The Journey to America

A Web Quest for 8th Grade U.S. History

Designed by: Rebecca Eisenberg

Ellis Island 1905 (http://www.wrhine.com./gen/misc/sutter-immigration.html)

Introduction

The United States of America is predominantly made up of immigrants from all over the world. There are families from England who crossed the waters in the 1600s, there are families from Turkey that came in the late 1800s, and families are currently crossing America's southern borders from Mexico in significant numbers. All of these families left their native lands for some reason, experienced an intense crossing period, and likely had difficulties acclimating to their new environment.

Now, imagine that you are a member of one of these families (mother, father, or child) and you are keeping a scrapbook of your adventure. The scrapbook is filled with pictures and journal entries of the trials and tribulations associated with being an immigrant to the U.S. This scrapbook is an opportunity for you to fill the shoes of an immigrant family and report on your findings.

Task

Lately, we have been reading about immigration and experiences that families have gone through. Now it is your turn to step into the shoes of an immigrant and experience what it was like. Each individual is to pick a region or country where an immigrant family has come from (Mexico, Europe, Russia, etc.), along with a year the family left. Then put together a scrapbook of a fictitious immigrant family's journey to America based on research done in class. The scrapbook will consist of eight total journal entries, including 2-3 on why the family left the native land, 2-3 on the journey and arrival to the United States, and 2-3 tracking their new life. In addition, please include at least three pictures that aid in the telling of the story of your fictitious family member. The scrapbook will be prepared in Power Point. Please include information on the following points:

    1. What caused the family to leave their country (poverty, famine, etc.).
    2. What their journey was, including mode of transportation, troubles they may have
encountered, and how long it took.
    3. Where they moved to in the U.S. and what their home life was like (lived in tenement
or house, wealthy or poor, etc.).
    4. What jobs they would likely have held in the U.S. If kids worked too, then include this
information.
    5. Any other information that may make it clear what immigration to the U.S. was like for
the family.

Process

STEP ONE:

Pick a country and a year you would like to research. The best way to do this is to first flip through our textbook and reread the selections on immigration to see if anything sparks your interest. Then, visit the web page, http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Immigration/ for further information that may spark your interest. Once you have picked your area and time frame, please run it by me for approval.

*Hint* After conducting my own web search, I found an abundance of material on
European immigration from 1840s- 1910s; however, it was a bit more difficult
to find recent information on immigration. But, if you would like to research recent
immigration, please feel free- just know that there is a bit of a challenge in doing
that.

STEP TWO:

I would like you to use Internet resources, including web sites and electronic journals, but please feel free to use non Internet resources in addition to the Internet. When researching, please focus on the questions mentioned in "Task."

To help in the search, I have listed a few web sites that will aid in your search. I used the search engines Google (http://www.google.com) and AltaVista (http://www. altavista.com) to find them. Please note you are not limited to these sources; these are just preliminary sites to work with. Part of the activity is for you to find the resources!

1. Immigration History Research Center (http://www1.umn.edu/ihrc/)- This
provides a wealth of information in photographic form on European immigration.
2. Ellis Island and the History of Immigration to the United States
   (http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/students/meszaros/immigrat.htm)- Another
great source for pictures. Lists brief reasons for why people left their native
countries.
3. Ellis Island (http://www.ellisislandrecords.org)- Can track specific family
members through Ellis Island by last name.
4. History Immigration
(http://home.earthlink.net/~genealogyplanet/history_immigration.html)- This
web site has a wealth of information, including pictures, personal accounts,
copies of marriage licenses and death certificates, and all sorts of helpful links.
5. Changing Character of Immigration
(http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/Immigration/Characters of Immigration)
This web site is a primary document from the 1900s discussing the waves of
immigrants coming into the United States, how they were being received, and
what the immigrants had to deal with upon arrival (living in ghettos, etc.)
6. Use EBSCO (refer to link on computers in the lab) and JSTOR
(http://www.jstor.org/) for additional information.

Remember:
   ~ As you gather information, it may be helpful to either print out information that
you will use and highlight, or take careful notes on note cards, using the method
of note taking we used.
~ Keep track of resources you used, as you will have a slide in presentation that
will be a bibliography.
~ In addition to the web sites I provided above, you need to use a minimum of six
resources.

What type of sources should be used? This is totally up to you. The best, by far, will be a mix of primary documents (personal accounts, looking at records, etc.) and retrospective accounts (historians explaining what happened and why). You will not be graded on the types of sources used, just on the final product. But, a mix of documents will surely help in writing the journal entries.

Time will be provided in class to research on the Internet, but additional time, such as during independent study time, may be needed.

STEP THREE:

After gathering information, decide which role you would like to play (mother, father, child, aunt, etc.). Use the information gathered on your Internet searches, as well as e-journals, to create eight fictional journal entries which address what was mentioned in "Task." On a set date, you will turn in a rough draft done in word processing that will be reviewed by the teacher to make sure all of the components mentioned in "Task" are represented in the journals.

