Labor+Union+Lesson

**Labor Union Lesson** **Grade Level:** Fourth Grade **Time Required:** 20 minutes Index cards Pencil //Photos://  Charts: **GLCEs:** **Lesson Specific Objectives:** 1. Students will explain what a labor union is. 2. Students will communicate some issues between laborers and employers. 1. Teachers will pose the hypothetical question: //Your teacher is giving you 6 hours of homework every night, what will you do about it?// 2. Teachers will direct student discussion with prompts such as the following: //Is 6 hours of homework per night unfair? How do you justify your answer?// //What if everyone feels as though 6 hours of homework per night is unfair? What if only half the class thinks it is unfair? What if one student chooses to do the homework?// (5 minutes)  3. Discuss briefly with students the existence of unions today, and have students brainstorm some possible present-day functions of unions. (4 minutes) **Assessment:** Students will be informally assessed on their level of participation in today’s activities. Students should express understanding of the group rules by following them throughout. Students should be active participants in all activities presented. Students should also be polite, engaged, and contribute to conversation during the activity.
 * //Ms. Belanger, Ms. DeYoung, Ms. Athena Stanley, Mrs. Stevens//**
 * Materials:**
 * 1946 Moline strike in Minneapolis.
 * Two women strikers on picket line during the "Uprising of the 20,000", garment workers strike, Feb. 1910, New York City.
 * Special powers granted to organized labor with the passage of the Wagner Act contributed to a wave of militant strikes and a “depression within a depression” in 1937. //Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.//
 *  1915 Garment Workers Striking in Chicago.
 *  1937 A sit down strike at Fisher Body in Flint Michigan.
 * Average UAW – Chrysler Labor Costs Per Hour Worked (2006)
 * Average Hourly Labor Costs (2006)
 * Median Weekly Earnings of Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers (2007)
 * 4 – H3.0.6 Use a variety of primary and secondary sources to construct a historical narrative about the beginnings of the automobile industry and the labor movement in Michigan. (G, E)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">4 – P3.1.1 Identify public issues in the United States that influence the daily lives of its citizens.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 4 – P3.1.2 Use graphic data and other sources to analyze information about a public issue in the United States and evaluate alternative resolutions.
 * Anticipatory Set:**
 * Procedures:**
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lay out all primary source documents for student exploration. Ask students to begin forming questions and/or inferences based upon what they observe. (5 minutes)
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Engage students in a discussion regarding what they have seen in the primary source documents. Scaffold student discussion with questions such as:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //What do you notice about the documents?//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Who made the documents?//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Who would like these documents? Why?//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Who would dislike these documents? Why?//
 * Closure:**
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Give each student an index card.
 * 2) Tell each student to write his or her name on the card.
 * 3) Answer the questions: //If you could start a union in your own classroom, would you? Why? If so, how would you start your union?// (2-3 minutes)

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