Homelessness Awareness

Throughout the month of November and December, 8M students looked closely at homelessness in Canada through various readings and videos. One of the videos they watched was called “Switching Places with the Homeless” https://youtu.be/rEx4Czjo-NM.  The video tells the real-life story of Ed, a man who was unable to work after a foot injury and became homeless as a result. Richard Leblanc has devoted his life to combatting homelessness, switched places with Ed, and lived in Ed's van for a couple months while Ed lived in his house.
As a final assignment, students were tasked with writing blog posts from the point of view of someone hit by homelessness.

As part of the writing process, students were asked to consider the following before drafting their first drafts.

What did your life use to look like?

What happened that led to your situation of being homeless?

Where do you sleep?

How do you stay warm?

Where do you keep your clothes and other personal items?

Do you think you can get off the streets again?

Can you do it by yourself?

The scenario was this:

Now imagine, as a homeless person, you spend a lot of time at your local library. It’s quiet, it’s warm, and you can read or use the Internet. You keep a low profile and don’t call any attention to yourself. One day while you’re browsing the employment listings, you come across a website set up by the federal government.

While a lot of different groups are working to solve the problem, the government has finally decided to invite homeless people across the country to guest post on a special new blog:

1) expressing their feelings about being homeless and

2) what they think would make the situation better.

Post to the government blog. Explain your views of what needs to be done. Which of your basic needs are not being met? What do you propose would meet them? What kinds of supports do you need to help you get back to where you can be a contributing member of society?

Students worked through the writing process, writing drafts, sharing those drafts with others, receiving feedback and implementing in their writing. You will see those blog posts featured here in the coming days.

Criteria	Needs Work	Getting there	Got it!
The writing is clear and detailed, It accomplishes the purpose (expressing feelings of being homeless; explaining how government could help)	The writing is vague, Doesn’t really let the reader know how the writer feels, offers limited explanation	The writing is somewhat clear and detailed, It accomplishes the basic purpose	The writing is clear and detailed, It accomplishes the purpose
IDEAS • ideas and information • use of detail	• no clear purpose • can’t hear the author’s voice • lacks specific and relevant examples and details	• focused around a purpose • can hear the author’s voice sometimes, at other times it could be anybody who wrote this • some specific and relevant examples and details, but others are vague and irrelevant	• focused around a clear purpose • the author’s voice comes through loud and clear • specific and relevant examples and details help the reader to understand the writer’s message
ORGANIZATION • opening; ending • organization and sequence • paragraphs	• no introduction and/or conclusion is predictable • no logical sequence, series of random ideas • no paragraphs, just a solid block of text	• effective introduction; conclusion is predictable, reader may still have questions • some logical sequencing, some ideas flow from one to another while others seem random; organization is clear, one idea per paragraph	• effective introduction • conclusion leaves the reader satisfied • logical sequence, ideas flow from one to another • organization is clear, only one idea per paragraph