Floresville ISD LoTi Lesson Plan

 

Character Ed - J. LeBouff -- Lowell Cotton Mills Case Study 
 

 

 

Lesson Information
Title of Lesson Character Ed - J. LeBouff -- Lowell Cotton Mills Case Study
Grade Levels 8th
Subject Social Studies
Course No course information associated with this lesson.
Authors and Contributors

jlebouff 
Lesson Submission Date 12/26/2006 6:52:17 AM
Lesson Approval Date 3/6/2007 10:46:00 AM


 

Learning Objectives
TEKS /
Student Expectations 		8.24(E) identify political, social, and economic contributions of women to American society 8.25(B) evaluate impact of reform movements including public education, temperance, and women's rights
Targeted TAKS /
Department Objectives 		Objective 8.1 - The student will demonstrate an understanding of issues and events in U.S. History Objective 8.3 - The student will demonstrate an understanding of economic and social influences on historical issues and events

 

Lesson Overview

A brief summary of the lesson and the expected outcomes.
Overview n/a

 

Engaging Questions

The task asks students to show their "know how" on something important and challenging, not just their knowledge.

Engaging /
Essential Questions 		Now that we've learned how young girls were abused by the Lowell Cotton Mills, let's pretend to go back in time. We are at the mills and want to stop the abuses and make things better for the employees ... especially the young girls. Let's create new employment applications the personnel department can use for interviewing and hiring of new employees. Let's develop an "Employee Bill of Rights" and film commercials aimed at recruiting new employees emphasizing reform at the mills. Let's make newspaper advertisements informing the public of changes/reform at the mills that can also be used to recruit girls over the age of 16. What do you say, should we do it? Do you want to make a difference? Than, let's go to work! Oh, one more thing! Once we're done doing all this, let's create a webpage to host all this case study information that will allow students from across the planet to learn about the practices of Lowell Cotton Mills during the early 1800s.

 

Authentic Learning

The task reflects what people might actually do in the real-world; including real life issues, themes, and problems.

Activities n/a
Related Character Pillars

 

High Level Thinking Processes

The task requires complex-thinking skills (critical/creative thinking, decision making, problem solving)
Bloom's Taxonomy

Analysis , Synthesis , Application , Evaluation  
Description Application: Students will be able to apply what they've learned during the unit on development of industry and inventions in the United States during the early 1800s. Analysis: Students will analyze practices of the Lowell Cotton Mills and decide for themselves if abuse was occurring. While doing so; students will decide which Character Education Pillars (Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship) were lacking at the mills. Synthesis: Students will demonstrate full understanding of the mistreatment of young girls at the Lowell Cotton Mills by bringing together everything they've learned in while working through case study. More specifically, students will: 1. Make employee applications that focus on ensuring girls under the age of 16 are not hired and if girls under 18 are hired their parents must state their approval by also signing the employee application. 2. Development Lowell Cotton Mills Employee Bill of Rights. 3. Film informative videos highlighting reform at the mills. 4. Create Lowell Cotton Mills newspaper advertisements/posters emphasizing industry-wide reform resulting in a better place to work with employees well-being first and foremost in managements' minds. These advertisements can be used to recruit new employees. 5. Develop a webpage for hosting the new employee applications, bill of rights, reform videos, and recruiting advertisements/posters. Evaluation: Students will evaluate the impact of reform movements in regards to how industry has changed over the years in regards to the treatment of both women and children

 

Differentiated Instruction

Instruction is tailored to the learning readiness, cultural background, interests, talents, and learning profiles of the students.

Differentiation Activities Flexible Grouping ,
Description Differentiation will occur in the following ways: The majority of students will be allowed to choose from the following groups the group they would like to be a member of Group #1 (Employee Application), Group #2 (Employee Bill of Rights), and Group #4 (Recruitment Ad/Poster). GT students and students with "GT" like characteristics will compose groups 3 & 5. Group #3 (Video Commercial) will be made up of 1-2 students from each class period that are also taking the FMS Video Technology class. Group #3 students may, if they would like, also be members of groups 1,2, and 4. Group #5 (Webpage) will be composed of students who through the school year have demonstrated their computer savviness. Group #5 students may, if they would like, also be members of groups 1,2, and 4. Group #6 (Assistants for Groups 1-4) will be made up of those students who have IEPs calling for more time, oral reading assistance, provided copies of notes, etc. Note: These students will be encouraged and have the option of also getting as involved as they like with another group provided they don't become a distraction to the group.

