Wealth and poverty

"When you went downtown, did you see a hobo?" The tone was mocking with a giggle at the end.

I cringed. Turning around, I saw one of my students: a young girl with freckles and a polka dot bow in her hair. She was a student who always had a smile to share, was the first to offer an extra pencil if anyone lacked and was always willing to help others. The callousness of her remark was out of character. I wondered if she was repeating something that someone else had said. Perhaps she just thought hobo was a funny word. 

In this lesson, students will learn that race is a factor often connected to poverty and that institutions can create obstacles for the poor—and for people of color who live in poverty—that block participation and achievement.

This lesson is the third in a series called “Issues of Poverty.” Students explore the causes of poverty in the United States and the structural factors that perpetuate it. Students will examine the ways poverty is closely related to economic and political policy, and will work to discover why it disproportionately affects members of nondominant groups—that is, groups that have historically been oppressed.

A few years ago, a picture from The Roanoke Times became the fodder for emails and blog posts. It spread across the Internet in a matter of days, eventually ending up on late-night network talk shows. 

It began as part of a simple and obscure local news story about road construction. In the article, a pregnant woman in her 30s wondered what effect the high decibel sounds of jackhammers and earth-moving equipment would have on her unborn child.

What made this conjecture so worthy of scorn and mockery? 

This activity is to accompany the Teaching Tolerance article "The Poverty Myth."

This lesson is the second in a series of lessons called “Issues of Poverty.” Students explore the causes of poverty in the United States and the structural factors that perpetuate it. Students will examine the ways poverty is closely related to economic and political policy, and will work to discover why it disproportionately affects members of non-dominant groups—that is, groups that have historically oppressed groups.

This lesson is the first in a series of lessons called “Issues of Poverty.” Students explore the causes of poverty in the United States and the factors that perpetuate it. The four lessons aim to challenge the idea that poverty is simply the result of individual shortcomings. Students will examine the ways poverty is closely related to economic and political policy, and will work to discover why it disproportionately affects members of non-dominant groups—that is, groups that have historically been oppressed.

This year is the 50th anniversary of Roald Dahl's classic children's book James and the Giant Peach. In the story, 7-year-old orphan James Henry Trotter escapes his two rotten, abusive aunts by crawling into a giant peach, which rolls, floats and flies him to a new life of wonder and love.

This is the final lesson in the Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice series. Preceding lessons explored a variety of social justice issues through the lens of photographers and their pictures. This activity will offer students several different options for showcasing their understanding.

In this lesson, students will analyze a photograph of people protesting what they see as an unjust law: A law prohibiting marriage equality in California. This lesson is part of the Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice series.

The photo is a portrait of homelessness and poverty. The scene shows a woman sitting on a couch, surrounded by clothes and various household items. A man stands near her. This lesson is part of the Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice series.