1. Building Background Knowledge: Planning The Two Voice Poem
Module 2A: Unit 2: Lesson 1
Building Background Knowledge:
Planning The Two Voice Poem

2. Agenda Opening Work Time Closing and Assessment Homework
Entry Task (5 minutes)
Reviewing Learning Targets and Introducing Agents of Change (5 minutes)
Work Time
Building Background Knowledge on César Chávez (15 minutes)
Introducing the Text—Modified Tea Party (15 minutes)
Closing and Assessment
Turn and Talk (5 minutes)
Homework
Continue reading in your independent reading book for this unit at home

3. Materials
Two images of working conditions, one modern and one historic; found in advance by teacher; suggested images:
Modern day: a Google image search for “factory today working conditions” will yield a number of possibilities. Choose one that will interest your students.
Lowell:
Entry task: Working Conditions Then and Now (one per student)
Agents of Change anchor chart (one per student and one to display)
Building Background Knowledge worksheet (one per student)
Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez (or an alternative background source; see Teaching Notes for a list)
Quote Cards (one copy for every four students)
Quote Cards (for teacher reference)
Additional Quotes (one per student; used during group work)

4. Lesson Vocabulary Agent of change Chicano Consumer Anglo Boycott
Mexican-American
Union
Latino
Migrant worker
Hispanic

5. Opening: Entry Task (5minutes)
Display the two images of working conditions
Distribute the entry task: Working Conditions: Then and Now
Complete it individually and silently
Debrief the entry task
The technology has changed, the protective clothing has changed, the number of workers needed has changed, but the workers are still young women

6. Opening: Reviewing Learning Targets and Introducing Agents of Change (5 minutes)
Direct your attention to the learning targets for the day:
I can define “agent of change” and apply that knowledge to working conditions
I can explain the significant facts about the life and work of Cesar Chavez
First you will learn about agents of change
Define agent: someone who works for someone else
Example of agents, such as:
Hollywood agents
FBI agents
Real estate agents

7. Opening Continued… Define the phrase agent of change:
someone or something that works to change a situation
One major agent of change in the textile industry has been technology, as you saw in the photos
But you are going to be thinking about the people or groups of people that are agents of change
Distribute the Agents of Change anchor chart
Define consumer:
a person who purchases goods and services for personal use

8. Opening Continued…
What were the mill girls in Lyddie trying to do?
How did the response of the owners to their petitions affect working conditions?”
Workers can organize to demand better conditions, and businesses can make conditions better or worse depending on how they respond to those demands
You will start reading a speech today that will explore this very important question:
Who changes working conditions?
You will learn about how the government, business, workers, and consumers all affected working conditions in one particular industry: agriculture

9. Work Time: Building Background Knowledge on César Chávez (15 minutes)
One major agent of change was César Chávez
Distribute the Building Background Knowledge Worksheet
Use this source to help you understand the life and work of César Chávez
Read sections of Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez by Kathleen Krull
it provides an opportunity for you to enjoy listening to a story and viewing some beautiful artwork

10. Work Time Continued…
You should hold your thinking on the Building Background Knowledge Worksheet
Briefly review the vocabulary that Chávez uses in the Commonwealth Club speech that you will read, as the terms we use to discuss ethnicity have changed over the years
Define:
Migrant worker
any people working outside of their home country
Chicano
a chosen identity of some Mexican-Americans in the United States
is sometimes used interchangeably with Mexican-American

11. Work Time Continued… Anglo
a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England, the English people, or the English language
Mexican-American
Americans of full or partial Mexican descent
Latino
a person of Latin American origin or descent, especially a man or boy
Hispanic
an ethnic name ascribed to people of country heritage that speak the Spanish language

12. Work Time: Introducing the Text—Modified Tea Party (15 minutes)
Distribute a quote card (in sets of 4)
Each of you has a quote from the Commonwealth Club Address by César Chávez, and there are four quotes in all
Read your quotes silently
Clarify any unknown vocabulary
Define:
Boycott
an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for social or political reasons

13. Work Time Continued… Union
an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing its members' interests in respect to wages, benefits, and working conditions
These are terms that are central to Chávez’s speech
Preview the Tea Party protocol
In a tea part, it is best to have a variety of people to make the conversation interesting
You need to mix and mingle in order to form groups of four in which each person has a different quote
Find a group of 4 with different quotes and sit together

14. Work Time Continued…
As a group, match your quotes to the agent of change on the anchor chart
For example, my quote from the speech is,
‘Instead of enforcing the law as it was written against those who break it, Deukmejian invites growers who break the law to seek relief from the governor’s appointees.’
So, this quote is about laws, and more specifically about laws being broken and the governor not enforcing the law.
I think that if we are talking about laws, we are talking about governments as agents of change.

15. Work Time Continued…
When governments outlaw certain working conditions, they will change.
Of course, if they don’t enforce those laws, the working conditions will not change.
So I will write, ‘Government passes and enforces laws’ and put my card on this section of the anchor chart
Begin to match your quotes to the appropriate square on the anchor chart

16. Work Time Continued…
When you think you have completed the task and can explain your reasoning, raise your hands
As you finish, I will hand out the Additional Quotes worksheet, which you can discuss as you wait for everyone to finish
Share where you placed the cards and what you added to your Agents of Change anchor chart
Add those ideas to the class anchor chart

17. Closing and Assessment: Turn and Talk (5 minutes)
Given what you learned about Chávez today and after previewing the quotes from his speech, who do you think Chávez sees as an agent of change?
Review the expectations and deadlines regarding independent reading for homework

18. Homework
Continue reading in your independent reading book at home