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Erin Shane
09
Project
Summary
Purpose and Objective
The purpose and objective for this project is
to have the students demonstrate the ability to research various
immigrant groups, the development of Ellis Island and Immigration
law. Students will also role-play immigration officials and
immigrants. Students will be able to explain the impact of
immigration upon the United States of America’s culture, government
and economy as well as the impact of the Ellis Island experience on
immigrants.
Stakeholders
This project is intended for juniors and
seniors who are enrolled in a Regents U.S. History and Government
course.
U.S. History Content Area
This project deals with the early history of
the United States and the period of immigration around the turn of
the 20th century. This project is aligned with New York
State Learning Standards for Social Studies: Standard 1, History of
the United States and New York State; Standard 2, World History;
Standard 3, Geography; Standard 4, Economics; and Standard 5,
Civics, Citizenship, and Government.
Outline Describing Content:
*Students will be introduced to the topic of
immigration by first listening to the song “Isle of Hope, Isle of
Tears”. They will then analyze the song using a Primary Document
analysis sheet from the National Archives.
*Students will then be introduced to Ellis
Island. They will take a virtual tour of Ellis Island using the
following website.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/index.htm
. While taking a tour of Ellis Island, students will answer
teacher-prepared questions at each stop to help them better
understand what immigrants experienced at Ellis Island.
*After researching Ellis Island, students will
work in groups to research the experience of various ethnic groups
at Ellis Island. Students will research the following:
1) Difference between old and new
immigrants
2) The development of ethnic
neighborhoods
3) Impact of immigration on the
economy
4) The development of nativism in
the United States
5) Difference between open and
limited immigration
* After completing their research
in groups, students will present their findings to the class so each
student has had exposure to the experience of a variety of ethnic
group experiences.
* Students will pick a “character
card” out of a hat. The character card will give them a role as
either an immigrant or immigration official. Students will receive a
country of origin, language, occupation, age and family information.
*Students will then complete research in class
and on their own about their particular role and complete an essay
they will turn in that explains what their immigrant experience
consisted of and its impact on the United States (politically,
economically and socially).
* As part of their research on the experience
of their particular role during the periods of immigration, students
will recreate a mock “Ellis Island” for an Immigration Teach-In day.
Students will role-play during a class period as their particular
person (immigrant/worker). Students will come dressed as their role
and will have to act the part during the period.
* Students will include their evaluation of
their experiences from the mock “Ellis Island” in their research
paper.
*If possible, the project will culminate with
a field trip to Ellis Island.
Materials:
·
Earthwalk laptop computers (set of 25)
·
Internet access for select websites
·
Library books/research materials
·
Character cards
·
Activstudio Software for presentations
Level of Student Involvement:
Students will be heavily involved
in the research, setup and role-playing aspects of the project. The
instructor will serve as facilitator of the project while students
engage in research and role-play throughout the course of the
project.
Evaluation Process:
Students will be evaluated by the
instructor on the following criteria:
*Class participation
* Time on task
* Document Analysis sheet for
“Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears”
* Responses to webquest and tour
questions
* Level of cooperation amongst
group members
*Presentation on various ethnic
immigration groups
* Student research on specific
immigration character
* Individual research paper,
grading based on rubric
* Role-play participation, grading
based on rubric
* Accuracy of information
* Thoroughness of presentations,
research papers etc
* Audibility of the speaker(s)
during group presentations
* Evaluation of immigrant
experience
Timeline:
This project will be
introduced ten days before the final project will be completed.
Students will be allotted three class periods of 80 minutes of class
time. Students will turn their research papers in the following
class day after completion of the “Teach-In Day”. Schedule will be
broken down as follows:
·
Song analysis and immigration webquest (1 day)
·
Group research on ethnic groups, presentations and
character choosing (1 day)
·
Individual Research and research paper (7 days)
·
Preparation for Teach-In day (7 days will occur
simultaneously with research)
·
Immigration Teach-In Day (1 day)
·
Wrap-Up and submission of final research paper will be
turned in at the beginning of next class day
District Approval:
* Any district approval needed will be for the use of
the Earthwalk laptop computer system, access to library materials
and the use of the Multimedia Center for Immigration Teach-In Day
setup.
TAH Project Journal and Reflection
Erin Shane
Horseheads High School
American Studies, Grade 11-12
Purpose and Objective
The purpose and
objective for this project is to have students demonstrate the
ability to research various immigrant groups, the development of
Ellis Island and Immigration law. Students will also role-play
immigration officials and immigrants. Students will be able to
explain the impact of immigration upon the United States of
America’s cultural development, government and economy as well as
the impact of the Ellis Island experience on immigrants.
