IMMIGRATION LAP 2 1 ELLIS ISLAND I.
Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content?
Students will be continuing the study of Immigration to America through a
reproduction of the inspection process. Through this lesson, students will be
introduced to Ellis Island and what this landmark meant to immigrants from
Europe.
II.
Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able
to do after the experience of this class.
Students will know and be able to:
• Identify why Ellis Island was a significant landmark during the early and
mid 1900s
• How immigrants were inspected when they came to America at Ellis
Island
• Analyze and contextualize a primary source
• Begin to develop empathy for families going through the immigration
process
• Observe and question primary source documents
III.
Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your
Curriculum Unit Plan learning goals.
After introducing immigration in the first lesson, students will be focusing on how
immigrants passed through Ellis Island in order to start a new life in America.
Students need to understand that not every family or person was granted
citizenship into the United States, many had to go through grueling and mentally
exhausting inspections to even be considered a candidate. This lesson will allow
students to take on an immigrant role during the early and mid 1900s time period;
helping to develop historical empathy for children, families, men, and women
passing through Ellis Island. With the Essential Question of “Why do people
leave their homes?”, this lesson will give students the chance to compare reasons
why people left from the read aloud and pictures in the first lesson as a hands-on
experience. The class inspection will serve as the hook to get students engaged in
the topic of Ellis Island. During this lesson students will be looking at pictures of
Ellis Island and the various inspection stations within. I want students to be able
to remember the process of immigration through Ellis Island by going through
this simulation. By giving students a chance to be active during a lesson, I am
hoping they will be able to use this as a way to think empathically in future
lessons.
IV.
Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have
reached your learning goals.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 2 ELLIS ISLAND •
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V.
Students will be given role cards that have key facts about the role they
have taken on. During the Inspection Process, I will be able to see if
students are thinking about the questions on the cards and applying it to
the activity
Students will be asked to complete an exit slip of the activity asking how
they felt during the process.
o Feelings during the Inspection on process
o Connections to how they would feel if in this situation
Students will be asked to contribute to “What is Ellis Island” chart, using
the primary sources and mini read alouds as guidance.
Personalization: Describe how you will provide for individual student
strengths and needs. How will you and your lesson consider the needs of
each student and scaffold learning?
Since students were just introduced to immigration in the first lesson, students
still may not have the prior knowledge of what goes on in America before
immigrants are granted citizenship. Because of this, students will be able to rely
on role cards and the activity as a whole to think about the EQ “Why people leave
their homes”. The activity will also give the students a chance to step away from
read alouds and pictures as sources (for a little) and see the process through the
eyes of an immigrant. Students who struggle with reading will be in groups that
will provide the guidance during the role simulation. All students should be able
to develop questions or thoughts about Ellis Island and Inspections at the island.
VI.
Activity description and agenda: Describe the activities that will help your
students understand the content of your class lesson by creating an agenda
with time frames for your class. Be prepared to explain why you think each
activity will help students on the path toward understanding.
Day One
Time
11:55-12:05
Student
Teacher
Discuss new ideas and thoughts Have students come to rug to
about why people leave their
discuss any more ideas of why
homes.
people leave their homes. Explain
they will be doing an activity
where students will be given the
opportunity to immigrant into the
United States.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 3 ELLIS ISLAND Time
12:05-12:15
Student
Head of Household will share
Teacher
Pass out family role cards
information on card with family (students have been premembers. Use information on
separated into “family groups”
cards.
read cards silently to selves.
family card to fill out inspection for the lesson). Ask students to
Have students gather in colorcoded groups and proceed to
pre-assigned seats. Explain that
this will be their family during the
activity.
12:10-12:15
Inspectors look through
Gather inspectors (pre-selected)
instructions and test.
and hand out a current
Citizenship test (modified for
time and class). Explain that
these questions are from the
actual test and they will be
checking off questions that are
asked to each immigrant.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 4 ELLIS ISLAND Time
12:15-12:35
Student
Teacher
Find a spot in line. Focus on roles Point out locations in the room
and questions as they wait to be for “immigrants” to begin (there
inspected. Pay attention to who will be a sign for each designated
is being inspected and why they spot). Line up students at the
came to America.
head of the line. Explain that
students will come through the
inspection process, if they
answer correctly they may
collect their certificate at the
Jelly Bean Table and sit at desks
(USA). If they fail, they will go
into “holding” (the rug) and wait
to be asked another question. If
they fail a second time they will
be sent back home (Front desk).
