Teaching Sequence

30 minutes	Part A: My view of homelessness
20 minutes	Part B: Bursting Stereotypes
10 minutes	Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: My view of homelessness

Step 1.

Invite students to fill in the row of the table on the Student Worksheet that asks students to detail 'My view' of people experiencing homelessness. Encourage students to think honestly about what automatically comes to mind when they picture a person who is homeless, and in doing so, consider their stereotypical idea of a 'homeless person'.

Step 2.

As a class watch the following clips from The Couch Project 2015.

Sarah's Story - The Couch Project (https://youtu.be/kYF2CV5kjUM)

Rebecca's Story - The Couch Project (https://youtu.be/vGEFQ3TRqWE)

Once the class has viewed the clips, ask the students to fill in the second row of the table on the Student Worksheet based on the image shown in the opening seconds of each clip.

Step 3.

Ask students to type the words 'Homeless Person' into an online image search (alternatively, you may wish to do this on your own computer connected to a projector so that the whole class can view the same images together). Invite students to have a quick scroll through the images and fill in the third row of the table on the Student Worksheet based on a generalised summary of the pictures that appeared in the search.

Part B: Bursting stereotypes

Step 1.

Provide students with a balloon and ask them to blow it up until it is around medium size, and then tie the balloon. Using a marker or pen ask students to carefully draw a basic sketch of a homeless person on their balloon, based on a general summary of the details they recorded in their table. (Alternatively, students could sketch on a piece of recycled paper.)

Step 2.

Once all students have completed their sketch, discuss each feature of the table in the final row, and ask students to fill it in as you discuss each one. After discussing the first feature, provide one fifth of the class with a thumbtack and ask them to 'burst the stereotype' for that feature (the paper sketches could be screwed up and ‘thrown out’ as a symbol of throwing away the stereotype.)

Continue this process until each feature has been discussed, the table is complete and all the balloons have been burst.

As you complete this step, you could display this infographic from Homelessness Australia.

Reflection

Ask students to reflect on the importance of dispelling some of the stereotypes about homelessness. They could respond on the Student Worksheet to one or more of the prompts below:

What may influence a person’s assumption about homelessness?
Why is it important to dispel stereotypes about homelessness?
What are some ways to move beyond the stereotypes about homelessness?

Differentiated Learning

Extension - Students could be encouraged to expand on their idea of a stereotypical 'homeless person' so that it describes more than just their appearance. They could think about their general health and wellbeing, their family and support network, their sleeping and bathing situation etc.

Provisional Learning Support - Students could use an app or program such as Adobe Voice to record their spoken observations for Part A.

The Oasis - Bursting Stereotypes

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