Upon turning in the rough draft, I will check for the following aspects:
~ There are at least eight journal entries.
~ Each journal entry needs to be at least two paragraphs long.
~ You have clearly taken on a character's role.
~ You have successfully answered all of the questions mentioned in task.

STEP FOUR:

Once you have gotten the corrected rough draft, make any necessary changes (this may include gathering more information off the Internet) and begin creating a Power Point Presentation. At this point, you will add graphics that were found during the research process. Please add a caption for your pictures.

The total presentation should include at least ten slides- a title page, eight journal entries, and a bibliography page. More information on the slides:
~ The title page needs to include your name, the name of your presentation, and a
brief description of who your character is ("A Scrapbook of Josie, a 13 year old
girl from Greece). Please include the year of the immigration in the title or
description.
~ If possible, incorporate the pictures on your journal pages, rather than having
them be on separate pages.
~ Your bibliography page should include the names of the web sites or journal
entries that were used in the presentation, including those for graphics. Refer to
   the MLA citation web site for examples of how to cite sources
(http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla/htm). Please make sure
bibliography is done alphabetically by author (or if no author, by title).

STEP FIVE:

The final draft will be handed in on disk or, if necessary, in printed slides. You will also be presenting your presentations to your classmates. The presentation itself will not be graded, but if you do not show up on presentation day or come unprepared, your grade will be marked down!

Evaluation

The following is a rubric for grading the Power Point Presentation. Notice how everything from rough drafts to the overall final product will be graded. The rubric is set up so that if every requirement is met, an "exemplary" score of four will be earned. However, if you care to go above and beyond the requirements, that is fine, but extra points will not be received.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Sources/ Bibliography	Less than six sources are used and citations are done incorrectly or not at all.	Six sources are used but bibliography is done incorrectly.	Six sources are used and cited correctly with minimal mistakes.	Six or more sources are used and cited correctly.
Power Point Presentation- Overall	Slides are incomplete, out of order, or missing.	All slides are present, but are out of order and not presented neatly.	All slides are present and in order.	All slides present and in order and support the story of immigration.
Power Point Presentation- Writing Content	Many grammatical mistakes and spelling errors. Lack of fluidity in descriptive writing.	Few grammatical mistakes and spelling errors. Description is relatively clear in most slides.	Little to no grammatical mistakes and spelling errors. Description is clear in all slides.	No grammatical mistakes or spelling errors. Descriptions are clear in each slide.
Power Point Presentation- Graphics	Less than three graphics and placed randomly throughout text.	Three graphics placed within the slides with text.	Three graphics placed within the slides with text and have captions.	Three graphics placed within text, have captions, and are relevant to the text.
Meeting "Task" Objectives	Did not meet any of the objectives, nor did their slides meet the three areas of research.	Met half of the objectives and two of three areas of research.	Met all but one objective and the three areas of research.	Met all the objectives and the three areas of research.
Presentation	Did not show up or come unprepared.	N/A.	N/A.	Showed up ready to present.
Idea Selection and Rough Draft	Did not get approval from teacher for the region and time, nor was rough draft turned in.	Got approval for idea, but was late. Rough draft turned in late or incomplete.	Got approval for idea, turned in rough draft on time but it was missing only a few slides.	Got approval for idea, turned in rough draft on time and in complete form.

Conclusion

Hopefully, in doing this activity, you have experience what it is like to be an immigrant by reading actual accounts and viewing pictures. I also hope that this activity honed certain technology skills and broke down fears that may have existed previously concerning research, the Internet, electronic journals, and Power Point.

Immigration is not over, despite the slowing of the numbers of immigrants into the country.
If you are interested in looking at more current immigration issues, refer to the web sites listed below (there are, of course, more than just what is listed below!):

~ U.S. Committee for Refugees (http://www.refugees.org)- A run down on current
immigration crises all over the world.
~ The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art
(http://www.jewishmuseum.net/American.htm)- Features art and brief overview
of historical and current immigration patterns of Jewish people all over the world.
~ Immigration and Naturalization Service
(http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/histmnth.htm)- An INS
web site that offers both historical and current immigration issues, as well as a
wealth of other information.

If you are interested in learning more about past immigration, go to your librarian and ask him or her for books on the topic. There will surely be a wealth of information and great books to read. Some of my favorites include....

~ Immigration Kids by Russel Freedman
~ Chantrea Conway's Story: A Voyage from Cambodia in 1975 by Claire Pastore
~ Fiona McGilray's Story: A Voyage from Ireland in 1849 by Claire Pastore
~ Fitting In by Anilo Bernardo

Credits & References

This web page has incorporated a variety of resources. All have been accredited for in the text and a link has been provided. If further questions arise, or there is a concern about the resource, please feel free to email me.

I would like to thank Mike Charles for being patient enough to show me how to design a WebQuest. It was truly a great experience in the field of technology.

If you are interested in designing your own WebQuest, visit this web page: http://webquest.sdsu.edu. Even if you are not interested in designing your own, there are lots of great WebQuests to choose from.

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

Last updated on October 14, 2002. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page