As Mary Cowhey states in her chapter, "Compassion, action, and change," the typical model of the school food drive should be looked at critically. It wasn't until I read this article that I thought about how food drives "inadvertently reinforce stereotypes about poor people, oversimplify the problem and the solution, fail to teach an understanding of the causes of poverty or local effort to improve conditions, and further stigmatize low-income children in the school." It was truly eye opening for me as I was reading everything that she did NOT want children to believe because she was describing everything that I always believed. I believed many of the things she described children should NOT believe because when it came to school food drives, I was never given an explanation beyond "We're collecting food for poor people because they deserve a nice dinner/holiday, too." What's more is we were only encouraged to collect food and clothing around the holidays. I was completely left in the dark about "the complex reasons why people go hungry or cannot afford housing." I was also blind-sighted to the fact that poverty-stricken people lived in my neighborhood 365 days a year; it wasn't just a seasonal thing. My concern is that if I never truly understood the complexity of poverty growing up, then obviously many others did not either.
From here, we move to taking action today. I really liked the idea of reimagining food drives, and putting children into the driver's seat as far as taking action beyond simple collection of items. Also, I felt "The Giving Tree" would be extremely beneficial for families within the schools and families in the community. Is it possible for us to take some of Cowhey's ideas and integrate them into the schools we're currently working in? As student teachers, or even first and second year teachers, what are some ways we can help students understand the complexity of poverty and put our "compassion into action?"
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Well one thing that I found it hard to understand was that this teacher had all of these past experiences to relate to and explain poverty more in depth. I think that it is harder for some teachers to relate to this, because they grew up in a middle-class society and never faced any of these issues. I recall from the reading that these teachers can talk about volunteering and how they help out with the community. I know from my experiences that I would talk about ways I have volunteered and what my students can do to help.
I had a student first phase who came into the classroom for a short period of time. My Cooperating teacher and myself later found out that this child was homeless. From his appearance, one would never be able to tell this. It goes to show you that there are going to be students in our classrooms that have this same problem. We can be there to help provide them with a learning experience and show them ways to help others. I really liked how the students in the article baked pumpkin pies and delivered them. I think that we can take this information, and run with it. If we could bring students to an environment that shows there is such a thing as poverty, then we can help to show them what we as teachers may have not known. I think that it is better to see something than read about it, and I think that putting compassion into action really states what needs to be done.
I do wonder if people who DO donate food and clothes to the poor know the effects of their contributions and efforts. What happens after you drop items off for donation? I was also left in the dark about this issue. To this day, I still wonder how my efforts contribute, and how it is helping solve the problem. Does it really help?
Since we have been discussing different viewpoints throughout class, I wanted to add a different viewpoint to this situation... There are people who strongly refuse to donate items to the poor. Their reasoning is survival of the fittest. People are responsible for their own success so the poor deserve their current standing. After all, they got themselves into it. If they want to change, they must work for a better living.
I also wanted to add that people are "left in the dark" for a reason. Being poor is not something we wish our families and friends to experience. In result, people do not like to talk about the issue, keeping it hidden and shamed in the dark.
It's ironic that I'm reading this post now because tomorrow is the last day to bring in food for the canned food drive. I feel as though students do not really know or understand the meaning behind canned food drives. They just know that it is to help the people that don't have food. I feel that the school I am in now does not emphasize the fact that these families live right in our community. They also fail to mention that these families live like this the entire year. I feel that any type of community service project can really empower students. Personally, giving to the community is one of my passions. I feel that there is so much we can do in our classrooms to help the community and still learn from it. I definitely advocate for any type of community organizations that help those in need.
In response to the previous post, I was involved with the canned food drive when I was in high school. After collecting cans from the school and the neighborhoods, we would then sort all the cans the type of food (it took a long time) and then we made baskets and gave them to an organization. This organization then donated those items to local places where families were encouraged to pick up food. I know that some of the baskets that were put together were given to the local church. People that were in need within the community had the chance to benefit from the food collected in the area.
I grew up in a middle class area and I do not find it hard to relate to this issue. Although I may live in this area, I still see people that are homeless in the streets. In fact, I worked for the Park District over the summer and every morning when I came in, I would find the same homeless man sleeping in the tents that the campers ate in. He would snuggle up with his blanket and sleep on top of of the benches. Later in the day, I remember seeing the same face walking the streets of my town. Homelessness and poverty are on going problems that our society faces and I feel that canned food drive is just a step that we can take to help those in need as long as we explain the purpose to our students.
