Unit 3: We're Not Gonna Take It!
A Unit on the Progressive Era
A Unit on the Progressive Era
Lesson Module 17
The Disaster Victims
Focus Activity - Determining a Purpose for Reading
Lesson Outcomes

Outcomes are what you (the student) will be able to do after the lesson is over.
- I can describe the major catastrophic events that occurred in the Progressive Era.
- I can describe how Progressives in the Progressive Era helped the victims of catastrophic events.
- I can explain how the catastrophic events of the Progressive Era and the relief efforts for victims of these events affect me today.
Lesson Missions
In this lesson, you are the teacher!
Your mission is to teach the class about a disaster event of the Progressive Era. Your disaster assignments are listed below. Each group will create a keynote on their assigned disaster using the rubric under these directions. Then you will teach the class about your disaster using the keynote.
Your mission is to teach the class about a disaster event of the Progressive Era. Your disaster assignments are listed below. Each group will create a keynote on their assigned disaster using the rubric under these directions. Then you will teach the class about your disaster using the keynote.
The lesson missions are the activities that you will complete to achieve the lesson outcomes. The missions for this lesson are:
Lesson 17 Portfolio Assignments:
2. Keynote on Your Catastrophic Event 100 Points 3. Preparing your Keynote Presentation 25 Points 4. Teaching Your Catastrophic Event 100 Points 5. Professional Audience Behavior Activity 50 Points 6. Presentation Notes 100 Points 7. Peer Evaluation Activity 25 Points 8. Daily Project Work Ethic Grade 50 Points
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Teaching Activity - Instructions and Rubric
InstructionsYour assignment is to research your assigned catastrophic event of the Progressive Era using your research graphic organizer, create a keynote using a rubric, and teach the class about your catastrophic event using the keynote. After all presentations are completed, we will challenge ourselves on important people and terms by playing Catastrophic Events Jeopardy. Finally, you will pass off Lesson 17 by completing the pass off quiz.
Step 1: AssignmentsMake sure you understand who your group is what event you will be researching. Your assignments are below:
Group 1: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 Group 2: The Johnstown Flood of 1889 Group 3: The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 Group 4: San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 Group 5: The Cherry Mine Disaster of 1909 Group 6: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 Group 7: The Sinking of the Titanic in 1912 Group 8: The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 When you are sure who your team members are and what you will be researching, move to Step 2. Step 2: About the Group PortalsAfter you have read all instructions, you need to understand what sites you may use to gather your research. Below, all of the instructions (steps), each team has an icon. That icon is your portal. Your portal is a webpage that has information and links. Use the information on this page and any links provided in your research only.
Do not go onto any other sites. After you read these instructions, do not go into your portals yet. Read all steps before you enter the portals. After you read this, go on to Step 3. Step 3: Research Organizer 100 PointsMake sure you understand what you need to research about your catastrophic event. Look at the Research Organizer below. You will each be given a hard copy of this organizer to fill in.
1. Everyone in the group should divide up what things each member will look for. 2. Each member will research their assignments and write the answers on notebook paper in PQA format! 3. When you have completed your assignment. Glue your notebook paper answer in the section where it goes on the graphic organizer. When everyone is done, move to Step 4. Step 4: The Keynote 100 PointsYour keynote will be graded separately from your research and your presentation. Your research organizer will assess your history knowledge. Your keynote will assess your technology knowledge and your presentation will assess your public speaking ability. Below is the rubric for your keynote. Using your research, you will create a keynote following this rubric. Follow these steps in preparing the keynote:
1. As a team, decide on a template to use. 2. Each member will prepare one slide with the information and one picture for each item they researched. 3. When each member has completed their slides, they will airdrop them to one group member's computer. 4. This group member will pull all other group members' slides into their keynote. 5. You will save the keynote with your group number, first names, and homeroom name. 6. You will airdrop your keynote to me when you are done. After you airdrop the presentation to me, go on to Step 5. Step 5: Preparing the Presentation 25 PointsWhen you give a presentation, you do not just read your keynote. Your keynote highlights the most important information that you will speak about. To prepare for your presentation, you need to write what you are going to say on index cards and practice it as a group. After the presentation, you will turn in your cards for credit. When you practice your keynote with the cards, make sure you are also practicing the items in Step 6 below, as well.
When you complete this, move to Step 6. |
Tool BoxRemember, anything in the Tool Box could be on the Topic 2 test!
The Events to KnowThe Great Chicago Fire of 1871: On Sunday evening, 8 October 1871, a fire began somewhere near the O'Leary barn in Chicago. Driven by strong winds, the fire soon burned out of control. The so-called Burnt District comprised an area four miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, or about two thousand acres. More than 100,000 people were left homeless. On the same night, the deadliest forest fire ever, in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killed nearly twenty-five hundred people and destroyed an area the size of Rhode Island.
