Illinois Professional Teaching Standard Seven | Communication

The competent teacher uses knowledge of effective written, verbal, nonverbal, and visual
communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in
the classroom.

Description:

This artifact is a lesson plan and activity created for United States history high school history
students. It covers the topics of labor and human rights issues during the Progressive Era. The
activity requires students to work in groups to analyze particular primary source documents
covering various subjects during this era. Groups read, analyze, and discuss the document
based on a document guide given to the students to help direct their study. After the groups
are given sufficient time to work, the class is redirect and the findings of the activity are
discussed as a whole group, with the instructor asking probing questions as a follow up to the
material.

Meeting the standard:

This activity uses communication in various forms throughout. Students are required to read,
visualize, and understand text in order to make conclusion which are in turn written. The
activity also challenges students to inquire about the material, work together to make
conclusions, and support one another within the group to make sure everyone makes the
same conclusions. This lesson in particular grasps all forms of communication.

How this demonstrates my development as a teacher:

While reflecting on this lesson, I find myself pushing students to use various forms of
communication. While planning this lesson, I actually had communication in mind. As I have
developed and gained experience as an educator, I realize the value of being able to
communicate ideas in various forms of communication. I always try to challenge my students
to explain themselves fully when discussing or writing about topics. I will frequently ask the
question of “Why?” when evaluating verbal and non-verbal communication. I have recognized
the importance of students being able to answer questions using various means of
communication and from many different perspectives.
 Lesson Plan

Class: US History
Unit: Industrialization
Topic: Industrialization Group Activity

ISBE Standards:

Objectives (Students will):

 Work in groups to analyze Progressive Era primary source documents.
 Evaluate primary source documents to determine the perspectives and opinions of different groups during
the industrialization era.

Materials:
Industrialization Group Activity Handouts, Group Handouts, Introductory PowerPoint

Procedure:
 INTRODUCTION:
1. Review major concepts of industrialization, progressivism, and labor issues.
2. Introduce the activity for the day.
 LESSON:
1. Students should be separated into groups (from previous classes).
2. Materials should be passed out (Activity worksheets to every student & 1 packet of material to every
group).
3. Groups should be instructed to read the material from the packet and answer the corresponding
questions on the handout.
4. After a sufficient amount of time, redirect the groups for a discussion of the questions.
5. Teacher asks groups to explain their answers from question to question (at the teacher’s discretion)
6. Teacher should ask follow up questions.
 IF TIME REMAINS: Handout issues worksheet and pick a topic to discuss with the class.
 CLOSING: With a couple minutes left, collect the materials from students (or have them hand in materials).
Give the students a preview of what will happen the following day. Dismiss the class when the bell rings.

Assessment:
Student participation will be evaluated by the completion of the handout and in class responses.

Plans for Diversity:

The goal of the issues activity is to allow students to think on their own and create their own opinions & ideas.
 US History
INDUSTRIALIZATION GROUP ACTIVITIES
Mr. Delinski

Name: __________________________ Hour: ______ Score: ______ / 20

1. What is Social Darwinism?

2. How does the poem comment on this?

3. How were children included in the workplace?

4. What did some people do to protect children workers during industrialization?

5. Who were the Knights of Labor?

6. What were the views of the Knights of Labor about people in the work place?

7. What is the purpose of unions?

8. What was the Haymarket Riot?

9. How was organized labor involved in the riot?

10. Do you think that children should be allowed to work (a job) at a young age? Why or why not?
ACCOUNT OF THE HAYMARKET RIOT
            In response to this about 1,500 people gathered, but rain took that number down to 600.  Several
speeches had been made when Sam Fielden, the Socialist, put in an appearance.

            “The Socialists,” he said, “are not going to declare war; but I tell you war has been declared upon us;
and I ask you to get hold of anything that will help to resist the onslaught of the enemy and the usurper.  The
skirmish-lines have met.  People have been shot.  Men, women, and children have not been spared by the
ruthless minions of private capital.  It had no mercy. So ought you.  You are called upon to defend yourselves,
your lies, your future.  What matters it whether you kill yourselves with work to get a little relief or die on the
battle-field resisting the enemy?  [Applause.]  What is the difference?  Any animal, however loathsome, will
resist when stepped upon.  Are men less than snails or worms?  I have some resistance in me.  I know that you
have too.  You have been robbed.  You will be starved into a worse condition.”

            At this point those on the outskirts of the crowd whispered “Police,” and many of them moved to
Randolph street.  Six or eight companies of police, commanded by marched rapidly past the corner.  Fielden
saw them coming and stopped talking.  When at the edge of the crowd Inspector Bonfield said in a loud voice: 
“in the name of the law I command you to disperse.”  The reply was a bomb, which exploded as soon as it
struck.  The first company of police answered with a volley right into the crowd, who scattered in all directions.

