Jordan+Stoyek

=Economic Inequality: Closing the gap between the rich and the poor in America = "Poverty is the worst form of violence"- Mahatma Ghandi

"In a country well-governed country, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of"- Confucious

**Overview:** Poverty is a major issue in the United States. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. It's crucial that __#|students__ become aware of this problem and they examine both sides of the issue, from the poor side and the rich side. It's estimated that more than one in five children in the United States live below the poverty line. This means that many __#|students__ that we teach, especially in low socioeconomic are as, are living in poverty. In his article, "Child poverty in US among the highest in the developed world", Nick Barrickman writes "The conditions of young people in the United States constitute a devastating indictment of American capitalism and the two big business parties. Over the past four decades, social inequality has soared to levels not seen since before the Great __#|Depression__ of the 1930s. The rise of a financial aristocracy has been accompanied by a relentless attack on #|jobs, wages, and social __#|programs__. The United States in turn has become a model for ruling [|classes]  all over the world" The wealthier __#|class__ has gained much more __#|power__ in the political system, which results in laws furthering their inherent advantages. Those in the middle and lower __#|classes__ are less able to become part of the system creating these laws. Debt becomes an anchor around the neck of those in the middle and lower __#|class__. It becomes almost inescapable and can prohibit their attempts at upper __#|mobility__.

 The gap between the rich and the poor becomes an indication of the moral fiber of our country. Our economy cannot begin reaching it's potential without the participation of all groups in our society. __#|Education__ is the means by which people can begin their move out of the lower levels of society. Many children entering __#|schools__ are coming from dysfunctional families, which may be a result of living in poverty,declining __#|income__ and living standards. Teachers are the ones that must provide the __#|educational__ motivation to our __#|students__ to promote hope in their lives. Teachers must be creative and committed to the notion that education and __#|educational opportunities__ cannot be for those that have the financial means to pay for the ever-increasing costs of __#|higher education__. Students must become aware of the economic inequalities that exist in the U.S. today.

This unit is designed for ninth grade __#|English course__. The students this unit is designed for live in a low socioeconomic community. The main goal for this unit is for the students to become active members of the community by getting involved in a current social issue and developing a solution that will change the world. Students will begin to learn about the economic inequality that is a current issue in our country. They will engage in important writing activities by writing a personal narrative and developing a website with at least three different genres that contain a solution to end economic inequality.

**Learning Objectives:** //Students will...//
 * 1) Engage in critical thinking about poverty and wealth
 * 2) Read, analyze, and discuss different texts on the issues of poverty and wealth
 * 3) Explore and write different styles and genres of writing
 * 4) Create and develop to close the gap on poverty and wealth in the U.S.


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Common Core Standards Adressed and Exceeded **:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Reading **
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Writing **
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Write arguments to support __#|claims__ in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3b] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.5] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grades 9–10 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8a2003; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-decoration: none;">[|here] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b3b3a; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">.)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Students will be required to __#|participate__ in a discussion blog on www.nicenet.org, where they will respond to question prompts on __#|class__ discussions/activities, certain texts we read, videos, and on the writing process of their multi-genre projects. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Students will write a personal narrative on their families economic status and how it effects their daily life. They will write about their personal life and what they are doing to set themselves __#|up for a__ successful and bright future. And if they feel like they are not doing so, they can write about how they can change to become a better son/daughter, brother/sister, friend, and __#|student__.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Writing Assignments: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**Discussion Blog**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**Personal Narrative**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Students will participate in a literature circle throughout the unit. They will choose a book to read with 3-4 other classmates and they can choose to read together or individually. They will be responsible for assigning the chapters they will read and staying on the same pace. After they read an assigned chapter, they will meet in class and engage in a literature circle discussion. Each student will be assigned a role and they switch roles each time they meet. The roles for the literature cirle include: discussion director, summarizer, connector, word master, and illustrator <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Once students finish reading their literature circle book, each group will give a 10-15 minute presentation to persuade the audience on why they should read the book. The presentation can include: PowerPoint presentation, role-play activities, creating a website, etc. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Students can choose the following books: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">- //Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America// by Ariana Huffington. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">- //True Believer// by Virginia Euwer Wolff <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">- //A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich// by Alice Childress <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">- //Buried Onions// by Gary Soto <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">If students have a book they would like to read with a group that is not in the list, they need to get it approved by the teacher and the theme should be on economic inequality and/or poverty.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**Literature Circles presentation**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Students will __#|create a website__ of their group's solution to end poverty. Students will work in groups of 3-4 (they can work individually if they prefer) and <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.5;">create a multi-genre proposal in a technology platform (weebly, wix, Wiki, etc.) on how to close the gap between the poor and the wealthy in the U.S. and ultimately end poverty. Students are required to use at least three different genres (letters, interviews, memoirs, etc.) on their website.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**Multi-genre/Multi-media project**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">**Unit Plan- 4 weeks**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Monday
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Week 1 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">__1__) Intro to unit

