What Does Poverty Look Like?

: A Social Studies Lesson Plan

Date: 12/2/2010

Grade Level/Subject: 5/Social Studies

Prerequisite Knowledge: Students must have experience with making visual observations and know the
criteria that is essential to making a good visual observation.

Approximate Time: 40-50 minutes

Conceptual Goal: Students will learn to identify characteristics of those that are impoverished and
explain how misconceptions lead to a skewed, media-based perception of reality.

Student Behavioral Objectives/Student Outcomes:

 Students will demonstrate understanding of media-based knowledge
 Students will compare their personal perspective of individuals who are in different economic
conditions to others
 Students will reflect on stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination related to poverty and
homelessness
 Students will explore the characteristics of poverty as a culture

Language Objectives:
 Students will be talk in small and large group settings in order to state their opinions and listen
to the opinions of others
 Students will questions and answer questions using proper etiquette and appropriate
conversational phrases such as, “I agree…” “I disagree with you because…” “You make a
worthwhile point, but…” “I understand where you are coming from, however,…” etc.
 Students will be able to recognize and define these words: poverty, homelessness,
impoverished, economically disadvantaged, discrimination, stereotype

Illinois State Standards:

2.A. Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others.
2A.2a. Identify verbal, physical, and situational cues that indicate how others may feel.
2.B. Recognize individual and group similarities and differences.
2B.2a. Identify differences among and contributions of various social and cultural
groups.
15. A. Understand how different economic systems operate in the exchange, production,
distribution and consumption of goods and services.
15.A.2b Describe how incomes reflect choices made about education and careers
15.A.2c Describe unemployment.
18. A. Compare characteristics of culture as reflected in language, literature, the arts, traditions
and institutions.
18.A.2 Explain ways in which language, stories, folk tales, music, media and artistic
creations serve as expressions of culture.

NCSS Standards:
1. Culture
 Human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture.
 Identify the elements of culture as well as similarities and differences among groups
 2. Personal Identity
 Personal identity is shaped by an individual’s culture, by groups, by institutional
influences, and by lived experiences shared with people inside and outside the
individual’s own culture throughout her or his development
 Personal identity in the context of families, peers, schools, and communities

3. Civil Ideals
 Learning how to apply civic ideals as part of citizen action is essential to the exercise of
democratic freedoms and the pursuit of the common good

Materials/Resources/Technology:
 Writing Utensil (one for each student)
 10 pictures of poverty (both media and realistic and including different ethnicities,
gender, degree of cleanliness, physical stature, jobs)
 Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
 Spiral Notebook/Notebook paper (one for each student)
 List of social studies tables (groups of 3-4)

Implementation
Before (30 minutes)
The teacher should have the students go to their assigned social studies tables (or work with
their tables if they are already arranged that way in the classroom.) quickly and quietly. The teacher will
say to the students. “Class, today we are going to look at a problem in our community. We decided
earlier in the week that a community is a group of people who live and work together in a common
location. We have talked about what our community is and what groups come together to make up our
community earlier in the week. Can anyone remember what groups we talked about?” The teacher
should refer to the list of groups that were given in the first lesson of the unit. If the students cannot
recall any or some of the groups, the teacher should read off of the list to reactivate their memories. As
the teacher is calling on students to name a community group, she should be writing them on the board
to create a visual for the students. “Now, we are going to take a closer look at one of these groups. You
see, some of these groups are not treated with the same benefits and attitudes as the others. Some face
injustices or unfairness. We are going to look at the injustice of those who live in poverty today. We
have it labeled as a group in our community, but we used a name for the group. Does anyone know
what the word poverty means?” The teacher will call on a couple of students in order to gain sense of
what the children seem to know about poverty. If the students are struggling the teacher can help to
guide them toward understanding the word by saying that poverty also can be called neediness.

