Learning Unit

Strangers In A New Land

Content Knowledge

At the end of this unit, students will know/understand…

• The reasons why various ethnic groups immigrated to the U. S. at the turn of the century
• Where various ethnic groups tended to settle in the U. S. and how they were received
• The difficulties faced during the journey to America, including the screening process at Ellis Island
• The importance of belonging to a culture and a place
• Selections from both fiction and nonfiction writing representative of the immigrant experience
• Relevant vocabulary
• The experience of alienation in a new homeland

At the end of this unit, students will have the ability to…

• Work collaboratively in a small group on a research report
• Construct a visual interpretation of a theme
• Read, discuss, write, and edit journal entries based upon excerpts of fiction and nonfiction literature related to the immigrant experience
• Plot a journey on a map
• Role play the Ellis Island experience for an immigrant entering the U. S. at the turn of the century
• Debrief their overall experience in doing this unit through discussion and completion of a final written log

Essential Questions

• What was it like for a person immigrating to this country at the turn of the century?
• What can we learn from the experiences of turn-of-the-century immigrants that can help make us better American citizens?

Connections to Standards

• English Language Arts Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding
• Students will be able to

• Interpret and analyze information from textbooks and nonfiction books for young adults, as well as reference materials, audio and media presentations, [written] interviews, graphs, charts, diagrams, and electronic data bases intended for a general audience
• Compare and synthesize information from different sources
• Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information and between fact and opinion
• Relate new information to prior knowledge and experience
• Organize information according to an identifiable structure
• Develop information with appropriate supporting material, and exclude extraneous material
• Use the "writing process" to produce well-constructed informational texts
• Use standard English for formal presentations of information, selecting appropriate grammatical constructions and vocabulary, using a variety of sentence structures, and observing the rules of punctuation, capitalization, and spelling

• English Language Arts Standard 2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

• Students will be able to

• Read and view texts and performances from a wide range of authors and genres

• Identify significant literary elements and use those elements to interpret the work

• Recognize different levels of meaning

• Read aloud with expression, conveying the meaning and mood of a work

• Present responses to and interpretations of literature, making references to the literary elements found in the text and connections with their personal knowledge and experience

• Produce interpretations of literary works that identify different levels of meaning and comment on their significance and effect

• Use standard English effectively

• English Language Arts Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.
• Students will be able to

• Listen attentively to others and build on others’ ideas in conversations with peers and adults
• Express ideas and concerns clearly and respectfully in conversations and group discussions
• Use verbal and nonverbal skills to improve communication with others

• Arts Standard1: Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts and participate in various roles in the arts.
• Students will be able to

• [Theatre] Imitate various experiences through role playing
• [Theatre] Use language, voice, gesture, movement and observation to create character and interact with others in improvisation, rehearsal, and performance

• [Visual Arts] Know and use a variety of sources for developing and conveying a theme in their creation of art

• [Visual Arts] Use the elements and principles of art to communicate specific meanings to others in their art work

• Social Studies Standard 1: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.
• Students will be able to

• Complete well-documented and historically accurate case studies about individuals and groups who represent different ethnic, national, and religious groups in New York State and the United States
• Gather and organize information about the important achievements and contributions of individuals and groups living in New York State and the United States

• Math, Science, and Technology Standard 2: Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies.
• Students will be able to

• Use a range of equipment and software to integrate several forms of information in order to create good graphic and text-based presentations
• Use spreadsheets and database software to collect, process, display, and analyze information. Students access needed information from electronic databases and on-line telecommunication services.
• Systematically obtain accurate and relevant information pertaining to a particular topic from a range of sources

Initiating Activity

As a class, students will listen to excerpts from various songs about "home," including "Country Roads" by John Denver, "Small Town" by John Mellencamp, and "There’s No Place Like Home." They will also view clips from The Wizard of Oz and Fiddler on the Roof. These will be used to initiate a brainstorming of ideas about the meaning and importance of "home." Student responses will be recorded on chart paper as well as in their notes for further reference. Based upon these and other ideas, each student will then create a collage or drawing showing what "home" means to him or her. Each collage/drawing will have a slogan at the top, which reads, "Home is…." Students will also write a brief explanation of the collage or drawing on a 5"x 8" note card. A display and discussion of the collages and drawings will follow their completion. The time frame of these activities is about five days.