In response to the first post, I can sort of relate to your situation with the child in your first phase placement. In the class I'm currently working in, there is a little boy that used to come to school wearing the same clothing and had a certain odor surrounding him. My CT and I later found out that his family was facing some hard times. We can't know everything that our students experience outside of school, but I believe that we can be there for them as supporters. I like your idea of "providing them with a learning experience and showing them ways to help others." This could possibly invoke a feeling of pride that they can take in themselves and their efforts. Also, it might be a self-esteem booster knowing that there may be others in their same situation, or even more difficult situations, and that it's ok because people are out there to help.
To comment on the second post, I definitely agree that the opposite view of "survival of the fittest" does exist. However, I feel that we should still introduce food/clothing drives, and take it a step further by teaching kids about the complexity of the poverty issue. These are different ways we can teach a social justice curriculum. Whether or not people/families agree with "aiding the poor," we still need to address the issue because it does, in fact, exist in our society (and our classrooms). Going along with this, we can't avoid the issue and continue to keep people in the dark just because it's something we would never wish upon our own families/friends. It is a very real issue that's important to understand so we can become accepting individuals.
To respond to Jenny's post, I, too, believe that poverty is something I can relate to as an adult. I've been noticing it more and more. It's true that the same faces are always around in certain places. I notice a lot of homeless people in the library because it's a nice place to keep warm, especially on the colder days. However, I wasn't able to relate to or understand poverty/homelessness as a child. So, I guess that's why I was asking about ways we can teach children about it in hopes that they start understanding this issue at an earlier age.
I was also greatly impacted by this article. I agree that in elementary schools we need to be teaching our kids about poverty in a meaningful way to help them understand the many issues surrounding it. Like many of the people who have already commented, when I was young my elementary school also did canned food drives, but nothing more was discussed. Thankfully, in middle school and high school I had many opportunities to make/serve meals at a local homeless shelter and volunteer at a mission in a poor, rural part of Mexico. There I heard the life stories of many people who were in difficult economic situations and I came to have a better understanding that people who are poor and/or homeless are people just like you and me who usually had something unexpected happen they couldn’t recover from. The quote in the article that says “There but for the grace of God go I” makes that point beautifully. It’s true that anyone at any time could end up in need. I feel it’s important to make our students aware of that fact, not to scare them, but to help them not feel so detached from those who are in that situation, as well as to encourage those who are currently in that situation. Acknowledging anyone could end up in that situation does a lot to take away the stigma that so often surrounds poverty and homelessness in our society.
Like the author, I think actually going, serving, and talking to those who are in need throughout the year is one of the best ways to help our students (and us) understand the issues surrounding poverty, grow to be compassionate, and see that there is something we all can do to make a difference. Yes, it’s a big project, especially with very young students, but one that I think is worth it and needed in order to make our society better for everyone. If for some reason we can’t take our students somewhere to serve, then maybe we could have guest speakers come in who are or at one point were in poverty to talk about their experiences. We could also do the giving tree idea. I’m sure there are many ways to approach this topic in a more meaningful way than it was presented to us; we just have to make a point to keep looking for ideas and try to do whatever we can in our classrooms and schools.
I couldn't believe how well the article related to what is going on right now. As everyone knows, it is near the holidays, even if we do not want to admit it, which of course means food drives. I definitely agree that children need to understand that poverty strikes throughout the year...not just at the holidays. Of course everyone is all about having the spirit of the season and doing good onto other people, but does that mean that the students can care less after the holidays? I think that schools need to switch and do year-round charity things.
Many of our students have a tough life and receive many things because of their disadvantages, such as free or reduced breakfast and lunch provided by the school. I remember that the principal at my second phase brought a good point that these students and their families need to realize that they can help others in return. Yes, some of them are not well off at all, but there are people all around the world that are far worse than them. It is important to understand that everyone can help, and not just during the holidays. The principal saw this charity program on Oprah and thought that it was fantastic. I checked out the website (http://kiva.org/) and found it to be wonderful. Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepeneur in the developing world-empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty. It sort of acts like a loan, which is repaid. Schools could "adopt" a person and raise money to help them develop their business. This helps teach the students that you can be helped but also give back to those that help you.
There are many charities such as these, but it is important to learn about them and make sure that the money goes to th eright people and not the middle man. Unfortunately, so many people take advantage of this system and scam people. My hope is that this program that I mentioned is honest and really does what it promises to do.
