Goals & Objectives
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California State Content Standards |
Driving Historical Question
What was it like to be an immigrant to the United States around the turn of the century?
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11.2
Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural-to-urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. Common Core Literacy StandardsCCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.9
Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8 Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources. |
Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time: 10 minutes
It is important that students understand the content vocabulary before beginning the simulation. Thus, the lesson introduction will begin by learning the content vocabulary. Students will be divided into ten groups of three to four students and given a large chart/poster paper, which their content word is written. Student groups will have five minutes to learn as much as possible about their key vocabulary term. Pictures as well as written phrases will be encouraged. After five minutes each group will stand and share all the information they found while classmates write a definition on their vocabulary worksheet in their own words. Students are encouraged to ask groups questions and to ask the teacher for clarifying answers. Once each group has gone the teacher will randomly call on ten students to share their definition for a certain content vocabulary term.
Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time: 10 minutes
Push factor
Pull factor
America letters
Ellis Island
Immigration Station
Americanization
Nativism
Chinese Exclusion Act
Angel Island
Immigration Station
Pull factor
America letters
Ellis Island
Immigration Station
Americanization
Nativism
Chinese Exclusion Act
Angel Island
Immigration Station
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Time: 20minutes
Vocabulary will be delivered via group work on chart/poster paper and whole class discussion.
Main portion of the lesson is delivered via teacher readings while students participate in a simulation of what it was like to travel though Ellis Island.
Teacher will read the following:
In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was unveiled on an island in New York Harbor. The colossal statue, with its torch of freedom held high, made a strong impression on the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who passed by it each year. One of those newcomers, Edward Corsi, recalled what it was like seeing Lady Liberty for the first time:
I looked at that statue with a sense of bewilderment, half doubting its reality. Looming shadowy through the mist, it brought silence to the decks of the Florida. This symbol of America—this enormous expression of what we had all been taught was the inner meaning of this new country we were coming to—inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants. Many older persons among us, burdened with a thousand memories of what they were leaving behind, had been openly weeping ever since we entered the narrower waters on our final approach toward the unknown. Now somehow steadied, I suppose, by the concreteness of the symbol of America's freedom, they dried their tears.
—Edward Corsi, In the Shadow of Liberty, 1935
Corsi understood the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for freedom-seeking immigrants. So did poet Emma Lazarus, who grew up in an immigrant family. These words she wrote about the statue are inscribed on its base:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus," 1883
The next section will be projected onto the white board. Where a student will volunteer to read the section out loud.
The section reads: 2. Why Europeans Immigrated to the United States
Lazarus's poem suggests that the United States was a land of opportunity for the world's poor and downtrodden masses. By the 1880s, this had already been true for decades. Great waves of immigration had washed over the country since at least the 1840s. Some immigrants who chose to come to the United States were from Asia, Mexico, and Canada, but the vast majority crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Europe. They entered the country mainly through the port of New York City.
From the 1840s until the 1890s, most of these Europeans came from northern and western Europe. Millions of Irish, British, Germans, and Scandinavians crossed the ocean to become Americans. In the late 1800s, however, immigration from southern and eastern Europe steadily increased. Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and Russians began to dominate the steamship passenger lists. For all of these immigrants, the reasons for moving can be divided into push factors and pull factors. Push factors are problems that cause people to move, whereas pull factors are attractions that draw them to another place.
Difficulties Push People from Europe Population growth and hunger were two major push factors that caused Europeans to emigrate, or leave their homeland. Much of Europe experienced rapid population growth in the 1800s. This growth resulted in crowded cities, a lack of jobs, and food shortages. Crop failures added to people's woes. Potato rot left many Irish starving in the 1840s. The Irish potato famine led to a wave of Irish emigration to the United States.
