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.