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  United Auto Workers - Integrated Curriculum Plan

  The “United Auto Workers” unit helps students investigate the conditions and events that led up to creation of the United Auto Workers Union. Students will explore the topic and research inequality, injustice, and human rights issues that can and have existed in the workplace throughout history. Students will also get the chance to examine the power of advocacy through art during a field trip to view Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” murals that are on display at the Detroit Institute of Art. To achieve these objectives this unit’s lessons take a cross-curricular approach which incorporates language arts, geography, math, and the arts. The unit will close with a creative showcase in which students will have the chance to share their work and knowledge with their nested communities. Rationale for the Unit: The formation of the United Auto Workers Union is a key turning point in the history of Michigan’s labor movement. This was not only a pivotal moment in Michigan’s history, but it emerged out of the Greater Detroit Area. Students in fifth grade are at a stage where they are capable of identifying injustice and inequality in society. This unit creates a forum for exploration and discussion of how injustice has fueled the formation of equity seeking groups in the Greater Detroit Area, i.e. the United Auto Workers Union. Hopefully students will emerge from this unit feeling empowered by the stories of local community members who came together to overcome iniquity and fight for their rights as workers. As students develop higher-level critical thinking, they also will hone skills in analyzing primary source documents and deducing meaning from them. Throughout this unit, students will begin to sense a connection to the cultural and political past of their city. Understanding this sense of historical influence can have profound effects on how the students see their city today. Students will engage in three projects over the course of this unit that employ written, visual, and speaking skills. As all students thrive with different learning styles, each student will choose one project to present to the class to illustrate their learning.