Subject/Topic Areas:
Service Learning should be directed to issues of poverty and hunger.

Big Idea:
Individuals/nations who struggle with poverty and hunger do so as a result of many facets, including; cost of living, environmental impact, societal pressures and social service support that is available.

Summary:
In this unit of service learning, students will learn about hunger and poverty, both domestically and in the world.  They will define hunger and the root causes of it. They will walk in the shoes of a homeless person, by using the “I am” poetry style and the lyrics of various songs to gain perspective.  They will compose and compare the myths of hunger to the realities of that experience by a comparative essay, continuously reflect on the topics that affect the hungry, as well as understand and identify the key terms that are associated with hunger and poverty.  They will research the various social service programs that exist to determine which programs are the most effective.

The final piece of the unit will require students to be proactive and fight for the poverty through a public awareness campaign and participation in a Service Learning project with a local soup kitchen.

Key words:

• Hunger
• Chronic hunger
• Famine
• Food Security
• Malnourished
• Food insecurity
• Stunting
• Underweight
• Emergency food assistance
• Total household income
• Federal poverty level
• Minimum wage
• Refugees
• Relief agencies
• Refugee camps
• Rationed
• Local food staples
• Poverty
• Population density
• Developing nation
• Industrial nation
• Domestic hunger
• Federal nutrition programs
• Food stamp program
• Eligibility requirements
• Safety net
• Benefits
• Welfare reform
• Tax subsidies
• Homeless
• Unemployed
• Food banks
• Pantries
• Soup kitchens
• Charitable feeding programs
• Welfare
• Working Poor
• Poverty line
• Standard of living

Stage 1:
Establish Goals:

1. Students will understand the essential concepts and root causes of hunger and poverty.
2. Students will understand their own personal biases and ways in which those can be changed through the research conducted.
3. Students will use an understanding of hunger and homelessness to create an action plan on how they can be part of the solution to a “problem”.

Essential Questions:

1. What is hunger?
2. What does it mean to be hungry?
3. What is the difference between chronic hunger, famine and hunger?
4. What is the difference between world hunger and domestic hunger?
5. How big is the hunger problem?
6. Why is food an essential ingredient of life?
7. How does it feel to be hungry/poor? What is the pain of hunger?
8. How does the “look” of hunger differ from the perspective of the US and other nations?
9. What is poverty? What is the poverty line?
10. How much food is enough for one person to eat?
11. What is the link between poverty, hunger, homelessness and joblessness?
12. If there is enough food why are there hungry people?
13. What are the root causes of hunger?
14. How does the definition of poverty change from place to place (i.e. America verses Africa?)?
15. What determines how ‘poor’ someone is?
16. What does it mean to live below the poverty line?
17. What are the stereotypes that exist that are not true about homeless people or those who are affected by poverty?
18. What makes a person eligible for food assistance? 
19. Does planning a monthly budget based on earnings mobilize individuals from falling with in the poverty line?
20. How can you make a difference?

Desired Understandings:
Students will:

• Understand the different defintions of hunger.
• Understand the difference between world hunger and domestic hunger.
• Understand that root causes of hunger may not align with the myths that exist.
• Understand the link between poverty hunger, homelessness, and joblessness.
• Be able to articulate the essentials for minimum standard of living including: food, safe drinking water, and shelter, or they may be social resources such as access to information, education, health care, social status, political power, or the opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other people in society.
• Describe a (persistent) lack of income and wealth. As well as determine what income disparities are seen as an indicator of poverty.
• Understand that income requirements for individuals will vary based on area of the world they are living in.
• Essential agencies need to be in place to provide support/structure to assist those to move out of their present condition.
•  Students will feel empowered by understanding the root causes of hunger to determine solutions to the issue in their own neighborhood

Key knowledge and skills acquired:
Students will know:                       

• Relevant vocabulary words/key terms.
• Specific historical context of hunger.
• Difference between world hunger and domestic hunger
• The definition of hunger and how it changes depending on what part of the world a person lives.
• The difference between chronic hunger and famine.
• Differences in standards of living
• Connection between hunger and poverty
• Essentials for a minimum standard of living

Students will be able to:

• Understand the specifics behind the definition of hunger and the components that make up the ‘hunger’ problem.
• Compare their food diary to that of another person’s around the world.
• Articulate and describe why food is such an essential ingredient in life.
• Describe ‘poverty line’ and explain why it is different in each country and what contributes to the differences.
• Experience ‘food distribution’ in the world.
• Describe how ‘big’ the hunger problem is around the world
• Determine the root causes for hunger.
• Empathize with the plight of the hungry.

