Lesson Title: 
La Causa as a Social Contract

Grade Level:
Grade Eight Lesson 2   

Unit of Study: 
The Constitution of the United States

History-Social Science Standard:
8.2.1   Discuss the significance of the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the Mayflower Compact.

Correlation to K-8 California Adopted Textbooks: 
Houghton Mifflin.  A More Perfect Union.  
Prentice Hall: The American Nation. Glencoe McGraw Hill.  The American Journey

Setting the Context:
The Mayflower Compact was the first written compact or social contract in the English colonies.  It envisioned democratic government and encompassed the English traditions of common law and the Magna Carta.  Many good principles of self-rule can be found within the short Mayflower Compact.

The vision that César E. Chávez had for the UFW closely mirrored the idea of social contract more so than a traditional union.  In his interview with Wendy Goepel, Chávez discussed the essence of the union he would head.  Within the interview the reader can become acquainted with many of the principles of self-rule that must be followed in order to have a strong social contract.

Focus Question:
What makes a compact between people?

Expected Learning Outcomes:
Students will understand key elements of a social contract and democratic rule.  

Assessment:
Students will show their understanding of a social contract by the classroom charter that they create.  They will need to highlight principles within their own charter that are supported by the Mayflower Compact and the principles of the early UFW.

Key Concepts: 
Social Contract
democratic rule

Essential Vocabulary:
Social Compact
Social Contract
La Causa
Teamsters
Peace Corps
AWOC
union

Primary Sources:
Mayflower Compact

Interview, “Viva La Causa”, of César E. Chávez by Wendy Goepel.  Farm Labor, Vol. I No. 5, April 1964

Visuals:
Classroom created charter

KWL chart for activity

Procedure

Motivation:
Explain to the students that you will be setting up a classroom charter (depending on how much background knowledge the students have, it can also be referred to as a social contract or social compact to strengthen vocabulary).  

Explain to students that since a social compact is an agreement between people, it is important to understand the basic elements of a compact.  For this reason you will be studying a significant formal historical compact like the Mayflower Compact as well as informal compacts like those formed by UFW workers prior to writing a classroom charter.  Armed with this knowledge, the students will then construct their own classroom charter by which the class will run.  

Making Connections:
Students should understand that our Constitution borrowed on English traditions of self-government, some of which are found within the Magna Carta and Mayflower Compact.

The students should also understand the complaints of migrant workers that forced them to unionize formally or informally.  Background on César E. Chávez’s early CSO training and beginnings of the UFW would also be helpful. 

Vocabulary Activities:
The main concept/vocabulary is social contract.  This will be reinforced by having the teacher explicitly make connections to the concept of social contract throughout the lesson.  

Words like Union, UFW, Teamsters, AWOC, and Peace Corps can be introduced through a word web (concept map) that would show connections to unions and groups of people.

Guided Instruction:
1)	Start by explaining motivational activity.  This should activate students’ schema as to what they are expected to gain from the lesson in order to do the follow up activity.

2)	Explain to students that the way they will gather information about a social contract is through a KWL.  Explain to students that the K stands for what they already KNOW about a social contract, the W is for what they WANT to know, and the L is for what they have LEARNED at the end of the activity.  

3)	Have students volunteer what they already know about a social compact and have a student or teacher write it in the chart.

4)	Students should now be asked what they want to learn about social contracts (or government) that might help them develop a classroom charter for themselves.  These statements should be written under the “W” column on the KWL chart.  Explain to the students that the two documents that will be presented will give them important information on what makes up a successful social contract.  This also gives the reader a purpose that tends to increase comprehension.  

5)	The class should now read the Mayflower Compact (if students do not have background information on the Mayflower and pilgrims, the time should be taken to go into that important history).  

For many students, the Mayflower Compact is a very challenging primary document.  It is often a good idea to have the students read it together as a class, then have volunteers summarize “chunks” of the document.  The class can synthesize the chunks together and write a grade eight version on their own piece of paper.  This summarizing activity is very empowering for students because it models the idea of chunking and hopefully the success that summarizing small parts to understand the whole may bring.  

After a class summary is written, a class discussion should synthesize the main principles underlying the Mayflower Compact.  These can then be added to the KWL chart.  

6)	The class should now read the article “Viva La Causa” (if students do not have the background information of the UFW and César Chávez, the time should be taken to go into that important history.  The middle level biography on César Chávez found on the CDE Web site would be a great place to start).

The whole article may be read, but it is paragraphs 10-12 of the interview that have the most information in terms of compact, though it is suggested that paragraphs 1-12 be read in order to get more background information as to why César E. Chávez wanted to organize the union in the fashion that he did.  

Using the “chunking” activity explained above, the students should synthesize the main ideas found within the paragraphs of the article and they should also be added to the “L” column of the KWL.  

7)	A class discussion can now be initiated based on the principles found in the “L” section of KWL chart.  Material that was not answered from the “W” column can either be answered by the teacher, or can be researched by the students themselves.  

8)	The students are now ready to create their own classroom charter.  It must be stressed that the charter needs to be based on principles of good government such as those that can be found within the Mayflower Compact and the organization and structure of the UFW.  

9)	After the classroom charter is constructed, the students should individually highlight those principles within their classroom charter that are based on principles of good government found within formal and informal social contracts.  

10)	The classroom charter makes a good living constitution to follow and modify throughout the year as a living experiment of what it means to live in a democratic compact.  

Integrating Language:
Pre-Reading Activity:  The motivation activity helps establish a purpose for the reading.  The teacher is also encouraged to activate prior knowledge before reading the primary sources.

During-Reading:  Students are asked to summarize and synthesize during the reading of both documents.  

Post-Reading:  The discussion of the KWL and classroom charter help with the understanding of the main concept.  

Writing is modeled as a class activity as the principles within the documents are synthesized in written form.  

Enrichment:
1)	The We the People program sponsored by the Center for Civic Education is an excellent way to get students to truly own material dealing with Civics and current application.  Unit 1 of the We the People material deals with the issue of natural rights.

2)	Students can read the middle level biography of César E. Chávez written for the CDE.

3)	The UFW and César E. Chávez Web sites offer information and additional sources on the origins of the UFW.

4)	C-SPAN has created a series of videos (and a correlating Web site) on great American authors in U.S. history.  The first author is William Bradford and the Web site features information on the Mayflower Compact.  More information and video clips from the series can be found at .

Assessment:
Students will be measured on their knowledge of the concept by how well they identify the principles of good government found within their own classroom charter.  A percentage for correct identification of items can be used for grading purposes and assessment of understanding.