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Process

First of all split up into three equally sized groups - Experts, Writers and Workers.
After this follow the procedure given for your specific group.
Make sure you use a dictionary if in doubt.

Experts

These will be the resources for your given tasks:

The Changing of Manchester (follow necessary links only - stay with your topic)
Industrial Revolution in Manchester
Cottonopolis
Inventions in the Textile Industry
Short Survey of Manchester's Economic History (pages 52 to 57)
Pictures of some the Inventions

procedure:

  1. Read the given texts, use a word document to take notes on important information while you read.
  2. Divide up into three equally large groups, one for every given task.
  3. Discuss the information you have gathered so far and try to organize it with the help of a little mindmap or a flowchart for better understanding. What do you know? What aren't you sure about? What is missing? Discuss and try to fill the gaps
  4. Write a short but informative hypertext article on your task. Don't forget to give information on your sources.
  5. Meet up with the other experts to present your results. Do they agree on your findings?
  6. Combine your articles, so it can be presented easier. Think of an introduction and a final statement for your article. How can your results support the labour movement in Manchester or all of England?
  7. Present your examination to the people of Manchester (the class). Prepare yourself to answer questions on your text.

Writers

These will be the resources for your given tasks:

The Changing of Manchester (follow necessary links only - stay with your topic)
Quick Overview of Historic Manchester
"The Condition of the Working Class in Manchester" a short excerpt
Cotton Districts of Manchester

procedure:

  1. Read the texts, noting down facts about the Manchester of 1844. You may find maps and pictures that later on will be useful.
  2. Decide on what aspects you will present the audience, then split up into groups and prepare 2-3 Power Point slides on each of these aspects in small groups.
  3. Combine your slides with those of the rest of the newspaper writers. Discuss in what order they should be presented and if the rest agrees on the work of the others.
  4. Stay in the group that you have worked with on the presentation. Consult your information about Manchester again and try to get a feeling for several parts of the city. How must it have felt to go for a walk in Manchester in 1844? Take some notes.
  5. Write an article from your point of view (1st person!) about a walk along a road e.g. Oxford Road, in the year 1844. As a creative work you should think of what kind of character you (the narrator) are and what exactly she or he perceives(sees, hears, feels, smells) while going for a walk. How do people react on another? Especially concerning lower, middle and upper class people. This article should not be longer than one page.
  6. Formulate a final statement for your presentation: What should be changed in Manchester? And why?
  7. Present your article and your overview on Manchester (Power Point presentation) to the people of Manchester (the class). Answer any questions that may arise.

Workers

These will be the resources for your given task:

"The Condition of the Working Class in Manchester" a short excerpt
Child Labour during the Industrial Revolution
The Changing of Manchester (follow links only where necessary - stay with your topic)

procedure:

  1. Access the information given to you through the internet pages to learn about lower class workers in Manchester around 1844. Take notes in a word document.
  2. Decide on whether you want to be a child, female or male lower class worker. Then think of a name and your appearance. Where do you live in Manchester? With whom? What is your job? How do you get there? Who is working with you? How much do you earn? How are your working conditions? What do you like? What do you hope for?
  3. Write a diary, in which you give information about your daily live. Consult your notes on living in Manchester. Did anything special (good or bad) happen to you or your co-workers today? How did you feel that day? What have you seen in the city? How do people treat you? How do you feel about other people? Create at least one weeks worth of entries (one page a least).
  4. Meet up with the other volunteers and discuss your situation with other children, male or female workers (three groups) .
  5. For the presentation create a poster stating what you and the other children, female or male workers want to be changed! What would be most important for you. Add your written diary to the poster.
  6. Present your posters to the other workers and discuss whether they support your point of view or not.
  7. Present your poster and your diaries to the people of Manchester (the class) und prepare yourself to tell the people in the streets about your life and what you personally want to be changed and why?