Stage 2:
Performance Tasks:

1. Towards the completion of the unit, students will write a comparative essay that compares the myths of hunger and homelessness with the realities.(Rubric attached)
2. Students will have studied “I am” poems during English class.  Based on this, students create an “I am” poem profile that depicts the perspective of a homeless person (rubric attached)*
3. Students will research a report on a federal food/nutrition program (rubric attached)*

Other Evidence:
i.    Test: Students will take a test on key terms

ii.    Opinion Paper: Based on quote from the book, Nectar in a Sieve, students will write an essay describing the accuracy of this quote.

iii.    After students study the effects of media and propaganda, they will create a Public Awareness Campaign to raise awareness around Hunger.

iv.    Students Create an interior monologue from the point of view of Maria from the story “Maria’s Dream” (rubric attached)*

Student Self Assessment and Reflection:

Personal Response Journals: Students keep personal response journals to use as reflection exercises:
After Day 3: Ask students to reflect on the following questions:

• If there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, why does hunger exist?
• How does 3rd world hunger differ from hunger in industrialized nations?
• How is hunger hidden in North America?
• How does poverty impact hunger? Is poverty the cause of hunger?

After Day 8: After students complete the Heat or Eat exercise.  Students produce a quick write to the following questions:

• Who is hungry in America?
• What circumstances could cause food insecurity? Hunger?

After Day 12: After students complete the activity on Welfare Reform, students reflect in journals on the following questions:

• What does the term ‘welfare’ mean?
• Who gets government aid?
• Are poor people the only people to receive government aid?
• Does full time employment at the minimum wage guarantee that you won’t go hungry?

Authentic Task Performance:

At the completion of the unit, students will participate in at least three designated Service Learning days by volunteering at a local soup kitchen.  Prior to participating in this, students will be required to analyze what they have learned about hunger and poverty and determine if there are still myths that are holding them back from providing dignified and respectful service to the recipients of the soup kitchen’s food program.  They will be asked to discuss these with their student advisee and determine what support systems need to be in place for them to complete this task with some ease and comfort.  After each Service Learning Day, students will be required to write a reflective piece on ‘what came up for them as they were involved in this experience’, including fears, myths, questions, etc.
 

Stage 3: Planned Learning Experiences:
Key:
W= Help students know where they are going, what is expected.
H = Hook all students and Hold their interest?
E = Equip students, help them Experience the key ideas and Explore the issues?
R = Provide opportunities to rethink/revise understanding E= Allow students to evaluate their work and its implications T= Tailor to specific needs
O= Organize to sustain engagement

Day 1 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit 1/ Pre Activity & Finding Solutions to Hunger by Stephanie Kempf pg. 7 “What is Hunger?”)                            

1. Hook students with a discussion on what the word HUNGER means? (Create a web). H
2. Introduce essential questions and key vocabulary (hunger, food security) H
3. Have students create a KWL chart on hunger and share their findings with the class. E
4. Have students begin to determine what their myths about hunger may be? Provide ample discussion time. E
5. Ask students to visualize hunger? What does it look like? Feel like? What do people who are hungry look like? E
6. Have students work in small groups to create a definition of hunger. ETO
7. Share with students the quote from Nectar in a Sieve, which describes what Hunger is. Discuss the definition with the class. E
8. Introduce the concept of food security to students and its association with hunger. E
9. Use the definitions to create a framework from which to understand hunger in 3 stages: food insecurity without hunger, food insecurity with moderate hunger evident, food insecurity with severe hunger (review definitions with students). E
    

Day 2 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit 1/Activity: contrasting World Hunger with Domestic Hunger)

1. Review Web to initiate discussion on world hunger. RE
2. Introduce new vocabulary (chronic hunger) E
3. Brainstorm with students what their thoughts on world hunger and how that might be different from hunger in the 3rd world. TE
4. Have students read about the History of World Hunger and the History of Hunger in the US and take notes to contrast the two different types of hunger. TE
5. Bring students together to discus the reading via critical thinking skills. TE
    

Day 3 (ref. www.knowhunger.com/ Unit 1 /Activity: Real Life Hunger Scenarios: Analyzing Causes & Impacts)

1. Present lesson on Real Life Hunger Scenarios: Analyzing Causes and Impacts H
2. Review vocabulary (malnourishment, stunting, undernourished) E
3. Divide students into groups of 5-8 and give them a region of the world to analyze using: The State of Food Security in the world (1999 Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Report). Students are to read and summarize their findings.  TEO
4. Students need to gather statistics by region (i.e. number of malnourished, undernourished, etc.).  Students present their findings to the class. TE
5. *Personal Journal Reflection R
    

