MOSI Hangout

During our preparation time during class, we took notes on a video of a man named Jamie as he went through a textile mill museum in England. We learned the correct chronological order of how the the cotton was prepared and what the machines were called and what the did. After taking notes, we gathered in groups to find the correct definition for all the terms said in the video. We then formed questions as a group to as Jamie during our video chat, so we could get a better understanding of the topics we were a bit more curious about such as how long it took to make a full finished piece of cloth.

(picture taken during video chat of a painting of the mills. The image shows and orphan child cleaning underneath a loom)

During the video chat, we were taught a more in-depth story of how the mills really were in England than most documents could have shown. We found out that as a woman was working a loom, if a piece of thread were to break, she would have to stop it, put it to her mouth and inhale the oil and other toxic materials, and then re-thread it. Women did that about once a minute, which is the reason lung cancer was so common for mill workers. Just that one example shows that not only were the mill workers put in danger, the people designing the machines and running the mills didn't even care enough to make the machines safer for the workers. During the cottage industry, an entire family would gather to the hand loom in the attic, where they'd have the best and longest access to sunlight, and work all day for one or more weeks to make one piece of cloth that they could sell for profit at a market place. Each part of the machine was designed for a different member of the family, for example the children would have the easiest job, the mother and/or oldest daughter would have the second easiest job, and the father and/or oldest son would have the hardest job. Then, upon the beginning of textile mills, men were almost completely dropped out of the equation. The jobs were divided between women and children, and relatives were usually grouped into one room together. The process of making cloth was split up to one-step-per-machine, and the case was often that one factory would complete a step then ship it to another factory to do the next step and so on and so forth. Also, we learned that as the machines progressed, they also became louder, causing most workers to become deaf. As the machines progressed, conditions for workers became worse since it was the start of the urbanization, and the people were working and living very close. The cities built houses for the people too quickly and without care for the quality. Many people lived in one house together if there was a lack of space. Sanitation wasn't much of a concern for the people in charge, so there could have been up to 125 per toilet, which at the time was more of a bucket, and since the workers got so little time, the last person to use it usually chucked the waste into the street and it then seeped into the water supply which caused diseases to spread. But in the cottage industry, you'd be poorer but have better living conditions. Industrialization made the world better because it gave jobs to the poor, and necessary goods to the people who could buy them, but it was also one of the leading causes of death during that time.

Personally, I think this was an amazing learning opportunity. If we had the ability to have this inside access to every unit this year, I think my classmates as well as myself would learn greatly from it. I enjoyed being able to hear from a primary source what his actual experiences and accurate knowledge contained.

A Curator Must Do Many Things

 My group and I were assigned to make an exhibit on child labor during the Industrial Revolution. After much discussion, we decided to name the exhibit Condemning the Innocent, because after extensive research both within and outside of the documents given to us, we found that it was very rare that a child worked in a mill or mine willingly, and they usually only did because the poverty was so bad that their families had no other options. My group and I, somehow, didn't run into any major problems other than not having enough space for all of our pictures , which was easily fixed by simply letting some of them hang off of the sides. Throughout our research, I think the think that surprised me the most was a photograph taken of a young boy who worked in the mills. He appeared to be between 9 and 11, and his clothes were dirty and torn and his growth and posture had been stunted from excessive hard labor on his developing body.  After making the exhibit,I learned that I should be grateful for not only being able to get an education, but that I don't have to get up before the crack of dawn to get there. Also, I learned that if I had been alive during this era in England, I would have faced the same fate as the girls  described in an excerpt of Bobbin Girls which explains what the working conditions were like, and is shown in out exhibit.

During this project, each group was assigned a different topic. For example, my group, group D, were assigned child labor. Group A did their exhibit on the different types of spinning wheels were used in the textiles, and who/how they were operated. Since children of as young as 5 were allowed to work in the mills, better and safer wheels were made to appeal more to potential women and children employees. Group B's exhibit was about the new kinds of transportation invented during this time period, specifically the steam engine. The steam engine allowed people to go far distances in a shorter period of time than they would be able to through other forms of transportation. During this period, this technology was so new that they took going 150 miles in 32 hours as an amazing breakthrough, where we'd see that as excruciatingly slow. Group C was assigned the topic of pollution that came from the new machines in the air in water. The most striking thing included in the exhibit was an image of a street in Manchester, England completely covered in nasty and polluted water. Finally, group E made their exhibit about the increase in slaves being brought into the U.S.. Since the demand for textile goods were rising as well as the amount of mills being built, they needed more cheap/free labor. In my opinion, his assignment has been a very important learning opportunity to show the students involved the different aspects of the Industrial Revolution and how it affected the working class people alive during that era. 

