Patel Center for Global Solutions University of South Florida Global Schools Project Title “All Work, and No Pay” Concept/Main Idea of Lesson This lesson deals with drawing comparisons to the labor problems that resulted in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy in the U.S. with examples from the more current “Maquiladoras” (factories owned by American businesses operating in Mexico) crisis effecting predominantly female workers in Mexico. Intended Grade Level This lesson is geared for high school students in grades 9-12. Infusion/Subject Area(s) Economics, World History, Global Studies, Latin American History, American History National Curriculum Standards NCSS Standards: --IX: Global Connections: “Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of global connections and interdependence.” I. Instructional Objective The students will: -identify the labor injustices incurred by U.S. workers during the early twentieth century. -analyze the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory from multiple perspectives surrounding the event in order for them to have a sense of what the event meant to the various groups of people involved. -analyze the labor disparities still existing in the world today with the problematic “maquiladoras”, specifically in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. -apply their recently acquired knowledge to analyze the labor problems still in existence in the world, and from this, they will form their own opinions on what should be done to combat this epidemic. II. Learning Activities Sequence a. Set Induction: I will begin the lesson with asking the class what each of their “dream jobs” are for when they get into the “real world”. I will make a list of their responses on the board. After this, I will have each student fill out a handout called “My Job” (Handout 1), where they will be giving realistic answers for what types of working conditions they believe should be provided for them at this dream job. After a few minutes, we will go over some of their responses for their working conditions. After this, explain to the class that in a perfect world, it would be nice for workers to be able to dictate all the working conditions in a business, but we know this isn’t the case throughout the world. To illustrate this, I will show them a video clip from “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” (Video Clip 1) of the scene where an elf is tired of having to toil daily in Santa’s workshop making toys when he really wants to be a dentist. After watching the clip, as a class we will analyze what the scene was describing. After discussing this, I will ask the class to close their eyes and imagine that instead of having their dream jobs, they now have jobs working in a factory called the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where the working conditions differ greatly from their desired conditions. b. Learning Activities: I will have the students participate in a guided imagery, where I will play various sounds commonly heard in factories (Audio Clip 1), and I will have them imagine that this is their life. Prior to the sound clip being played, I will read the guided imagery script to create the atmosphere of what their work in this factory would entail (Handout 2). After the sound clip ends (approximately 30 seconds), I will engage the students in a brief discussion on how they would feel working in this type of work environment. -After this, I will give them some basic information about actual factory conditions for U.S. workers in the early 20th century. During this, I will also pass out a handout entitled “Triangle Tragedy” (Handout 3). As the students are following along, I will read the handout and explain that something horrific happened to their factory yesterday. After reading this, I will explain to the class that this news account was from the perception of one person, but there were many groups present yesterday to witness what actually happened at the factory and how it was able to occur in the first place. -I will place them into groups, where I will be assigning various groups the roles of different people who witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist tragedy. These roles include: Firefighters (Handout 4), Newspaper Reporters (Handout 5), and One Eyewitness Account (Handout 6). Each role includes a reading from the point of view of each of these three people. In their groups, they will read together about what they witnessed. As a group, the students will be collectively filling out a graphic organizer concept map (Handout 7) to organize factual information from the text that answers the question, “What could have been done to prevent the deaths of female workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?”. From their graphic organizers, each group will collectively write their responses for what they thought could have and should have been done by the factory’s owners so that this tragedy would have been avoided (Handout 8). In addition, each group will be giving their decision on who they felt was responsible for this event and if there should be any consequences for those responsible. After close to 15 minutes, I will have each group identify which role they held and read their response. -After each group has contributed their point of view, I will explain the aftermath of what actually happened in the situation. From this, I will explain that as a result of this tragedy, working conditions changed drastically in many parts of the country so as to avoid a repeat of this fire. However, in spite of the changes that have been made within the U.S., there are many nations throughout the country that continue to deal with many of the labor violations that the workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory endured until their untimely death. -I will explain that currently Mexico has been involved in allowing specific factories called Maquiladoras that deny their workers many basic rights in the work place to operate in various parts of the country. From what they have just learned about