What was America like for immigrants arriving at the turn of the century? This activity is part of a year-long study of American history for middle school students. Workshop participants take the part of students who are learning about 19th and 20th century European immigration. A teacher-created Web page of Web sites with documents, images, and other sites narrows the initial search for resources. Small groups examine materials found at the sites to learn about the texture of the lives of immigrants from any of four groups. The information and some of the images are used to create a first-hand account of a fictional family from one of the cultures chronicling their experiences as immigrants.

Objectives

At the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• identify reasons for using primary sources and role-playing exercises with middle school students;
• describe the world of the immigrant, in terms a middle school student might use;
• discuss how historical events affect ordinary people, and how ordinary people may affect important events;
• identify the pros and cons of various ways students might express what they learn and understand.

Tasks in brief

In this workshop, participants will:

• discover the essential ingredients in a piece of curriculum;
• examine pre-selected American Memory documents and discuss age appropriate uses with upper elementary and middle school children;
• think about ways to make text and images more accessible; and
• look critically at the results of one teacher's immigration project.

Resources

1. Excerpts from middle school students’ history scrapbooks

2. American Memory collections:
   1. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 - 1940
   2. Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Company
   3. The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920: Photographs from the Fred Hultstrand and F.A. Pazandak Photograph Collections
   4. Panoramic Maps
   5. Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991
   6. Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
   7. Words and Deeds in American History
      
      

3. Immigration Links for Your Research

4. Curricular Considerations and Primary Source Documents

5. Curricular Considerations and Primary Source Documents Chart

6. Assessing a Document for Use in Your Class
   

NOTE - This workshop was developed by Stanlee Brimberg, Bank Street College of Education, New York, NY 10007.