Day 4 (ref. Finding Solutions to Hunger/ Lesson #5: Two Kinds of Hunger, Famine and Chronic Hunger Part 1 & 2)
Part 1:

1. Students read the short story Maria’s Dream and discuss questions relating to famine and the story found in the lesson. RT
2. Students chose one scene from the story and write an interior monologue from Maria’s point of view. RT

Part 2:

1. Read aloud “Really Mister, He’s Nine”. Allow students to express their reactions via discussion. RT
2. Review discussion questions with students. RT

Day 5 (ref. Finding Solutions to Hunger/ Lesson 3: How Big is   the Hunger Problem

1. Play video that shows the effects of hunger. Discuss video with students. (Video: http://hungerfree.wordpress.com/) H
2. Brainstorm a list of questions from Hunger video with the students from the video. HTE
3. Present lesson on looking at today’s newspaper and ask students to look for a headline that states “30,000 children died of hunger today”…ask students to speculate on why the news does not emphasize such a grave issue? TE

Day 6 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit 2 The Faces of Hunger in America: Hunger profiles Part I and II)

1. Review definitions of hunger/food insecurity and food security. E
2. Provide students with online links/articles that will help answer the following questions:  ET
   a.    How is food insecurity related to hunger?
   b.    How is it measured? What are the stages of food insecurity?
   c.    How do the concepts of food security and food insecurity provide a boarder framework for understanding and assessing hunger?
   d.    Summarize the extent of the food insecurity and hunger in the US in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
   e.    Review the prevalence of food insecurity by state.  What percentage of people in your state experience food insecurity between 1999 and 2001?
   f.    What types of households are impacted?
   g.    What is the geographic profile by region of the nation?
   h.    What circumstances lead people to experience food insecurity? 

Day 7 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit 2 The Faces of Hunger in America: Hunger profiles & Know Hunger Lesson #21: Find out what People Think)

1. Students begin by taking the online quiz “who’s hungry?” Discuss the results with students. Focus on surprises, stereotypes, myths and why they believed them. E
2. Students create their own survey to interview 20 people on their stereotypes (no more than 3 have to be in their extended family). ET
3. Introduce students to new vocabulary (emergency food assistance, food insecure) E
4. Students compare their quiz with the survey they handed out. T
5. Students will learn about specific social groups who are served by emergency food assistance by studying one social group.  Each student researches the effects of hunger on their social group and reports their findings in written format and in a small group setting that is representative of each of the different social groups. TEO

Day 8 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit 2: Activity “Heat or Eat”)

1. Introduce students to new vocabulary (minimum wage, federal poverty level, USDA food guide, recommended daily  allowances and dietary reference intakes) household income) E
2. Students will plan a monthly budget for a working family of four, using the guidelines outlined in the activity (Unit 2: Heat or Eat) E
3. Follow up with discussion questions:
   a.    How could a working family have one or more full time workers and still be poor?
   b.    What programs or services could help make life more manageable for your family?
   c.    What roadblocks exist that may help your eligibility for and access to these programs?
   d.    How does poverty contribute to nutritional deprivation?
   e.    Do you think minimum wage should be adjusted or inflated? Why or why not?
   
   *Personal Journal: Reflection R
   
   

Day 9 (ref. Finding Solutions to Hunger/ Lesson # 7: If there is enough food why are people hungry?)

1. Students investigate the assumption that food scarcity is the major cause of hunger by investigating food in different countries. RE
2. Students are divided into different groups with a country card.  Their job is to research the country and answer the following questions: ETO
   a.    Is enough food produced in your country to supply everyone with enough calories?
   b.    Are there hungry people in your country?
   c.    Why can’t people get food?
   Are there any particularly circumstances that hold people back from getting food and why (i.e. civil war, cash crops?)
    

 Day 10 (ref. Finding Solutions to hunger/ Lesson # 8: Is hunger the cause of overpopulation?)

1. Explore the theme of overpopulation as a root cause of hunger by examining two countries (the Netherlands and Afghanistan) to determine if overpopulation is a reality and not a myth.   TRE
2. Discuss with students the reason why this is a possible myth and how it can be broken down. ET
3. Student’s research parts of the US that would be considered ‘overpopulated” to see if this myth is true. ET
    

 Day 11 (ref. Finding solutions to Hunger /Lesson # 9: One Planet, Two Worlds)
1.    One planet, two worlds lesson plan: E
a.    Students are designated one area of the world (either a developing or an industrialized country)
b.    Distribute food according to what area of the world the students are from and explain to them what part of the world they are from. E
c.    Finish off with discussion questions from the lesson. R
 

Day 12 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit #4: Activity: Welfare Reform and the Food Stamp Program)

1. Define the word ‘welfare’ with the class and determine whether or not it has a positive and negative connotation. E
2. Students examine various articles that review the Welfare program and Food Stamp Program. Then as a group ask them to summarize the major changes in the welfare system. OTE
3. Give students examples of real people who have been negatively impacted by welfare reform. ETR
   *Personal Journal Reflection R
    

Day 13(ref. Finding solutions to hunger/ Lesson 16: Working and Eating)

1. Students role-play as a class where they live in an imaginary society that is controlled by one person. One half the group will be unemployed and the other half will be workers. ETOR
2. Discuss the experience with the class using the discussion questions.
    

