Critical Learning

Guiding Questions

In this lesson, students will employ docudrama techniques to gain a deeper and more personal understanding of the difficulties women faced historically in the world of work. Students will then generate a list of questions to better understand and elicit stories of that personal struggle. As much as they are able, students will interview older relatives to learn about their struggles with, and perceptions of, the gender divide in the workplace.

 

 What should we be sensitive to as we create characters based on living relatives?
What information is critical for the audience's understanding of gender issues?
What questions and interviewing techniques can be used to draw out personal stories?
What are some of the difficulties for women working in an industrial setting for the first time?
In what ways might women be more suited to certain kinds of manufacturing work?
What do we want to communicate to an audience through these stories?

Curriculum Expectations

Learning Goals

B1.1 use the critical analysis process to determine the responsibilities attached to different roles within the group and to guide and monitor progress

B2.3 explain how drama activities provide insight into different types of roles, social or occupational hierarchies, and issues they may encounter in the workplace 

C1.1 identify a variety of forms, elements, conventions, and techniques of drama and describe some of their functions

C1.2 use correct terminology for the styles, components, processes, and techniques of drama in creating and responding to drama works.

C2.2 suggest ways in which current media forms and technologies influence the content and presentation of drama works

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • explain historical struggles and accomplishments that women faced in the North American workplace
  • explain the value and importance of work that goes unpaid i.e. housework
  • practice questioning and interview skills
  • relate how drama can be used to express and examine real world experiences
  • have experience interviewing and gathering data

Instructional Components

Readiness

Students will be familiar with interviewing from newscasts or documentaries. Students are building their knowledge of women's historical struggles and accomplishments in the workplace from the previous lesson.
 

Terminology

Rosie the Riveter
"Rosie of the North"
Hot Seating
Anchor Chart
Docudrama
Place Mat (For more information on the literacy strategy of the Place Mat, see Think Literacy.)

Materials

Film Rosies of the North or another suitable documentary on the issue of women in the workplace.

Paper for Place Mat organizers

Markers, pens

Computer with Internet connection
Projector & Screen
Television
 
 

 

Approximately 75 minutes

Minds On

Pause and Ponder

Whole Class > Viewing

Inform the  students that they will be viewing the documentary Rosies of the North. It is about the remembered experiences of female aircraft makers in World War Two. Instruct students to pay particular attention to the questions that the women are being asked.  Ask students after they view the film to recall and record the questions that the women were asked (or questions that they think were asked) to help them tell their story.
When the film is finished, create an anchor chart of the questions students generated while watching the documentary.

Whole Class > Hot Seating Interview

Ask students which woman from the movie they would like to meet. Invite a student to play the role of that woman while the other students hot seat him or her and ask the recorded questions from the anchor chart and any other questions that come to mind during the interview. Direct the students to add new questions to the list they have created.   

Assessment for Learning (AfL)

Use the list of questions from the movie as a gauge for how much students were able to recall from the film.

Give students oral feedback on their questions and interviewing techniques during the practice interview.
Use the practice interview with the teacher to assess the efficacy of the questions.
Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Through discussion students can determine the relevance of material for the presentation and for reference in future workplace settings. 

Differentiation (DI)

The teacher may play the role of the selected woman from the movie if you think your students are not comfortable or skilled enough to be hot seated.

Allow students the opportunity to record interviews with tape recorders or computers (if able) and memorize lines through listening.

If students are struggling to find people to interview in their own lives, then consider basing all the interviews on the workers in the school.

Students may wish to include questions about non-binary or transgender people in the workplace and focus on contemporary, rather than historical, struggles.

Quick Tip

There are number of shorter films about women's' contributions to the war effort on the N.F.B. website that  could be used instead of Rosies of the North.

Record the questions on an anchor chart and encourage students to refer to them when they create their interview questions.

If you are a young teacher and less connected to the questions about gender in the past, invite and older generation female teacher or administrator or caretaker to respond to student questions instead.

Link and Layer

By hearing and recreating accounts of struggles from living people, students can more easily empathize and understand situations explores in the previous lesson.

Hyperlinks in the Lesson

Rosies of the North

For more information on the literacy strategy of the Place Mat, see Think Literacy.
Approximately 40 minutes

Action!

Small Groups > Place Mat

In small groups, use a place mat organizer to create a list of suitable questions focusing on the experiences, as well as and the attitudes and impressions, of women in the workforce in the past.
Example Questions:
What barriers did you face as a woman in your career?  How have they changed? Describe a moment in the workplace where you felt challenged as a woman.

Whole Class > Interview

Through whole class discussion, create a master list of interview questions. 

Invite students to interview you about your job as a teacher using the questions they have generated. Ask students to take notes during the interview. Following the interview, direct students to add new questions to the list and remove questions that seemed to elicit less interesting results.
Approximately 10 minutes

Consolidation

Whole Class > Interview Task 

Inform students that for homework they are to seek out an older relative (or friends or neighbours) and interview that person regarding their experiences with, and views about, gender differences in the world of work when they were young or today.
Remind students to use the questions that were generated in class but to not feel limited by them; if a person they interview takes the story in an interesting direction, pursue that direction with more questions that you create in the moment.  
Instruct the students  to ask their subjects for specific stories and anecdotes about moments where gender felt like an issue in the workplace. Direct the students to create a short list for themselves of people they feel comfortable approaching for the interview.