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Methods of Reform: The Lowell Mill Girls Lesson PlanMethods of Reform: The Lowell Mill Girls Lesson Plan
Publisher
Center for History Education
Resource Details
Curator Rating
Educator Rating
Not yet Rated
Grade
6th - 8th
Subjects
Social Studies & History
2 more...
Resource Type
Lesson Plans
Audience
For Teacher Use
Duration
1 hr 30 mins
Instructional Strategies
Case Study
3 more...
Usage Permissions
Fine Print: Educational Use
Lesson Plan

Methods of Reform: The Lowell Mill Girls

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Methods of Reform: The Lowell Mill Girls lesson plan also includes:
  • Methods of Reform: The Lowell Mill Girls (.html)
  • Resource Sheet #1: Child Labor Laws of Maryland (.pdf)
  • Resource Sheet #2: Prediction Guide: "The Truth Behind the Lowell Mills." (.pdf)
  • Resource Sheet #3: Life at Lowell Mills (.pdf)
  • Resource Sheet #4: Lowell Reform: What's the Best Method? (.pdf)
  • Resource Sheet #5: Child Labor Laws: Lowell vs. Today (.pdf)
  • Resource Sheet #6: Lowell Reform: The Other Possibilities (.pdf)
  • Activity
  • Informational Text
  • Vocabulary
  • Join to access all included materials

Although the girls and women who worked in the Lowell Mills are not often seen this way, they are the forbearers of the American labor movement. Pupils examine primary sources, including testimony about life at Lowell and labor laws, as well as changes the women wanted to make. Then, they consider what other reforms would have helped the women of the mills.

7 Views 6 Downloads
CCSS: Adaptable

Concepts

child labor, child labor laws, labor laws, labor unions, women's rights, women's history, primary source analysis, primary sources

Instructional Ideas

  • Use the activity to round out a unit on the Industrial Revolution
  • Offer as a way to introduce labor reforms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Classroom Considerations

  • Students need context for the Lowell Mill

Pros

  • Resource puts a new approach on a familiar topic
  • Primary sources included interesting aspects of nineteenth-century labor

Cons

  • None

Common Core

RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.2 RH.6-8.3 RH.6-8.6 RH.6-8.8 RH.6-8.9 RH.6-8.10

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