Lesson Sketch - Muckrakers and Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Acts

Marilyn Anderson - July 2021

Standard Alignment: Mississippi Standards for tenth grade English Language competency and objectives:

RI-9-10.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RI-9-10.3 - Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

RI-9-10.5 - Analyze in detail how an author's ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).

Objectives:

Students will analyze primary and secondary sources related to events prior to and after the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. 

Students will evaluate the role muckrakers played in exposing unfair treatment of citizens in the Progressive Era. 

Students will identify changing in the food industry after Theodore Roosevelt signed the two bills into law.

Grade Level(s): 9^th-10th

Content and Primary Source Background:

Prior to the lesson, students will understand that journalist referred to as muckrakers during the Progressive Era used their pens and cameras to enlighten Americans about problems that existed in society.  One such problem was the unsanitary conditions that happened frequently in the meat-packing industry. Once Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, those two pieces of legislation changed the way the process was done. In this lesson, students will compare and constant the way food was processed before and after the laws were enforced. Students will discuss the importance of muckrakers like Upton Sinclair and how journalists helped to create a difference in the way food is processed. Students should have an understanding of the following key terms: primary source analysis, muckrakers, political reform, Progressive Era, and social activist.

Main Instructional Strategy:

Think-Pair-Share

Primary Source Analysis

Step Inside Discussion

C-S-I Strategy

Links to primary sources Images:

https://www.loc.gov/item/2006679960/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2006679963/

https://www.loc.gov/item/89711601/

https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-pure-food-drug-act-1906

Other sources:

https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/excerpt-from-the-jungle

https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-progressive-era

Lesson Introduction (teacher and student procedures):

Prior to the start of the lesson, the teacher will ask students how would they feel if they worked in a processing plant like Sanderson Farms and knew the chickens they processed were tainted, spoiled, or even rotten? What would they do to correct the problem if management insisted that workers keep quiet? Teacher will listen to feedback from students. After a brief student led discussion, the teacher will discuss the Progressive Era and an activist named Upton Sinclair, who sparked a changed in the food processing industry. 

Next, students will work in pairs to analyze these primary resource documents. 

Link for resource #1 newspaper image: https://www.loc.gov/item/2006679963/

Link for resource #2 newspaper image: https://www.loc.gov/item/89711601/

Link for resource #3 newspaper image: https://www.loc.gov/item/2006679960/

These sources were used during the Progressive Era; students will work collaboratively to answer the following questions: 

Describe what you see. · What do you notice first? · What people and objects are shown? · How are they arranged? · What is the physical setting? · What, if any, words do you see? · What other details can you see?

Students will watch a video: “The Jungle” & The Pure Food and Drug Act - Decades TV ...

This video will provide background information about why Sinclair exposed the food industry and how he wanted some type of regulations in place.

After the video, the teacher will use the Step Inside Discussion  to help students determine Sinclair’s motivation for writing his novel. Students will read an excerpt from The Jungle and complete this activity.

These resources will provide students with insight into the conditions factory employees faced when they worked in processing plants prior to the passage of legislation in 1906, and it will also show how activists/journalists used the media to inform society about the unsanitary conditions in meat processing plants.  

Main Lesson Learning Activity or Activities:

-Students will analyze a political cartoon using the Primary Source Analysis-ORQ Process with help from the teacher. 

Following the analysis, they will read a passage about the Progressive Era to help them understand the perspective of activists, business leaders and politicians, and the teacher will use the C-S-I Strategy to check for student understanding.

-Next, students will conduct their own research to further investigate how the meat processing industry has changed due to federal regulations and guidelines.

Lesson Conclusion:

Students will be able to understand how muckrakers/social activists made a change during the Progressive Era by exposing corrupt practices of businesses and organizations.  Students will write responses in their reflective journals and discuss information they discovered by conducting further research.

Assessment:

Exit ticket

What role did muckrakers play in exposing large industries? 

What do you think happened after Roosevelt signed the two laws into legislation? Did businesses really change their practices? Why or why not?

Explain at least one benefit of either the Meat Inspection Act or the Pure Food and Drug Act.

Observe-Reflect-Question Assignments

Think-Pair-Share; Discussion

C-S-I Strategy

CommonLit Assessment questions