 

Technology Applications

Technology (computers, handhelds, software applications, Internet) is used in a seamless fashion to promote student learning.

Technology Applications Students may choose to use the FMS COW (Computers on Wheels) during the project to create the new employee applications, bill of employee rights, and recruiting/reform advertisements/posters; or, they may choose to create the products the old-fashioned way using plain paper, posters, markers, and pencils. Students will also have access to a video camera and computer with Movie Maker software for use in making a video commercial advertising mill reform. In addition to the classroom U.S. History text (Creating America), students will have access to the FMS COW to do further research on practices of the Lowell Cottom Mills. Students will also use a scanner to convert hardcopy applications, advertisements, and employee bill of rights to digital format.
Web Resources

 

Assessment
Assessments

Each group will receive a hardcopy of the following grading rubric prior to beginning the task their group is assigned: Group #1's Employee Application Rubric - Did the group create a new employment application for use by the HR department in highering new employees? Yes = 50 points Did the application include a place for potential employees to indicate EXACTLY how old they were on the day they signed the application? Yes = 20 points Did the application include a place for parents name, signature, and contact information for potential employees under the age of 18? Yes = 10 points Did the application provide a short description description of the job(s) available at Lowell Cotton Mills? Yes = 10 points Did the application clearly indicate that Lowell Cotton Mills no longer employs girls under the age of 16? Yes = 5 points Was the application relatively free of typos and grammar errors? Yes = 5 points Group #2's Employee Bill of Rights Rubric - Development of "Employee Bill of Rights" Did the group create an employee bill of rights? Yes = 50 points Did the group list at least 5 rights and/or benefits employees are at the mills would be guaranteed? Yes = 40 points Did the group's bill of rights have a patriotic theme? Yes = 10 points Group #3's Video Commercial Rubric - Did the group's video mention "reform" at the cotton mills? Yes = 50 points Did the group's video have more than 1 speaker in the video? Yes = 30 points Did the goup's video have more than 2 speakers in the video? Yes = 40 points Was the group's video more than 60 seconds long? Yes = 10 points Was the group's videop more than 90 seconts long? Yes = 20 points Group #4's Recruitment Ad/Poster Rubric - Did the group make a series (more than 2) employee recruitment ads/posters advertising changes/reform at the mill? Yes = 50 points Did the group's ad/poster mention new minimum age requirements to work at the mill? Yes = 20 points Did the 2nd ad in the series highlight the fact that school-aged girls can only work up to 20 hours per week during the school year. Yes = 10 Did the group's 3rd ad/poster address better pay for employees? Yes = 10 points Did the group's 4th ad/poster talk about employee health care? Yes = 5 points Did the group have another ad/poster listing another new specific employee benefit that the group came up with? Yes = 5 points Group #5's Webpage Rubric - Did the group create a Lowell Cotton Mills Case Study webpage on the teacher's homepage? Yes = 50 points Did the group write a brief description of the Lowell Mills Case Study toward the top of the page? Yes = 10 points Did the group upload and hyperlink at least 1 new employee application that was created in Word or PowerPoint? Yes = 5 points Did the group scan and save as a .bmp or .jpg at least 1 hardcopy application? Yes = 5 points Did the group upload and hyperlnk at least 1 new employee bill of rights? Yes = 5 points Did the group scan and save as a .bmp or .jpg at least 1 hardcopy employee bill of rights? Yes = 5 points Did the group move a copy of the video commercial created and saved to the server by Group 3 to the webpage folder and create a hyperlink to the file? Yes = 5 points Did the group upload and hyperlink at least 1 new recruiting advertisement/poster that was created in Word or PowerPoint? Yes = 5 points Did the group scan and save as a .bmp or .jpg at least 1 new recruiting advertisement/poster? Yes = 5 points Did the group create a webpage with a patriotic theme? Yes = 5 points Group #6's Assistance Rubric - On a scale of 1-10, in the teacher's opinion how much effort did these individuals put forth. A 10 equates to a grade of 100, a 9 equates to a grade of 90 and so forth. Examples of this group not putting forth 100% effort would be other groups complaining to the teacher that they don't have needed supplies and/or the lack of products being displayed in the hallways.  
File Attachments

 

Other Resources

Other Resources

This lesson was created from an imported lesson. The values below do not directly correspond to the new lesson template. You can choose to omit the values below or integrate them to other portions of your lesson.

