Lesson 1: What is social class? How is it determined?
Materials Needed:
1) Audio recorder
2) Internet access
3) Printer access
4) Chart* on social class for each student
5) Notebook for each student (will use throughout unit)
6) Easel paper
Objectives:
Main objective: To allow students to form their own emerging definition of social class
1) Students will participate in individual interviews with their instructor surrounding the topic of social class, and their perceptions about the issues behind it.
2) Students will analyze wordle images for emerging patterns/trends, and engage in a discussion about their observations with their peers.
3) Students will use the chart* on social class in the U.S. to begin to determine factors that influence which class a person "belongs to".
4) Students will add to/expand their emerging definition of social class by reflecting on the “People Like Us” clip.
5) Students will formulate questions about what they want to learn in relation to the topic of social class.
Assessments:
1) Audio interviews- formal way to document students' knowledge, perceptions, and experiences related to social class prior to the start of this unit. These interviews will inform the teaching throughout the rest of this unit, and will be referred back to at the end of the unit in order to assess how students' perceptions may/may not have changed.
2) Discussion about wordles- informal way to see how students are making sense of the way that classmates responded to the interview questions. Look for students to notice patterns/trends and make connections.
3) Discussions pre- & post-"People Like Us" clip- informal way to assess how students are forming their emerging definiton of social class. Look for how students interpreted the chart, as well as how their definitions of social class expanded (or didn't) based on the "People Like Us" clip.
4) Class brainstorm of questions- formal way to figure out what students want to know/what questions they have. Will inform the teaching in the rest of the unit.
Procedures:
At the beginning of this unit, individually interview each student to better inform instruction throughout the unit; the goal being to know what knowledge, perception, and experiences each student is bringing to this unit. These are suggested questions to ask each student:
1) What does it mean to be poor? What does it mean to be rich? (Can substitute lower class for poor and upper class for rich, however students may not know these terms-- have to feel it out.)
2) Does everyone in your community have the same amount of money? How do you know?
3) Is it possible to go from being poor to being rich? How?
4) What are the advantages to being rich/to having more money?
5) What is social class?
Since I conducted these interviews in my third grade practicum class, I have some idea of how students will respond. What I found when I did this was that none of the students knew what social class was, but they all had a lot to say about the other questions, which get at the issues behind social class. Also, although these questions do not specifically ask for students to discuss their personal experiences, I found that many students chose to do so.
These interviews should be taped so that the instructor can refer back to them at the end of the unit, in order to assess how each student’s perceptions may (or may not) have changed.
Create a wordle at www.wordle.net for each of the five interview questions. (A wordle is a “word cloud” that can be used as a way to visually represent information.) Take the big idea(s) from what each student said, and enter it into the wordle. (The more times a word/phrase is repeated, the bigger it shows up in the wordle.)
Share the wordles with the class and have a discussion about each of them. Ask students, what patterns/trends do you notice? Are you surprised by how some classmates answered this question? Why or why not? After discussing the last wordle on the question "what is social class?" (in which the majority of students will most likely say “I don’t know”), tell students that they actually do know a lot about social class.
Pass out chart* on social class in the U.S. to each of the students. Tell students that this is one representation of the different classes in America. Read each section aloud as a class. Ask students, looking at this sheet, can you tell me what factors determine which class a person is in? What categories do you see? Make a list of these on the board, as well as have students write the list in a notebook. (Students will most likely say job/occupation, money/wealth/income, & level of education/degree.)
Show students opening clip from PBS documentary “People Like Us” (can be found on YouTube, www.youtube.com, and is approximately 10 minutes long). In this clip, Americans discuss the different ways that they think about class. Ask students to be paying attention to how the different people in the clip define social class; encourage students to jot down notes about this.
Afterwards, ask students to think about how we can expand our definition of social class. Ask students, how did some of the people in the clip think of social class? What else can we add to our definition? Have students raise their hands to add to the class list of “what is social class/how is it determined?” Some things that students may say/the instructor could prompt are: social status, power/control, culture, taste/lifestyle, religion, race, ethnicity, self image, and attitude about the world. Have students add to their lists in their notebooks.
...................................................................................................................................................................................
On a piece of easel paper, as a whole class, ask students to generate questions they have about social class/what they want to know more about. Ask students, what questions do you have after looking at the chart on social class in the U.S. and watching the "People Like Us" clip?
