Ideas for engaging your students on hunger issues
Teaching Students Who Go Without: "How can I teach hungry children about hunger?"
Many of us have been fortunate never to know true hunger, a hunger caused by a chronic lack of available food. Food insecurity has many causes including poverty, lack of transportation to affordable food, low wages, or not having enough money after bills to buy food.
The concern then rises, how can teachers who have no personal experience with hunger talk to children who are experiencing hunger on a regular basis? Here are some ideas for framing your discussions:
Compassion
Compassion for others is one of the greatest capacities educators can model for children. While it is rare for the average American to experience war, famine or ethnic violence, that does not mean we are incapable of showing concern and taking action. Not every suffering needs to be personally experienced to be seen as an injustice. Never experiencing poverty or hunger does not preclude one from exhibiting compassion for those in need.
Knowledge
Become knowledgeable about the scope of hunger in your particular school. How many children at your school receive free or reduced lunch? What percentage of qualifying children are eating breakfast and lunch at school? This information will help situate what kinds of actions would be appropriate for your school to help end hunger.
Research
Familiarize yourself with research on the relationship between academic success and school meals, especially school breakfast.
Tell Stories
Books open new worlds, and can serve as gateways to sensitive discussions on hunger. For lower-level elementary students, picture books can help children visualize someone experiencing hunger, perhaps someone with whom they could identify. Upper level students can read novels and reflect on lessons through writing assignments. Books allow you to use real world examples without the risk of stigmatizing a child who does not want to be labeled as "poor." See the section below on appropriate and available books on hunger.
Solicit teaching moments
Each teacher best knows their own classroom community. In an environment of trust and compassion, it may be desirable to draw out stories from the lives of your children and address their realities. Who here has ever been hungry? What did it feel like? Why do people lack money for food? How does our community help people who don't have enough to eat? How can we help?
Take action
Perhaps the most powerful thing an educator can do after raising awareness is to demonstrate how children can positively change the world we live in. Community service learning is a great way to let children know that the world as is is not the only world to be. Children can be involved in a variety of activities that make them feel powerful and full of potential.
Teaching Those with Plenty
"How do I teach students about hunger if they have never lacked for food?"
"As a teacher in an upper- and middle-class district, I want to do more to help my students understand that while they may be relatively protected from poverty and hunger, many others don't have a "safety net." I also need to find ways to help my students understand that helping others is not just an act of personal generosity but also a matter of long-term self-interest and social preservation."
------Terry Moore, 3rd grade teacher (from Beyond the Bake Sale, Rethinking Schools Online, Summer 2004)
Children are remarkable in their ability to empathize with others. The considerations for teaching children who have not experienced hunger do not necessarily differ on the whole from teaching children who have experienced hunger (see the list above).
The obvious distinction is that children of privilege lack the personal experiences of feeling an aching hunger, of routinely eating dinner at a hot meal site, or watching their parents struggle when the food stamps run out.
The challenge is to utilize age-appropriate learning experiences that can open their eyes to the pain of poverty and hunger. This site contains multiple tools to introduce the topic of hunger in meaningful and personal ways. Our anti-hunger curriculum is a great place to start!
Hunger Curricula
Food for Our Future Curriculum
Designed by Hunger Task Force and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, Food for our Future is a comprehensive curriculum designed to help students gain a greater understanding of the issues that hungry people face and what can be done to address hunger in our community.
Elementary Version
Middle/High School Version
Other curricula from other organizations can be accessed on our Curricula Links page.
Books on Hunger and Poverty
Get Involved
Teacher Resources
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