Erin Burchill Through a Different Lens/Writing in History Lesson Plan
Comparing the Working Conditions of Immigrants Past and Present Reading Public Schools Grade 4-Immigration Unit February 2009
MA History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Standards Addressed: Civics and Government 4. Give examples of the major rights that immigrants have acquired as citizens of the United States (e.g., the right to vote, and freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and petition. 4.15 Describe the diverse nature of the American people by identifying the distinctive contributions to the American culture of… D. Major Spanish-speaking (e.g., Cubans and Mexicans) and Asian (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) immigrant groups who have come to America in the 19th and 20th centuries, locating their countries of origin and where they tended to settle in large numbers.
4.16 Identify major immigrant groups that live in Massachusetts and where they now live in large numbers (e.g., English, Irish, Italians, French Canadians, Armenians, Greeks, Portuguese, Haitians, and Vietnamese).
Historical Thinking Benchmarks Addressed Analysis of primary and secondary sources Determination of the significance of different kinds of historical change
Essential/Key Questions 1. How do the working conditions of the Lowell Mills compare with conditions in factories today? 2. How did the protests that both groups of workers make affect their working conditions?
Learning Objectives 1. At the end of this lesson, students will be able to understand the similarities and differences of working conditions for immigrants in the United States during the 1800's and today. 2. At the end of this lesson, students will be able to make inferences based off pictures, photographs and other artifacts.
Materials/Resources For this lesson, teachers will need the following: -Chart paper with pictures (see attached) 1-6 pasted on them and labeled with three -columns (SEE, THINK, WONDER) -Markers -SMARTboard or overhead projector -Paper -Pencils -"Made in L.A." DVD
Procedure/Learning Activities Day 1: Preview with SEE, THINK, WONDER activity 1. This lesson will be used as an introduction to the Lowell Mills and the working conditions there in the late 1800s. Preparation is required beforehand. The teacher should take the six photographs, paintings, and quotes attached, cut them out, and paste them on to six different pieces of chart paper. On each chart paper, make three columns and write SEE, THINK, WONDER in each column. Then hang the chart papers in different spots in the classroom. See below for example. Picture
SEE THINK WONDER
2. Divide students into six equal groups.
3. Explain to students what they will be seeing six different pictures or artifacts on the various posters around the room. They will have 4 minutes to look at the picture and write down ideas and thoughts in each of the columns. In the SEE column, they will write down things they see and observe in the picture. In the THINK column, students will write down any inferences in the picture and any thinking they are doing as a group. In the WONDER column, students will write down any questions or "wonders" they might have when looking at the picture. Each group must have at least one statement/thought in each column, and they should really strive for more.
4. Set an overhead timer for four minutes and let students begin. When the timer goes off, groups should move along in the carousel and a different student should record on the chart paper.
5. This should continue until each group has visited all pictures. When groups have finished, collect all the pieces of chart paper and line them up next to each other. 6. Bring the class together and discuss their ideas on each chart. Pose questions to students about how the pictures relate to one another and how you can learn through each picture. Discuss the connections between the photos and explain the significance to Massachusetts's history.
7. Explain to students that in the coming week(s) they will be examining what life in the Mills was like and how we can make connections to present day. Tell them that while people emigrated from rural areas to cities to work in mills, people continue to move to the United States from other countries to work in factories.
Day 2: Comparing Work in the Mills to Present-day Working Conditions for Immigrants 1. To get students back in the right mindset, start the lesson by reminding students of the SEE, THINK, WONDER activity and pointing to the posters that are should still be hanging up. Give a brief summary of what was discussed the previous day and what students found.
2. Hand out the attached worksheet to students. They should work in pairs to discuss the protest song and picture of the women from "Made in L.A." After 5-10 minutes of discussion, students should independently respond to the question at the bottom of the sheet. This will serve as a good assessment to see if students are gaining understanding in the content as well as how well they are inferencing.
3. Collect students' worksheets and put the song and picture up on the SMARTboard or overhead projector. Discuss with students the connection between the two; both show how workers would unite to protest unfair working conditions.
4. Have the "Made in L.A." DVD cued to the part where the working conditions in the clothing factory are shown. Watch only this short clip and then stop and have students discuss in groups how what they saw was similar and different to the artifacts they saw previously in the SEE, THINK, WONDER activity. Bring groups together and discuss as a class.
5. Introduce the term protest to students. Ask where and under what circumstances they have heard the term before. Talk about how workers in Lowell Mill in the 1800s and today protest unfair working conditions. Explain that all workers have the right to peacefully protest.
6. Read the song aloud to students. Discuss unfamiliar vocabulary and explain that this was one of the ways mill girls protested unfair working conditions and long hours in Lowell.
7. Again, cue the DVD to one scene when workers are picketing and protesting or when they are gathered at the center organizing (just make sure all language and subtitles are appropriate!). Talk with students about how this is how many workers protest today. 8. Ask students to discuss in groups how working conditions similar and different in the Lowell Mills and in the factory show in the DVD and to compare the ways workers protest(ed) in these two different times. Have each group construct a Venn diagram showing similarities and differences they discuss.
9. Bring the group back together and discuss the various diagrams.
Assessment Students will be assessed through thoughtful and thorough observation of group work, as well as class participation. Students will demonstrate what they learned through group work, class discussion, Venn Diagrams, and the writing prompt attached.
Bibliography Anstey, Ellen, Tsongas Industrial History Center. Lowell Mill Girl: Primary Sources. Accessed 26 February 2009 http://www.uml.edu/tsongas/MGIRL/artifacts/set01.htm
College of Staten Island Library, American Studies Department. Texts About Lowell Mill Girls. Accessed 26 February 2009. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/americanstudies/lavender/lowetext.html#transcript I used this website to find the 1836 Song Lyrics Sung by Protesting Workers at Lowell used in the SEE, THINK, WONDER activity.
Made in L.A. Dir. Almuedena Carracedo. Semilla Verde Productions, Inc., 2007. Documentary Film.
Sun Associates. Lowell Mill Girls Webquest. Accessed 26 February 2009. http://www.sun-associates.com/mercer/handouts/millgirls.html I used this website for the photograph of the young girls working in the Lowell Mills in the SEE, THINK, WONDER activity
Wide Eye Creative. "Made in L.A," Documentary website. Accessed 26 February 2009. http://www.madeinla.com/ I used this website to find the photograph of the three women from Made in LA used in the SEE, THINK, WONDER activity.
**Note: All other images were found using a Google Image Search of "Lowell Mills, working conditions" Illustration of a Bobbin Girl by Winslow Homer CORRECTION. We copied in our last paper, from the Boston Bee, an item which state that Miss Mary A. Copp had been so severely injured in one of the Boot Mills that her life was despaired of. The young lady (as the Bee states) did faint, fell, and was somewhat hurt, but her physician, Dr. Kimball, informs us that she was not seriously injured and is now fast recovering. We make this correction lest her distant friends should be unnecessarily alarmed by the paragraph form the Bee. Timetable 1851
1836 Song Lyrics Sung by Protesting Workers at Lowell
Oh! isn't it a pity, such a pretty girl as I Should be sent to the factory to pine away and die? Oh! I cannot be a slave, I will not be a slave, For I'm so fond of liberty, That I cannot be a slave.
Think about the SEE, THINK, WONDER activity you participated in yesterday. How do you think these two items relate to one another?
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