Smart Research Skills Are A Must

Over the past few weeks in History class, we've been learning the correct ways to find information that is not only accurate, but also authentic and reliable. In class, we played A Google A Day and the researched the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.

A Google A Day is a game made by Google to teach people to safely and efficiently find information by providing a broad question and as the game went on, the questions got harder and harder. On http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started , each member of our group was able to use their devices to put together the puzzle that would lead to the answer of the question. Personally, I think A Google A Day is something every high school student should use at least once to see the proper ways to do research on a broad topic. In my class, each group was put against each other to see who could find the most correct answers withing the time given to us, which gave us an extra push to find the answers fairly and time efficiently. Though some answers were tough to crack which did lead to frustration, it taught me that when researching a specific topic you should search broader questions so you et a wider set of information to choose from.

Also during class, we were told to make our own definitions to the 3 things to look for when finding a good source: accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. Accurate information is precise, which means that it is true. Authentic information is real and genuine, meaning the source in which the information came from has to be valid. Reliability means that the source is of trusted and good quality. When looking for information, it's preferable that it be from someone who's specialty is the topic of discussion. We were told to look at http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ , which is a link to a website about Pacific Northwest Tree Octopi. This website lacks accuracy, authenticity and reliability, since the information is not true nor genuine, and the source is not of good quality.



"Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus"
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

A Gift From Our Ancestors

During class, we've been researching the Industrial Revolution and how it's changed the world. Because of the great minds of that time that sparked the revolution, we've been given all kinds of new resources that have progressed into so much more over the year.

In relation to textiles, from the time of their invention to when they started being used for huge industrial purposes, there were 3 major people who developed to that change. In 1740 by John Kay patented the flying shuttle, which is a tool used in textiles to make it possible for a single person to weave multiple, thicker fabrics. In 1764, James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, which is a machine made with more than one spindle at a time. In 1769 the water frame was invented by Richard Arkwright and was used to use water to power a spinning frame rather than other, more costly resources. These men made not only the development of the Industrial Revolution go more swiftly, but have made the rest of the world in modern times better off.

In order for the revolution to really take off, they needed large supplies of natural resources to keep their new inventions functioning. For example, coal, which was for the most part used to give power to things, was used to run steam engines. Coal was also used to produce another resource, iron, from iron ore. Within the textiles, cotton, yet another resource, was used to produce goods such as clothes.


An image of within a textile mill, circa 1765.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacture_during_the_Industrial_Revolution#mediaviewer/File:Powerloom_weaving_in_1835.jpg

To get this information, I used notes taken in class as well as the Biography section of Wikipedia.

John Green's Crash Course Video on the Industrial Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5DCizj5c&feature=youtu.be

A Gift From My Community To Me

Hi! My name is Nora Jerrett and I am a new sophomore at RMHS. In my opinion, things that make a teacher great are things that a student can use to his or her advantage not only within the classroom, but also while at home. Throughout my experience, things learned through interactive lessons such as games or even notes thoroughly discussed in class have stuck with me more than things learned in lectures and excessive note taking. Also, some of the things that have helped me the most throughout my years in school are things learned when I was one on one with a teacher before or after school, where I can openly ask them questions on certain areas of discussion. However, taking notes is inevitable, and when we do take notes it really helps to review them in class so I don't just end up forgetting the information I just wrote down. In eighth grade, my English teacher, Mr.James, used real life examples to help teach us lessons, such as how he told us a story of his childhood to teach us suspense, which really helped us because i showed us how to make school to life connections. Last year, my history teacher, Ms.Gleason kept us interested by giving us daily in-class projects that required us to work from our own minds rather than a sheet of directions, though it did get a bit overwhelming at times. Also last year, my Spanish teacher, Sr.Binaghi made us act out new vocabulary words to we'd remember them better, and also made good relationships with all of his students and made his classroom feel like a safe environment to be open and make mistakes. Of all these teachers, they gave me both positive and negative feedback to help me improve, made class exciting and not a burden to walk into every day, and were open to helping me not only during class but also before or after school, and I would be very thankful if you would as well.

http://passageworks.org/integrated-curriculum-honoring-the-inner-life-in-academic-content/

John Green's Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78PnPd-V-A&feature=youtu.be

After watching John Green's video, I must say I do agree with him that it is my duty to use my education to do great things. Personally, I would like to pursue a career in the medical field, and without the resources such as smart boards, libraries, computers, and text books provided to me by my community's tax dollars, that would never even be an option. My goal is to have an appealing list of extra curriculars such as sports, clubs, and of course a good GPA, and everything I need to achieve that goal is provided to me by the money given by my neighbors. I know that mandatory is a very new, and amazing gift and I have no intention of getting distracted and putting that money to waste.