Day 14 (ref. Finding Solutions to Hunger/ Lesson #17: The Homeless & The Eleanor Rigby project)

1. Students listen to the song “Another day in Paradise” by Phil Collins RET
2. Follow up with discussion questions. ET
3. Students review interviews from “In their own words” and complete the discussion questions on their town.
4. Follow up with students create an “I am” poem using the voices of the homeless from the interviews and the inspiration behind the song.
   *Performance Task “I am” Poem R

Day 15 (ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit #4: Activity: The benefits and limits of Emergency Food Programs, Part 1)

1. 1.    Students read 3 articles and reflect on the following questions as they read in their response journals: R
   a.    What role, if any, does charity play in ending hunger? Is the primary goal of giving to eliminate hunger? Why or why not?
   b.    Do you think people feel more comfortable with the idea of charity or changing polices to reduce hunger and poverty? Why?
   c.    Does the emergency food aid serve as a “moral safety valve?
   d.    Do charitable feeding programs promote human dignity and independence for the receiver? Why or why not?
   e.    Why and how has the concept of charity been used to address hunger?
   f.    How does charity differ from justice
2. Read article “benefits and limits” (Ref: Kids can make a difference;  pg 48).  Have students work with a partner to outline the benefits of charitable feeding programs. Discuss article in class. RET  

Day 16(ref. www.knowhunger.org/ Unit #4: Activity: The benefits and limits of Emergency Food Programs, Part 2)

1. Divide students by the various federal food programs; special supplemental food program for woman, infants and children, food stamp program, national school breakfast program, national school lunch program, summer food stamp program, child and adult care food program and emergency food program) ET
2. Students are to research each program and write a paper that includes the following ET:
   A.    Program’s establishment, target population and services offered.
   B.    The rate and effectiveness in reducing hunger/poverty.
   C.    The roadblocks to eligibility and access. Their view on whether or not this is a good program and why

Performance Task:

1. Comparison Essay

6+1 Trait Writing Model: Comparison Paper

Performance Task:

Interior Monologue

Performance Task:

“I am poem”

I am Poem Assignment

For this assignment you will put yourself into the shoes of a homeless person.

Describe a homeless person by using the "I Am" poem format.

All your statements will be from the perspective of a homeless person.

I am (two special characteristics you have)

I wonder (something you are actually curious about)

I hear (an imaginary sound)

I see (an imaginary sight)

I want (an actual desire)

I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

I pretend (something you pretend to do)

I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)

I touch (an imaginary touch)

I worry (something that really bothers you)

I cry (something that makes you sad)

I am (the first line of the poem)

I understand (something you know is true)

I say (something you believe in)

I dream (something you actually hope for)

I try (something you make an effort about)

I hope (something you actually hope for)

I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

Performance Task:

Research Report: Federal Food and Nutrition Programs

Performance Task:

Public Awareness Campaign: Hunger Public Awareness Campaign

Performance Task:

Opinion paper on quote from Nectar in a Sieve

Bibliography (APA format)

 1.Markandaya, Kamala, (1954,1982,2002). Nectar in a Sieve. New York: Signet Classic.

 2. Levine, Jane & Larry, (1994). Finding Solutions to Hunger: Kids Can Make a Difference. New York. WHY Publications

 3. Website: www.knowhunger.org

CURRICULUM DIRECTOR:

Dr. J. Larry Brown, Center on Hunger and Poverty

Heller Graduate School, Brandeis University

 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT:

Paula J. Sincero, Writer and Designer

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Dr. J. Larry Brown, Brandeis University

Dr. John Hammock, Tufts University

Sandra Venner, Brandeis University

CURRICULUM REVIEW:

Andrea B. Adelman, Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation

Nancy Astor Fox, Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation

Judi M. Garfinkel, Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation

Beth G. Reisboard, Gerda and Kurt Kein Foundation

Dana M. Reisboard, M.Ed.

Ashley Sullivan, Brandeis University

WEB DESIGN:

Judi M. Garfinkel, Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation