Mother+Teresa

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//Subject Matter Background//: India is a subcontinent of South Asia and is the seventh largest country in the world. The country is known for its variety of religions, languages and its large population with over 1.148 billion people. Additionally, present day India is located where the Indus River Valley Civilization was and is known for its historical trade routes which made it a key role in the growing empires of the past. Although the country has a vast array of resources, man power and travel routes, it continually has issues regarding poverty, public health and illiteracy. Mother Teresa is known for her work in Calcutta, a province of India where she worked with the Sisters of Loreto organization in Saint Mary's Catholic High School. She later expanded her work to aid in the overwhelming poverty the country had endured and was joined by countless volunteers to aid in the effort to defeat poverty in the slums of India. Later, Mother Teresa founded the orders "The Missionaries of Charity" which later became an International Religious Family by decree of Pope John Paul VI. Due to her ability to work with the poorest of the poor and people whom no other group would help, Mother Teresa received the Noble Peace Prize in 1979 "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace."======

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//Instructional Ideas//: Many of the traditional history that students have learned with regards to India includes figures, such as Gandhi and the peaceful protests he led. I feel that students should have a broader understanding India which correlates to their present day society. Throughout its history, India has been an overpopulated and impoverished country and continues with this trend today. Due to figures, like Mother Teresa, awareness and aid is being dedicated to this country and the poorest of poor in the slums of India. I want students to gain a better understanding of the living situations that people of both past and present-day India. I plan to give students an overview of the country's current financial struggles via photographs, documentaries and videos, including excerpts from the film //Slumdog Millionaire.// The approach to India and the overview of geography that I hope to incorporate is Cultural Geography. By the end of the unit students will be able to identify the variety of languages, religions, ethnicities and social dynamics that embody the country of India. Additionally, while delving into India's culture, students will learn of present day living conditions in the country and how over population has affected the country negatively to this day. As students have already learned about the Europe, South America and Africa, this unit will be an interlude to a continual cycle of third-world issues that students will see throughout our examination of Asia. In terms of assessment my goal is for students to volunteer their time at a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen while also donating their gently used clothing to a variety of organizations. I think this type of alternative assessment will display a more concrete example of how poverty is all around us and one way to contribute is by volunteering our time to help these people, like Mother Teresa did. This could be done via field trip or as an hour requirement that students will be required to complete in a months time. For students/parents who do not agree with this alternative assessment, students will have the option to create a multi-genre project where they create a Public Service Announcement on the issues regarding poverty in India. In this assessment students will have a beginning, middle, and end where they initially define poverty, state the importance of a call-to-arms scenario like Mother Teresa had and finally and ultimatum. This can be done through a variety of methods including: movie, soundtrack, propaganda poster, wiki or blog.======