Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Optional Preparation – Ground Rules For Classroom Discussion
25 minutes – Part A: The Media On Homelessness
30 minutes – Part B: Critical Reading of Articles About Homelessness
25 minutes – Part C: Real People, Real Impact
10 minutes – Reflection

Part A: The Media On Homelessness

Step 1.

Begin by informing students that in this lesson, they will be thinking critically about the impact that the media can have on peoples' view of people experiencing homelessness.

Provide each student with a copy of the Student Worksheet. Using the scale provided, ask students to rate the impact that the media has on their view of people experiencing homelessness.

Step 2.

Distribute a copy of the article linked below to each member of the class:

“A mixed bag of media on homelessness”, by Lanie Harris and Cathy Beadnell (https://vcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Insight16web.pdf - page 16)

Encourage students to read through the article. If required, read through the article as a class. Invite students to highlight sections of the article that they think are important, and to underline anything that they are unclear about. Facilitate a class discussion wherein students can raise any points for clarification.

Step 3.

Invite students to return to the scale on the Student Worksheet and using a different colour pen, assess whether the article changed their perspective. Then, ask students to note down why their response changed or did not change.

Part B: Critical Reading of Articles About Homelessness

Step 1.

This activity provides an opportunity for students to read and critically assess real-world media representations of people experiencing homelessness. Invite students to form six evenly-numbered groups and arrange the tables so that they are sitting facing each other. Distribute one of the articles linked below to each group and invite them to begin reading the article (article links also provided on the Student Worksheet).

“Sharp rise in youth homelessness shatters stereotypes”, by James Farrell. https://theconversation.com/sharp-rise-in-youth-homelessness-shatters-stereotypes-10773
“Homeless protesters call for more shelter in Melbourne's CBD after 'negative' media attention”, by Clare Rawlinson. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-16/homeless-protesters-call-for-more-shelter-in-melbournes-cbd/7417124
“Homeless people bad for tourism and should be moved on, say residents and businesses”, by Aisha Dow. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/homeless-people-bad-for-tourism-and-should-be-moved-on-say-residents-and-businesses-20150114-12nxs8.html
“Melbourne CBD rough sleepers are pretending to be homeless: Victoria's top cop Graham Ashton”, by Chloe Booker and Aisha. Dow. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-cbd-rough-sleepers-are-pretending-to-be-homeless-victorias-top-cop-graham-ashton-20170119-gtune7.html
“Flinders Street homeless: Violent confrontations as police clear rough sleepers in Melbourne”. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-01/violence-on-flinders-street-as-police-move-on-homeless/8228862
“City of Melbourne to remove groups of homeless amid police crackdown on beggars”,
by Andie Noonan. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-26/melbourne-council-uses-new-protocol-to-remove-groups-of-homeless/8987608

Step 2.

Once students have read the article, ask them to remain in their groups. In this activity, students use the Chalk-Talk visible thinking routine to critically assess the article they read.

The Chalk-Talk visible thinking routine allows students to have a ‘written conversation’. In their groups, students all take turns to write down their thoughts, contemplations, questions and responses around a guiding prompt. Students should not talk to each other - instead they are having a written conversation in which they can spend time contemplating what the other group members have contributed, thus taking more time to consider different perspectives, rather than focus on formulating what they are going to say next. Students will be given the opportunity to share their thoughts verbally when the group summarises their key ideas for the rest of the class.

Give each group a set of Chalk-Talk Prompts and ask them to leave them upside down in the middle of the table. When ready to proceed, ask students to turn over the first page and spent 2-5 minutes having a written conversation about their response to the prompt. Signal to students when to move on to the next prompt.

Students will be prompted with the following questions:

What was the article about? What was the main point/argument made in it?
What were some of the minor points made in the article?
What impression did you get of people experiencing homelessness?
What language gave you that impression? Identify specific words, phrases and/or sentences?

Step 3.

Ask groups to read through their responses, and select the responses that they believe best summarise the ideas of the group. Working through one group at a time, invite them to share the key ideas noted down for each of the prompts.

Step 4.

Summarise this part of the lesson by highlighting that the media can have an impact on what we think about people experiencing homelessness, which can affect the actions taken to address the issue of homelessness more generally.

Part C: Real People, Real Impact

Step 1.

This activity will encourage students to make connections between the impact that the media can have on our view of people experiencing homelessness, and real people who have experienced homelessness.

Invite students to move so that they can see the screen, then show one or more of the following clips from Life After The Oasis, a documentary that revisits characters and stories from the original 2008 documentary The Oasis. Before you begin watching, remind students that the clip they are about to see features real people courageously sharing their stories.

Select clips from the options below to screen for the class:

Darren's Story (https://vimeo.com/346336219/2ace7f2662)

Emma's Story (https://vimeo.com/347210687/d9e3ffb66b)

Chris Impacts of Addiction (https://vimeo.com/349803033/c28bb864b0)

You may choose to organise a class screening of the full length documentary so that students can make stringer connections with character stories and the message of the film.

Step 2.

Follow the viewing of each clip with a quick class discussion that covers each of these questions:

What’s your impression of the person in the clip?
Does this impression match how people experiencing homelessness were represented in the article you read? What matches? What does not match?
Can you see any ways that the person in the clip may have been affected by negative media representations of people experiencing homelessness? If so, what are they? If not, why not?

Note: There may be some students in the class who prefer to respond to the questions in writing. If this is the case, write the questions up on the whiteboard and ask them to note down their responses on the back of the Student Worksheet or in their English workbook.

Reflection

Invite students to respond to the following question on the Student Worksheet:

Did you learn anything in this lesson that changed your mind about media representation of people experiencing homelessness? If yes, why did it make you change your mind? If no, why has your view stayed the same?

Differentiated Learning

Extension – Distribute a copy of this article for students to read independently. Then, invite them to draft an extended response to the following question:

What is this article saying about the effect of representation on people’s impression of people experiencing homelessness? Use evidence from this and other articles to support your response.

Provisions for Learning Support – In Part B of the lesson, invite students to form a small focus group, and conduct a teacher-led close reading and annotation of a media article.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Life After The Oasis - Homelessness in the Media

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