Begin Process.
During this time, families that are
waiting will be sitting at desks
observing the process and
writing down who has gone
through the process, where they
came from, and what was their
reasoning. This is to make sure
students are engaged and
listening.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 5 ELLIS ISLAND Time
12:35-12:40
Student
Teacher
Listen to speaker. Know the
Explain that this was a process
expectation of listening during
immigrants needed to complete in
learning time.
order to become citizens in the
United States. Tell students they
will be focusing on certain forms
of inspections immigrants needed
to go through as inspections
centers in the next part of the
lesson.
12:40-12:50
Respond to quick write
Ask students to return to seats
and complete exit slip (attached)
Day 2
Time
11:50-11:55
Student
Discuss feeling of the
immigration process.
Teacher
Ask students to think about the
inspection process that they
went through at the beginning of
the week.
11:55-12:00
Listen to teacher
Explain we will be taking a
“Virtual Tour” of Ellis Island.
During the tour we will be
recording the Stops, Name of
Stops, What Happened, and
Words to described how
immigrants felt at these stops.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 6 ELLIS ISLAND Time
12:00-12:45
Student
Teacher
Turn and talk. Discuss what they Show “Tour of Ellis Island”
see in each picture
slideshow (pictures attached).
Explain what is going on in each
picture (attached). Have
students turn and talk about the
pictures and words to described
how immigrants felt during each
“stop”.
12:45-12:55
Exit slip
Explain to students that they will
be writing as if they were tour
guides at Ellis Island. Have
students write about the stop on
the “tour” and how immigrants
felt during this process.
VII.
List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
4.15 Describe the diverse nature of the American people by identifying the
distinctive contributions to American culture of:
C. Major European immigrant groups who have come to America,
locating their countries of origin and where they tended to settle in large
numbers (e.g., English, Germans, Italians, Scots, Irish, Jews, Poles, and
Scandinavians).
W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
i. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a
narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that
unfolds naturally.
ii. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or
show the responses of characters to situations.
iii. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the
sequence of events.
iv. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey
experiences and events precisely.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 7 ELLIS ISLAND v. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or
events
VIII. Reflection
a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated purpose and
learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful? How do you know?
In what ways was it not successful? How might the activity be planned
differently another time?
b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your next
LAP?
Choosing a round to be on a lesson that I was apprehensive about caused me to
overthink and doubt my decision for a few weeks. I came to the conclusion that I needed
people to observe a lesson that was not routine for my class; I wanted feedback on a
lesson that required my students to do more than turn and talk within an interactive read
aloud. By using an interactive and hands-on activity, my observers would be able to work
with students around the classroom, allowing the students to share ideas and ask
questions throughout the lesson.
This lesson was developed to help students develop historical empathy by gong
through the immigration process at Ellis Island. I wanted students to understand that
getting into the United States was not easy, it required many questions, background
information, and turmoil. Students understood that many people came to the America for
a better life; they were familiar with taking on an immigrant’s perspective in previous
lessons, making this lesson comfortable for students to return to this point of view. I was
proud that my students took their family names and backgrounds seriously; going around
I noticed that students were not even looking at their cards to answer questions such as
what their name was and why they came to America. I was skeptical about small groups
because my students seem to have trouble with dividing work evenly and working
together; because of this, I made sure that each group was preselected to avoid greater
conflict. Proving my previous concern wrong, students were seen working intently with
others, encouraging others to look more closely at the cards and make sure they knew the
information for when they were questioned at the Inspection Station.
During the lesson wrap-up students were asked to think about how they felt
during the process, what was going through their thoughts as they waited to be called?
While majority of students were allowed into the United States on their first try, some had
to be detained before they were allowed in. When these students’ hands shot right up to
talk about their experience, I did not hesitate to hear what they had to say. Once student
explained how she was sad and nervous that her family members were in America while
she had to way in the holding room for another chance to be inspected. Many students
responded with being nervous, anxious, and then relieved when they passed the
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 8 ELLIS ISLAND inspection. By this discussion I was able to determine that the students developed
historical empathy, they were beginning to understand the hardships immigrants had to
go through in order to enter the United States.
