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Lesson Plan
PBS

Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
Cesar Chavez believed so much in the cause of farmworkers that he put his money where his mouth was. Chavez quit his well-paying job to organize them into labor unions. Using a speech, photograph, and short biographical video, pupils...
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Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Introduction to Activism

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Activist, feminist, and labor organizer Dolores Huerta are perhaps best known for her work with Cesar Chavez to create the United Farm Workers. Class members explore primary source documents to learn more about this Medal of Freedom winner.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Speech Structure: Unions as Agents of Change— Part 2

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars continue reading César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Working with partners, they complete graphic organizers to determine a claim that Chávez makes about the UFW. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Speech Structure: Part 2 of the Commonwealth Club Address

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars continue reading and analyzing César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Working with partners, they answer text-dependent questions about how governments and consumers affect working...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Analyzing the Structure of Chávez’s Wrath of Grapes Speech

For Teachers 7th Standards
César Chávez gave his 1986 "Wrath of Grapes" speech to educate consumers about pesticide use. Scholars complete an end of unit 2 assessment, applying what they learned throughout the unit to a new text. They then analyze the structure of...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading Closely and Introducing Rhetoric Toolbox: Unions as Agents of Change—Part 1

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars explore the question of whether labor unions are the agents of change as they continue reading César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." They discuss rhetoric in Chávez's speech and discover...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading Closely: Introducing Chávez’s Commonwealth Club Address and Considering the Plight of the Farmworker

For Teachers 7th Standards
How can a persuasive speech help inspire social change? Scholars read along as they listen to the first half of César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Commonwealth Club Address." Next, pupils use graphic organizers to analyze one of Chávez's...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: How Chávez Develops His Claims in the Commonwealth Club Address

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars complete a mid-unit 2 assessment, analyzing how César Chávez supports his claims in his 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Learners focus on paragraphs 18 and 19 of the speech, answering text-based...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Synthesizing Chávez’s Central Claim

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members play an interactive game, matching strips of paper containing rhetorical devices with examples from César Chávez use rhetoric in his 1984 speech, "Address to the Commonwealth Club of California." Next, partners discuss...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who’s Got Rights? An Introduction to Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore human rights issues. In this social justice lesson, students examine human rights as they read segments of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," discuss photographs with human rights implications, and play a human...