Learning Expected Student Responses Teacher Response to Student Reactions

Activities/Questions (Responses and Questions that Push Student
(Teacher Initiated) Thinking)
Does anyone know “Poverty is people who can’t go What does it show if someone cannot go on a
what the word poverty on the field trips and can’t do field trip at school? What is it that they don’t
means?” sports teams after school.” have that makes them not be able to go? Could
someone just chose not to go on a field trip or
join a sports team because they don’t want to?
What if they have other commitments or have a
medical condition that allows them not to go?
Does that always means that someone lives in
poverty because they chose not to do those
things?
 Does anyone know “It means being poor.” What does being poor mean? What don’t you
what the word poverty have a lot of if you are poor? You’re right, you
means?” don’t have a lot of money if you are poor, but I
did not have a lot of money when I was in
college and I do not have a large amount of
money now, but I am not living in poverty.
When someone does not have a lot of money,
what does it means they cannot afford? What is
it that money tells about a person?
Does anyone know “It means that people are living If someone cannot afford a house and food they
what the word poverty with no houses or food.” may be considered to live in poverty, but I want
means?” you to think about this. What if someone is
borrowing money from their parents to have a
house and buy food? They are, then, not living
in poverty? What does it look like to not be able
to afford a house and food? Do all of these
people look the same way? Do all people in
living in poverty look the same way?
Does anyone know “Poverty means that you have to Does everyone have to get their food from a
what the word poverty beg for food all of the time grocery store? Where else can you get food
means?” because you don’t have money from? If you don’t get food from a grocery
to go to the grocery store.” stores does that mean that you have to beg for
food? Sometimes people at lunch beg you for
food because they really want to taste it or find
what you have in your lunchbox to look
delicious, but that does not mean that those kids
live in poverty, does it?

“You all have an idea in your head of what poverty means and some of the examples of things that you
gave me can be indicators of poverty, but remember, not all of these things are necessarily true of a
person who lives in poverty. Poverty is a state of living where a person or family does not have a usual
or necessary amount of money or material possessions in order to survive on their own. I know that
you all are probably wondering what it means for someone to not be able to afford a “usual” amount
of possessions. Well, in the United States they put all of the people together and come up with an
amount of money that is the least that someone can have in order to be able to survive in this country.
They look at everyone in the United States and the cost of things that are in this country and then make
a ‘poverty guideline’ or an amount of money that shows that you are not living in poverty. Right now, if
someone uses less than $10,000 a year, they are considered to live in poverty. That means that they
cannot afford basic things like food, shelter, education, etc. in this country. Now, I am going to pass out
some pictures of poverty. With your groups, I want you to identify the people that live in poverty and set
them in a group on one of the desks. I want you to use your good observation taking skills in order to
pick out the pictures that you think represent an impoverished person, or someone who is living in
poverty. I want you to make sure that you and your group has a reason for choosing a specific picture.
For example, let’s say I pick up this picture with my group. I would look at this picture and say, well I
think that this person looks like they are living in poverty because they are sitting on the street and look
kind of dirty. I also think that this person is living in poverty because their clothes look dirty and like
they haven’t been folded or washed in a long time. I would have to make sure that my groups members
agree with me or listen to them if they have a different opinion. Does everyone understand?” The
teacher will help to clarify any questions that the students have during this time. The teacher will then
set the expectations. “Remember, when we are working in groups it is important that we are sharing,
talking in inside voices, cooperating and be responsible. This means that everyone should be focused
on their table’s work and not talking about anything other than social studies because this is social
studies time. If you have a question, raise your hand and I will come around and help you. You should
not be walking around the classroom. You should be at your table working with your group members
the entire time. At the end, we are going to discuss these pictures, so remember, I want you and your
group members to not only make a group of those you think are living in poverty, but also be able to
tell me WHY you think that.” The teacher will pass out the pictures and let the children work in their
groups. After the discussion is done, the teacher should ask the students to identify the pictures that
were of people living in poverty. The teacher will call on students to share their choices and reasoning.
Depending on the choice of media/realistic photo the teacher’s response could include:

Learning Expected Teacher Response to Student Reactions (Responses and

Activities/Questions Student Questions that Push Student Thinking)
(Teacher Initiated) Responses
That is not a picture of Really? What made you think that this person was living in poverty? Just
a person in poverty, but because someone is doing ____ does that mean that they are
it is actually an actor necessarily living in poverty? Where did you get the idea that
from a movie/model that is what poverty looks like? A lot of times we get what we
from a magazine know from T.V., movies, radio and magazines, but these things
are far from what reality is. What are some things that the media
always associates with poverty? Just because people cannot
afford food or a house or education does that mean that they
have to look differently? What if they are getting help from
others, would they look like that?
That is a picture of Yes! What made you think that that person is living in poverty? Do
someone in poverty. all people who live in poverty have to have these characteristic?
What made you chose this photo over other photos in the stack?
What do you know about people living in poverty and how that
is reflected in this picture? Do you think that it is safe to assume
that anyone who looks like this has to be impoverished? Could
an impoverished person look like another one of these photos?