Learning Experiences

This unit includes whole-class, individual, and collaborative group work to explore the immigrant experience in America at the turn of the century. It is strongly linked to social studies since students will have explored their own genealogies to some extent in Social Studies 7, and study a chapter on late 18^th and early 19^th century immigration in Social Studies 8. This ELA unit will either coincide with the Social Studies 8 chapter, or follow shortly after.

• During the course of this unit, students will
• Create individual collages or drawings with written slogans and explanations about the meaning of "home"
• Respond both orally and in writing to discussion questions about literature related to the importance of home and cultural identity
• Write journal entries based upon excerpts from literature related to the immigrant experience in America
• Work in collaborative teams to create an eight to twelve page research report on the experiences of a specific ethnic group that immigrated to America during the turn-of-the-century
• Fill out a questionnaire about the journey to America and the screening process at Ellis Island based upon their reading of common sources and viewing of a videotape about Ellis Island
• Role play immigrants and officials involved in the screening process at Ellis Island
• Debrief their overall experiences completing this unit through discussion and completion of a written "log" (questionnaire)

After the initiating activity, students will read and discuss "The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale, to emphasize the importance of a person’s national identity and the devastating effects of displacement from one’s homeland. This will lead into the topic of immigration and the experiences of immigrants to the U. S. at the turn of the century.

The teacher will next divide students into groups of four to six students. Each student group will research one ethnic group’s experiences immigrating to the U. S. at the turn of the century (1880s to early 1900s). Each person in the group will be responsible for a specific aspect of a written research report, eight to twelve pages in length. The report will include the following information:

1. Background information on the ethnic group including factors that may have led members to leave their homeland and come to America;
2. A map showing the most likely route traveled by the group to reach America, and where members of the group tended to settle;
3. Information about the group’s reception once they settled in America, the conditions in which they may have lived, and how life in America compared/contrasted with the life they left behind;
4. Biographical information about one member of this group, esp. a member who made a notable contribution to American society;
5. Research about one of the diseases that might have led to rejection and deportation from Ellis Island;
6. A title page, preface, table of contents (with student contributors listed), and a bibliography of sources used to compose the report.

Research will be conducted both during and in addition to class time. This portion of the project will take several weeks.

Students will also write journal entries based upon literature excerpts, and fictitious and actual "eyewitness" accounts, relating to the immigrant experience coming and adapting to America.

Once research reports have been completed and submitted for assessment, prefaces will be copied and collected into booklet form for each student to have an overview of the other groups’ research findings.

In addition to their research reports, journal assignments, and reading the collection of prefaces, students will also prepare for the role play by viewing a videotape about Ellis Island, and reading …If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine. They will complete a questionnaire about the Ellis Island experience based upon information from the video and the book.

The basic format for the role-play is taken from Ellis Island and Beyond by Wendy S. Wilson and Jack Papadonis. It involves selecting roles, making decisions to prepare for the journey, simulating the crowded conditions and other hardships of the journey, and going through the screening process at Ellis Island.

Culminating Performance

Students will participate in a role-play of the immigrants’ experiences coming to America and going through the screening process at Ellis Island. If possible, the role-play will be videotaped for later reference. Students will debrief this unit through a final discussion and completion of a written Reaction Log.

Modifications

Any assigned reading from the Prentice-Hall Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes textbook is available on audiocassette.

I. E. P. modifications, such as spelling exemption, will be accommodated in any formal assessment of this unit.

Special Education students will have the aid of their resource room teachers, scribes, and any other guidance for projects.

Those students identified as needing remedial help will have the assistance of the remedial teachers, as well as extra help in the classroom.

Internet Access

Reflections

A common planning period in the coming academic year with the other eighth grade teachers will allow me, I hope, to foster an even stronger interdisciplinary link with other subject areas. Also, in two years’ time, my district will be moving into block scheduling. I feel that this unit is better suited to longer blocks of time than our present forty-five minute periods.

