Name: ______________________ Date: __________ Station: ______
Lesson 5.14, two days. Day 1 is pages 1 to 3. Day 2 is pages 4 and 5. Print double-sided. The scoring checklist for the Day 2 task is printed on page 5 so you can see it while you work.
Word bank: waste, water, repair, donate, price
Turkish: atık, su, tamir, bağışlamak, fiyat
Portuguese: resíduo, água, consertar, doar, preço
Spanish: residuo, agua, reparar, donar, precio
Page 1. Day 1: how fast fashion works
The four features
| Feature | What it means | What I can see on a garment |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | ||
| Volume | ||
| Price | ||
| Thin construction |
Three costs that are not on the price tag
| Cost | In my own words |
|---|---|
| Labor | |
| Water | |
| Waste |
The other side
Write the two honest points the class named out loud.
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- * *
Page 2. Day 1: the journey of one sweatshirt
The seven cards (cut these apart, one set per station)
CARD: WORN
Somebody buys the sweatshirt and wears it. This is where every garment starts. How many times it gets worn is the whole question.
CARD: DONATION BIN OR THRIFT SHOP
The owner is done with it. It goes in a bin, a bag to a charity, or straight to a resale shop.
CARD: SORTING CENTER
A person picks it up, looks at it, and decides what it is worth. Most donated clothing is sorted by hand, by grade and by type. This is where almost everything goes next, and almost nobody knows it.
CARD: SOLD ON THE THRIFT SHOP FLOOR
It is good enough to sell locally. Somebody buys it and wears it again. This is the best outcome for the garment.
CARD: BALED AND SOLD TO A DEALER
It is packed into a bale with hundreds of other garments, sold by weight to a used-clothing dealer, and often shipped to another country to be sold there.
CARD: CUT INTO WIPING RAGS
It cannot be sold as clothing. It is cut into rags for factories, garages, and shops. The material still does a job, but it is worth less than it was.
CARD: SHREDDED INTO FIBER
It is shredded back into loose fiber and used for insulation, carpet padding, or stuffing. The material survives. The garment does not.
CARD: LANDFILL OR BURNED
Nobody will take it. It goes to a landfill or is burned. This is the end of the road.
Put the cards in order
Write the order your station chose:
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
Which cards are the end of the road? ______________________________________
Which card does a shirt with a cracked graphic and a hole in it reach first? ______________________
The corrected path (copy from the board)
WORN → ______________________ → ______________________ → then one of: ______________________ , ______________________ , ______________________ , or ______________________
Page 3. Day 1: the numbers, and how to read a number
The four questions to ask about any number
- Who published it?
- What year is the data from?
- What exactly does it count?
- What does it not tell you?
The fact table
| The number | Source | Year of the data | One thing it does NOT tell you |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 17 million tons of textiles entered the United States municipal solid waste stream in one year. About 11.3 million tons of that was landfilled. About 2.5 million tons was recycled, which is a recycling rate of about 15 percent. | US Environmental Protection Agency, Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling | 2018 data (published 2020). [check for a newer year] | |
| A commonly cited estimate says it takes roughly 1,800 to 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pair of cotton jeans, counting the water to grow the cotton and to make the fabric. | Widely repeated; versions of it appear in United Nations Environment Programme materials and in many news articles. [check the original source and the year; this number changes a lot depending on who counts what] | Varies by source | |
| One study reported that the average number of times a garment is worn before it stops being used fell by about 36 percent over fifteen years. | Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A New Textiles Economy | 2017. [check] | |
| Where a donated garment goes: sold locally, baled and exported, cut into wiping rags, shredded into fiber, or landfilled. The share going to each path is different for every charity, every sorting center, and every year. | No single reliable national percentage. [if you see a percentage on a poster with no source, that is the point of this exercise] | Varies |
Which number would you use if you had to convince a parent? ______________________
Why that one? ________________________________________________
The four things a person can actually do
| Move | One concrete example | Have I done it? |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Buy less and better | ||
| 2. Care for what you have | ||
| 3. Repair | ||
| 4. Pass it on |
My commitment line: the move I will actually make this month is ______________________ and I will do it on ______________________.
