Civil Rights Movement in Colorado – Latinos and Education: A Socratic Seminar

This lesson challenges students to view Civil Rights as a continuing process for marginalized groups. In particular, we will focus on Latinos in the Colorado educational system during the Civil Rights movement. When addressing the Civil Rights movement in American History, many students think of the courageous work done by African-Americans and other allied groups in the Southern United States (especially if they have taken a Civil Rights unit). This lesson expands their understanding to include Latinos. Students end the lesson by identifying other groups who may still be struggling with equal access to Civil Rights in American society, as focused on education.

Created By: Michael Codrey, New Vista High School

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Exploring Push and Pull Migration Factors: Using Online Mapping Techniques and Primary Sources

In this three-day lesson students will work together in teams to examine historical maps, photographs, and documents. Students explore push and pull factors and how they affect migration patterns. This lesson provides a great introduction for students to use modern technology to analyze primary sources.
Created By: Eitan Fire, Angevine Middle School

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Immigration in the United States: A Collaborative Reasoning, Critical Reading and Debate Experience

In this lesson students will read about the current political arguments in the U.S. to prepare for a Collaborative Reasoning discussion. The Big Discussion Question: Should we make it easier or harder for Mexicans to immigrate to the United States? Students will purposefully read to find reasons on both sides of the immigration issue while taking notes on a T-chart to justify their oral response to the Big Question when engaged in the CR discussion.
Created By: Jennifer Kraemer, Fairview High School

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Immigration: A Gallery Walk Through Immigration to the U.S., Turn of the 20th Century

In this lesson students will view Newspaper articles, photos, cartoons, and maps displayed at each gallery station bring the period of around 1900 alive for each of 6 immigrant groups that came to the U.S. By using primary and secondary sources, students will be able to see and experience immigration and the immigrant experience and relate it to their own lives. Using a graphic organizer allows students to analyze what they are looking at and be able to sort out important information as well as helping with content comprehension.

By Jennifer Kraemer, Fairview High School

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Labor Strife in Colorado: Comparing the Ludlow Massacre and the Columbine Mine Strike

In this lesson students will get a sense of Industrialization in America in the early 20th century. They will describe similarities and differences between the miners strike in Ludlow Colorado (1914) and the miners strike in Lafayette Colorado (1927). It can also be adapted to the Progressive Era. Students should come away with an understanding of labor, capital, and the emergence of labor unions as forces in American History.
Created By: Michael Codrey, New Vista High School

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Muckrakers and Meatpackers – Progressive Era and Today: Comparing Worker Experiences

In this lesson students will reflect on workers’ rights, food safety, and the immigrant experience during the Progressive Era. Students will use primary source documents to examine working conditions for Latino workers in Longmont in the 1970s and compare that to conditions described in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Students will theorize that there were limitations on these Progressive reforms due to geography, race, and immigration status.
Created By: Deann Bucher, Monarch High School

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Not a Single Story: Understanding Experiences of Latinos in the History of Boulder County

In this lesson students read news articles about Latinos from local Boulder County news outlets, discuss, and write an essay in order to gain an understanding of the significant roles Latinos played in the history of Boulder County and the discrimination they experienced.

Created By: Carolyn Puska, Arapahoe High School

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The Dark Side of the Populist and Progressive Movements and the KKK in Colorado

In this lesson students will focus on the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado during the 1920’s using two primary documents. Particularly, this lesson will address the darker side of Populism and Progressivism, so students will be able to identify whom these movements left behind. This will be a mini-lesson within a larger unit on Populism and Progressivism in US History.

Created By: Michael Codrey, New Vista High School

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Young Latinos of Boulder County – Exploring the American Dream

In this lesson students will explore issues of identity, discrimination, immigration, language, family, and overcoming challenges as they meet the young Latinos showcased in the Boulder County Latino History Project. By completing group and individual assignments in this mini-unit, students will gain a more complex understanding of the experiences of young Latinos in Boulder County […]

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Responses to Discrimination: Exploring and Dramatizing the Role of Boulder County Latinos

In this lesson students use primary sources to learn about some of the challenges faced by Boulder County Latinos by researching and dramatizing personal accounts of injustice in small groups. After each group performs for the class, the whole class will participate in a discussion about the actions individuals took in response to discrimination and what the outcomes were.

Created By: Patty Sandoval – Angevine Middle School, Lisa Norton – Casey Middle School, Julie Lyddan – Coal Ridge Middle School

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