing have felt any different if they did not know that the others only got 5 to share?
Whole class discussion:
- What things are happening currently in the world that may be related to this unequal distribution? What links or connections could we make?
- It has been argued that this level of inequality is at the core of much of the world's conflict. What do you think about this?
- What might happen because of these inequalities?
- Is there anything we can do?
Journal Entry 2: "How many people are affected by poverty?"
Reflect on today's session, especially when we pretended our class was the whole world and looked at how many people were affected by poverty. Write about how you felt during this session, what you learnt or are thinking about, or answer any of the questions from today's discussions above.
Wednesday 26th April: What is Poverty?
Learning Intention: We are learning to understand exactly what poverty is.
Success Criteria: I can explain what it means to live in extreme poverty, using specific stories as evidence.
Success Criteria: I can explain what it means to live in extreme poverty, using specific stories as evidence.
Imagine what your average day would be like if you were someone living in extreme poverty.
What are your needs and wants? What do you do and think about?
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Fishbowl discussion:
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Read these statements from homeless people, below or around the classroom.
Save a photo of the two most interesting, meaningful or surprising statements that stand out to you.
Save a photo of the two most interesting, meaningful or surprising statements that stand out to you.
Journal Entry 3: "Poverty is..."
Include your photos of the two statements and why you chose them.
- How does it feel to read these statements?
- Why did you choose those two statements?
- What do your statements tell you about the life of a person experiencing poverty?
Thursday 27th April: The Web of Poverty
Learning Intention: We are learning to understand why poverty occurs.
Success Criteria: I can explain some of the causes of poverty, and how these causes are connected.
Success Criteria: I can explain some of the causes of poverty, and how these causes are connected.
What causes poverty? Why are people poor? Are they lazy, unlucky, or perhaps made bad decisions at the wrong time? Actually there are other factors at play. Poverty can be a complex web of causes and consequences.
Brainstorm: Reflecting on the stories we have heard so far about poverty, what do you think some of the main causes are?
Brainstorm: Reflecting on the stories we have heard so far about poverty, what do you think some of the main causes are?
Read your web of poverty card with your partner, and discuss what it means. Be prepared to share with the whole class, using your own words. As you listen to others share, start thinking about the connections you can make between the cause of poverty on your card, and the rest of the cards.
Let's explore the connections between these causes.
Small group discussion:
Reflecting on the web we have created, use talking chips to discuss:
- Is there one cause that is more important than any other?
- What does this activity tell us about poverty?
- What does it make you think about poverty?
Small group discussion:
Reflecting on the web we have created, use talking chips to discuss:
- Is there one cause that is more important than any other?
- What does this activity tell us about poverty?
- What does it make you think about poverty?
Journal entry 4: "The Web of Poverty"
Reflect on today's session. Which were the most interesting, surprising or obvious causes of poverty, for you? Which ones do you think are the biggest issues, and the hardest to address? What did you notice in the web of poverty task? What were some of the connections you noticed, between the causes and consequences of poverty?
Reflect on today's session. Which were the most interesting, surprising or obvious causes of poverty, for you? Which ones do you think are the biggest issues, and the hardest to address? What did you notice in the web of poverty task? What were some of the connections you noticed, between the causes and consequences of poverty?
Thursday 11th May:
What does poverty have to do with me?
Learning Intention: We are learning to understand how poverty impacts on our lives.
Success Criteria: I can reflect on the way my own life is touched by poverty.
Success Criteria: I can reflect on the way my own life is touched by poverty.
Think about how they may be connected to people or countries who they think are living in poverty, or whether you yourselves are affected by poverty in any way. Complete this quick survey.
Share responses (anonymously, with permission).
Next: Everyone will get a card which represents part of someone's story. You need to move around the room and see what is on other people’s cards, and then try to form groups of four with four cards that you think could go together. You will need to make up a situation or story about how these cards go together, and be prepared to share.
Now, let's look at what the actual stories are... Find your actual group and see if you can work out the true story.
Next: Everyone will get a card which represents part of someone's story. You need to move around the room and see what is on other people’s cards, and then try to form groups of four with four cards that you think could go together. You will need to make up a situation or story about how these cards go together, and be prepared to share.
Now, let's look at what the actual stories are... Find your actual group and see if you can work out the true story.
Journal Entry 5: “What does poverty have to do with me?”
Think about the survey at the start of the lesson... would you change or add more to your answer now? Can you make some more connections between your life and people who live in poverty? Create a page in your journal to reflect on your thinking during today's task, and what you think poverty has to do with you.
Think about the survey at the start of the lesson... would you change or add more to your answer now? Can you make some more connections between your life and people who live in poverty? Create a page in your journal to reflect on your thinking during today's task, and what you think poverty has to do with you.
Friday 12th May:
How do people living in extreme poverty survive?
Learning Intention: We are learning to understand the challenges faced by people living in extreme poverty.
Success Criteria: I can investigate how to survive on $1.25 per day, and reflect on the challenges involved.
