Lesson 2: How does social class affect education?
Materials Needed:
1) Internet access
2) Supplies for creating charts/graphs (easel paper, markers, etc.)
3) Notebook for each student
Objectives:
Main Objective: To allow students to explore the affect that social class has on education
1) Students will think about how their school is funded.
2) Students will research the question “how do schools get and spend their funding?” in large groups.
3) Students will create charts/graphs/other visuals in small groups to compare the two schools they researched.
4) Students will discuss the differences in schools, and how it translates into differential opportunities for students.
5) Students will journal about what they learned through their research, as well as how this makes them feel.
6) Students will brainstorm all of the ways that social class affects their lives and society.
Assessments:
1) Opening discussion- informal way to learn what students perceptions are on how schools are funded.
3) Creation of visuals- formal way to assess students' abilities to demonstrate comparisons in an organized, appealing, and powerful way.
3) Discussion post-research & chart/graph-making- informal way to find out how students are applying their research to social class-- are all schools created equal? What impact does the inequality in schools have on students? Look for students to think critically about whether or not there is a connection between "better schools" and "better education".
4) Journaling- formal way to uncover students' thoughts about what they learned through their research, as well as how they are feeling about it. Allows instructor to gauge where students are at.
5) Class brainstorm- formal way to see what ways students think that social class impacts their lives and society. Purpose is to inform teaching by exploring what students come up with at a later point in the unit.
Procedures:
Ask students, how do we get money for our school? Have students share their ideas. Make a list on the board.
Tell students that they are going to do research to answer the question how do schools get and spend their funding? (Will need to define funding.) Divide the class into two groups- one group will research how their school is funded and the second group will research a school in a lower or higher class neighborhood. *Depending on time and opportunity, an ideal way to do this would be to have students set up correspondence with a school in another community (for example suburbs or inner city) to discover what their school is like.
Some questions to guide this research process for students are: what is the budget for each school? Where does the money come from? How much is spent on each student? How much is spent on technology and equipment? How much is spent on teachers’ salaries? How much is spent on specials (music, art, p.e.)? What are the main sources of income for each school? Is there a relationship between property taxes in the community and education? If so, what is it? What is the condition of the school building? How new is it/how recently has it been renovated? Does the school have enough books for each student? How about computers? etc. etc. *Excellent resource to find out some of this information: www.nea.org
After the research is completed, have the groups share the information they discovered with the the class in informal presentations. In small groups, students will create charts/graphs/other visuals to compare their school and the other school that they researched. Enagage students in a discussion about the different ways they chose to represent the information they learned through research. Ask students why they made the choices they did in creating their visual, as well as which other visual is the most striking to them and why.
Ask students to reflect on what they learned and how it relates to social class. Are all schools equal? How do the differences in schools impact childrens' educations? Does every child, regardless of background, get the same education? *Make sure to encourage students to express their feelings about what they've learned, as many of them may feel angry about the inequity they've uncovered.
Have students continue to respond to the questions above in their journals after the discussion. In addition, ask students to write specifically about how they feel in relation to what they learned from their research. *It is important to pay attention to student feelings and allow opportunities for them to take hold of the unit at this point (or any point). Some students may want to do something about what they've learned-- consider exploring this important opportunity.
...................................................................................................................................................................................
Tell students, so we that know education is one thing that is affected by social class.. lets brainstorm other ways social class affects our lives (1st column) and society (2nd column). Do this as a whole class, but make sure to have students write the list in their notebooks as well.
1) Internet access
2) Supplies for creating charts/graphs (easel paper, markers, etc.)
3) Notebook for each student
Objectives:
Main Objective: To allow students to explore the affect that social class has on education
1) Students will think about how their school is funded.
2) Students will research the question “how do schools get and spend their funding?” in large groups.
3) Students will create charts/graphs/other visuals in small groups to compare the two schools they researched.
4) Students will discuss the differences in schools, and how it translates into differential opportunities for students.
5) Students will journal about what they learned through their research, as well as how this makes them feel.
6) Students will brainstorm all of the ways that social class affects their lives and society.
Assessments:
1) Opening discussion- informal way to learn what students perceptions are on how schools are funded.
3) Creation of visuals- formal way to assess students' abilities to demonstrate comparisons in an organized, appealing, and powerful way.
3) Discussion post-research & chart/graph-making- informal way to find out how students are applying their research to social class-- are all schools created equal? What impact does the inequality in schools have on students? Look for students to think critically about whether or not there is a connection between "better schools" and "better education".
4) Journaling- formal way to uncover students' thoughts about what they learned through their research, as well as how they are feeling about it. Allows instructor to gauge where students are at.
5) Class brainstorm- formal way to see what ways students think that social class impacts their lives and society. Purpose is to inform teaching by exploring what students come up with at a later point in the unit.
Procedures:
Ask students, how do we get money for our school? Have students share their ideas. Make a list on the board.
Tell students that they are going to do research to answer the question how do schools get and spend their funding? (Will need to define funding.) Divide the class into two groups- one group will research how their school is funded and the second group will research a school in a lower or higher class neighborhood. *Depending on time and opportunity, an ideal way to do this would be to have students set up correspondence with a school in another community (for example suburbs or inner city) to discover what their school is like.
Some questions to guide this research process for students are: what is the budget for each school? Where does the money come from? How much is spent on each student? How much is spent on technology and equipment? How much is spent on teachers’ salaries? How much is spent on specials (music, art, p.e.)? What are the main sources of income for each school? Is there a relationship between property taxes in the community and education? If so, what is it? What is the condition of the school building? How new is it/how recently has it been renovated? Does the school have enough books for each student? How about computers? etc. etc. *Excellent resource to find out some of this information: www.nea.org
After the research is completed, have the groups share the information they discovered with the the class in informal presentations. In small groups, students will create charts/graphs/other visuals to compare their school and the other school that they researched. Enagage students in a discussion about the different ways they chose to represent the information they learned through research. Ask students why they made the choices they did in creating their visual, as well as which other visual is the most striking to them and why.
Ask students to reflect on what they learned and how it relates to social class. Are all schools equal? How do the differences in schools impact childrens' educations? Does every child, regardless of background, get the same education? *Make sure to encourage students to express their feelings about what they've learned, as many of them may feel angry about the inequity they've uncovered.
Have students continue to respond to the questions above in their journals after the discussion. In addition, ask students to write specifically about how they feel in relation to what they learned from their research. *It is important to pay attention to student feelings and allow opportunities for them to take hold of the unit at this point (or any point). Some students may want to do something about what they've learned-- consider exploring this important opportunity.
...................................................................................................................................................................................
Tell students, so we that know education is one thing that is affected by social class.. lets brainstorm other ways social class affects our lives (1st column) and society (2nd column). Do this as a whole class, but make sure to have students write the list in their notebooks as well.
