The Struggle in Smugtown video commemorates
Rochester's working people — those who built and ran
our community. This documentary sketches in fifteen segments
a hidden story
of their work, their unions, their struggles for social justice.
The video and its companion Rochester
Labor History Map/Guide are intended as resources for
Rochester-area students at both secondary and post-secondary
levels.
To facilitate
use of the video we have prepared this Study Guide for
teachers in Social Studies/Social Sciences, Language Arts/English,
and
other subjects. The guide is organized in
the same sequence as the video: there is one page of exercises
for each of the video's 15 sections, including:
questions - intended to provoke critical thinking
and classroom discussion, based on students' opinions, of issues
raised by the section's visual and narrative information
activities - intended to spur student research on
specific issues, events, people, and sites covered in
the section
vocabulary - intended to invite students to use
a dictionary to define unfamiliar words used in the section's
narrative
glossary - intended to provide simple definitions
of special terms, specific organizations, etc. which
students may amplify by consulting an encyclopedia
resources - selected published works related to
topics covered in the section; also, references to related
sections
of the Rochester Labor History Map/Guide
We stress that these are merely sample exercises, intended to
suggest possible approaches to the information presented in the
video. We encourage teachers to adapt them, based on their classes
and their understanding of the topics and issues, and hope that
they will be able to incorporate these materials in many curricula.
This Study Guide was drafted by Jon Garlock (Rochester
Education Alliance of Labor) and Linda Donahue (Labor Studies
Program at
Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations) with input
from Paul Hetland (School of the Arts, Rochester City School
District), Susan Belair and Lauren Pivnick (Monroe Community
College), Debra Lindsey and Donna Hanning (East Irondequoit High
School), and Vincent Serravallo (Rochester Institute of Technology).
It was subsequently revised by an editorial group including
Garlock, Donahue and a group of Rochester Teachers Association
members
including Susan Goodwin (Teachers Center), Tanya Bernard,
Rebecca Bethlendy, Stefan Cohen, Brian Daily, Paul Hetland,
Brian Simon,
Catherine Spoto, Diane Watkins, and Nyrée Dawn Wims.
REAL welcomes responses by teachers and students to the video,
to the Map/Guide and to the video Study Guide. Comments
and inquiries may be sent to REAL by contacting us at real@rochesterlabor.org.
Educators are encouraged to reproduce this Study
Guide for classroom use. REAL welcomes comments by teachers
and students, which can be directed to real@rochesterlabor.org
