Ms. Wilkins, Ms. Venus, and Ms.

Griffith/Homeless Students Lesson/3-16-2023

I. Topic:
Introduce information about homeless students and the culture associated with this
cultural group.
II. Objectives:
Following a PowerPoint instruction, handout worksheet, class discussion, and interview,
the class will be able to complete a homeless student profile activity with their group and
discuss their answers.
III. Teaching Procedures:
Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)
Introduce the topic being discussed while passing around sticky notes. Instruct the class
to make a tally mark every time they do the following things.
Ask the class to think about how many times on a regular class day they go to their dorm.
Tally this amount on the sticky note.
Ask the class how many times a day they go to the dining hall or get a snack from their
dorm/Gedunk. Tally again on the same sticky note.
Ask the class approximately how many times a day they use their
computer/internet/phone. Tally again on the same sticky note.
Ask them to imagine how their routine would look if these things were not available.
How would your education look like if you did not have access to a lot of food, internet,
or even a place to sleep?
We will be looking into students who are homeless and might have to manage these
struggles while being in school.

Development 1- (5 minutes)
a) Pass the handout to the class.
b) Use the presentation and ask the class to fill in the blanks on their handout sheets.
c) Erin will present slides 2-5.
i. Erin will discuss the McKinney-Vento definition of homelessness,
statistics of homeless students, and the rights of homeless students.
Guided Practice 1-
a) The students will complete the guided notes and answer the application questions.
Not all questions will be asked in class due to time.
i. With these stats in mind, what does this mean for you as a teacher?
ii. Were you aware of how prevalent of an issue homelessness is?
Development 2- (7 minutes)
a) We will be watching a video that talks about the hidden problems homeless
students face from the student’s perspective.
b) Play video.

Guided Practice 2- (3 minutes)

 a) Ask the class to share something that stood out to them.
Development 3- (7 minutes)
a) Susie will present slides 8-13.
i. Susie will discuss how students have been ill-served in the past, what
progress has been made to meet their needs, what the major struggles are
for homeless students in schools, what teachers can do to help these
students, and what teachers can do to affect change in the larger school
community for these students.
Guided Practice 3-
a) The students will complete the guided notes and answer the application questions.
Not all questions will be asked in class due to time.
i. How can we make progress toward meeting homeless students’ needs as
teachers?
ii. Think back to the activity we did with the sticky notes at the beginning of
class. How could losing your basic needs impact your education?
iii. How does this relate to the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching?
Development 4- (7 minutes)
a) Jebie will present slides 13-19.
i. Jebie will discuss the wants of the parents of homeless students, how
homeless students learn best in the classroom, what things the teacher
should consider when working with these students, and other important
information about these students.
Guided Practice 4- (3 minutes)
a) Jebie will ask the following to the class.
i. With your quad, try to think of 3 different ways we can check in with our
students (slide 16).
ii. Beth is a homeless student who often comes to school wearing old clothes.
Students make fun of her because she often comes to school unshowered.
She notices the teacher making faces at her when Beth comes near her. 
Does the teacher seem to be using the participatory approach? How do you
know? If not, what are specific things she can do to start using this
approach? (slide 18).
Development 5- (5 minutes)
a) Erin will present about Christian Perspective.
b) 1 John 3:17-18 “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us
not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
Proverbs 14:31 “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but
whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
Development 6- (15-20 minutes)
 a) Interview: We will meet with Ms. Stacey on Google Meets and interview her
during the presentation.
b) Introduce Ms. Stacey to the class. Ms. Stacey is a 6th-grade Science teacher at
Thompson Middle School in Alabama. She has worked with homeless students
for many years and can connect with these students very well.
c) How do your students characterize their own culture?
d) What do they seem to value?
e) What special challenges do homeless students sometimes have?
f) How can teachers best support their homeless students?
g) How do homeless parents prefer to communicate with you?
h) What suggestions do you have for new teachers when working with homeless
students?
i) How have you noticed parent involvement in school for these students?
Guided Practice 5- (15-20 minutes)
Activity: Teaching Homeless Students Lesson 
Split students into their quads OR two groups. 
Give each group a student description, and at the end have everyone come back
together.  
Get into four quads (2 sets of quads pair up, other 2 sets of quads pair up) – sets of quads
collaborate and then the whole class comes together and shares.  
“You are the teacher”  
Questions to think about… 
1. How can you tell that these students may be experiencing homelessness?  
2. What are ways that you as an educator can intervene and assist them?  
3. Take a look at the 9 resources to escape poverty, which ones does the student
have and which ones are the student lacking? 

Closure
Think back to the sticky note on your desk, the presentation, the activity, and the
interview. What is one thing you learned that you want to take with you when teaching?
IV. Materials:
Pencils, sticky notes, lesson plan, computer, projector, Teaching Homeless Students Lesson
Power Point.pptx, Handout for Homeless Students Presentation.docx , StudentProfiles.docx

V. Evaluation:
Formative- Participate in discussion, talk with their partners about application questions,
and complete the handout during the presentation.
Summative- The class will complete the activity in groups. They will discuss their
findings with the other group.
VI. Reflection:
1. When the group discussion was held about the activity, did the class seem to have a
deep understanding of the application of teaching homeless students?
2. Were the questions asked engaging? Did the class participate in discussions?
3. How was the timing? Did we have enough time? Did we need more time?
4. How did the interview go? Was there connection difficulty? Was the class able to ask
questions too? Were the answers impactful for the continuation of understanding
these students?