Curated OER
Migrant Workers Through the Lens of Dorothea Lange
Students explore the lives of migrant workers during the Great Depression. In this Great Depression lesson, students examine photographs and song lyrics to gain an understanding of the conditions for people living in the era. Students...
Stanford University
United Farm Workers
What do primary sources tell people about important events in history? The assessment geared toward high school social studies focuses on primary sources. Learners analyze a poster and a blueprint to determine how the documents show the...
Curated OER
The Ethics of Outsourcing to China
After viewing clips from a documentary on factory work in China and US outsourcing, learners have a fishbowl discussion. They work in groups to build both personal points of view and strong arguments on the effects of outsourcing in...
Curated OER
1880s Agricultural Nation: Foods and Families on the Move
Students complete activities to learn about the agriculture during the 1880s. In this agricultural history lesson plan, students discuss the brainstorm questions about their neighborhood and its agricultural history. Students research to...
Smithsonian Institution
Strength in Solidarity: Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Campaign for Fair Food
Not all food is created equal. The lesson dives into the world of migrant farm workers to show their struggles to earn livable wages and better working conditions. Academics learn why the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was created and...
Curated OER
Esperanza Rising: Lesson 9
Sixth graders explore culture by reading a book with classmates. In this Hispanic history lesson, 6th graders read the story First Day in Grapes, and discuss the tough lives of migrant workers. Students answer study questions after the...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Guest-Worker Program
The U.S. Guest-Worker Program and the H-2A visa are the focus of a social studies activity. First, class members assume the role of advisors who must present the president with four proposals that would amend the visas given to...
Curated OER
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Learners identify productive resources that are important to migrant workers. For this lesson on resources, students give examples of natural resources, human resources and capital resources that apply to migrant workers. This lesson has...
Curated OER
Trouble in the Fields: Mexican Migrant Workers
Young scholars become curators and museum reviewers for an online gallery using a selected group of primary sources on Mexican migrant workers. They share and reflect on their own and each other's ideas though participation in an on-line...
Curated OER
Words In The News Latin American Migrant Money
Students explore the life of a migrant worker. They compare the life of those living in the United States with a poorer country such as Mexico or Latin America. After looking up the definitions of vocabulary words, groups of students...
National Woman's History Museum
Dolores Huerta: The Life and Work of a 20th Century Activist
Extra! Extra! High schoolers read about Dolores Huerta, the social activist who helped organize the United Farm Workers. Researchers read primary and secondary sources about Huerta's work and craft a headline, supported by three pieces...
Curated OER
Fancying the Full-Time
Students consider rights a worker deserves and research the impact of migrant workers in countries around the world. They create public service announcements to increase awareness and address letters to individuals capable of redressing...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Why Do Workers Strike? (Chapter 11: "Los Aguacates/Avocados")
Make connections between Esperanza Rising and human rights with the activities outlined here. The instructional activity starts out with a brief quiz and review of the novel. After that, pupils circulate and share quote strips that you...
Anti-Defamation League
Who Was César Chávez?
Scholars complete a KWL chart to indicate what they know about Cesar Chavez and then research what they want to know about this farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist. To complete the lesson, scholars research modern civil...
Curated OER
The Great Depression and Now: The Migrant Worker Experience
Students identify the concerns of people caught in desperate times during the Great Depression. They make connections between The Grapes of Wrath and historical images from the Great Depression. Students make connections between the...
Curated OER
...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
Students examine impressions of a community of migrant workers in Texas who go north to pick crops. The lesson highlights the poverty and discrimination that a family suffers in the 1970's.
Deliberating in a Democracy
Freedom of Movement
Class members examine human migration. For this population lesson, they read an article entitled, "Freedom of Movement" and respond to discussion questions about the article related to guest worker programs.
Curated OER
Journal of Time: A Historical Perspective
Analyze the setting behind the Great Depression in California with Pam Munoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Middle schoolers assess the protagonist during her coming-of-age moments, while migrant workers manage the hardships of the era. Each...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Unauthorized Immigration and the US Economy
As part of a study of immigration and the U.S. economy, class members assume the role of newspaper editors to determine which submitted letters to print on their paper's editorial page to present a balanced view of the debate.
Curated OER
Migrants Day
For this Migrants Day worksheet, students complete activities such as reading a passage, phrase matching, fill in the blanks, choose the correct word, multiple choice, spelling, sequencing, scrambled sentences, asking questions,...
Curated OER
Young and Restless in China
Students examine push and pull factors at work in China. In this modern China lesson, students research primary and secondary sources in electronic and print formats to investigate the plight of migrant workers in China today. Students...
Curated OER
Literature: Esperanza Rising
Students read and discuss the book, Esperanza Rising. After analyzing and identifying the novel's structural elements, they examine working conditions for migrant workers in the 1930s. As part of the lesson, students in groups choose...
Hampton-Brown
Esperanza Rising
Accompany a reading of the novel, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, with a series of lessons that dive deep into the literary world of a young girl and the journey she takes to start a new life. Lessons and their...
Curated OER
Farmworkers and the Union: A Lesson from Viva La Causa
Students examine the role of labor unions. In this labor union lesson plan, students watch "Viva la Causa" and discuss the working conditions that led farm workers to strike. Students also read a handout regarding labor unions and share...