Exit card (Day 1)
3 features of fast fashion: ______________________ , ______________________ , ______________________
2 places a donated sweatshirt can end up: ______________________ , ______________________
1 move from the four that you will make, and when: ________________________________
Page 4. Day 2: the Consumer Comparison Task
This is a graded check. 20 minutes. You work alone. 10 points.
My clothing decision: I need ______________________ because ________________________________
Who it is for: ______________________ How often it will be worn: ______________________
| Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is and where from (vendor type) | |||
| Price [update] | $ | $ | $ |
| Extra costs (shipping, return, tax) | $ | $ | $ |
| Total the buyer pays | $ | $ | $ |
| My estimate of times worn | |||
| Cost per wear (show the division) | |||
| One quality check and what I found | |||
| One sustainability consideration |
My recommendation: I recommend option ______ , which is ______________________ .
My reason, naming the buyer and the use: ________________________________________________
The option that came second, and why it lost: ________________________________________________
Sentence frames
- I recommend option ___ because ___.
- Option ___ costs $___ per wear, and option ___ costs $___ per wear.
- One quality check I would run is ___, and a good result is ___.
- One sustainability consideration is ___.
- Option ___ lost because ___.
The sample row (fill this in while the teacher models it)
The teacher's decision: sneakers for gym class.
| Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is and where from | $30 discount pair [update] | $75 brand pair [update] | $18 secondhand pair [update] |
| Times worn (estimate) | |||
| Cost per wear | |||
| Quality check | |||
| Sustainability consideration |
Five default decisions, if you cannot think of one
- A winter coat. 2. Sneakers. 3. Jeans. 4. A sweatshirt for school. 5. A dress or a button shirt for a family event.
One season, one budget (do this with the teacher, before the 20 minutes start)
A comparison picks one item. A budget decides how much money there is before anything gets picked. The amount comes first. The list comes second. The last line is what got cut.
This box is checked complete, partial, or missing for daily work. It is not part of the 10 points.
The amount I have for clothes for one season: $______________ (one season is about three months)
What I actually need for that season. Write the item, then your best estimate of what it costs.
| # | What I need | What I think it costs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $ | |
| 2 | $ | |
| 3 | $ | |
| 4 | $ | |
| Total | $ |
Does the total fit inside the amount? Circle one: YES / NO
If it does not fit, what comes off the list, and why that one and not another:
One thing I already own, or could repair, that covers a line on this list:
Closure line (back of this page)
The hardest part of this comparison was ______________________ , because ________________________________.
Page 5. The printed scoring checklist (read it before you start)
Consumer Comparison Task, 10 points. Topic 5.3 formal check.
| # | What it takes | Points | Mine (self-check) | Teacher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three options are named, and each one says what kind of place it comes from (discount store, mall brand, secondhand, online, or "repair or reuse what I own") | 2 | [ ] | ___ / 2 |
| 2 | A price is given for each option, and any extra cost (shipping, return, tax) is added in to a total | 1 | [ ] | ___ / 1 |
| 3 | Cost per wear is computed for all three options, with the division shown and the unit written (dollars per wear) | 2 | [ ] | ___ / 2 |
| 4 | One quality check is named for each option, from the five factors in Lesson 5.13, with what a good result looks like | 2 | [ ] | ___ / 2 |
| 5 | One sustainability consideration is named, and it is specific (not "it is bad for the planet") | 1 | [ ] | ___ / 1 |
| 6 | A recommendation names one option and gives a reason that names the buyer and the use, and the runner-up is named with why it lost | 2 | [ ] | ___ / 2 |
Total: ______ / 10
Teacher note on the total line: ______________________________________
Reduced version (2 options instead of 3): items 1, 3, 4, and 6 are scored on two options instead of three, at the same point values. The reduction is written on this line and does not lower the score: ______________________
Teacher key
Page 1, the four features and three costs
| Feature | What it means |
|---|---|
| Speed | A style can go from a drawing to a store shelf in a few weeks instead of two seasons, so a store can put out new styles constantly |
| Volume | Many small batches of many styles instead of a few large ones, which means more total garments made |
| Price | Low prices come from low labor cost, cheap synthetic fiber, thin fabric, single-needle seams, and no reinforcement |
| Thin construction | The garment is built to survive a handful of washes, not two hundred |
Costs not on the tag: labor (long hours and low wages, and factory safety problems documented in several producing countries), water (growing cotton and dyeing and finishing fabric use large amounts of water and can pollute rivers where treatment is weak), waste (unsold and discarded garments, plus synthetic microfibers shed in the wash).