Another push factor was scarcity of arable land, or land suitable for growing crops. In the 1800s, mechanization of agriculture led to the growth of commercial farming on large tracts of land in Europe. In the process, common lands, traditionally available to all, were combined and enclosed by fences. Many peasants were suddenly thrown off the land and into poverty. Even families with large estates faced land shortages. In parts of Europe, landholdings were divided among all children at the death of their parents. After a few generations of such divisions, the resulting plots were too small to support a family. A hunger for land drove many Europeans across the Atlantic.
Some immigrants planned to go to the United States, make their fortune, and return to their homelands. Others had no wish to go back. Many of those people emigrated because of the fourth major push factor: religious persecution. Russian and Polish Jews, for example, fled their villages to escape deadly attacks by people who abhorred their religion. Lazarus wrote her Statue of Liberty poem with this group of immigrants in mind. Lazarus had heard stories told by Jewish refugees from Russia. They described the pogroms, or organized anti-Jewish attacks, that had forced them to leave their country. Armenian immigrants, many of them Catholics, told similar stories about persecution and massacres at the hands of Turks in the largely Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Opportunities Pull Europeans to the United States One of the great pull factors for European immigrants was the idea of life in a free and democratic society. They longed to live in a country where they had the opportunity to achieve their dreams. Less abstract, or more concrete, factors such as natural resources and jobs also exerted a strong pull.
The United States had ample farmland, minerals, and forests. Germans, Scandinavians, and eastern Europeans brought their farming skills to the rolling hills and plains of the Midwest. They introduced new types of wheat and other grains that would help turn this region into the country's breadbasket. European immigrants also prospected for gold and silver. They mined iron and coal. They chopped down forests and sawed the trees into lumber.
Booming industries offered jobs to unskilled workers, like the Irish, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian peasants who poured into the cities in the late 1800s. These new immigrants also worked on the ever-expanding rail system, sometimes replacing Irish and Chinese laborers. American railroad companies advertised throughout Europe. They offered glowing descriptions of the Great Plains, hoping to sell land they received as government grants.
An even greater lure, however, came in the form of personal communications from friends and relatives who had already immigrated. Their letters back to the old country, known as America letters, might be published in newspapers or read aloud in public places. Sometimes the letters overstated the facts. Europeans came to think of the United States as the "land of milk and honey" and a place where the "streets are paved with gold." America letters helped persuade many people to immigrate to the United States.
Improvements in Transportation Make Immigration Easier After the Civil War, most European immigrants crossed the Atlantic by steamship, a techno-logical advance over sailing ships. What had once been a three-month voyage now took just two weeks. Some passengers could afford cabins in the more comfortable upper decks of the ship. But most had to settle for steerage, the open area below the main deck.
In steerage, hundreds of strangers were thrown together in huge rooms, where they slept in rough metal bunks. The rolling of the ship often made them ill. Seasickness, spoiled food, and filthy toilets combined to create an awful stench. During the day, steerage passengers crowded onto the main deck for fresh air.
Section 3 will also be read out loud. Meanwhile, sections 4-6 will be read in the same small groups that worked on the vocabulary poster together.
Main portion of the lesson is delivered via teacher readings while students participate in a simulation of what it was like to travel though Ellis Island.
Teacher will read the following:
In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was unveiled on an island in New York Harbor. The colossal statue, with its torch of freedom held high, made a strong impression on the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who passed by it each year. One of those newcomers, Edward Corsi, recalled what it was like seeing Lady Liberty for the first time:
I looked at that statue with a sense of bewilderment, half doubting its reality. Looming shadowy through the mist, it brought silence to the decks of the Florida. This symbol of America—this enormous expression of what we had all been taught was the inner meaning of this new country we were coming to—inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants. Many older persons among us, burdened with a thousand memories of what they were leaving behind, had been openly weeping ever since we entered the narrower waters on our final approach toward the unknown. Now somehow steadied, I suppose, by the concreteness of the symbol of America's freedom, they dried their tears.
—Edward Corsi, In the Shadow of Liberty, 1935
Corsi understood the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for freedom-seeking immigrants. So did poet Emma Lazarus, who grew up in an immigrant family. These words she wrote about the statue are inscribed on its base:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus," 1883
The next section will be projected onto the white board. Where a student will volunteer to read the section out loud.
