Cajas de Cartón

1. Cajas de Cartón Sophia Casusky Geraldinne Bachman

2. Class Profile • Mixed 3rd or 4th year high school class • Advanced level L2 learners • Typical heritage students • High listening skills • Varied levels of speaking • Varied levels of reading and writing (generally need support)

3. Unit Description • Students will investigate the complexity of the history of migrant workers in the United States and will read the authentic text “Cajas de Cartón”. Students will gain an understanding that everyone experiences hardships and will reflect on and compare their own past experiences to those of the protagonist.

4. Unit Standards • 1.1 Interpersonal Communication • 1.2 Interpretive Communication • 1.3 Presentational Communication • 2.1 Cultural Practices • 2.2 Cultural Products • 3.1 Making Connections • 3.2 Acquiring New Information • 4.1 Language Comparisons • 4.2 Cultural Comparison • 5.1 Language Beyond School • 5.2 Life-long Learning

5. Outcomes • 1.1 Engage in conversations: pre-reading—make predictions about the reading. During reading: check their predictions. After reading: express reactions to the text in groups. • 1.2 React to the reading in response to prompts. • 1.2 Reflect on and express a personal obstacle. • 1.2 Understand main ideas and supporting details of a text. • 1.3 Present a personal obstacle with using a visual representation (cardboard box).

6. Outcomes • 2.2 Read and react to an authentic text. Learn cultural details of migrant workers. Uncover some of the perspectives of the time through the use of the term “Braceros”. • 3.1 /3.2 Investigate the history of migrant workers/immigration (through flexible grouping—some gather info. Through pictures, others read articles on the Braceros Program, etc.) Also watch documentary on Braceros. • 4.1 Uncover different uses of the past tense in Spanish, acquire and apply new vocabulary • 5.2 Students who are interested in learning what happens to the character can read the following chapter in the book during their own time.

7. Summative Assessment • Students will write in a blog a letter from the perspective of the protagonist using what they learned about the history of migrant workers, new vocabulary and appropriate usage of the past tense.

8. Students will know: • Information about the history of migrant workers in the U.S. • Understand usage of the past tenses. • Vocabulary associated with the experience of migrant workers. • Formal/informal registers. • All people encounter struggles/challenges that they must overcome. • Understand main ideas and supporting details. • A little about Mexican music of the time. • Understand the factors that influence the migration of the people of the time.

9. Students will be able to do: • Reflect on and narrate a personal challenge from the past. • Create a visual representing a past hardship to share with the class in a concentric circle format. • Share information about the history of migrant workers in collaborative groups. • Write in a blog a letter from the protagonist’s perspective, narrating in the past tense. • Reflect on various sources of information by journaling. • Explain the term “braceros” based on what they’ve learned about the topic.

10. Lesson 1: • Objective: • Introduce the topic and hook students’ interest • Introduction: • KWL on the topic of migrant workers in a “Think/Pair/Share” format. • Students will be exposed to new vocabulary through a Power Point presentation embedded with visuals. • Students will survey one another using questions that relate the vocabulary to their lives.

11. Lesson 1: • Jigsaw Activity: www.braceros.org • Students will complete different tasks and will answer questions corresponding to their level (from concrete to abstract). • After completing their task within the expert groups, they will compile their information in the home groups. • Students will individually reflect on what they learned by taking an online assessment.

12. Lesson 1: • Jigsaw Activity • Group 1: Students examine pictures of the time. • Group 2: Students examine maps of migration patterns. • Group 3: Student read a historical article about migrant workers. • Group 4: Students read a legal document.

13. Lesson 1: • Students will watch the documentary “Braceros Stories” http://www.voces.tv/ • Students will have a corresponding worksheet to complete while watching and will discuss in groups after viewing. • Students will reflect on what they have learned so far in lesson 1 in a blog and will comment on at least 3 other classmates.

14. Lesson 2: • Objective: Learn about the experience of Francisco Jimenez, a child of migrant workers. • Pre-reading: Given a graphic organizer, students will use what they’ve learned to predict what the life of a child of migrant workers would be like. • During reading: Students will record lines from the text that prove or disprove their predictions. • After reading: Students can discuss the results of their predictions with a partner.

15. Lesson 2 • Possible lesson modification • Text can be reduced according to learner needs. • Graphic organizer will make the text more accessible/aid comprehension. • KWL chart will help to scaffold student understanding of the topic. • Jigsaw activity implements a variety of scaffolding types of information.

16. Lesson 3: • Objective: Understand different uses of the past tenses through the authentic text. • Groups of students will identify past tense verbs in a paragraph from the text and will discuss different uses. • Teacher will briefly review the uses of the past tense. • Given a word bank of different past tense verbs (preterite/imperfect), students will create sentences in groups that retell the story in their own words.

17. Lesson 3 : • Review uses of formal/informal registers using the past tense. • Group Skits: Give group members different situations to act out. Assign each student a different role. Students create a skit of 2-3 minutes using the different registers correctly. • Activity: in groups, read a letter from a student to her teacher narrating a past event. After reading, rewrite a paragraph of the letter, changing it from an informal to a formal register.

18. Summative Assessment Prep. • After re-writing the letter in your blog, discuss the characteristics of a good letter (formal register, correct past tense usage, applies knowledge of topic, creative). • Design the rubric as a class. • With a graphic organizer, students will be given prompts to guide/assist them in writing the letter to the teacher in the story.

19. Possible Extensions • After students write the letter in their personal blog, they could be asked to reflect on an obstacle that they have encountered. • Students could potentially create a visual representation of the personal obstacle and present it to the class in a gallery walk.