Concepts/TopicsCreation of a new employment application for use by the HR department in hiring new employees Development of "Employee Bill of Rights" ensuring employees have rights that management and ownership must follow Filming of video commercials announcing mill reform Make a series of employee recruitment posters advertising changes/reform at the mill Display job applications, employee bill of rights, employee recruitment ads/posters in and around the school (pretend mill) Upload and post job applications, employee bill of rights, video commercials, and advertisements/posters on teacher's homepage at FMS

EBAMThis project (case study) familiarizes students with issues and problems of the workforce and prepares them for life's challenges as they grow up and attempt to become productive members of society. It also delves into 5 of the 6 character education pillars; trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness and caring. After acquiring knowledge of how young women working at Lowell Cotton Mills in Massachuesetts during the early 1800s were mistreated, students will be put into groups and challenged in the following ways: Group #1 will create a new employment application for use by the HR department in hiring new employees. The application must address the issue of age to ensure minors are not hired and/or abused. Group #2 will develop an "Employee Bill of Rights". Group #3 will be responsible for filming a video commercial aimed at recruiting new employees and advertising mill reform. This group will also be responsible for importing the video to a computer, using Movie Maker software to edit, and uploading and posting on the internet. Group #4 will be tasked to make a series of employee recruitment advertisemets/posters advertising changes/reform at the mills. Group #5 will develop a webpage for hosting the new employee applications, bill of rights, reform videos, and recruiting advertisements/posters. Group #6 will be a very small group (may even consist of one unique "special" student) from each class period responsible for providing supplies and assisting groups 1-5 as needed. This person(s) will also be responsible for displaying the new hardcopy job applications, employee bill of rights, and employee recruitment ads/posters in the halls of the school (pretend mill). Toward the end of this case study, the students and teacher will discuss the Character Education Pillars (Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship) and decide which pillars were problem areas at the cotton mills. To wrap up the project, students will write a short report (1-2 pages) explaining their role in the project, what they learned from the project, and what character education pillars were problem areas at the Lowell Cotton Mills during the 1800s.

Performance TaskAfter acquiring knowledge of how young women working at the Lowell Cotton Mills were mistreated, students will be put into groups and challenged in the following ways: Group #1 will create a new employment application for use by the HR department in hiring new employees. Group #2 will develop "Employee Bill of Rights" Group #3 will be responsible for filming a video commercial recruiting new employees and advertising mill reform. This group will also be responsible for editing the video using Movie Maker software and uploading and posting on the internet. Group #4 will be tasked to make a series of employee recruitment posters advertising changes/reform at the mills. The posters will progress through time. That is, the first in the series will address the issue of no longer hiring girls under 16. The second in the series will highlight the fact that school-aged girls can only work up to 20 hours per week during the school year. The 3rd will addess the issue of better pay. The 4th will address employee health care and education. The 5th will address something else, etc. Group #5 will create a Lowell Cotton Mills Case Study webpage on the teacher's homepage, write a brief description of the Lowell Mills Case Study toward the top of the page, upload and hyperlink employee applications, bill of rights, video commercials, and recruiting ads/posters. Group #6 will be a smaller group of unique students (may even be one student per class period) that is responsible for providing supplies and assisting groups 1-5. This group will also be responsible for displaying the new job application, employee bill of rights, and employee recruitment posters in the halls of the school (pretend mill).

ResourcesStudents may need to refer back to the classroom text (Creating America - Beginnings Through 1877) p.326-327 and p.418. The Floresville Mayor will be invited to talk to the students during the early stages of this semester-long project. At least 1 other community members will be invited to visit the students and then serve as a mentor and provide guidance to the students as they work through the case study. A select group of students will meet the teacher at the Floresville Regency Manor Nursing Home to interview residents. Their visit will focus on how working conditions have changed for the better over the years ... especially women and young girls. The teacher will also be available for assistance and guidance.