Describe the daily work, schedule, and economy of a California mission, including the roles of Native Californians within it.
A mission was run like a large, busy farm and workshop combined. Bells rang to mark the schedule -- calling people to prayer, to meals, and to work -- structuring nearly every hour of the day. Native Californians who were baptized, called neophytes, did most of the physical labor: farming wheat and corn, herding cattle and sheep, weaving cloth, making adobe bricks and candles, tanning leather, and blacksmithing. Missions grew enormous herds and fields, some holding tens of thousands of cattle, which made them wealthy and self-sufficient.
This labor was not something neophytes were generally free to opt out of once they had joined a mission; leaving without permission could bring punishment, a fact you will look at more closely in two weeks. For now, focus on the scale and the skill of the work itself: missions functioned as major agricultural and craft centers, and the people doing that skilled, difficult work were overwhelmingly Native Californians.
Mastery looks like: They can describe the daily schedule and name several kinds of skilled labor performed at a mission, mostly by Native Californians.
Common stumbles: Picturing mission life as simple or leisurely; not recognizing how much of the work and skill came from Native Californians.