El Agua

'We are the 99%':
Occupy Wall Street Protest
Objectives
• Students will learn the meaning of 99% and do math problems calculating 99%
• Students will learn about the Occupy Wall Street Protest
• Students will learn about wealth and wealth disparity
• Students will learn what some of the protesters want and need and why they are angry
• Students will learn how to make aninfographic

Materials
• 100 pieces of some object
• "I am the 99 percent" photo/statement handouts (attached)
• Examples of infographics printed out (you will need color printer) or available online if interactive
• Construction paper, markers, crayons

Gathering

When celebrating the 100th Day of School students are asked to bring in 100 of something (e.g. paper clips,pieces of pasta, dried beans, toothpicks, crayons) to illustrate what 100 looks and feels like. Prior to the lesson, ask students to bring in 100 of something. Or, you can bring in 100 of something. Lay it on the table and ask a student to come up and count it out loud. Then ask another student to come up and put 99% of it on one side of the table and 1% of it on the other side. This means 99pieces will be on one side and 1 piece on the other.

[pic]









What is 99%?

Write 99% in big letters on board and ask: What is 99%? Draw a circle around the "99%" and create a semantic web asking: What words describe 99%? What does it mean? How much is it? How does it feel?
Students may come up with words such as: majority, almost all, most, many, huge amount, nearly everything,etc. Then ask: What are some examples of something you would like 99% of? Can you think of examples of attributes that 99% of people (i.e. the majority) have? It may be difficult or impossible for them to think of examples. Then ask if there's anything they think 99% of people should have, feel, or need?
To give students a feel for what 99% of a group of people represents, have them compute 99%of the population of your school (e.g. if your school has 2000 students, 99% of the school population is 1980). If they are not yet able to multiply large numbers, you can do it on the board and show them the answer. Show them how much 99% (1980) is and how much the other 1% is (20). Then take the population of your city/town, or of the United States (311,000,000) and have them compute 99% of that(answer is 307,890,000).
Then ask: How about 1%? Make a similar semantic web (next to the 99% web) of 1%, recording the students' responses to words describing it such as: very few, not very much, minority, small amount, etc.
[pic]
A- Occupy Wall Street Protest


Ask: Has anyone ever been to, participated in, or heard about a protest or demonstration? Define protest as "an expression ordeclaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid: a protest against increased taxation.. Give some examples from our history that the students may know about (Montgomery Bus Boycott, March on Washington, Women's Suffrage Movement etc.). Ask: What was the protest about? What were the protesters trying to accomplish?
Thenask: Does anyone know about a protest that is going on right now? Have you heard of the "Occupy Wall Street"? (Or other "occupation" protests going on around the country?) Have students share what they know. Fill in the blanks with the background information below.
Background: Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street is a group of activists who want to change the way money, wealth, and income aredistributed in the U.S. They want to change the fact that there is a very big difference between how much money and wealth rich and poor people have. A group of them came together in New York City on September 17, 2011, and began gathering in Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan near Wall Street. Several hundred stay overnight and sleep in sleeping bags. The original idea for the protest was for them...