After discussion on the pictures, the teacher will ask the students, "Why do you think I chose this
beginning activity?" The teacher will discuss with the students that outward appearance and the things
that people have are not always valid indicators of a person and their living situation. The teacher will
ask students to share what their feelings are about what they realized about judging the status of a
person based on stereotypes of appearance. The teacher should use this discussion as a chance for
students to reflect upon stereotypes of different economic classes and how this is happens in their
community. The teacher should also encourage students to think about how this affects their community
by asking the question, “If we have these stereotypes, how do you think we are treating people living in
poverty in our community? Do you think that this is helping or hurting?” The teacher will tell the
students to return to their seats, so that they can read about another instance of poverty.

During (30 minutes)

The teacher will read the story Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting to the students. The teacher should
state the expectations for story reading, such as, “I am going to read this story about a little boy who is
facing poverty. While I am reading this story, I want you to think of the answers to these questions.
What does living in poverty mean for this little boy? Does he share any of the same looks that the
people in the pictures did? What could people do to help this little boy? How would you interact with
him if you knew this little boy?(The teacher should be writing these questions on the board as she is
talking about them.) I also want you to think about how the story is going to end. I am going to stop
reading right before the end of the story. I will then have you write your own ending to the story. While
I am reading, though, I do not want anyone to be writing. I want you to sit and listen quietly to the story
and think about the answers to the questions that I just wrote on the board.” The teacher should stop
three pages before the book is over. The teacher should ask some of the following questions before
having the students write their alternative endings:
 What do you think the little boy was feeling throughout this entire book?
 How did other people treat this little boy?
 What made this little boy impoverished?
 Where there any instances of stereotyping in this book?
 What could the people around him have done to help him?
After some discussion, the teacher should instruct the students to write their own endings to the story.
The teacher should remind the students that the ending could be positive and happy or it may be
negative and sad. After the students have finished, the teacher should have them share some of their
endings to the story. The teacher should direct students to identify stereotypes or discrimination
included in the created endings. The teacher should then read the actual ending of the story to the
students.

After (10 minutes)

The teacher should review the stereotypes that were encountered in previous discussion and
show how these things are carried out and advocated in literature, media and conversation. The teacher
should remind the students that poverty does not look the same for everyone and does not mean that a
person must look devastated, inadequate and incapable of being normal human being. The teacher
should wrap up the lesson by having students share their thoughts on how they can fix stereotypes that
they have in order to be more fair to those living in poverty. The teacher should also encourage the
students to explain what their job as a community member might be in order to help others who need it.
The teacher should first have the students discuss the solutions and answer to these questions with their
small groups and then hold a final class discussion to check and see how the thinking has progressed
throughout the lesson. Finally, the teacher should encourage the students to continue to think about
these ideas they have about helping the community, as they may come in handy when developing an aid
program at the end of the unit.

Assessment
The students will be assessed in three ways during this lesson. First, the students will be
assessed informally by the teacher. The teacher will walk around the classroom during discussion and
use visual and auditory cues in order to assess the participation of the students. The students will also be
informally assessed on their participation during whole group discussion. The students will be formally
assessed on the written work that is turned in after the lesson. The students will be assessed on their
thought process and effort in coming up with the ending of a story. The teacher will not grade the paper
for writing skills, but rather for effort and thought process. Finally, the summative assessment will
include the completion of the following question for homework:
 Why do you think the author chose to write Fly Away Home? What does she want the
audience to know or feel? How did the book make you feel?
The students will be assessed based on their effort to answer the question and the thought processes that
go into the answers that the students write down.
NOTE: The teacher uses visual cues and comprehensible input (review of prior knowledge, picture,
writing on board, simple, short questions, etc.) in order to accommodate for the ELL students that are in
the classroom. The teacher also includes a picture book as a way for the students to follow along with
the story even if they do not understand each word that is spoken. The teacher also allows for much
discussion throughout this lesson where students are able to speak in their own language if that is what
is comfortable. They can also be matched with other ELL students or native speakers as a way to help
them learn the language. Finally, the teacher provides the definition for many words during the lesson
to help them learn the specific vocabulary that is used during this unit.