Medea E. Lamberti-Sanchez
This will be a month-long, reading and writing unit designed for middle-school students, grades five through eight, but may be adapted to fit high-school curriculum for students in grades nine through twelve. In this unit, the students will discuss, research, read, and write about the topic of child labor in America at the turn of the twentieth century, using a variety of multi-media resources that will include the performing arts (music, visual arts, theatre) as well as literature and information pieces that will help build upon prior knowledge. This unit will appeal to students who are auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and linguistic learners. The culminating unit will feature a theatrical performance whereby every student is an "expert" on a person from the newsboy strike of 1899. Students will use the performing arts to showcase their knowledge about the topic of child labor through their performance piece in a "pretend" talk show platform. Read more, if you are excited to make real-life connections to characters, access new knowledge, and write about issues that relate directly to your lives.
(Developed for Language Arts and Social Studies, grades 5-6; recommended for Language Arts and Social Studies, grades 5-8)