Success Criteria: I can investigate how to survive on $1.25 per day, and reflect on the challenges involved.
How is poverty measured? It is measured around the world in different ways. Sometimes governments or other organisations will talk about people ‘living below the poverty line.’
Some people may think this is not as bad as it sounds, as they may have travelled overseas and found that buying food or other goods in that country seems to be very cheap to them. However, these calculations use a technique called purchasing power parity (PPP), which means they take into account the difference in prices between countries. When we say that 1.4 billion people in the world are living on less than $1.25 a day, we mean that they are living on the equivalent of what $1.25 would buy you in the USA (or Australia, as our currency and living costs are similar), not what it would buy you in Indonesia, or Zimbabwe, or any other country. This is an incredibly small amount of income on which to survive.
In your family you are going to explore what it's like to try to survive for a week, with the spending limit of $1.25 per person per day. You can combine your income, which means for a group of four you would have $35 available for seven days ($1.25 x 4 x 7 = $35).
Begin by creating a list of what your family would need to survive for a week, including meals for everyone, water, energy and transport. Costs for all of these items and some basic groceries, are listed in the table below. You could also use the Coles, Woolworths or Aldi website to find other costs.
Once you have worked out what you would spend your money on, to survive for a week, you are ready to create a poster to display your work.
Remember: I will be observing and assessing your contribution to your group, and the quality of your group's poster and presentation.
Begin by creating a list of what your family would need to survive for a week, including meals for everyone, water, energy and transport. Costs for all of these items and some basic groceries, are listed in the table below. You could also use the Coles, Woolworths or Aldi website to find other costs.
Once you have worked out what you would spend your money on, to survive for a week, you are ready to create a poster to display your work.
- You will have one A3 coloured page to present your work.
- Make it look good so we can put it on display in the open area, and make people stop, read it and think.
- Include:
- how many people are in your family
- pictures of items you would buy, and how much they cost.
- heading and questions or prompts to make readers think. eg: "Could you live off a $1.25 a day?"
- A reflection on how you went with surviving for a week, the challenges you faced and what life would actually be like to live in this kind of poverty. To make your reflection high quality, you could use the journal entry questions below for ideas of what to include.
- how many people are in your family
Remember: I will be observing and assessing your contribution to your group, and the quality of your group's poster and presentation.
Journal Entry 6: "Living in extreme poverty". Reflect on what life would be like if you only had $1.25 to live off each day. Think about:
- What are some things you might have to sacrifice or go without?
- In this task there were some costs that we didn't include... like medical help, education and entertainment. What would your life be like if you had little or no money to spend on these things?
- What do you think would make a bit difference to your situation if you only lived off a small amount of money?
- How does this activity make you feel about your own life and living situation?
Wednesday 16th May:
Homelessness in Australia - Graphing the Facts
Learning Intention: We are exploring statistics about homelessness in Australia.
Success Criteria: I can represent statistics about homelessness in Australia in a way that is interesting, accurate and easy to understand.
Success Criteria: I can represent statistics about homelessness in Australia in a way that is interesting, accurate and easy to understand.
Today you are going to create an infographic about homelessness in Australia.
An infographic is a way to represent data that is interesting, accurate and easy to understand.
You could make your infographic digitally, by hand, or using a combination of both.
Have a look at these three detailed, creative and informative infographics:
An infographic is a way to represent data that is interesting, accurate and easy to understand.
You could make your infographic digitally, by hand, or using a combination of both.
Have a look at these three detailed, creative and informative infographics:
Your final product should be one full A4 page in size (you may print one page only).
Remember... Success Criteria: I can represent statistics about homelessness in Australia
in a way that is interesting, accurate and easy to understand.
I will be observing your EFFORT and taking notes about your FOCUS and PERSISTENCE today,
as well as the quality of the final product.
Once completed, a copy of your final infographic will go in your Discovery Journal.
There is data below for you to browse and choose from.You don't need to use all of it!
Just choose something that is interesting to you and start there.
Journal Entry 7: "Homelessness in Australia".
Reflect on the infographic task - what facts did you learn that you found surprising, shocking or interesting? Include a quality photo of your infographic on this page of your journal.
Reflect on the infographic task - what facts did you learn that you found surprising, shocking or interesting? Include a quality photo of your infographic on this page of your journal.
Week 6 & 7: Research Project
Which area of this unit has been the most interesting to you?
Here is your chance to dig a little deeper and investigate an area of your choice.
Here is your chance to dig a little deeper and investigate an area of your choice.
Journal Entry 8: "Reflecting on my project".
1. A photo of your assessment rubric and
2. A comment to go with your assessment, about how you felt you went.
3. A paragraph reflecting on what you learnt in this project. You might like to include:
- What you found interesting.
- What you found surprising or shocking.
- How this project made you feel.
Click here for a sneak peek inside classrooms around the world. How are they similar or different to our classroom?
Check out this article: incredible generosity of a woman buying houses for the homeless.
Check out these AMAZING photos of children playing all around the world.