Industry in the Classroom

If there was ever a day to just do a walk-through on my class, I'd have to say today was it. Recently we've been learning about the industrial revolution and today we were working on the assembly line. To begin the activity I liked to give a little shout out to my main man Henry Ford for inventing the assembly line. A process which is still used in factories around the world. Albeit streamlined with robots and stuff... we still use em. Not only that, but the manufacturing prowess that we had developed from the early 1900's until that scuffle with Hitler's boys gave us the upper hand in a hot contest. In the end it allowed the old US of A and her allies to send those krauts into obscurity. Now look what their known for - click here. ummmm yeah. So thanks Ford!

Also lets not forget the invention of the 5 day work week. Atta boy Henry!! There's lots of reasons to be a Ford fan besides the fact that they make sweet trucks. So keep it up you "Found On Road Dead" turds. If it weren't for Ford, you'd be working on Saturdays instead of suckin down Fruit Loops and watching Transformers. But I digress....

So we get started and the class is split into equal teams. These teams will be responsible for making cars from outlines on paper. There will be a person to cut tires out, a person to cut the car body out, a person to fold the body, a person to assemble with glue stick and a person to paint/inspect the cars. The team will also have a supervisor who's responsible for cleaning the area, motivating the team, assigning jobs and making sure work is moving along appropriately.

Once work begins, the cutters are working furiously to get the parts moving down the assembly line. People in the back are yelling for the parts to get to them so they can finish the car. Supervisors are lashing out at the team, goading them on toward success. All the while you've got me looming. I played the part of the factory. At the time in the early 1900's the factory was a living thing to be feared. It was loud, obnoxious, smelly, hot and on occasion would take your limbs. I played this part by implementing a little classroom torture.

First I opened the windows but shut the blinds. On a day like today, that just meant the room was going to be dark and hot. Then I got the factory sound going. Now at this stage alot of teachers would probably have some industrial sound track to play. In lieu of such a thing I decided to play multiple Youtube videos all at once on top of one another. To make matters worse I picked dastardly classics like Mmm Bop, The Macarena and William Hung singing Take me out to the ball game' . But even that wasn't enough. To really put the cherry on what would turn out to be a very annoying and overbearing soundtrack I chose to add in this atrocity which can't be truly appreciated until about minute 4... so fast forward, I guess.

With the overhead speaker blasting something like what I imagine hell sounding like and the students sweating and yelling at one another all while working at a feverish pace, the puzzle was nearly complete. But we do need to factor in the whole losing limbs thing.

As an aside here, I want to take another minute to remember Adrian Cane. He and I basically put the ideas for this thing together back when we were up at Round Rock. But when we were there we did it even bigger. We had steam engines in the room! It was great. I'm taking this aside now because this next little element was all his idea. RIP dude... haven't forgotten you. And as long as I teach the industrial revolution, I probably never will.

So to simulate losing a finger, I walked around the room with a roll of masking tape. At complete random I would chose someone to get 2-4 of their fingers taped together. Or if I really wanted to get them, I'd take their thumb. Let me tell you, a kid trying to use scissors with their off hand because their dominant one is all taped up.... pure comedy gold. At the end of the day the smarter students were all trying to unionize and go on strike for unfair treatment. And that's the cool part. That's where History Alive gets it. It isn't just about making kids jump around and be silly all in the name of a more exciting classroom. It's about getting them in a similar situation until they can make a connection with the people who actually experienced it. It isn't always easy with 13 year olds... but today I think I did.

Oh and by the way, on a day which would have been perfect to have a surprise walk-through... I got one. God is good.

Overheard @ WoRMS

Question imediately after I explained the above described activity.

Kid1: Mr. S, I was thinking about it and I think I figured out my parents anniversary is tomorrow and...
Kid2: (cutting off Kid1) So when I was at lunch I saw this Coke bottle sitting in the road and...
Me: (cutting off Kid2) Enough... woog.


Kid1: So when I was 7 I knew all the words to Stairway to Heaven.
Kid2: I'm not sure if I should think that's cool or scary.