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The Moral of the Story: Income Inequality in Familiar Tales: An Integrated ELA and Social Studies Lesson

Attributes

Subject

Social Studies, Life Studies, ELA, Economics, Finance, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Literature

Grades

Grade 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Types

Worksheets & Printables, Worksheets

File

PDF

Editable

Author

Grace Under Pressure

Rating

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About This Product

This lesson introduces middle school students to the basic ideas of capitalism and income inequality using familiar stories as reference points. Students will take notes on a handout and consider whether they think it's fair that the 26 richest people on earth have as much money as 3.8 billion other people.

They will learn about the moral of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: Dickens thinks Scrooge is too greedy and that he should share his wealth with others- especially his hard-working clerk, Bob Cratchit.

Next, they discover the message in the popular fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk: one could argue the original author of this tale thinks Jack and his mom should not be living in poverty while the giant has piles of gold.

Then, they choose a story or novel of their own that addresses these issues and untangle that author’s specific message.

Finally, they complete a personal reflection of what they have learned and what they think about equality in society. There are no wrong answers here- some students may think changes should be made, while others may think our system is working well.

This is a developmentally-appropriate way to start a discussion about social issues including income inequality, wealth hoarding, progressive taxation, basic income, human rights, and more. It is also a good way to review parts of a story: plot, characters, moral, and theme.

Grades to Use With: This lesson is designed for students in the middle years (5-9) and can be used in a social studies or language arts class.

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