Mr. LeBouff’s 8th Grade U.S. History Class of 2006-2007 Lowell Cotton Mills' Character Education Case Study

 

Lowell Cotton Mills Case Study Lesson Plan

 

 

 

January 2007:

We began this case study by reading about the Lowell Mills’ practices of hiring and abusing women and young girls on p.326-327 of our Creating America textbook (Beginnings Through Reconstruction).

 

Then, as a class, we discussed how the girls were being mistreated.  This opened up discussion as to whether or not these types of things may be occurring in some of our industries today.  While on the subject, we talked about our character education pillars; trust, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.  We formed an initial impression about which pillars may have been lacking at the mills.  At this point, we felt the Lowell Cotton Mills were not treating their employees with Respect and Fairness.

 

February 2007:

Next, we read and discussed “Fighting for Worker’s Rights” on p.418-419 of the Creating America textbook.

 

March 2007:

We invited Floresville Mayor, Daniel Tejeda, to our class to talk to us about how private industry located in Floresville treats their employees and to answer general questions posed by all four of Mr. LeBouff's classes.  Since the mayor’s time was limited, we only had him visit one of Mr. LeBouff’s U.S. History classes.  We then typed up a summary of the questions asked along with his answers to share with Mr. LeBouff’s other three classes. 

 

Mayor Tejada Speaking To 5th Period Class

 

April 2007:

We invited residents from the Regency Manor Nursing Home to visit our class.  The ladies were kind enough to talk to us about how working conditions for women have improved during their lifetime. They also told us how girls have the whole world ahead of them and they can do whatever they want.

Video of Regency Manor Nursing Home Residents Visiting Floresville Middle School

 (Warning:  This is a big file ... don't try to download using a dial up connection.)

 

We continued working on the case study by moving on to Internet research by taking a look at an Excerpt From Harriet Robinson’s Autobiography.  While continuing our online research, we also perused the Lowell National Park Services Online Historical Park in efforts to learn more about the practices going on at the cotton mills during the early 1800s and the textile industry in general.  We wrapped up our online research by going to a site that explained Francis Cabot Lowell’s contribution to the textile industry.

 

April 2007:

Before getting down to the real nuts and bolts of the project, we used our imagination to pretend to go back in time.  We pretended we were at the mills and wanted to stop the abuses and make things better for the employees ... especially the young girls.  We explored ways we could make a difference and came up with a game plan to create new employment applications for the personnel department to use for interviewing and hiring new employees.  We also decided to develop “Employee Bill of Rights" and film commercials aimed at recruiting new employees that emphasized reform at the mills.  We also made newspaper advertisements informing the public of changes/reform at the mills.  The ads can also be used to entice girls over the age of 16 to apply for the positions.   To manage the project, students either chose or were put into the following groups:

 

Group #1 created new employment applications for use by the personnel department in hiring new employees.

Sample Lowell Job Application Using MS Word

Sample Lowell Job Application Using MS Publisher

 

Group #2 developed "Employee Bill of Rights" guaranteeing employees basic rights that management was expected to abide by.

Sample Bill of Rights Using MS Word

Sample Bill of Rights  #1 Using PowerPoint

Another Sample Bill of Rights

 

 

Group #3 filmed video commercials aimed at recruiting new employees and advertising mill reform. 

3rd Period's Video Advertising Jobs

 

5th Period's Informative and Interesting Video

 

6th Period's Multiple Locations Video (Bloopers Version)

7th Period's Video Requesting Mill Reform 

Group #4 made a series of employee recruitment ads/posters advertising changes/reform at the mills. The posters progressed through time. That is, the first in the series addressed the issue of the mill no longer hiring girls under 16.  The second in the series highlighted the fact that school-aged girls can only work up to 20 hours per week during the school year.  The 3rd addressed the issue of better pay.  The 4th addressed employee health care and education, etc.

Sample Poster Using MS Word

 

Group #5 created this Lowell Cotton Mills Case Study webpage and linked it to my homepage at Floresville Middle School.  They also wrote the brief description of the Lowell Mills Case Study toward the top of the page, uploaded and hyperlinked samples of the completed employee applications, bill of rights, video commercials, and recruiting ads/posters.

 

Group #6 was tasked to provide supplies and assistance to groups 1-5.  This group also displayed the new job applications, employee bill of rights, and employee recruitment posters in the halls of the school (pretend mill).

 

May 2007:

As a class we took another look at the Character Education pillars adopted by the Floresville Independent School District and then each student wrapped up the case study by writing a report that included their specific role in the project, what they learned from the case study, identified which character education pillars were problem areas at the Lowell Cotton Mills during the 1800s, and a recommendation for making the case study even better for next year’s students.

 

Heather's Case Study Wrap Up Essay to Next Year's 8th Graders

  Crystal's Wrap Up Essay

 

 

Mr. LeBouff closed the case study by explaining how, as a class, each of the six Character Education Pillars; Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness,  Caring, & Citizenship were demonstrated and thanked his students for their hard work on the Lowell Cotton Mills Character Education case study.