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Introduction to discussion blog [|www.nicenet.org]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3) Free-write on Discussion blog. What do you know about poverty. Is poverty apart of our community? How? What does that mean?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Tuesday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Read The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Discuss the The Lesson as a class. How does the story relate to what we are learning about poverty and wealth in the US?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3) Read about MLK’s [|Poor People's Campaign]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">4) Respond to Discussion blog: How is MLK's "Poor People's Campaign" still relevant today?

[|http://www.] media type="youtube" key="Kt2bDFheuFY" width="560" height="315" align="center"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Wednesday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Assign/choose literature circles.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Meet with literature circle groups- Assign lit. circle roles and assign chapter due dates.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3) Begin reading.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Thursday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;"> 1) Read literature circle books

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;"> 2)Meet in literature circles

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3)Begin to discuss the Personal Narrative.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Friday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Read literature circle books/ Meet in literature circles.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Mini-Lesson on “narrative writing”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3) Begin writing Personal Narrative


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Week 2 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Monday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Watch 1st half of the documentary Inside Job

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Continue working on Personal Narrative

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">media type="youtube" key="FzrBurlJUNk" width="560" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Tuesday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Finish the documentary Inside Job. “For the first time in history, average Americans have less education and are less prosperous than their parents”- Inside Job

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Discussion: How can we change this? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Read literature circle books/ Meet in literature circles.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3)Post online discussion about Inside Job (Homework)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Wednesday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Mini-Lesson on “constructive criticism”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Continue to work on Personal Narrative

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3) Conference with Teacher and Peers

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Note: Final draft of Personal Narrative due Friday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Thursday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Mini Lesson on "presentations"- Teacher will give a mini-lesson on how to speak professionally to a group of people and also how to get a certain point across. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Read literature circle books/ Meet with literature circles <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Students should begin preparing for their presentations (Monday and Tuesday)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Friday

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Work on Solutions project <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">2) Discuss multi-genre project <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">3) Respond to discussion blog: What types of genres do you have in mind for your website?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Monday <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">1) Literature Circle Presentations
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Week 3 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Tuesday <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">1) Literature Circle Presentations

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Wednesday <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">1) Watch clips on "Resurrection City" and "Occupy Wall Street" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">2) Have a discussion on how these movements are similiar/different. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">3) How do these movements relate to your solutions project and multi-genre project?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">media type="youtube" key="cpdpMjG5CmY" width="560" height="315"

media type="youtube" key="AP71gUdg8qQ" width="420" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Wednesday <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">1) Mini lesson on "conducting interviews" and "writing letters" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Work on multi-genre project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">3) Conferencing with teacher.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Thursday <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1) Work on multi-genre project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2) Conference with teacher.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Friday <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">1)Continue to work on multi-genre project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">2)Conference with teacher.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%; line-height: 1.5;">Week 4 **- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Three days of the week should be dedicated to students presenting their multi-genre projects.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">[|Global Issues- Causes of Poverty]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Links/Resources about Poverty **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">[|The World Bank- Poverty Home]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">[|Poverty Reduction Initiative in Kalamazoo]

Created by: Jordan Stoyek. Contact me at jordan.a.stoyek@wmich.edu.