After reading this article there are a lot of good points that I never saw. Like most of you I come from a middle-class family and a community where poverty and homelessness seemed absent. We held many food drives that were simply food for the needie. In the article she made a good point of food drives as a way to show off diposable income. This is very true and I never thought of it that way. Something to change the way these food drives are seen would not to have a pizza party but letting classes take turns delivering the food. I like how she would take her class out in the snow to give the pies, even though I would see issues with students safety. Making the drive have meaning and seeing what the students are doing would be a great way to give meaning to donating. I like that this person was able to take so much action. I would like to teach my students ways to take actions outside of school with their families. Making a food/clothes drive an action would help give meaning to what these students need to understand and something when I was a young student was never exposed to.
I'm working in a second grade classroom right now in Elgin and we have 85% of the students in the school with free or reduced lunch. Obviously the issue of low income and not having enough to eat is very relevant and relatable to my students.
We are currently having a canned food drive, as I'm sure many of everyone else's students are. There are two things that are different than any other food drives I've seen in any other schools or areas. One, the students are encouraged not just to bring in the cans, but to earn them. The letter sent home to the parents asked to have them help out around the house or in their neighborhood to earn the cans they bring in. This way, they have the opportunity to reach out even further and learn about responsibility.
The second thing is that once the students bring in two cans, they will be able to use two 2 pound weights in P.E. when they're warming up. This is an incentive for the students as well as encourages another aspect of living a healthy life.
These simple differences could be ways to change the "food drive" idea to further help build a community including everyone.
I was also surprised by how familiar this article was to my childhood. We would always have donations of canned goods, or the giving tree around the holidays. However, as students we also brought items in so we could get a pizza party. It was never explained to us who would be getting these items, besides saying "poor people." As a child I never realized that "poor people" was such a general term. Where I grew up we considered the poor people to be the people who lived in this one apartment building in our neighborhood. I think it is very important for students to understand why and to who these donations are going to.
Last year, I worked at the YWCA down in Bloomington and we decided to do a community project around the holidays. It was decided that we would donate items. We told the students about 3 different organizations; who and what they were collecting items for. The students decided to collect items for baby fold. We also allowed them to set their goal for the number of items donated. We didn't have a prize (pizza party) if we did reach our goal, we made it very clear we were helping out other people. The students seemed to still be excited about the project. I think, although they werent getting something physically, they understood that they were giving a toy to another child and that made them happy. We never thought to have the students come with us to drop the items off, but I think that is a great way to continue their connection to donating items to the less fortunate.
The past few years at school I was involved with a program called College Mentors for Kids. This kids involved are "at risk" kids, meaning they come from low income homes or their parents didn't graduate high school. The three main ideas our sessions were about were: college, community, and culture.
It was always amazing to see how these children would reach out to the community. One activity was to create packages for the less fortunate. Someone from the homeless shelter came in to talk about why and how people come to the shelter. The kids were so happy to do something for someone else. They took time to decorate the bags. The issue I would have now, looking back, would be how we got the supplies. An ISU student worked at a hotel and asked the hotel to donate items. The kids took no responsibility in providing any goods. It can be difficult to ask people who come from an "at risk" home to donate to those less fortunate.
Having been in the program for two years, I had a little buddy the previous year who's address was a homeless shelter. I think it is important to be aware of where your students live and take time to discuss what they know about shelters or might be connected to one. If a student does live in a shelter or has at one point, it will be important to know how to approach the topic with that student. I liked the way the article talked about how students could relate. Even more so, the teacher sharing her story made everything so much more real for her students. How can teachers coming from a middle class background relate to this topic? I think if a teacher personally volunteers, they will witness a variety of situations people are in at shelters and be able to share those stories with their students. Regardless, I think this is a difficult topic to approach in a classroom but is also a meaningful one.
I find this to be an interesting, but important issue. I can remember doing clothing and food drives throughout my entire school career. My largest memories come from high school and college. In high school we had a huge canned food and money drive. We raised the money to go out and buy either more canned food or we also bought full out meals (even things that were perishable) for local families in our high school community who needed the food. Having this part of the drive helped us realized that there are families all over that may need help, not just in the stereotypical poor areas. Once in college some friends and I started a program called "Trick or Treating for the Hungry" where for Halloween we (and a bunch of volunteers) went around the the community and went trick or treating for non-perishable food items. We raised a TON of paper bags full of food.
These two experiences really stand out to me, but I wish I had something like this when I was younger. When there are food drives in elementary schools I think students are just told the general, "This food is for those who can not buy food or just do not have it." They are not given the specifics or even told that there are people all over that are constantly in need of food. It is not just this time of year that they need food. I think that if this fact is told to the students young, it will stay with them and may encourage them to do more as they grow.
The class where I am for phase 2 joined up with another class one day for home base. Students came around during this time to tell home base classes about the canned food drive, and said their script and walked out. The other class's teacher reinforced how important it is to participate in the canned food drive if at all possible. Then, she said something that really opened my eyes.
