Great Ideas!: More or Less

Lesson Objective:

Students will identify things their community needs more or less of.

Grade Level and Subject Area:

7-12/ Language Arts and Social Studies

Activities and Strategies:

Have students brainstorm about things that a community (eg., neighborhood, school, classroom, municipality) needs more or less of. The next day, have students bring in pictures of things the community needs less of or more of and be prepared to discuss their choice(s).

Have students hang their pictures on a bulletin board and explain their choices, is this a picture of something we need more or less of? Why?
Divide the class into groups of three or four. Distribute the pictures so that each group has pictures other than those selected by group members. As a group, they should decide whether the picture represents something the community needs more or less of. After the group has decided, the student who initially brought the picture can explain his or her choice.
As a class, discuss the effects on those people within the community who may have less of these things. What happens if some people don't have these things? Would there be conflicts arising from the differences between the "haves" and "have nots?" Who would be included in the conflicts? Why?
As a follow-up to the discussion, ask students if there is anything they can do to improve the community (i.e., write letters to those in charge, stage a fund-raising activity, or make posters to alert other community members about the problems and possible solutions).

Former High School teachers Jan Drum (Re-Discovering Fire, Muscatine, IA) and George Otero (Las Palomas de Taos, NM)