Medea E. Lamberti-Sanchez
It is the goal of the unit for the students to work independently on a research paper using multiple internet websites and books, informational articles, or any other resources they can find to explain the perspectives of persons of the newsboy strike of 1899's and their views on child labor. The teacher will provide the students with the names of individuals that existed from the movie or during that time period who were involved with the strike and place them into a raffle-like jar for the students to randomly choose. Once the student gets the name of the person, they can immediately begin taking notes and prepare for the culminating activity. It is the goal that the students understand what child labor is, understand the perspectives of the people they are researching, and determine meaning from the articles that they are reading about the conflict. The students can use the historical pieces about the time period as well as read shortened biographies on the internet about their person. The people that the teacher will choose range from Theodore Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, to one of the newspaper boys like, Kid Blink, or Spot Conlon. There may even be one student researching the role of the National Child Labor Organization's relationship to child labor. It is the goal that people or organizations from today would also be an option for the students to research.
Once the students research their person or organization using a set of teacher-generated questions, the students will organize their material, type it on Microsoft word, and prepare to be interviewed by the teacher on a "pretend" talk show like the Oprah Winfrey Show. It is the goal that the students are knowledgeable about who they represent and are prepared to talk in the perspective of their character. Each student will also have a chance to prepare dialogue or questions for another character during the mock talk show. It is the student's choice how they want their character's opinion to be heard, and how they want their character's story to be told.
The end goal is that the students feel a sense of connection to the characters that they are impersonating. Role play is a huge component of the culminating piece because the performing arts will allow for creativity to differentiate the characters either by the use of pictures, props, costumes, music, or dance. Students will decide how to represent their person, so it is the goal that they know enough background information in order for the character to be believable.
Other goals for the unit include persuasive writing, summarizing informational articles, and viewing multiple visual photographs to analyze and determine meaning from. It is the intent of the unit that the students learn from the multiple resources about how child labor has never ceased to exist from the 1ate 1800's until the present, but will also learn that there are people and organizations that are fighting for the cause. I want my students to be able to walk away from this unit utilizing all the strategies taught to become better readers, writers, and thinkers and implement them throughout their learning careers. All the strategies that are being taught can be altered and modified to fit the needs of the students and are highly transferrable, purposely intended to teach higher-ordered thinking skills.