When donating food for canned food drives, many people go looking in the back of their pantry for something they don't need anymore. The teacher told students to think about the people receiving the food. She asked the students if they would want a dusty can of water chestnuts or a banged-up can of anchovies. She then told them to be respectful to the people that are hungry, and consider who would be receiving the food.
A few days later, a girl walked in before school with her mom carrying two large boxes. She put them down on the floor and said they were for the food drive. She spent all of the money she had saved up (almost $50) on food to donate. She bought a case of macaroni and cheese, and foods she thought kids would like to eat. My mentor and I were shocked that she would be so considerate of those less fortunate.
I think a canned food drive can be a good teachable moment for students. Students could be encouraged to find their own ways to help out others, and how even small things can make a big difference.
I love the idea that Emily brought up in her post (Trick or Treating for the hungry). I think many people would gladly donate a few cans of food or some money in a time of need. I think it is an idea that a whole community could participate in that would make a huge difference.
This was a great topic to bring up/post about, especially around thanksgiving. I actually read your posting the day after you posted it and decided to wait out the holiday break at the middle school that I am at. We actually have a “giving tree” system. First of all for thanksgiving the TEACHERS submit names of students/families that we think need supplies (food) for a thanksgiving dinner. We turned in the names and this food ( LOTS of turkeys) were given to people’s home and to churches around the area for the holiday feast. The giving tree to also a TEACHER informed database that is formed to assist families over the winter break. From what I understand about the program, they are assisted with food and winter supplies and along with suggestions of reduced or free activities for the student to participate in over the winter break. These students are struggling, deserving families. For example, in one of my classes a student wrote on a “standard of living” assignment that her family is having a hard time because her dad had two jobs and had to quit one of them because he was working 19 hours a day. Then on another assignment this same student talked about how her mother lost her job at a local supermarket. Honestly, this student could not be a more positive light in the classroom and show absolutely none of her hardships. Yet, as you mentioned in your posting, the actual students of the building and the community are not participating in the assistance or the awareness of the problems. I have been told that it is for privacy issues and ultimately we don’t want to “embarrass” students about their personal lives. I understand and commend the schools efforts to help our families within the building but isn’t there more we can do? As a school community, not just the teachers and staff? It’s difficult to implement such doings because the current system has worked so well. Is it even our place to bring up such extensive issues in the classroom if the school isn’t addressing them? Even now after the holiday there was not, to my knowledge, even a check up with the families that received out thanksgiving gifts. I just don’t understand the impact. Is it just me?
I had never really thought about it before, but many students don't understand the full impact of a food drive. I agree that it is wrong that food drives are only held around the holidays and that sometimes the most involvement students have is digging through their cabnets for cans to bring in. I think that when food drives are held in a school teachers need to take the time to really teach students about the meaning of the food drive. Teachers need to help students understand that people in need of help live in their community eveyday. Homeless people are all around them, they just don't know it. I think it would be benneficial for students to actually go to a food pantry and help deliver what they raise. In the middle school that I am currently at, bringing in cans for the food drive seemed more like a race than just doing it for the good of others. The number of cans each homebase brought in was tallied and the highest in each grade were announced. I think that this was a terrible thing to do because many of our students were bringing in cans just so that our team could win. I think that if a school is going to keep track of how many cans they collect, it should be as a school, not a competition between classes. I think that food drives are a great way to get students started and involved in contributing to their community, but I also think that they need to be handled correctly by the school and the teachers so that studnets understand the full meaning of what they are doing.
Wow! Never before have I realized the implications of a food drive. Through this class and this blog I constantly find myself having more and more misconceptions than I previously believed. I now realize that food drives are often just treated seasonally, and all children are told is that some people don’t have food so we need to help them out. I originally wouldn’t have even thought about encouraging the students to think about the reasons why people are homeless and what else we can do to help them, or should we help them at all?
I have had heated debates even with my friends about homelessness. Many people think that it is the homeless person’s fault and if they wanted to do something with their life they could. Some feel that they should not receive any assistance because they do not deserve it and they are just a drain on our economy. On the other hand, some feel sympathy for homeless people and believe it is our duty as a human race to help those in need, no matter the circumstances. These to different viewpoints would de great to do research on in a class and actually debate. I would have never thought of incorporating ideas such as these into a classroom before, but I think it is a really important thing to do!
At my school we are doing a toy drive for ‘those in need’, which end up actually being all of the bilingual Hispanic students in the end. It would be interesting if my mentor would delve into this idea and explore why this is. I think that it would be a controversial thing to do because it would hit home with many students, but it might also be eye opening and encourage students to advocate change.
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