The other side: cheap clothing is real help to a family with little money, and garment work is a real job in places with few of them.
Page 2, the journey
Intended order: WORN → DONATION BIN OR THRIFT SHOP → SORTING CENTER → then one of SOLD ON THE THRIFT SHOP FLOOR, BALED AND SOLD TO A DEALER, CUT INTO WIPING RAGS, SHREDDED INTO FIBER, or LANDFILL OR BURNED.
The key teaching point is that the sorting center comes before everything, and that most donated clothing is not handed directly to a neighbor.
Ends of the road: LANDFILL OR BURNED is the only true end. SHREDDED INTO FIBER and CUT INTO WIPING RAGS end the garment but not the material, so accept either as an end with that explanation. SOLD ON THE FLOOR and BALED AND SOLD loop back to WORN, which is the best answer a station can give.
The cracked-graphic, holed shirt reaches CUT INTO WIPING RAGS or SHREDDED INTO FIBER first, or LANDFILL if it is in bad enough shape. It will not sell on the floor.
Page 3, the fact table
Sources and years are printed in the table. The "does not tell you" column, intended answers:
- EPA textiles: does not count clothing still in closets or in use; is one country and one year; counts all textiles, not only clothing (it includes sheets, towels, and footwear); does not say how much of the landfilled share was still wearable.
- Water for jeans: does not say whether it counts rainfall on the cotton field or only irrigated and process water; does not say which country or which farming method; the number varies by a factor of two or more depending on the method.
- Times worn: does not say which countries; is an average across very different garments; does not tell you anything about a specific person's closet.
- Donation paths: no reliable national percentage exists, so any specific percentage on a poster should be traced to a source before it is believed.
Accept any answer that names a real limit. The skill is the question, not the answer.
Page 4, the one season, one budget box
Not part of the 10 points. Checked complete, partial, or missing for daily work. Complete means all four parts are there: an amount, a list with an estimate on every line, a total, and a named cut with a reason.
The modeled example on the board: $75 for one season; sneakers $30, two t-shirts $16, a hoodie $25, jeans $28; total $99; over by $24, so one line comes off. Any cut is correct if the reason names how often the item would be worn or what the student already owns. "The jeans, because the pair I have still fits" is a strong answer. "The hoodie, because it costs the most" is a partial answer, since it reasons from price alone. Accept a student's own prices; the estimates are what make the box theirs.
The one line to look for is the last one. A student who names something they already own or could repair has connected this box to the four moves on page 3, which is the point of putting it on this page and not in Unit 2.
Page 4 and 5, the Consumer Comparison Task
Scored on the printed checklist, 10 points, topic assessments category. Notes for scoring:
- Item 3 is where most points are lost. The division has to be shown and the unit written. Half credit for one option missing the division.
- Item 4: a quality check has to be one of the five factors (fiber, seam type, stitches per inch, reinforcement at stress points, buttons and closures) or one of the four store checks from Lesson 5.12. "It looks good" earns nothing.
- Item 5: specific means naming a mechanism, for example "secondhand keeps this jacket out of the waste stream for another two years," "this one is 100 percent cotton, which sheds no plastic microfibers in the wash," "repairing the one I own means no new garment is made at all," or "the online one ships 3,000 miles in a plastic bag." "It is bad for the planet" earns nothing.
- Item 6: the reason has to name the buyer and the use. A recommendation with a price and no person earns 1 of 2.
- A student who recommends the most expensive option or the cheapest option can earn full credit either way, as long as the reason answers the buyer's actual situation.
- One retake after a review, best score counts, per the grading plan. A retake uses a different clothing decision.