Lesson
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Immigration/Migration:
Today and During the Great Depression
Unit I: Immigration
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Lesson 1 - Introduction
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Describe the project briefly:
Students will collect stories of their own, their families', or friends'
immigration or migration to the United States and compare them to immigrant/migrant
stories that took place during the Great Depression. The stories will be
published in print and on the Internet and will be presented in class
to an invited audience.
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Ask the class:
Why do you think we are called a "nation of immigrants?
Write student answers on the board. Discuss ideas about immigration/migration.
If you have an immigration story in your family, relate it to the students,
following the questions below. Write the questions and your answers on
the board in chart form. (If you don't have an immigration story, use one
of the students' stories).
Example of one teacher's story in chart form:
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When did family come? |
From where? |
Why did they leave? |
Why did they pick Philadelphia? |
| 1898 |
Russia |
Father was draft dodger |
Heard there were jobs here |
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- Explain that the students will now seek the same information about their
families as part of the larger project. The four questions will be homework, and is due in three days. If any students state that they have no one to ask in their family, suggest that they try their oldest neighbor or a person who has recently moved to the area.
Lesson 2 - American Life Histories
- On the due date, check to see that the students have done their homework.
Using the homework, volunteers/chosen students (from
diverse ethnic groups) add their information to the chart.
- After four or five responses, ask the students if they see any similarities
or differences in the chart.
- Define oral history and explain that what the students have done
is an informal interview, the start of doing oral history. they will
be learning from an expert how to develop questions, conduct a more detailed,
structured interview, and record the sessions.
- Explain what primary sources are and that
American Life Histories, 1936-1940
are examples of primary sources. American Life Histories, 1936-1940
is a collection of oral biographies collected
by the Federal Writers' Project during the Great Depression. the WPA (Work
Projects Administration) was formed during the thirties to employ people
who didn't have jobs. A wide range of public work was accomplished
from construction to musical performances. In the area of documentation,
the WPA hired writers and professionals who did outstanding work in folklore,
oral history, photography, and local history. their works, about
300,000 items, are valuable sources of information for us today.
When students conduct their oral histories,
they will be creating their own primary sources.
[Definition: primary sources are original materials that were created by a witness to an event (written, taped, or photographed), or in the case of literary works, written by the author. Although the source is original, it may not be true.]
- Give excerpts from American Life Histories 1936-1940 to groups
of students. Because of the ethnicity of our students, we used excepts
from the oral histories listed below:
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Working in cooperative learning groups, students read the excerpt,
and record the answers to the same four questions they asked their families.
Point out that it is important to read the beginning material
of the interview, because in some cases, that is the only mention of
the interviewee's place of origin.
- Ask one person in each group to report the results of their analysis to the class (they can use the chart form as before).
Lesson 3 - Oral History
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An oral history expert will introduce the ideas and methods of oral history.
Check with local universities and historical societies for someone with
oral history experience. As part of their role, the expert will work with students
in formulating questions for the person to be interviewed and should discuss
the use of photographs and artifacts (pictures that will be scanned and
used in students' web sites). this person should return regularly to help
in various phases of the project and will be giving feedback on the students'
work.
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Model Interview
Invite a guest to school, and with the list
of questions created by the students, begin to interview the person.
Volunteer students will take over the interview, and record and photograph
the person.
Lesson 4 - Conducting the interview
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Distribute and discuss the importance of Consent Forms both for the interviewer
and the interviewee.
- Students will conduct the interviews using their questions,
and record the session.
- Students will choose the two most interesting five-minute segments,
log/catalog/index the topics discussed by each of the interviewees and
transcribe the segments.
- Students will ask for permission to photograph
the person interviewed. they will also ask to borrow or photograph important
artifacts, such as documents, connected to the immigration/migration experience.
- In addition, students will ask to borrow relevant photographs for analysis (see Photo Analysis Guide) and scan them for the web site.
Most will use audio tape, but videotape is an option.
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Students assemble the transcripts and photographs in a folder.
Lesson 5 - Immigration
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Using handouts concerning immigration, such as
Migration Background, the Demographic
and Economic Facts or the articles in the New York Times
(see Resources); discuss immigration issues such as:
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What is the immigration policy of the United States and how has it changed
over time?
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How many people are being deported? Who are they? How does that compare
to the past?
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What groups have not been allowed in the country in the past and in the
present?
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Why have Cubans, Haitians, and Dominicans been treated differently?
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What are the pros and cons of immigration?
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What should be done about illegal aliens?
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How are current immigrants different from immigrants of the past?
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How will current immigrant groups change the United States? Why have people
been afraid of possible changes in the past and in the present?
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What is the forecast for the ethnic composition of the United States?
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Should there be more than one language spoken in the United States? How
does this compare to other countries in the world?
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What is the status of Puerto Rico? Why can Puerto Ricans migrate
to the U.S. (instead of immigrating)? And what should the future of Puerto
Rico be?
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Will/Should Quebec secede from Canada?
Optional: View a film such as Benaat Chicago, One-way Ticket, Nueba Yol,
Nueba Yol, Part three, Men in the Sun, Brother From Another Planet, Smoke Signals, Two Worlds
of Angelita, or El Norte and conduct a class discussion.
(Ideally, show two from different parts of the world and compare them.)
Lesson 6 - Reflection
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Discuss creating reflection questions with the students, such as:
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What are the similarities and differences between people's lives during
the Great Depression and today?
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In the life stories you have gathered and read, how was the reality of the new land different
from the expectation of the immigrants and migrants?
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How did the people you learned about change with the demands of their experiences?
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Where did they get the strength to accomplish what they did?
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What story of yours would you like to leave behind (perhaps from the
perspective of the future)?
Students write a short paper reflecting on the project, using the
questions as guidelines.
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Optional - Create a time capsule for the year 2100.
Lesson 7 - Web Sites
Computer science teacher, classroom teacher, or other knowledgeable person teaches students how to create web sites.
Lesson 8 - Presentations
- Students present to the class some a multimedia project that showcases their interview, the oral history selections from American Life Histories, photographs, and any other artifacts that depict the two time periods. Their multimedia project can be a Web site, a PowerPoint presentation, a FLASH presentation, or another media format previously approved by the teacher. Each presentation should be three to ten minutes in length.
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The interviews and scanned photographs will be published so that each student
has hard copies of the project. (Check for Consent Forms.) One copy of
each will become part of the library's collection. If possible, bind the
paper copies.
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Extra credit - students can create a collage of sounds entitled, "Voices of the People," which includes excerpts from the recordings of all class members. The sound files should be accompanied by transcripts, which may include students' interpretive comments about the strong emotions conveyed and the experiences of the interviewees.
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Students present their projects and the "Voices of
the People" collage to families on a Home and School evening.
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