While developing lessons, I needed to make sure I was prepared for anything that
could happen during a lesson. I needed to make sure students stayed on task and were
fully engaged throughout process because this lesson involved multiple transitions with
students working in groups, resulting in loud conversations and excitement. To ensure I
was holding my students accountable when they were not up at the “Inspection Station”,
I had students fill out an observation table that included the name, place of origin, age,
and why they left home for each immigrant passing through the process. Although I
wanted students to pay attention, the table had too many things for the students to fill in,
causing chaos and confusion students were trying to listen intently and write down the
soft-spoken and quickly stated facts. Because of this, students seemed to become
frustrated that they could not hear, causing them to call out and yell over each other’s
voices. Looking back at this part of my lesson, I would drastically change how students
are held accountable. It was suggested that I still use a table to track the families going
through Ellis Island by narrowing the questions down to family name, country, and why
they left; this way students can listen to the process but are not overwhelmed with too
many questions. Along with the table suggestion, a map of European countries was
recommended; students would have to color in the country of each family, along with
writing down the family name and why they left. As teachers, we want our students to be
actively engaged and participating throughout the day but we know that it is not always
that easy; students will be fooling around, get off task, and ask spontaneous and off topic
questions and as teachers we need to be prepared for this.
In order to make the lesson authentic and realistic, I used real last names found
on Ellis Island manifests, created family backgrounds relative to the time period, and had
actual inspection cards printed out for each “immigrant”. I was too distracted and
excited to create family backgrounds and ship names, that I forgot that many students
would not be able to pronounce the family names, cities, or ships. Students were
constantly asking how to read or pronounce a certain word. Along with pronunciation
difficulties, students were confused about the inspection card, causing many hands to be
raised and a chorus of “Ms. Coakley! Ms. Coakley!” around the room. Thinking back, I
would use the ELMO to display the inspection card, going through what the sayings were
on the card such as “Port of Departure”.
Overall, I believe that this lesson served as an appropriate round; observers were
able to provide positive feedback that is needed for an interactive activity. This lesson
was a learning experience, being the first hands-on lesson I have done with my students
that required various transitions and group work.
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IMMIGRATION LAP 2 9 ELLIS ISLAND When I first started to think about this lesson, I wanted to read short excerpts
from nonfiction picture books about Ellis Island along with a few transparencies. As I
further researched Ellis Island, it became clear that my students would better benefit
from a visual lesson rather than reading facts from a book. I decided that a “Virtual
Tour” of Ellis Island would be a perfect way to get students engaged in the lesson. Even
though I wanted students to remember what happened in each picture I showed, I wanted
them to be able to make an empathetic connection with each. Because of this, I created a
table that organized the facts and thoughts of the tour. A major goal of the unit is to have
students create historical empathy towards immigrants; looking at both parts of this
lesson, students were able to physically experience the immigration process and through
the virtual tour, were able to connect how they felt during the process with the
background of each process of immigrating through Ellis Island. I explained to the
students that they briefly experienced Ellis Island immigration process during the first
part of this lesson, the second day showed students how intense and tiring the process
was; one student even raised his hand and asked “how long is this process anyway? This
seems like it would take FOREVER!!!!”. I wanted students to connect to the pictures, to
see how immigrants felt through this process, which they seemed to understand. Students
were asked to describe how they would feel during this process to put on the table; they
answered with words such as tired, exhausted, angry, nervous, and anxious.
The table was used at the end of the lesson for students to use as a reference when
writing the Tour Guide exit slips. Some students were able to use creativity and write as
if there was a real audience, while others just wrote information and how immigrants felt.
I wanted to see if students were able to connect what happens at each “spot” and how
immigrants felt during the entire process; although not all were creative, students were
able to make this connection.
Students were excited to learn about where each “stop” was on the tour, asking
questions upon questions during the lesson. Although I am an advocate for asking
questions, students were so eager to throw their hands up that the lesson took twice as
long as it should have. If I were to do this lesson again, I would explain to students that
there might be a many questions they have about Ellis Island but we will be doing a
reflection discussion at the end of the lesson so make sure to keep all the questions to the
end. I will have to start using this method of organizing questions and thoughts for future
lessons.
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