The section reads: 2. Why Europeans Immigrated to the United States
Lazarus's poem suggests that the United States was a land of opportunity for the world's poor and downtrodden masses. By the 1880s, this had already been true for decades. Great waves of immigration had washed over the country since at least the 1840s. Some immigrants who chose to come to the United States were from Asia, Mexico, and Canada, but the vast majority crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Europe. They entered the country mainly through the port of New York City.
From the 1840s until the 1890s, most of these Europeans came from northern and western Europe. Millions of Irish, British, Germans, and Scandinavians crossed the ocean to become Americans. In the late 1800s, however, immigration from southern and eastern Europe steadily increased. Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and Russians began to dominate the steamship passenger lists. For all of these immigrants, the reasons for moving can be divided into push factors and pull factors. Push factors are problems that cause people to move, whereas pull factors are attractions that draw them to another place.
Difficulties Push People from Europe Population growth and hunger were two major push factors that caused Europeans to emigrate, or leave their homeland. Much of Europe experienced rapid population growth in the 1800s. This growth resulted in crowded cities, a lack of jobs, and food shortages. Crop failures added to people's woes. Potato rot left many Irish starving in the 1840s. The Irish potato famine led to a wave of Irish emigration to the United States.
Another push factor was scarcity of arable land, or land suitable for growing crops. In the 1800s, mechanization of agriculture led to the growth of commercial farming on large tracts of land in Europe. In the process, common lands, traditionally available to all, were combined and enclosed by fences. Many peasants were suddenly thrown off the land and into poverty. Even families with large estates faced land shortages. In parts of Europe, landholdings were divided among all children at the death of their parents. After a few generations of such divisions, the resulting plots were too small to support a family. A hunger for land drove many Europeans across the Atlantic.
Some immigrants planned to go to the United States, make their fortune, and return to their homelands. Others had no wish to go back. Many of those people emigrated because of the fourth major push factor: religious persecution. Russian and Polish Jews, for example, fled their villages to escape deadly attacks by people who abhorred their religion. Lazarus wrote her Statue of Liberty poem with this group of immigrants in mind. Lazarus had heard stories told by Jewish refugees from Russia. They described the pogroms, or organized anti-Jewish attacks, that had forced them to leave their country. Armenian immigrants, many of them Catholics, told similar stories about persecution and massacres at the hands of Turks in the largely Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Opportunities Pull Europeans to the United States One of the great pull factors for European immigrants was the idea of life in a free and democratic society. They longed to live in a country where they had the opportunity to achieve their dreams. Less abstract, or more concrete, factors such as natural resources and jobs also exerted a strong pull.
The United States had ample farmland, minerals, and forests. Germans, Scandinavians, and eastern Europeans brought their farming skills to the rolling hills and plains of the Midwest. They introduced new types of wheat and other grains that would help turn this region into the country's breadbasket. European immigrants also prospected for gold and silver. They mined iron and coal. They chopped down forests and sawed the trees into lumber.
Booming industries offered jobs to unskilled workers, like the Irish, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian peasants who poured into the cities in the late 1800s. These new immigrants also worked on the ever-expanding rail system, sometimes replacing Irish and Chinese laborers. American railroad companies advertised throughout Europe. They offered glowing descriptions of the Great Plains, hoping to sell land they received as government grants.
An even greater lure, however, came in the form of personal communications from friends and relatives who had already immigrated. Their letters back to the old country, known as America letters, might be published in newspapers or read aloud in public places. Sometimes the letters overstated the facts. Europeans came to think of the United States as the "land of milk and honey" and a place where the "streets are paved with gold." America letters helped persuade many people to immigrate to the United States.
Improvements in Transportation Make Immigration Easier After the Civil War, most European immigrants crossed the Atlantic by steamship, a techno-logical advance over sailing ships. What had once been a three-month voyage now took just two weeks. Some passengers could afford cabins in the more comfortable upper decks of the ship. But most had to settle for steerage, the open area below the main deck.