Stakeholders
This project is intended for
juniors and seniors who are enrolled in a Regents U.S. History and
Government course.
U.S. History Content Area
This project deals with the early history of
the United States and the period of immigration around the turn of
the 20th century. This project is aligned with New York
State Learning Standards for Social Studies: Standard 1, History of
the United States and New York State; Standard 2, World History;
Standard 3, Geography; Standard 4, Economics; and Standard 5,
Civics, Citizenship, and Government.
Instruction Journal:
Part One: Analyze a vocal recording of
“Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears”.
Students utilized a primary
document analysis sheet obtained from the National Archives website.
Students have practiced using document analysis sheets previously
and teacher modeling of how to fill out a document analysis sheet
has been also previously done. Student were able to successfully
listen to and analyze the meaning of the song. The song actually was
played three times, to allow students ample opportunity to listen to
all of the song and record their thoughts on the analysis sheet. In
the future, an adaptation would be to provide students with the
recording information and lyrics to the song.
Part Two: Research Ellis Island. Virtual
Tour
The virtual tour of Ellis Island
went well and students were able to answer the teacher questions
without much of a struggle. The website layout was very easy to
understand for students and also had visuals to accompany the
information. I would continue to use the same website for the
virtual tour. At this point in the project, I would change the order
I had previously done things. I would assign students their various
roles that they would play in their presentations and what they
would research. This way, they would be able to spend more time
working with the Ellis Island website to read more about their
particular experience and understand further how they would have
been impacted by Ellis Island. I would also have given students
particular names of immigrants that they could search in the Ellis
Island archives, so that they could follow that particular immigrant
through Ellis Island and into the United States to complete their
research project. If possible, I would like to further research the
immigrants and try to locate immigrants and their families who
managed to move into the more immediate area of Horseheads and
Elmira, NY. In doing so, I could get the Chemung County History
Museum involved and provide students with the opportunity to visit
the museum and learn how to use the archives there for research.
I would also like to include
research and a virtual tour on Angel Island to have students compare
the different experiences of European and Asian immigrants.
Part Three: Continued Research and Written
Product
Having students research the
different experiences of immigrants in the United States, how
immigrants impacted the United States and the various immigration
laws that may have been passed in regards to their ethnic group. The
students completed very thorough research both in class and also on
their own. I did provide enough class time for them to complete
their research and also plenty of time for them to put their
projects together. They completed their written reports both in and
out of class.
Part Four: Presentations and Role-Play
The day students presented their
research on immigrants went very well. Groups made very thorough
presentations in their groups for their ethnic group, complete with
posters, visuals, music and food. Students also chose to present
their individual projects and acted out their roles very well. I
believe that taking on the mindset of a person from another time is
very difficult, and the project helped students to try to begin to
put themselves in the frame of mind of someone else and empathize
with their experiences. During the role play, students kept trying
to socialize with each other normally, but I kept reminding them
that they couldn’t speak the same language. Also having students
move through lines and in tight spaces, undergoing “medical
examinations” also made the experience a bit more real for them.
Reflection
In the creation and orchestration
of this project in my classroom I have learned the process of
writing a project proposal and have also honed my ability to
evaluate and reflect upon my own practices as a teacher to further
enhance lessons in the future and benefit my students. I would
continue to use the project in a similar way in the future, with
changes that focus on creating a more streamlined project. As
outlined above, I would introduce students to specific immigrants
and have them research the paths that they took during the journey
to become an American citizen. I would plan a more succinct method
of research for students and provide them with a clear outline for
their research. I think that I could have done a better job of
helping them to focus their research with better instructional
resources I should have evaluated with rubrics. I also think I will
incorporate the use of more multimedia resources and technology and
have the students create a video or website to present their
information to the class and their stories. The culminating project
could be to create a book of immigrant stories written by my
students.
The project impacted student
learning because it required them to take ownership for their
project, research and the end result. They had to put themselves in
the mindset of an immigrant and truly understand the perspectives of
the people who were immigrants to the United States. They also had
to understand the effects of immigration on the United States and
they were able to truly connect with all that immigration has done
for the US culture, government, business etc. They had to analyze
nativism and understand why many people in the United States felt
hatred towards immigrants and they were able to connect the
information they learned to the present day issues with immigration
and our countries struggle with nativism still today. They had to
analyze the need and use of immigration laws and they were able to
understand how the public opinion can shape legislation. All of the
information they learned, they were also able to apply to their
contemporary understanding of the United States and display that
understanding and application through their projects and class
discussions. It is extremely important for students to be able to
connect the content they learn to their lives and be able to
synthesize that information. Being able to also understand the
mindsets of people they are studying in history it can also help
them to understand the motivations for historical decisions and be
better able to connect their content knowledge to themselves
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