Teaching to make a difference in the world is often a lonely endeavor.  Most educators are not dedicated to addressing social problems in their classroom curriculum and encouraging students to work together for social change.  It is immensely challenging for teachers to focus on such concerns as hunger and poverty in the local community and the world when such a focus is not encouraged in the school curriculum.  Sometimes parents do not feel it is appropriate to teach their children about such seemingly depressing topics.  Teacher accountability, performance measures, and state and local standards can also draw teachers’ attention away from teaching about real world problems. 

Fortunately, the Kids Can Make a DifferenceÒ (KIDS) organization reminds us that we are in the company of dedicated people who share a common goal—to solve the problem of poverty and hunger in the world.  The print resources Finding Solutions to Hunger: Kids Can Make a Difference Teacher Guide by Stephanie Kempf and the KIDS  Newsletter published three times a year by Jane and Larry Levine provide regular support for teachers to “keep the faith” and maintain their focus on teaching about and addressing the problem of hunger in their classrooms.  In fact, once the Levines learn about your dedication to teaching about hunger, they generously share additional teaching resources!  Since reading the KIDS Teacher Guide, receiving the newsletter, and corresponding with the Levines nearly three years ago, I discovered that the KIDS organization has developed a very effective structure to support teachers in teaching about poverty and hunger. 

First of all, the Teacher Guide is a substantive resource of background information and lessons for introducing the problem of hunger, reasons for its existence, and what students can do to end hunger.  I have used one of the lessons in my social studies methods course during four different semesters to provide preservice teachers with some experience in introducing the social problem of poverty and hunger to elementary and middle school students.  We usually make a large chart of what we learned about hunger among children, the elderly, the working poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and single mothers from the lesson’s background information.  Items on our list include: “Elderly fear the future–will they have money later? 1 in 6 elderly are hungry or have poor nutrition.  Where do you draw the line for a family just above the cut-off line for food stamps?  Crisis situations come up!  Single parents are hungry because of child-care and housing (costs).  Children are hungry because of low income and lack of time (to prepare breakfast).  Discrimination supports poverty, get involved in the community to change this.”  I usually embellish the lesson from additional research about the self sufficiency costs for families (Pearce& Brooks, 2000) and students read children’s trade books dealing with poverty and homelessness (see my web site for an annotated list of books at www.socialstudies.esmartweb.com).  Although Finding Solutions to Hunger: Kids Can Make A Difference is written with middle school and secondary students in mind, preservice teachers can also benefit from the lessons.

Second, the KIDS Newsletter provides regular reminders about what other educators are doing to raise the issue of hunger and poverty with students in schools and different projects they are involved in either to educate others about the problem or contribute to the solution.  I find the descriptions inspiring!  They remind me I could and should do more personally and professionally to solve these problems in my local community.  The newsletter also supplies research on other issues related to poverty and hunger, such as the importance of children and youth’s involvement in community issues, additional background on the challenges of providing food for everyone in the world, and health risks associated with poverty.  Such thoughtful articles help me understand the gravity of the problem and the difficulty, but importance of finding solutions. 

Third, Jane and Larry Levine generously offer additional teaching resources for educators engaged in the challenging work of raising difficult social problems with students.  During one of our e-mail communications, we must have discussed the use of music as a medium for introducing the issue of poverty and hunger with students because Larry soon sent a list of song titles appropriate for this topic.  The list prompted my visit to a bookstore to obtain some of the recordings to use in class.  Larry also sent an inspiring videotape about the KIDS program.  The videotape portrayed middle school students engaged in educating other students at their school about the problem of world hunger through poster presentations and an interpretive dance.  When I viewed the videotape, I thought the scenes illustrated an affirmative response to some of my preservice teachers who complain, “Can you really teach kids about hunger in schools?  Can kids do something about it?”  It depicts what is possible if we as teachers are willing to provide the opportunities.

The Kids Can Make a DifferenceÒ organization reminds us we are connected to ordinary and extraordinary people who share a common concern.  It gives us additional reasons for taking on this important work, encouragement and resources to do so, and nudges us forward.  For educators dedicated to teaching to make the world a more humane place, KIDS provides a structure of information, encouragement, and support.

Resource   Pearce, D. & Brooks, J. (2000).  The self-sufficiency standard for Wisconsin.  Madison, WI: Wisconsin Women’s Network.

Ava McCall, Ph.D. is Professor and Department Chair of Curriculum and Instruction Department, College of Education and Human Services at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901. She may be reached at mccall@uwosh.edu. Her web site is www.socialstudies.esmartweb.com

Home | Program Description | Teacher Guide
Hunger Quiz | Kids Speak
Kids History | Hunger Facts | What Kids Can Do
Hot Topics