(Complete before playing Jewish Time Jump: New York)

(30 minutes)

1. On a whiteboard, chalkboard, or piece of large paper, make a chart with four columns titled “Working Conditions,” “Reasons Workers Stayed,” “Questions,” and “Our Advice for Pauline.”
2. Ask a student (or students) to read the first two paragraphs of the excerpt from Pauline Newman’s unpublished memoir about the monotony and hardships of working in a factory. (You may wish to provide copies for each student so they can read along.)
3. Then, ask students: What was it like to work in the Triangle Factory? What are the major problems that Pauline Newman faced? List (or have a student scribe) their responses in the “Working Conditions” column.
4. Next, have another student read the third paragraph of the excerpt from Pauline Newman’s unpublished memoir aloud.
5. Ask the students to list the reasons why workers stayed in their jobs. List (or have a student scribe) their responses in the “Reasons Workers Stayed” column.
6. Then, have students discuss the following questions as a large group, capturing their responses in the appropriate column:
   1. If you could ask Pauline Newman a question, what would it be?
   2. How would you advise her to act?

Alternative Methods for Exploring the Working Conditions Document

Method 1: Performance or Video

Dress up (or have a parent or teen volunteer dress up) as Pauline Newman and perform the paragraphs rather than having students read them aloud. You could also make a video of yourself (or someone else) doing this, or provide an audio recording students can follow along with as they read.

Method 2: Small Group Work

Instead of a large group discussion at the end, divide the students into pairs or small groups and answer the questions themselves before recording/reporting back their responses for the whole class.