Sara R. Lowes

9th Grade Humanities

 

 

From Poverty:

The Color of Water by James McBride and the Cycle of Childhood Poverty

A Web Quest for Humanities, Marble Hill School for International Studies

Designed by: Sara Lowes, sara_lowes@hotmail.com

 

Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother"                                      http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression

 

Poverty is the worst form of violence.

--Mahatma Ghandi

Introduction

 

In the Color of Water, James McBride recalls his vivid and rich childhood growing up in Brooklyn and St. Albans, Queens.  He intertwines his journey through adolescence with a biographical account of his Jewish mother's growing up in the dysfunctional, impoverished household of immigrant parents in the "Jim Crow" South.  Her subsequent migration north led to her marriages to two black men, through which she became a single Jewish mother of twelve bi-racial children, living in predominantly black neighborhoods.  Ruth and her children faced prejudice and discrimination from all sides, although Ruth found an inter-cultural space to raise her family among the churchgoers and civil rights activists in the black communities of New York City.  McBride describes how Ruth raised her children with love and dedication, concerned with education and development as individuals rather than with their lack of material possessions. Even working full time, Ruth was barely able to feed her children, keeping her family together without many comforts by which we, as Americans, often define ourselves.

 

McBride describes how poverty and chaos characterized his childhood, affecting his self-esteem as a young black man growing up during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s.  Poverty defined his mother's identity from the time she was a child, and it defined
 

http://www.hbo.com/gordonparks/vision/img/contest/poverty.jpg

 

McBride as he became an adult.

 

To understand better how the cycle of poverty currently affects us all, you must study the effects of poverty on individuals like McBride and Ruth Jordan, and learn about this social problem in our city.  As New York Times journalists researching a story about children growing up in poverty in New York City,

 

1. You will define the social problem of poverty as the author sees it by reading the novel The Color of Water by James McBride.

2. You will gather evidence using internet resources, to see if the problem of children's poverty really exists today in New York as the author sees it (i.e.: is the author's description accurate for today?  Does the problem exist in New York City?).

3. You will identify causes of children living in poverty

4. You will evaluate the public policy that exists to address poverty in New York City using the Public Policy Analyst (PPA).

5. You will develop solutions to the problem of children living in poverty in New York City.

7. In addition, you will evaluate the effectiveness of your public policy solutions and select the best solution to solve the problem of children's poverty today.

 

 

Task:

You will create a news report consisting of:

 

·        a written news story that explains the background of the social problem, analysis of current policies and substantiated recommendations for a new public policy

·        a poster or other visual aid summarizing the news story

·        a video-recorded oral presentation

 

 

Internet Resources: 

 

Public Policy Analyst Website

 

          http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips.html

 

Search Engines

 

            www.google.com

            www.yahoo.com

            www.askjeeves.com

 

Websites

 

1.        http://library.thinkquest.org/25009/contents.html

2.        http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html

3.        http://www.kfny.org/facts.html

4.        http://geogdata.csun.edu/NYpage1.html

5.        www.strength.org

6.        http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Issues_and_Causes/

7.        http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp

8.        http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20010709monday.html 

9.         http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20001204monday.html

10.     http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20020304monday.html 

 

 

Process:

 

Divide into pairs.

Go to the PPA and go through worksheets:

 

1.       Identify and define the problem of children's poverty in the novel and as it exists in society today:

         http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet1.html

      

2.       Gather evidence for both situations and complete worksheets for the novel and for society:

         http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet2.html

 

3.                 Identify causes of children's poverty in New York City using the worksheet found at the website:

         http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet3.html.

 

4.               Create three of your own public policies that will address the social problem of children's poverty in New York City.  Use the worksheets found at:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet4.html and http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html

 

6. Finally, evaluate the effectiveness of your public policy solutions and select the best solution to solve the problem of children's poverty in New York City today by using the worksheet found at the website:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet6.html

 

 

EVALUATION:

 

Upon completion of your report, each group will be graded based upon:

A)    The amount of information gathered

B)      The quality of the information gathered and

C)      How well the report was presented in the video-taped news report, poster and the written news story, pictures and graphs.

 

Children in Poverty PPA PRESENTATION EVALUATION RUBRIC:

 

 

 

3

2

1

 

Content

Writing shows in depth understanding of the social problem

Shows understanding through explicit references to the social problem

Shows understanding through implicit references to the social problem

 

Organization

Clear, elaborate sentence structure; gives background, analysis, and persuasive evidence for new policy

Writing varies length of sentences; gives some background, analysis, and partly persuades with some evidence

Writing uses basic sentence structure; news story gives little or no background or analysis, and does not support new policy

 

Presentation

Video

Engaging; rehearsed, and presenters maintain appropriate attitude

Somewhat engaging; not well rehearsed, and presenters mostly maintain appropriate attitude

Does not keep audience's attention; was not rehearsed, and presenters do not maintain appropriate attitude

Collaboration

There is strong evidence that all group members participated equally

There is some evidence that all group members participated equally

There is little or no evidence that all group members participated equally

Visual Piece

Poster is appealing; images represent the themes in the news story

Poster captures the social issue but is not as relevant as category 3

Poster does not capture the social problem or the themes of the news story

 

 

Conclusion

Students should have discovered the validity of the author’s experience and of poverty in America.  Students will also have explored the plight of children living in poverty today, its effects and policies that currently address the problem.  Students should have made a public policy and have evaluated it.

 

 

Standards Addressed in WebQuest

 

English:

 

ES #1: Language for Information and Understanding

 

ES #2: Language for literary response and expression

 

ES #3: Language for Critical analysis and evaluation

 

ES #4: Language for Social Interaction

 

Social Studies

 

SS# 3: Geography Understanding

 

SS # 4: Economics

 

SS # 5: Civics, Citizenship and Government