Cesar Chavez
Topic: Civil rights, Boycott, biography Prepared by: Gina Keesee
Grade level: 3rd, whole group/small group, 1 hour, 21 students
Standards: Virginia Standards of Learning:
3.11: The student will explain the importance of the basic principles that form the foundation of a republican form of government by
b)identifying the contributions of George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; Abraham Lincoln; Rosa Parks; Thurgood Marshall; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Cesar Chavez;
National Standards for History K-4: Standard 4B: Demonstrate understanding of ordinary people who have exemplified values and principles of American democracy.
Objectives:
- Given the biography, the lesson and the video, students will record Cesar Chavez’s’ acts of civic duty and link his actions to grape and lettuce boycotts, and
- Given information in class, students will form a human time line using the important events from Cesar Chavez’s’ life.
Materials: computer with internet access, Cesar Chavez book, Cesar Chavez information: “Cesar Chavez” video: artifacts:
Map of California:
Lesson Description:
Introduction: Introduce Cesar Chavez and ask probing questions to activate students’ prior knowledge. Does anyone know who Cesar Chavez is? What did Cesar Chavez do that was important to farm workers? What is a boycott? Why were the boycotts in 1975 important?
Content focus: Read passages from Cesar Chavez. Show front cover of book and several pictures from the book. Show a two minute video clip about Cesar Chavez and his work to help the migrant farm workers. Use the overhead projector to show artifacts from Cesar Chavez’s’ speeches, the boycotts in 1965 and migrant workers. Also use overhead to show map of California. Point out where Cesar Chavez lived, where the strikes were held, and the grape pickers walk.Have students write a response in their journals about the passage from the book, as well as the video and pictures. Have students turn to the student beside them and share their responses. Introduce the concepts of civic duty, “boycott,” and contributing to the public good. Create a ven diagram on the overhead comparing Chavez to George Washington because they both wanted equality for the people. Explain that all the famous Americans they have studied such as Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington all wanted equality for the people. Explain that although these famous people lived a long time ago, Chavez died much more recently. Pass out construction paper to students and tell them that they are going to start a “Famous Americans” booklet today, but that they will keep and use again in the spring. Instruct them to create their first page by drawing a picture that represents Cesar Chavez’s fight for equality and why he is important. Pair students into groups of two and tell them they are going to be forming their own “human time line” using important dates and events from Cesar Chavez’s’ life. Randomly pass out cards that already havean important event and date from the lesson plan written on them. Have studentscreate a picture to go with this event. Have students quietly come up to the front of the room and line themselves up in the correct order.
Closure: Review Cesar Chavez and his contributions to the improvement of farm workers lives. Prompt them to make a connection back to the grape and lettuce boycotts and how these contributed to the laws written to protect farm workers. Review that Chavez was a Mexican American, a farm worker, he fought for change for the farm workers, and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also led non-violent marches and wanted equality for farm workers.
Assessment:
Formative: Note student’s responses during class discussions, as well as their discussion with partners. Note student participation.
Summative:Understanding of the human time. Read their response journals and collect their famous American booklets to read and assess.
Background information: Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona. He and his family were migrant farm workers and worked in various areas of California; he only completed the eighth grade in school. Cesar worked hard to make life better for migrant workers, and in 1962 he started the National Farm Workers Association. He is best known for striking and boycotting against grape and lettuce growers. In 1965, grape pickers walked 340 miles from Delano, CA to Sacramento, CA to strike for better working conditions and wages. This strike lasted for five years until growers agreed to give into union demands. Chavez died in 1993, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom was presented to his wife in 1994 for all his hard work. Many schools, parks and streets are named in his honor. His birthday, March 31st, has been declared a national holiday.
Key concepts:
- Boycott: Refuse to have dealings with people or a group or refuse to buy as a means of protest.
- Civic Duty: Responsibilities of a citizen.
- Strike: When people stop working, hoping to force their employer to agree to their demands.
- Union: An organization of workers.
Grape boycott march from Delano, California to Sacramento, California
Farm workers housing
Hand written notes from Cesar Chavez’s speech in 1969