Lesson Plan: Day 2

  

Grade: _11_

Unit: The Rise and Fall of a Textile Empire:  Lowell, Ma 1820-1861

 

 

Goal (enduring understanding):

 

Massachusetts has a rich history.  Among one of the many events of historical significance is Lowell’s rise as a textile manufacturing empire, leading to the birth of the American Industrial Revolution.

 

The Merrimack river’s 32 foot drop at the Pawtucket Falls provided the necessary water power that enabled the Boston Manufacturing Company to power their textile mills.

 

Essential Question(s):

 

What economical, environmental, and geographic factors led to Lowell becoming a textile power?

 

Was Francis Cabot Lowell a genius or a thief?

 

Development and selection of activities and resources:

 

  • Students will be given a brief lecture on the history of Lowell up to 1821
  • Students will be given maps of East Chelmsford and Massachusetts to help them answer the first essential question in a cooperative learning exercise

 

Content:

 

  • Geographic location of East Chelmsford (Lowell) in Massachusetts
  • Background on the first English settlers of the area
  • History of the Pawtucket Canal
  • Francis Cabot Lowell’s trip to England and his ensuing Waltham, Ma experiment

 

Curriculum Standard:

 

Economic Growth in the North and South, 1800-1860

 

USI.26 Explain the importance of the Transportation Revolution of the 19th century (the building of canals, roads, bridges, turnpikes, steamboats, and railroads), including the stimulus it provided to the growth of a market economy. (H, E)

 

USI.27 Explain the emergence and impact of the textile industry in New England and industrial growth generally throughout antebellum America. (H, E)

a. The technological improvements and inventions that contributed to industrial growth

b. The causes and impact of the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to America in the1840s and 1850s

 

c. The rise of a business class of merchants and manufacturers

 

d. The roles of women in New England textile factories

 

History and Geography

 

5. Explain how a cause and effect relationship is different from a sequence or correlation of events. (H, C, E)

 

6. Distinguish between long-term and short-term cause and effect relationships. (H, G, C, E)

 

7. Show connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and ideas and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments. (H, G, C, E)

 

Assignment:

 

Students will be divided in class into four groups of five.  Each group will be agents hired by the Boston Associates to scout the area of East Chelmsford.  Use the maps of East Chelmsford, and Massachusetts (handed out in class), as well as class notes as your guide.  Each group of agents must report back to the associates answering the following questions:

 

What is the landscape of East Chelmsford?

Why would this location be suitable for building a textile factory?

Is there a natural resource for power?

What are the financial benefits of building in East Chelmsford (if any)?

 

After your fellow group of agents determines the advantages of East Chelmsford, elect two members of your group to present your written proposal (5-10 minutes) to the class.  Be prepared there may be questions!!!!

 

Assignment #2

 

In your class Journal answer the following question for homework: 

 

Was Francis Cabot Lowell a genius or a thief?

 

In addition to the journal entry, read Lyddie pages 27-61 

 

How will the essential question be assessed?

 

  • Assessment will take place informally by the instructor during cooperative learning project.
  • Formal assessment will take place in the form of group writing exercise, presentation, and journal entry.

 

Primary Source Documents