In steerage, hundreds of strangers were thrown together in huge rooms, where they slept in rough metal bunks. The rolling of the ship often made them ill. Seasickness, spoiled food, and filthy toilets combined to create an awful stench. During the day, steerage passengers crowded onto the main deck for fresh air.
Section 3 will also be read out loud. Meanwhile, sections 4-6 will be read in the same small groups that worked on the vocabulary poster together.
Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Time:20-30 minutes
Below are the directions for the simulation.
The classroom has been transformed into stations. Each corners of the classroom has a specific function. Such as: Medical Examination Area, Medical Quarantine Area, Legal Inspection Area, Legal Detention Area, and Ferryboat Waiting Room. Teacher will pick students who will be in charge of each of these stations. These students in charge of being inspectors will have a separate handout assisting them ( see student handout A below).
The information Master handout explains what the teacher and students should be doing in order to get the most out of the simulation.
1) The teacher randomly gives the Immigrant role cards and tells the students:
You are now playing the role of the European immigrant described on your card. After along journey across the Atlantic Ocean, you have all just arrived by boat at Ellis Island, the main processing station for U.S. immigrants, located in the harbor outside New York City.
• You are about to go through the typical immigration process that occurred at Ellis Island,
which involves a medical exam and a legal inspection. The results of these two inspections
will determine whether you will be allowed into the United States.
• Some of you have names that are difficult to pronounce. Sound out your name as best
you can and practice saying it until you can do so naturally.
• During your time at Ellis Island, try to talk to at least three other immigrants. Find out
where they came from and why they have immigrated.
• Study your card carefully and follow the directions on it. It contains very important information
that may mean the difference between passing through Ellis Island or being forced
to return to your home country.
2) The Teacher allows the students to take a moment and review who they are.
3) Teacher then ask for all immigrants who traveled first or second class to come to the front of the classroom.
4) Tell these students they make go seat in the Ferryboat Waiting Area in the back of the classroom.
5) Tell the steerage immigrant passengers that they must form a single file line at the Medical Exam Area.
6) Have students go through the Q&A sections at the Medical Exam Area. Those who are told to go to Medical Quarantine should go there quickly. Students who are told by the Medical Inspector to go to the Legal Inspection Area will need to go and wait in that line next.
The process continues until all immigrants are either sitting in Medical Quarantine, Ferryboat Waiting Area, or the Legal Detention Area.
Meanwhile the teacher walks around to make sure that the inspectors are doing their job and placing the proper sticker/marker for where the immigrant is to go/be.
Students who are waiting in the Ferryboat Waiting Area or have been sent to Medical Quarantine should be working on their sensory placards in their notebooks (see notebook handout below).
The classroom has been transformed into stations. Each corners of the classroom has a specific function. Such as: Medical Examination Area, Medical Quarantine Area, Legal Inspection Area, Legal Detention Area, and Ferryboat Waiting Room. Teacher will pick students who will be in charge of each of these stations. These students in charge of being inspectors will have a separate handout assisting them ( see student handout A below).
The information Master handout explains what the teacher and students should be doing in order to get the most out of the simulation.
1) The teacher randomly gives the Immigrant role cards and tells the students:
You are now playing the role of the European immigrant described on your card. After along journey across the Atlantic Ocean, you have all just arrived by boat at Ellis Island, the main processing station for U.S. immigrants, located in the harbor outside New York City.
• You are about to go through the typical immigration process that occurred at Ellis Island,
which involves a medical exam and a legal inspection. The results of these two inspections
will determine whether you will be allowed into the United States.
• Some of you have names that are difficult to pronounce. Sound out your name as best
you can and practice saying it until you can do so naturally.
• During your time at Ellis Island, try to talk to at least three other immigrants. Find out
where they came from and why they have immigrated.
• Study your card carefully and follow the directions on it. It contains very important information
that may mean the difference between passing through Ellis Island or being forced
to return to your home country.
