Working Conditions

Focus: Working with Evidence

Students explore the issue of working conditions, historical and modern-day. They analyze how people, settings, and events interact in literary and informational texts. Students first focus on Lyddie (about a girl who works in the Lowell mills); they write an argument essay about Lyddie’s choices around joining a protest over working conditions. Then they read a speech by César Chávez (tracing how the sections of the text combine to build central claims) as they consider the role that workers, the government, and consumers play in improving working conditions. Finally, a short research project explores how businesses can affect working conditions. As a final performance task, students create a guide to working conditions in the garment industry.