US History · Week 7 · Industrialization, Immigration, and Reform
The Jungle and the Factory Floor
Students read excerpts from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle about working conditions and food safety and practice imagining daily life from a worker's point of view.
- Students will
- Students know the effects of industrialization on working and living conditions, including those portrayed in The Jungle, and critique the usefulness of a source by its maker, date, audience, and purpose.
- SEL skill
- Imagine a worker's day from the details in a source and notice how others might feel
- What it looks like
- Students practice empathy by imagining a worker's daily life and noticing how others might feel.
- Content focus
- The Jungle and the factory floor
- Format
- Partner exchange
Social awareness
Social awareness means understanding other people's perspectives and feeling with them, including people whose backgrounds differ from yours. More social awareness activities
What you get
A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.
Standards
- 11.2.1: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 11: United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century (standard 11.2, item 1)
- CA HSS Analysis Skill: HREP2 Identify bias and prejudice in historical interpretations. (Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View)
- C3 Framework (national): D2.His.11.9-12 Critique the usefulness of a historical source based on its maker, date, origin, audience, and purpose.
- Literacy in history: RH.11-12.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors on the same or related topics.
Fits these textbook chapters
- American History: Reconstruction to the Present, Module 3: Industrialization
- History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, Chapter 13: The Age of Innovation and Industry
- History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, Chapter 14: Labor's Response to Industrialism
- History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals, Chapter 16: Uncovering Problems at the Turn of the Century
Textbook names are used only to help you find activities that fit what you teach. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with these publishers.
More social awareness activities for US History
- Unalienable Rights, Unfinished Promises Social awarenessStudents read the Declaration of Independence alongside the experiences of enslaved people, women, and Native nations and consider how promises look different from different places.
- Cities Built by Newcomers Social awarenessStudents map how immigrants and migrants built growing industrial cities divided by race, ethnicity, and class and practice noticing who might feel left out in a group.
- Dust Bowl Migrants Come to California Social awarenessStudents study Dorothea Lange's photographs of Dust Bowl families arriving in California and consider how communities can welcome people in crisis.
- Braceros and the Valley Harvest Social awarenessStudents learn how the Bracero Program brought Mexican workers to California farms, including in the Coachella Valley, and express gratitude for the hands that feed the nation.
Previous: Rebuilding After the Civil War · Next: Cities Built by Newcomers
RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.