Lesson Plans

September 1, 2019

Lesson Plan: 5 teaching resources for Labor Day

Supporters of the California Grape Boycott demonstrate in Toronto, Ontario, December, 1968. Jessica Govea is in the center, front row, wearing poncho. The Delano grape labor strike was organized by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and the United Farm Workers against grape growers in California. The strike began on September 8, 1965, and lasted more than five years.Photo of “United Farm Workers Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University

Looking for powerful Labor Day lesson plans and resources? Help students understand the history of the labor movement and its relevance today at home and around the world.

Lesson Plan | Labor Day Lesson Plan: Unions Today

Supporters of the California Grape Boycott demonstrate in Toronto, Ontario, December, 1968. The strike began on September 8, 1965, and lasted more than five years. Photo of “United Farm Workers Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University

Use this lesson to help students learn about the history of labor movements and their relevance today.

Engage students in the basics of labor negotiations through the lens of professional sports and a simulation activity that puts students in the seat of negotiators.

Lesson Plans | Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt

NPR’s Planet Money decided to make a t-shirt and follow the process of its creation around the globe. This lesson plan takes your class along for the ride by interspersing activities with NPR’s exciting video tour around the world. For general education classrooms and ID classrooms.

Lesson Plan | Child Labor in Burkina Faso

Expose students to child labor practices in Burkina Faso and learn how the struggle for basic human rights continues today for millions of children worldwide. This lesson offers a foundation in human rights through short films and activities focused on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Daily Video with Q&A |Saving Children from Forced Labor in India

“You can buy a child for lesser price than an animal. The buffaloes and cows are much more expensive than buying a child to work full-time and for the whole of his life,” according to Kailash Satyarthi, children’s rights activist.

Lesson Plan | Busy Bees T-Shirt Company

In this simulation, students will authentically experience what it is like to work on an assembly line. First, they will be asked to create their own t-shirt design for homework. The next day in class they will be part of an assembly line to mass produce t-shirts. Their reflection on the experience will help them to better understand the realities of one part of the economic/resource system that they participate in as consumers.