U.S.-Mexico Border: Effects of NAFTA

This lesson is based on my own personal experience as a participant on a USA-Mexico border tour project organized by Rethinking Schools & Global Exchange that provided first-hand experience and knowledge concerning the effects of U.S. foreign policy, such as NAFTA, on the lives of ordinary people who reside in the Tijuana area. Students will be prompted to delve far beyond the mainstream explanation that answers the critical question as to why people cross the U.S.-Mexico border. This lesson will have students examine the broader context, and underlying factors to this question, which intimately tie itself to Mexico's agricultural economy. Students will identify the causal puzzle pieces, and then create a ‘LOOP’ (web) diagram that will serve to demonstrate their understandings of how these underlying causes interconnect with one another.

Materials
• One 50 Slide PowerPoint
• Grading Rubrics
• Student Loop Diagram Examples
• Printable Handouts:
1) Handout #1- Power-Point Guided Notes
2) Handout #2- The U.S.-Mexico Border Puzzle Pieces