 
Hell for a minute

            Fielden had just started speaking when part of the crowd, scenting danger, left.  Numerous detectives
mingled with the mob surrounding the wagon used as a speakers’ stand.  A stiff breeze came up from the north
and anticipating rain, more of the crowd left, the worst element, however, remaining.  In a few minutes the
police from the Desplaines Street station, marching abreast the breadth of Desplaines street, approached.  A
space of about two feet intervened between each line and they marched silently, so that they were upon the mob
almost before the latter knew it.  The glittering stars were no sooner seen than a large bomb was thrown into the
midst of the police.  The explosion shook the buildings in the vicinity, and played terrible havoc among the
police.  It demoralized them, and the Anarchists and rioters poured in a shower of bullets before the first action
of the police was taken.  Then the air overhead the fighting mass was a blaze of flashing fire.  At the discharge
of the bomb the bystanders on the sidewalk fled for their lives, and numbers were trampled upon in the mad
haste of the crowd to get away.  The groans of those hit could be heard above the rattle of the revolvers.  In two
minutes the ground was strewn with wounded men.  Then the shots straggled, and shortly after all was quiet,
and the police were masters of the situation.
 The Haymarket Bombing: What Another Reporter Saw

            Fielden was apparently about winding up his address when a crowd of police formed.  The officers
marched three deep, occupying the whole width of the roadway, but leaving the sidewalks clear.  Their forms
were plainly visible as they approached, for the electric lights in front of the Lyceum Theatre set them off so as
to form a good mark for the rioters.  As the line approached a cry arose in the crowd:  “the police! The police!”
and the workers began to divide towards the sidewalk and walk south to Randolph Street. 

Fielden continued speaking, raising his voice more and more as the police approached.  There was no
warning given.  The crowd was rapidly dispersing.  The police, marching slowly, were in a line with the east
and west alley when something like a miniature rocket suddenly rose out of the crowd on the east sidewalk, in a
line with the police.  It rose about twenty feet in the air and fell right in the middle of the street and among the
marching police.  It gave a red glare while in the air.  The bomb lay on the ground a few seconds, then a loud
explosion occurred, and the crowd took to their heels, scattering in all directions.  Immediately after the
explosion the police pulled their revolvers and fired on the crowd.  An incessant fire was kept up for nearly two
minutes, and at least 250 shots were fired.  The air was filled with bullets.  The crowd ran up the streets and
alleys and were fired on by the now thoroughly enraged police.  Then a lull followed.  Many of the crowd had
taken refuge in the halls or entrances of houses and in saloons. As the firing ceased they ventured forth, and a
few officers opened fire on them.  A dozen more shots were fired and then it cease entirely.  The patrol-wagons
that had stopped just south of Randolph Street were called up, and the work of looking for the dead and
wounded began.  The police separated into two columns and scoured the block north to Lake Street and south to
Randolph. 

When the firing had stopped the air was filled with groans and shrieks. “O God! I’m shot, “Please take
me home,” “Take me to the hospital, “and similar entreaties were heard all over within a radius of a block of the
field of battle.  Men were seen limping into drug-stores and saloons or crawling on their hands, their legs being
disabled.  Others tottered along the street like drunken men, holding their hands to their heads and calling for
help to take them home.  The open doorways and saloons in the immediate vicinity were crowded with men. 
Some jumped over tables and chairs, barricading themselves behind them; others crouched behind the walls,
counters, doorways, and empty barrels.  For a few minutes after the shooting nobody ventured out on the street. 
The dynamite shell did terrible execution among the police.  About one-half of those wounded were picked up
in the middle of the street where the explosion had occurred.  The first to receive attention after the crowd was
effectually dispersed were the wounded officers.
 Knights of Labor (1885)

An Injury to One is an Injury to All

In the period after the American Civil War there was a need for working people of all trades and industries to
come together under one organization. One of the first of these organizations was the Knights of Labor. The
Knights began as a secret society in 1869, but by 1882 they had begun to advocate for workers’ rights publicly
and by 1886 they had 750,000 members. The Knights were characterized by their steadfast adherence to lofty
ideals and, at the time, unattainable goals. They were part of the beginning for the unification for all working
people, and many of their members, Frank Foster among them, left to join the American Federation of Labor.

The Knights of Labor were known for their unity and inclusiveness of all working people. Their motto “An
Injury to One is an Injury to All” was a testament to their unity, and reflects the reason for their lofty ideals.
Without the pioneering efforts of the Knights of Labor, many other umbrella organizations such as the
American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, later to be the AFL-CIO, would
have faced much more difficulty in getting founded. The Knights set the groundwork for the AFL and CIO and
for all workers to follow.

Goals of the Knights of Labor:

1. Eight-hour workday.
2. Workers’ cooperatives.
3. Worker-owned factories.
4. Abolition of child and prison labor.
5. Increased circulation of greenbacks.
6. Equal pay for men and women.
7. Safety codes in the workplace.
8. Prohibition of contract foreign labor.
9. Abolition of the National Bank.
 The Political Economist and the Tramp

Phillips Thompson, "The Political Economist and the Tramp," poem, 1878.
Background information: In this poem, Phillips Thompson pokes fun at certain notions of Social Darwinism.

Walking along a country road,

While yet the morning air was damp,
As unreflecting, on I strode,
I marked approach the frequent tramp.
The haggard, ragged careworn man
Accosted me with plaintive tone,
"I must have food-" he straight began;
"Vile miscreant," I cried, "begone!
Tis contrary to every rule
That I my fellows should assist;
I'm of the scientific school,
Political economist.

Dost thou know, deluded one,

What Adam Smith has clearly proved,
That 'tis self-interest alone
by which the wheels of life are moved?
This competition is the law
By which we either live or die;
I've no demand thy labor for,
Why, then, should I thy wants supply?
And Herbert Spencer's active brain
Shows how the social struggle ends;
The weak die out the strong remain;
'Tis this that nature's plan intends.
Now really 'tis absurd of you
To think I'd interfere at all;
Just grasp the scientific view,
The weakest must go to the wall."

Phillips Thompson, "The Political Economist and the Tramp," Labor Standard (14 December 1878).