The Tikkun Project
Lesson
6
Focus on Homelessness
Concept
A close look at one specific impact of poverty through cultural memory, narrative, and lived criteria builds the kind of textured understanding that general definitions can't.
Focus Question
What are the essential features of a shelter that feels secure?
Knowledge & Understanding Goals
Language, Strand C (Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts), C3 — Critical Thinking in Literacy, Grade 4: Apply critical thinking skills to deepen understanding of texts, and analyze how various perspectives and topics are communicated and addressed.
Language, Strand C, C1 — Knowledge about Texts, Grade 4: Apply foundational knowledge and skills to understand a variety of texts, including narratives by creators with diverse identities, perspectives, and experience.
Thinking & Learning Skills
ATL — Thinking Skills: Using criteria to evaluate the realism and quality of a narrative's portrayal; distinguishing an emotional response from an evaluative judgment.
ATL — Communication: Responding to literature in structured discussion; taking on and articulating a perspective not one's own.
Learner Profile: Caring, Open-Minded.
Context
Deepens the "impacts of poverty" line of inquiry from Lesson 1 into a specific, sustained case study, extending across multiple class periods as a novel study a natural home for grade-level literacy competencies.
Lesson Outline
CONSIDER TRADITIONAL TEXT ABOUT TEMPORARY SHELTER
Remind students of the essential elements of Sukkot: it marks the 40 years wandering after leaving slavery in Egypt; we're commanded to eat and sleep in temporary shelters that cannot be permanent structures, must protect from the elements, but the roof shouldn't be so solid you can't see stars; it's a tradition to invite guests (Ushpizin). David Gottlieb (a secular Jew and Zen Buddhist clergy) explained the mitzvah reminds us of our vulnerability and the good fortune of most people having permanent shelter.
Discussion: Have you ever spent the night in a sukkah? What's easy or difficult about it? How well does eating/sleeping in a sukkah help us understand "temporary housing"?
As a class, respond to: "What are the most important qualities of a secure shelter?" (Students might say: you can always go there; you are safe inside; it has the things you need to survive — food, water, space, protection from the elements.) Record this as the class's initial shelter criteria — it will be tested against the narratives.
READ NARRATIVES ABOUT DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES OF HOMELESSNESS
Choose a novel or several short stories presenting diverse experiences of homelessness (Crenshaw; The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise; A Shelter in Our Car; Fly Away Home; Dear Librarian; Selavi, That Is Life).
As students encounter each story, have them brainstorm the different perspectives present in it — not just the child experiencing homelessness, but a parent, a sibling, a shelter worker, a neighbour, a classmate. Choose one perspective and complete the sentence frames: "I am thinking of [the topic — e.g., what makes a shelter feel secure] from the viewpoint of [character]." "I think... [describe the topic from that viewpoint, in character]." "A question I have from this viewpoint is..."
As students read, they continue to: identify causes/impacts of poverty on the Problem Tree; note actions/solutions described and add them to the Ranking Ladder with justification; test the shelter described against the class's secure-shelter criteria, revising the criteria if the story surfaces something the class hadn't considered.
REVISE THE ACTION PLAN
In small groups: How realistic do you think this story is? Did it communicate something important about the impact of poverty on individuals? What can we learn from this story that would help decide what action we should take?
Note: this lesson extends over many class periods; the novel study should allow students to develop and demonstrate grade-level literacy competencies (extended read-aloud, or independent/group reading and response).
Notes for Teaching and Evaluation
Circle of Viewpoints (Project Zero thinking routine): a stronger fit here than open discussion because homelessness is exactly the kind of complex, easily-flattened-into-two-sides issue the routine is designed for — it stops the class from settling into a single "the character feels sad" reading and instead surfaces how the same shelter, or the same day, looks entirely different depending on whose eyes it's seen through.