Statement of Process

When I started off my Exit Project, it was completely different than what it is now. Before my topic was approved, It was "Womens Suffrage." While conferencing with Mrs.Sackstein, she recommended for me to do something different because there were a lot of people using "Womens Suffrage" as their topic for the Exit Project. Then, she gave me a completely different idea for my project that I liked much better. My topic was then changed to "Children Rights."

First, I started gathering information on my topic. I didn't know much about my topic in the very beginning. Also, I didn't get all of my information once I began my project. Instead of getting pages of notes and turning them into genres for my posts, I gathered my information for each post one at a time. This way it was easier for me to learn at a good pace while giving lots of new information in every genre.

I started out with one post, which was an interview with John Birley. I was going to use the interview as a genre. However, throughout my revision process, I decided to take the information from the interview, and turn it into a journal entry. My journal entry started off as one paragraph. I thought it was to short and not detailed enough. Therefore, I added two more paragraphs that shared more information.

As I was looking through some websites, I read another interview. The interview was with Sarah Carpenter. It gave detailed information on her life as she was growing up so I decided to read on and turn it into a character profile on Sarah Carpenter as one of my genres.

After I read her life story, It made me feel stronger about Child labor and I got more connected with my topic. In order to show how I felt about child labor, I made an advertisement against it to inform people what kind of work the children had to do and how they were treated. This became another genre.

After doing more research, I wanted to do something fun for my new post. I was looking at the Exemplar projects and noticed that one of my classmates made a crossword puzzle. I thought it was a great way to learn about child labor in a fun way so I used some of my information and made a crossword puzzle using paint.

For my next post I decided to do a time line because I was still new to the topic so I thought a time line would provide me with some new information. The time line I found showed how Child labor changed throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. After I read the time line, I changed it into a way that I understood it better and so my classmates would understand it when they read it and so it would be in my own words (not plagiarized)

By this point, I had five posts. I began to add some posts (not a genres) with pictures and explanations. I also made posts containing the sources that I used so I can get my information and give credit to the people I got it from. Next, I added some more genres which were a one act play, Editorial, Poem, letter, and a descriptive paragraph.

I got feedback on my posts, then revised and made changes. I made a glossary and a reflection too. Now, I am proud to say that I am done with my Exit Project.

Reflection

My Exit Project is about Children's Rights. I chose this topic for my project because I thought it would be interesting to learn about how children were treated in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. I am pleased and thankful that we were given the opportunity to create a project on any topic we were interested in. Overall, I think I did a good job on my Exit Project. I am proud of the work that I have done throughout the past couple of weeks. I put a lot of effort in finding information on my topic and explaining it as clearly as possible. I gained a lot of new knowledge from this project and accomplished my goal. Moreover, this project helped me learn how to revise my work better, and how to use my time responsibly.

Glossary

Hine- noun. An outdoor destination where the children worked. (couldn't find dictionary definition) Ex: The children in the 19th century worked in the hines. (There is a black and white picture of children working in the hines in my "pictures and explanations" post.)

Vague- adjective. unclear. Ex: The boys vision was very vague.

Debate- verb. A battle or argument. Ex: The debate was very long because neither sides could agree.

depraved- depraving. verb. Utterly reprehensible in nature or behavior. Ex: This is depraving.

discipline- training to act in accordance with rules. Ex: These kids have no discipline.

Descriptive Paragraph - Life in Child Labor

A day in the life of a child during the 19th century...
If you were to step into the shoes of a child in the 19th century, you would be a completely different person. Compared to what kids these days call "unfair" It would be a piece of cake for someone in the 19th century because that was when child labor started to get worse. A day in the life of a child during the 19th century would be described as painful, exhausting, restless, and cruel. Children started work at the Mills promptly at 5 AM to 10/11 PM. They were not allowed to have a big breakfast. It was usually a small , quick meal that contained water-porridge along with oatcakes. They worked all morning, noon, afternoon, and nightime. They would stop for a small quick dinner which was also oatcakes cut into small pieces. That was their meal for the whole day. Children's working days were seven days a week. On Sundays, they had to clean up the machines in the factory.

letter

Dear Government,
This is a petition against child labor. We are all concerned about the punishments and the way you are treating our children. What kind of example are you setting to the youth? It is not making our country stronger or more disciplined. Child labor is depraving and unfair! We will not have this anymore! Our families suffer every day because of the abuse and torture our children return home with! This is not right at all and we demand it to stop NOW! Here are a list of people that are AGAINST YOU !

Sarah Parker
Anthony Birley
John Birley
Thomas Hamton
Jesse Carter


Sincerely,
Sarah Parker

Poem

Child Labor was a prison
The children were locked up in a cage
with no capability to escape
and were forced to work all day
it was a constant debate
should it stay or should it stop?
the answer was still vague
but the truth was crystal clear
Child labor was not right.

Reflection
For my poem, I decided not to make it a specific kind of poem. I wanted to write a poem made up of different poetry styles using different poetic devices. I chose to use a poem as one of my genres because poetry is used to explain and share ones thoughts and feelings. I did many revisions on it so it would sound good. I think I did fair job with this genre.

Editorial/Opinion Peice

Child labor is plain cruel. Children in the nineteenth century were forced to work in cotton, fabric and silk mills. The labor that they did was dangerous and risky. Gas chambers and machines they had to work on in the factories were difficult to control. Can you imagine working all day from five or six in the morning to midnight? Also, not being able to socialize with the other kids that whole time? They didn't even have much to eat either and they were not allowed to take breaks. That was too much pressure to handle! I think child labor should be stopped. How does that make you feel about Child Labor?