Estimated Time: 75 minutes (1 period)

This lesson introduces students to the concepts in the unit. By focusing on students’ exploration of their own beliefs, assumptions and biases about poverty and wealth, the lesson provides a starting-place for later work which explores the symbolism of wealth and poverty and individual understandings of wants and needs.  

Learning Goals

At the end of this lesson students will

  • identify and/or explain their personal assumptions about poverty, wealth, and happiness
  • understand the variety of socially constructed ways we understand and value members of our society, based on ideals of poverty and wealth
  • use a variety of dramatic techniques (e.g., choral speaking/chanting, and tableau) to communicate the biases, assumptions and beliefs of the group about poverty and wealth
  • communicate the relationships between poverty, wealth and power
Readiness

Students should come to this unit with a solid grounding in the use of dramatic activities as a method of exploring issues in their world. Assess student readiness using a group discussion format to ensure students understand that poverty and wealth are not just monetary, but also include social, emotional, physical, and community wealth/poverty. Use the discussion to move from a general understanding of the terms “poverty” and “wealth” into a broader personal model.
Students should come to the lesson with background experience in the use of tableau and choral speaking.

Terminology
  • Poverty
  • Wealth
Drama
  • Tableau
  • Choral speaking
  • Monologue
Materials

  • Recipe cards (exit cards) or if you use an online learning management platform, students could be asked to complete the exit card on that platform

  • Chalk board/chart paper

Minds On

Whole Class > Discussion and Questions

Invite students to consider the questions “What is poverty?” and “What is wealth?” Engage students in the exploration of how they define poverty. Record the definitions provided on either a chalk board or chart paper using a word wall or other viewable format. Encourage students to consider poverty and wealth beyond monetary examples, but be willing to make connections between the financial components and alternate forms of poverty and wealth.

Ask students to consider the following questions. Prompts: What do poverty and wealth look like? How do they sound? How do they smell? How do they taste? How do they feel? 

Students may discuss as a class or in small groups.

Extensions

Add questions about how wealth and poverty may be viewed differently around the world. Include information on what $10 can purchase in a variety of places around the world. Refer to this website as it offers interesting views on how life would be if one lived any place in the world - If it Were My Home

Connections

Connections are made in this activity between the knowledge students bring to the class and the next activity where they are asked to create short performances using the terms and definitions they have created. Students can also visit https://caseyhouse.ca/ for visual images or the United Way website for additional Public Service Agencies.

Differentiation (DI)
  • Provide images as a visual stimulus and oral prompts, depending on the needs of the learner. Be sure to incorporate both to meet the needs of all learners.
  • Ask students to bring in newspaper articles, poetry, song lyrics, and images that they believe depict the conflicts between poverty and wealth. Use these to start the discussions.
Assessment for Learning (AfL)

The teacher will use the discussion time to determine the depth and sophistication of student understandings of the terms in this unit. Review the brainstormed information in the word wall and group sharing activity to determine if concepts need to be reviewed in more depth.

Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Students will use the discussion time to formulate their own appreciation of the two terms.

Action

Small Group > Tableaux and Transitions with Choral Speaking/Chanting

Ask students to form small groups. Instruct each group to create a minimum of three tableaux with two transitions of choral speaking/chanting that utilizes a minimum of ten (10) of the words and/or descriptions the class developed during the Minds On activity. Encourage each group to consider how poverty and wealth work together. Does one have more value or more status? Remind groups to focus on using tableau, transition and choral speaking/chanting techniques to highlight the ideas of poverty and wealth.

Invite groups to present the pieces to the class. Ask the student audience to provide critical feedback about both the technical successes/challenges of the piece as well as the thematic focus on poverty and wealth. Prompt: What worked in this scene to effectively communicate the message? What aspects of the performance could be heightened or made subordinate to heighten the scene’s effectiveness?

Connections

This activity extends the work from the Minds On discussion and encourages students to make physical and vocal connections to the ideas of poverty and wealth. It also provides a second modality of learning as they apply the ideas of the class into new applications of their understanding.

Differentiation (DI)

Students who are experiencing difficulty could possible participate in one or a combination of the following differentiation suggestions.

  • Work with more movement-focused scenes instead of tableaux.
  • Encourage extension by adding elements of costume and props to include the use of symbolic representations of poverty and wealth.
  • Have the small groups extend and combine their tableaux and transitions with those of another group to extend the activity into a larger performance.
Assessment for Learning (AfL)

The teacher assesses the depth and sophistication of the students’ understandings and ability to consider the themes. This allows the teacher either to move ahead with the reflection activity or to utilize some of the differentiation options above. Consider giving teacher feedback and next steps to groups in addition to peer feedback.

Online methods of feedback (utilizing a school email, or the class online platform, for example) would allow the students to keep and reread the constructive   criticism from the teacher and their peers

Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Students use critical analysis and descriptive feedback to assess both content and style of the work and their peers and listen to similar feedback from the peer audience about their own work. Student learning is supported through the hands-on application of the theoretical discussion into physical and vocal interpretations.

Consolidation

Individual > Identifying Personal Biases, Beliefs and Assumptions

Hand out recipe cards/exit cards (one to each student) and ask students to put their name in the top right corner as these will be used again in lesson three. Ask students to answer the following questions:

How has your understanding of poverty and wealth developed through your work today?
What are some of your assumptions, beliefs and biases about poverty and wealth?

Explain to students that this is a private piece of writing and encourage them to consider both the positive and negative thoughts they are having about poverty and wealth. Collect the recipe card answers and hold onto them to be used again during the Consolidation in lesson three (if using an online platform, they can comment on their original post during lesson three).

Extensions

Have students write in first-person monologue form focusing on the idea of “I believe poverty is”, and “I believe wealth is.” Have students share their written monologues with a peer.

This could be done as a "split” monologue. Both characters stand, facing the audience, monologues are written so that they can go back and forth, periodically saying a single line or word together. This could also be done in groups of four. Filming and editing is also an option.

Connections

This activity leads students to reflect on the assumptions, beliefs and biases they may hold about poverty and wealth using the experiences of exploring, writing, performing and observing the variety of interpretations developed in the Minds On and Action! activities.

Differentiation (DI)

Use full class discussion if the notions of assumptions, beliefs and biases are difficult for groups to understand. Use take-home journal writing if in-class time is limited or if students demonstrate a desire to explore this reflection deeper.

Assessment for Learning (AfL)

The teacher reads the answers provided by the students to consider if next steps are required to help them make the leap from the ideological concepts in this lesson into the more practical approaches in lesson two. Consider giving descriptive feedback for students to use in the next lesson.

Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Through the use of journals and exit cards, students reflect on the learning they have done through the class and on their own assumptions, beliefs and biases.