2) The Teacher allows the students to take a moment and review who they are.
3) Teacher then ask for all immigrants who traveled first or second class to come to the front of the classroom.
4) Tell these students they make go seat in the Ferryboat Waiting Area in the back of the classroom.
5) Tell the steerage immigrant passengers that they must form a single file line at the Medical Exam Area.
6) Have students go through the Q&A sections at the Medical Exam Area. Those who are told to go to Medical Quarantine should go there quickly. Students who are told by the Medical Inspector to go to the Legal Inspection Area will need to go and wait in that line next.
The process continues until all immigrants are either sitting in Medical Quarantine, Ferryboat Waiting Area, or the Legal Detention Area.
Meanwhile the teacher walks around to make sure that the inspectors are doing their job and placing the proper sticker/marker for where the immigrant is to go/be.
Students who are waiting in the Ferryboat Waiting Area or have been sent to Medical Quarantine should be working on their sensory placards in their notebooks (see notebook handout below).
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Lesson Closure ‖ Time: 3-5 minutes
Students will engage in a What? So what? Now What?
On a notecard students will write a complete sentence about what they learned, a complete sentence explaining the importance of what they learned, and a complete sentence describing where or how the information they learned will be useful (such as on their interview project).
On a notecard students will write a complete sentence about what they learned, a complete sentence explaining the importance of what they learned, and a complete sentence describing where or how the information they learned will be useful (such as on their interview project).
Assessments (Formative & Summative)
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Formative assessment for this portion of the unit will be focusing on the students interaction during the simulation.
Students can be assessed via group participation, as well as, individual work. In order for the simulation to work and for all students to learn and get the most from the experience relies on whole class participation. Students will be assessed on participation: The rubric is as followed: Individual 5 The individual is fully engaged in the simulation and is actively participating. Answers and ask questions when appropriate. 4 The individual is engaged in the simulation and is participating. Answers and ask questions when appropriate. 3 The individual is engaged in the simulation and is participating. Answers and/or ask questions when appropriate. 2 The individual is not engaged in the simulation and rarely participates. Answers and/or ask questions when not appropriate. 1 No individual involvement Whole Class 5 The class was able to complete the simulation without interruption or lack of participation 4 The class was able to complete the simulation without much interruption or lack of participation 3 The class was able to complete the simulation but had interruption or lack of participation 2 The class was unable to complete the simulation due to the interruptions 1 The class was unable to complete the simulation due to the lack of participation. |
Summative assessment for this portion of the unit will be focusing on the students interview. The directions are as followed:
Interview someone who immigrated to the United States in the past 10 to 15 years. (If you can’t find someone to interview, research a Web site, book, or magazine article that has interviews with recent immigrants.) In your interview, find out information on these topics: • the person’s reasons for leaving his or her home country and coming to the United States • the person’s experiences getting into this country • how the person has been treated by U.S. citizens, positively or negatively, since coming to the United States Use this information and a photograph or sketch of the person to create a sensory figure in your notebook about the person’s experiences. Write at least four sensory statements around the figure. Compare this person’s immigrant experience to the experience of immigrants around the turn of the century by listing at least three important similarities and three important differences. The interview will be individually assessed. Students may present their comparison in many forms: 1) an essay format 2) a poster board 3) Multimedia (song, PowerPoint, etc) 4) Hand-drawn picture Each format will need to include: the four sensory statements, a description of "today's" immigrant experience, a description of the Ellis Island immigrant experience, compare/contrast statements, and the individual's final thoughts about the project. |
Accommodations for English Learners
Guided notes during the read out loud with pictures so that these students can just write key words in reference to the picture.
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Accommodations for Striving Readers
Guided notes for the reading portion of the engagement. Pictures included. These students will fill in their guided notes as teachers and fellow classmates read the sections out load.
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Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
Processing/Tracking Disorder: Big Idea given and a small timeline of major milestones. Student will be able to take notes on the bottom half of the printout.
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