In addition to the role-play, I would like to plan a field trip to Ellis Island in the near future. If the costs of such a field trip are prohibitive, perhaps a "virtual" trip will do.

I am also in the process of developing an independent reading list based upon the experiences of immigrants to America.

This unit is still a work-in-progress. Once I actually have a bank of computers and Internet access available in my classroom and proceed through the entire unit, no doubt I will make further modifications. The students themselves will also be allowed input, especially through their Reaction Log sheets.

Student’s Name:_________________________________ Date Due:__________

English 8 – Period___ Date Submitted:_______

Assessment of "Home" Visual

Research Report Rubric

Additional Comments:___________________________________________________

Assessment of Journal Entries

All journal entries are treated as informal writing (rough drafts) and are assessed in the following ways:

By the teacher…

1. Points are given based on quantity of writing (five points per page) and whether or not the student wrote on the assigned topic or in the assigned style.
2. Comments are written about content and style.

By peers…

Comments are written according to the following instructions:

1. Copy two sentences from the journal entry that are good;
2. Point out one error that needs improvement;
3. Write a personal comment about why you liked or did not like the journal entry;
4. Sign your name and return the journal to its original owner.

Assessment of Participation in Class Discussions

Generally, class discussions vary in formality, depending on the topic and purpose of the discussion. I give a participation grade each quarter, so participation is recorded on a daily basis. Most often, I list the names of students who offer sincere questions and answers. Each separate time that a student participates in this way, a check is placed after her/his name. To double-check accuracy, a student volunteer acts as class secretary for a two-week period and records participation along with me. At the end of the quarter, I give a participation grade based upon the number of times a student participated in comparison to the number of times participation was recorded.

When students are working collaboratively in small groups, I record participation through anecdotal records taken from observation of the group members over time. In addition, students often complete self-assessments ("logs") of their own participation and the collaborative efforts of the group.

Assessment of Written Responses to Literature Questions

Written answers to questions about literature are assessed in any of three ways:

• By crediting participation for reading responses aloud during class discussions;
• By simply being checked off as "done," "not done," or "incomplete";
• By receiving a numeric grade if the assigned questions have been previously designated to fit the criteria of "quality work." (N. B. Criteria are established collaboratively by the teacher and the students at the beginning of the school year. Criteria are recorded on a chart and posted for future reference in the classroom.)

Name___________________________ Date Due:_______________

English 8---Period ___ Student Assessment of Immigration Unit

Reaction Log

1. Did working in a small group help you to do a better job than you would have done alone on the research report? Why or why not?
2. Do you feel that enough time was allowed for completion of the major parts of this unit? Explain.
3. What did you like best about doing this unit?
4. What did you like least?
5. What improvements could be made to this unit?
6. What have you learned from this unit about what is means to be an American?
7. What have you learned that can help you to be a better American citizen?
8. Do you feel that your written work and participation have been evaluated fairly? Why or why not?

8. Additional comments or suggestions?

Suggested Internet Sites

Information Related to Immigration

http://cmpl.ucr.edu/exhibitions/immigration

http://members.aol.com/EllisNJ/

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Immigration/

http://ci.gc.ca/english/ref/facts96/

http://www.hfmgv.org/smartfun/timeline/

Investigating Diseases

American Medical Association

http://www.ama.-assn.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov

Department of Health and Human Services

http://www.os.dhhs.gov

National Institutes of Health

http://www.nih.gov

National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Disease

http://www.niaid.nih.gov

Print Sources Used in This Unit

Coan, Peter Morton. Ellis Island Interviews: In Their Own Words. New York:

Checkmark Books, 1997.

Hazen, Walter A. Immigration. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Instructional Fair/T S

Denison, 1998.

Jacobs, Heidi Hayes, et al., eds. Prentice-Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless

Themes. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2000.

Levine, Ellen. …If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island. New York: Scholastic,

1993.

Wilson, Wendy S., and Jack Papadonis. Ellis Island and Beyond. Portland, Maine:

J. Weston Walch, 1996.