1) Audio recorder
2) Internet access
3) Printer access
4) Chart* on social class for each student
5) Notebook for each student (will use throughout unit)
6) Easel paper
Objectives:
Main objective: To allow students to form their own emerging definition of social class
1) Students will participate in individual interviews with their instructor surrounding the topic of social class, and their perceptions about the issues behind it.
2) Students will analyze wordle images for emerging patterns/trends, and engage in a discussion about their observations with their peers.
3) Students will use the chart* on social class in the U.S. to begin to determine factors that influence which class a person "belongs to".
4) Students will add to/expand their emerging definition of social class by reflecting on the “People Like Us” clip.
5) Students will formulate questions about what they want to learn in relation to the topic of social class.
Assessments:
1) Audio interviews- formal way to document students' knowledge, perceptions, and experiences related to social class prior to the start of this unit. These interviews will inform the teaching throughout the rest of this unit, and will be referred back to at the end of the unit in order to assess how students' perceptions may/may not have changed.
2) Discussion about wordles- informal way to see how students are making sense of the way that classmates responded to the interview questions. Look for students to notice patterns/trends and make connections.
3) Discussions pre- & post-"People Like Us" clip- informal way to assess how students are forming their emerging definiton of social class. Look for how students interpreted the chart, as well as how their definitions of social class expanded (or didn't) based on the "People Like Us" clip.
4) Class brainstorm of questions- formal way to figure out what students want to know/what questions they have. Will inform the teaching in the rest of the unit.
Procedures:
At the beginning of this unit, individually interview each student to better inform instruction throughout the unit; the goal being to know what knowledge, perception, and experiences each student is bringing to this unit. These are suggested questions to ask each student:
1) What does it mean to be poor? What does it mean to be rich? (Can substitute lower class for poor and upper class for rich, however students may not know these terms-- have to feel it out.)
2) Does everyone in your community have the same amount of money? How do you know?
3) Is it possible to go from being poor to being rich? How?
4) What are the advantages to being rich/to having more money?
5) What is social class?
Since I conducted these interviews in my third grade practicum class, I have some idea of how students will respond. What I found when I did this was that none of the students knew what social class was, but they all had a lot to say about the other questions, which get at the issues behind social class. Also, although these questions do not specifically ask for students to discuss their personal experiences, I found that many students chose to do so.
These interviews should be taped so that the instructor can refer back to them at the end of the unit, in order to assess how each student’s perceptions may (or may not) have changed.
Create a wordle at www.wordle.net for each of the five interview questions. (A wordle is a “word cloud” that can be used as a way to visually represent information.) Take the big idea(s) from what each student said, and enter it into the wordle. (The more times a word/phrase is repeated, the bigger it shows up in the wordle.)
Share the wordles with the class and have a discussion about each of them. Ask students, what patterns/trends do you notice? Are you surprised by how some classmates answered this question? Why or why not? After discussing the last wordle on the question "what is social class?" (in which the majority of students will most likely say “I don’t know”), tell students that they actually do know a lot about social class.
Pass out chart* on social class in the U.S. to each of the students. Tell students that this is one representation of the different classes in America. Read each section aloud as a class. Ask students, looking at this sheet, can you tell me what factors determine which class a person is in? What categories do you see? Make a list of these on the board, as well as have students write the list in a notebook. (Students will most likely say job/occupation, money/wealth/income, & level of education/degree.)
Show students opening clip from PBS documentary “People Like Us” (can be found on YouTube, www.youtube.com, and is approximately 10 minutes long). In this clip, Americans discuss the different ways that they think about class. Ask students to be paying attention to how the different people in the clip define social class; encourage students to jot down notes about this.
Afterwards, ask students to think about how we can expand our definition of social class. Ask students, how did some of the people in the clip think of social class? What else can we add to our definition? Have students raise their hands to add to the class list of “what is social class/how is it determined?” Some things that students may say/the instructor could prompt are: social status, power/control, culture, taste/lifestyle, religion, race, ethnicity, self image, and attitude about the world. Have students add to their lists in their notebooks.
...................................................................................................................................................................................
On a piece of easel paper, as a whole class, ask students to generate questions they have about social class/what they want to know more about. Ask students, what questions do you have after looking at the chart on social class in the U.S. and watching the "People Like Us" clip?
*Chart on social class in the U.S.
“Class in the US, featuring occupational descriptions by Thompson & Hickey as well as US Census Bureau data pertaining to personal income and educational attainment for those age 25 or older." (2005) Taken from Google Images.