English Teacher Timothy Zabinski
What is poverty? This is the question that was posed to the grade six students at the beginning of the year. While all of the students knew that there were poor people living in the world, they did not really understand why there are people who are less fortunate than they are. In this project, the students read about real people living in poverty, simulated decisions impoverished people make, and shared ideas on how the cycle of poverty can be broken.
First, students read the story “Mother Fletcher’s Gift” in which a police officer befriends an old woman living in an impoverished neighborhood. The story describes the hardships that people living in poverty have to go through. It also shows how people often look down upon the less fortunate. After reading the story, students were asked what the causes and effects of poverty are.
The next step of the poverty project was to get the students to better understand how people get stuck into a cycle of poverty. The students read about different people around the world and the various hardships they encounter on a daily basis. They then played an online game which simulated the difficult decisions impoverished people need to make. This allowed the students to experience how hard it is to simply work hard to get out of poverty.
Students were then allowed to go online and do freer research on poverty. They used this time to write facts and statistics on poverty in various countries. Their research was then used to write a cause and effect chart. This let the students see that the effects of poverty turn into causes of poverty and create a cycle that is difficult to break. This was then illustrated on a worksheet that the students did in groups.
Everyone was then ready to write their essays. Clear structures were given to the students so they could share that they learned poverty is a cycle. Students also shared times they encountered impoverished people in their everyday lives. They then gave ideas on how the cycle of poverty could be broken and more people could be helped.
It was then time to present their findings to the class. A lot of progress was made on helping the students with their presentation skills. In previous grades, the students are generally asked to read aloud when presenting. However, grade six students make an attractive Google Slides presentation and are encouraged to adlib as they present to the class. This allows them to speak more confidently and feel more comfortable when making presentations. There were some great presentations made. Some of the students will certainly be doing well when they do interclass competition and open day later in the school year.
All in all, this project gave students a great way to better understand people who are less fortunate than they are. While students often complain about the hard work they need to do to succeed in school, they often take for granted that they have the opportunity to go to a nice school. Students felt a bit more thankful and had the drive to want everyone in the world to have a better life after finishing this project.