Kids Without Homes: A School District Responds Running Away – Not an Option to Die For A Homeless Awareness Lesson Grades 6 – 8 Lesson Plan for Teachers Title: Running Away – Not an Option to Die For Subject: Social Studies Grade Levels: 6 - 8 Rationale or Purpose: The activities in the first half of this lesson are intended to acquaint students with the difficulties experienced by people without homes and to elicit an empathetic response. Students will examine their attitudes about poverty and homelessness and learn to look beyond stereotypes. Students will acquire basic information about homelessness, poverty, the minimum wage, and affordable housing. The activities in the second half of this lesson will focus on the difficulties experienced by young people who leave their homes and provide a variety of alternatives for students who may be thinking about running away. Why study homeless issues and the rising number of runaway youth? It is important to introduce students of all ages to homeless issues because homelessness is on the rise in Texas and across the nation. The fastest growing segment of over three million people experiencing homelessness in the U. S. is now the single-parent family, which makes up approximately 67% of the homeless population. Like the other 1.2 million homeless children across our nation, Texas’ 147,000 highly mobile children experience academic, social, and emotional difficulties that are exacerbated by classmates who ostracize and ridicule them. The purpose of this curriculum is to raise awareness about homeless issues so that students will respond to people in homeless situations with acceptance and compassion rather than anxiety and contempt. According the National Runaway Switchboard, one out of every seven children will run away before the age of 18. Most children who run away and are reported to the police as missing are between ages 13 and 15. Tragically, 5,000 of those unaccompanied youth will die each year from assault, illness, or suicide. Also to be considered is the fact that running away from home is against the law in Texas. Running away from home is deemed a “status offense”, which means it is against the law only when someone under 18 years old does it. Further, and especially relevant to the focus and objectives of this lesson, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness: 1 Lesson Plan Overview Not all young people who experience homelessness are living in families. Unaccompanied homeless youth between the ages of 16 and 24 have been estimated to make up as much as 12 percent of the homeless population. Homelessness & Youth The effects of homelessness are especially devastating to youth living in shelters and on the street. Youth are at an increased risk of being physically and sexually abused while on the streets, especially in adult homeless shelters. Local and regional studies report rates of sexual assault of homeless youth ranging from 15-20 percent. • More than half of youth report being “beaten up” while on the streets. • Additionally, youth reported being robbed, stabbed, and shot at while on the streets. The complicated lives of homeless youth make the transition to adulthood exceptionally difficult. Abuse, neglect, lack of role models, and family instability affect a youth’s ability to establish and maintain support networks that can be vital in a successful transition to adulthood. Source: National Alliance to End Homelessness. Fact sheet about youth homelessness at www.endhomelessness.org/back/YouthFacts.pdf Materials: • Basic Facts About Homelessness – Are You in the Know? – a questionnaire to help students gauge their pre-lesson knowledge about homelessness • Basic Facts About Homelessness – Now You Know – facts about homelessness, poverty, the minimum wage, and affordable housing. • Hard Times in Texas – an activity where students work with a budget for a single parent earning the minimum wage • Choose It or Lose It – an activity where students imagine that they must vacate their home and have only 15 minutes to put everything they can take with them in a backpack • Summing Up – an activity where students express the feelings they experienced during the two previous activities when they tried to make ends meet on a minimum wage salary and they had to leave possessions behind because they wouldn’t fit into a backpack. • Kids Without Homes – a questionnaire where students gauge what they know about kids without homes • Basic Facts About Kids Without Homes – Now You Know – facts about youth who have no homes • Lisa’s Diary – an adolescent girl’s first-person account of life on the streets • Turn the Page – a resource list of hotlines, help lines, and web sites for young people with concerns they may feel they cannot discuss with anyone they know • End Homeless! A Fact Sheet for Middle Students – a fact sheet for kids from the National Alliance to End Homelessness • Certificates of Appreciation – a document to acknowledge what students have learned and bring closure to the lesson 2 Lesson Plan Overview Lesson Duration for 8 Activities: Not more than 4 classroom hours Objectives: Social Studies Co-Curricular Connections/TEKS: Social Studies Source: Chapter 113. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies – Subchapter B. Middle School www.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/ch113b.html §113.22(b). Social Studies, Grade 6 – Knowledge & skills. (23)(A) Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to use a problem-solving process to identify a problem, gather information, list and consider options, consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution, and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution. §113.23(b). Social Studies, Grade 7 – Knowledge & skills. (21) Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology. The student is expected to: (A) differentiate between, locate, and use primary and secondary sources such as computer software, databases, media and news services, biographies, interviews, and artifacts to acquire information about Texas (C) organize and interpret information from outlines, reports, databases, and visuals including graphs, charts … (23)(A) Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to use a problem-solving process to identify a problem, gather information, list and consider options, consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution, and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution. §113.24(b). Social Studies, Grade 8 – Knowledge & skills. (30)(C) Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology. The student is expected to organize and interpret information from outlines, reports, databases, and visuals including graphs, charts … (32)(A) Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to use a problem-solving process to identify a problem, gather information, list and consider options, consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution, and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution. 3 Lesson Plan Overview Highlights, Activity #1: Step 1: Students complete questionnaire, Basic Facts About Homelessness – Are You in the Know? Step 2: In discussion, teacher uses answers to raise awareness about poverty and homelessness. Step 3: At conclusion of discussion, teacher distributes Basic Facts About Homelessness – Now You Know. Highlights, Activity #2: Step 1: Students complete homework assignment, Hard Times in Texas. Step 2: In follow-up class discussion, teacher uses answers to help students understand poverty issues and feel empathy for low-income families. Highlights, Activity #3: Step 1: Students complete the Choose It or Lose It activity page. Step 2: Students discuss what they would take and what would be hard to leave behind if they had 15 minutes to put their only possessions in a backpack. Highlights, Activity #4: Step 1: Students complete Summing Up. Step 2: In discussion, teacher asks class to share their answers. See specific discussion guidelines for each question in Answer Key. Highlights, Activity #5: Step 1: Students complete questionnaire, Kids Without Homes. Step 2: In discussion, teacher uses answers to raise awareness about kids without homes and difficulties experienced by runaway youth living on the streets. Step 3: At completion of discussion, teacher distributes Basic Facts About Homelessness – Now You Know. Highlights, Activity #6: Step 1: Students read homework assignment, Lisa’s Diary. Step 2: In class discussion, students use the diary to explore factors that might have kept Lisa from running or could help her now that she is back home. Step 3: Teacher asks students to imagine what it would be like to be the three major people in the diary. Highlights, Activity #7: Teacher distributes Turn the Page and encourages students to share the resources with anyone they know who may be thinking about running away. Highlights, Activity #8: Step 1: Students complete homework assignment, End Homelessness! A Fact Sheet for Middle School Kids (with optional