High School Lesson
Holly Oshesky, Charles Doherty, James Lewis, Brandon Sawdon, Marty Kirby, Jonathan Neal, Nick Timmerman, William Hamilton, Ben Chmielewski, Steven Aspinall, Abby Miller
Focus Question: Should the State of Michigan raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.15 per hour?
Prior Knowledge: Chart reading skills, 9th grade reading level.
Benchmarks: VII.1.HS.2., III.3.HS.2.
Objectives:
Students will be able to evaluate the effects of raising the minimum wage on employers, unemployed (job seekers), employed making above minimum wage and employed making minimum wage.
Students will be able to define specific advantages and disadvantages of raising the minimum wage.
Students will be able to formulate and effectively argue the pros and/or cons of minimum wage increase with given data.
Instructional Activity:
Set: Students will write in a paragraph or two why they think that minimum wage should or should not be raised?
Students will be assigned one of four roles: employer, unemployed/job seekers, employed making above minimum wage and employed making minimum wage.
Students will be given information from a specific viewpoint (employer, unemployed/job seekers, employed making above minimum wage and employed making minimum wage). Students will read over the information given them and discuss it in a group with other students in their role. Then they will jigsaw, meeting with students in the three other roles to compare views of the subject.
Resources for students:
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguides_minwage_minwage
This page is from the liberal Economics Policy Institute
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/q-a.htm
This page is from the U.S. Department of Labor about the minimum wage
www.mackinac.org/article.asp?ID=674
This article is from the conservative Mackinac Institute
www.balancedpolitics.org/minimum_wage.htm
This article contains pros and cons of the minimum wage from an economic perspective
Assessment/lesson extension/homework: Students will write an essay no longer than 2 pages in length. They must take their original opinion from the set activity and answer if they still agree with that opinion, why or why not. They must include as part of their rationale at least one argument from their opposition.