Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/458422
I start my lesson by explaining how important a farmworker is for the Amer- ican economy. I make it personal by describing my own childhood in Reedley, an agricultural town, where half of the students in my class were children of farmworkers and many times worked in the fields. I share a slideshow of photographs showing various aspects of a farmworker in the 1960s and '70s, including the living conditions of migrant farmworkers in a one-room shack, without any heat, electricity, stove or bathroom, meant for an entire family. Students see workers using a short-handled hoe, and I explain what that does to the body over time. They see what the work entailed — the long workday, the low wages, and the negative long-term outcome, such as the effects of pesticides on the body. Students reflect on that before we discuss the man brave enough to stand up for the rights he believed his community deserved, and how his efforts made the cause as big as it was, uniting over 50,000 workers and co-founding the National Farm Workers Association. Students then focus on César as a person, and what made him who he was. We cover his early and adult years, and his later leadership years. Using a series of pictures, I relate each picture to him as a developing leader. We finish up by having a class discussion about how he fits with the other great civil rights leaders including Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. N T H E 1 5 Y E A R S I've taught art and history at both ele- mentary and middle school levels, I've approached the topic of César Chávez with the hope that stu- dents can see how anyone with a vision for a better tomorrow can achieve it. I How do you cover César Chávez in your classroom? Naqiba Gregory, Washington Teachers Association Elkhorn Village Elementary School in West Sacramento We asked and CTA members answered: During the week, several school library books and my personal books are on display and available for checkout. Also available are a documentary, binders of pictures, and Internet searches of everything students could want to know for further research and understanding. I offer extra credit to anyone who researches him and can have a dialogue with me. For both my art and history classes, students review their notes and do further research in order to create thumbnail sketches of ideas and events that they feel are important or representative of the lesson before they begin their final project. I provide feedback before they present to the class. I close the lesson by explaining how I witnessed the changes that Chávez made. My classmates in elementary school were absent because they were marching. I saw how the lives of the people in my neighborhood were improved. I remind my students how anyone, people with imperfections and problems, can make a dif- ference in the lives of others by being committed to their values. Here's what other members had to say Know & Tell Tips to share 16 www.cta.org