the Triangle Shirtwaist example, I will explain that we will now be examining these maquiladoras in order to find out why such factories and businesses are still able to exist currently when we are already aware of the downfalls and potential dangers of these types of factories. -To introduce this, I will guide the class through a PowerPoint presentation of the basics of what has allowed for the Maquiladora industry boom along the US/Mexican border. In addition, we will be examining the industry in the border town of Ciudad Juarez and see how the town has reaped the economic rewards of the maquiladoras, but along the way, the factories have also resulted in bringing negative social and cultural effects to the people, especially female workers in Juarez (PowerPoint 1). After the students have been introduced to the problems faced in Ciudad Juarez because of the maquiladoras, I will have the students read the PBS article, “What is a Maquiladora?” (Handout 9). As a class, we will follow the same practice of using a graphic organizer concept map to properly define and describe what a maquiladora is (Handout 10). After this, they will be doing a similar group activity from what they have previously done with the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory assignment. In their same groups, I will give them a copy of a specific article on the current problems involving maquiladoras in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Each group will once again only be receiving one particular article, while others will be receiving a different article (There are 4 articles in all). -In their groups, they will be creating a poster that addresses the various concerns that some of these female workers have involving maquiladoras and the conditions that these factories have also brought to their towns. Each group’s poster should highlight: (1) the main idea of their article, (2) at least five key facts concerning maquiladoras from their article, (3) an illustration depicting the problems of the maquiladoras from the point of view of the worker from their article, (4) and there must be a group response (at least one paragraph) of what they believe should be done about maquiladoras. c. Closure: After each group has completed their posters, all group members will give a brief presentation of what their article depicted about maquiladoras. Not only will each group be describing what they learned about this situation, but they will be giving their ideas on whether they believe that the maquiladoras are hurting or helping areas such as Ciudad Juarez. In addition, they will be responsible for backing up their reasoning from information in their articles and also from information discussed earlier in class. Also, an extension of this activity could involve researching specific companies, such as Disney and Wal-Mart, and examining where their factories are located in the world and analyzing the typical working conditions and wages consist of and compare to the working conditions of the maquiladoras in Mexico. III. Evaluation After each group has completed their posters, all group members will give a brief presentation of what their article depicted about maquiladoras. Not only will each group be describing what they learned about this situation, but they will be giving their ideas on whether they believe that the maquiladoras are hurting or helping areas such as Ciudad Juarez. In addition, they will be responsible for backing up their reasoning from information in their articles and also from information discussed earlier in class. Also, an extension of this activity could involve researching specific companies, such as Disney and Wal-Mart, and examining where their factories are located in the world and analyzing the typical working conditions and wages consist of and compare to the working conditions of the maquiladoras in Mexico. IV. Materials and Resources Handout 1: “My Job” Questionnaire Video Clip 1: “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” showing dissatisfied workers Audio Clip 1: “Factory Noises/Sounds” Handout 2: “Guided Imagery Script” Handout 3: “Triangle Tragedy” Handout 4: “Firefighter Role Sheet” Handout 5: “Newspaper Reporter Role Sheet” Handout 6: “One Eyewitness Account Role Sheet” Handout 7: “Concept Map: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Role Sheets” Handout 8: “Text Box for Triangle Shirtwaist Written Responses” PowerPoint 1: “Maquiladoras: All Work and No Pay” Handout 9: “What is a Maquiladora?” Handout 10: “Concept Map: What is a Maquiladora?” Handout 11: “Living in Fear” Handout 12: “Women are more easily managed” Handout 13: “Married to the Maquila” Handout 14: “Rethinking NAFTA editorial” V. References The Jewish Daily Forward, “175 Workers lose their lives in a burning shirt-waist factory”. Translated into English by Tina Lunson. March 26, 1911. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5482/ . (For the handouts concerning the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the previous citation was used to create the handouts) PBS.com: “Senorita Extraviada, Maquiladoras, Living in Fear” www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/senoritaextraviada/maquiladoras_feature02.html VI. Additional Suggested Readings Gruben, William C & Kiser, Sherry L. “The Border Economy, ‘NAFTA and Maquiladoras: Is the Growth Connected’”. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. June 2001. Pastor, Robert A. “NAFTA’s Green Opportunity”. Issues in Science and Technology. 1993. VII. Internet Links Office of NAFTA and Inter-American Affairs. “Maquiladoras and the NAFTA”. http://www.mac.doc.gov/nafta/maquiladoras.html Soriano, Jen. “Globalization and the Maquiladoras”. Nov. 24, 1999. http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/wto/soriano1.html VIII. Suggested Images “Factory sounds”. “Motor in Factory Machine” (0:37). http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/play/play.cfm/sound_iid.206386 “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Film. Rankin/Bass Productions. Originally broadcast on December 6, 1964.