The Johnstown Flood of 1889: On the afternoon of 31 May 1889 residents of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, were inundated by a wave of water when the poorly maintained South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River failed due to overtopping, killing thousands. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900:On 8 September 1900 a hurricane with winds of 145 mph and a storm surge of almost 16 feet killed between 6,000 and 8,000 people in the Texas city of Galveston, whose population at the time was around 37,000. San Francisco Earthquake of 1906: At 5:00 A.M. on 18 April 1906 San Francisco was jolted by an earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. The quake, which lasted a minute, is estimated to have been about 8.25 on the later-developed Richter scale. Although many poorly constructed buildings were destroyed in the quake, even greater destruction occurred from many fires that ignited after the earthquake. The earthquake and fires together left 250,000 people homeless and caused $350 million of property damage. The actual death toll remains unknown. The Cherry Mine Disaster of 1909: On 13 November 1909, 259 men died in one of the worst coal-mining disasters ever. At Cherry, just north of La Salle, Illinois, a fire started when hay used to feed mules was stored too close to an open torch inside the mine. The disaster eventually led to the adoption of workers' compensation laws. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911: Near closing time on 25 March 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire, killing nearly 150 of the 500 workers, mostly young women. Many of the workers were immigrants. Workers were trapped, unable to reach safety, by locked doors and broken fire escapes. Unable to escape the burning building, many leapt to their deaths on the sidewalks below, to the horror of passersby. The Sinking of the Titanic in 1912: At almost midnight on 14 April 1912 the Titanic, the largest ship ever built, hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Because the ship was considered "unsinkable," there were lifeboats for only about half of the twenty-two hundred passengers and crew. Neither the crew nor the passengers had any training in how to use the lifeboats, and only about seven hundred survivors were rescued the next morning by a passing ship. The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918: In 1918 and 1919 influenza swept the world, killing more people than the Great War had killed. Sailors and soldiers returning home apparently brought the influenza with them to America, where approximately 675,000 died of the disease. The People to Know |
Step 6: Presenting the Keynote 100 Points
Now that you have researched, designed a keynote, and planned a presentation, it is time to give your presentation. Effective public speakers and teachers have to remember a variety of things when they are speaking with a group. You will be evaluated on your performance of these things. They are outlined in the rubric below. When you practice your presentation as a group, you need to test each other on whether they are meeting the requirements of the rubric.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 7.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 7.
Step 7: Professional Audience Behavior Activity 50 Points
When you get a job, you will have to attend seminars, classes, workshops, and conferences. When you attend these conferences, you will be expected to listen, take notes, participate when asked, and avoid disruptive behavior. You will be expected to be courteous and repectful of the speaker and to represent your workplace well. Showing respect for others, self control, courtesy, and kindness are all characteristics employers look for when they hire people for jobs in the real world. These are also Alabama State Standards for Character Development. This project will assess your ability to demonstrate these character traits. During the group presentations, I will observe you as you listen to presentations. Your job is to show me that you can behave in a professional way and that you are a positive and dedicated life long learner.
The following rubric are the character development standards you will be graded on during group presentations. When I give you your final project grade, you will receive this rubric with it.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 8.
The following rubric are the character development standards you will be graded on during group presentations. When I give you your final project grade, you will receive this rubric with it.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 8.
Step 8: Presentation Notes 100 Points
During the presentations, you will be responsible for what each group teaches you, just as if I taught it. So for each presentation you will need to take notes. You can use the following Notes Organizer to help you take the notes you need from each presentation. I will also put all presentations online for you as they are completed.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 9.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 9.
Step 9: Peer Evaluation 25 Points
For the rest of your life, you will be required to work as a team with other people. Sometimes you will love the people you work with and sometimes you won't. Whether you like a person personally is irrelevant. Your job will require you to produce whether you are friends or not. In the real world, all jobs and all bosses are different. Your boss may never ask you how the other members of your team performed in the task. Good employers will want to know this though. They only want those people who are effective and efficient workers.
For your next activity, you will do a peer evaluation. You will grade all the members of your team on how well they performed and participated. Below you will see the peer evaluation. You know up front that if you slack off, your grade will suffer. As long as you do the things in this rubric you will do fine.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 10.
For your next activity, you will do a peer evaluation. You will grade all the members of your team on how well they performed and participated. Below you will see the peer evaluation. You know up front that if you slack off, your grade will suffer. As long as you do the things in this rubric you will do fine.
When you are finished with this, move to Step 10.
Step 10: Work Ethic Teacher Observation 50 Points
When you come into class and do your work, participate, stay on task, come to class prepared, and refrain from disruptive behavior you are showing responsibility, respect for others, cooperation, self-respect, self control, courtesy, and diligence. These are all characteristics employers look for when they hire people for jobs in the real world. These are also Alabama State Standards for Character Development. This project will assess your ability to demonstrate these character traits. Everyday, I will observe you as you work with your team. The following rubric is what I am looking for in your work ethic and class behavior. When I give you your final project grade, you will receive this rubric with it.
When you are done with the peer evaluation, your team may play jeopardy on one team member's computer.
The Group Portals
Click on your group's portal icon to go to your research page.
Group Activity: Disaster Victims Jeopardy
Click on the Jeopardy icon below to play Disaster Victims of the Progressive Era Jeopardy.
Individual Activity - 100 Points
Lesson Module 17: The Disaster Victims Pass Off Quiz
You only have one shot at the pass off quiz. Make sure to check your answers before submitting.
Reflection Checklist -
Did You Complete Lesson Module 17: The Disaster Victims
Activities for Topic 3 Lesson 17 Module: The Disaster Victims
- Did you pay attention to directions and read all of the instructions?
- Did you complete a Research Organizer with your team for 100 points?
- Did you make a Keynote with your team for 100 Points?
- Did you prepare index cards and practice your presentation for 25 points?
- Did you teach the class a lesson on your catastrophic event with your team for 100 points?
- Did you act professionally during group presentations for 50 points?
- Did you take notes on each presentation for 100 points?
- Did you complete the Peer Evaluation Activity for 25 points?
- Did you participate, stay on task, and come to class prepared everyday for the 50 point work ethic grade?
- Did you play the Catastrophic Events Jeopardy Game?
- Did you complete the Pass Off Quiz for 100 points?