Teacher Lesson Plan - Down the Rabbit Hole

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Down The Rabbit Hole

Overview

Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. ~ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

When Alice fell down the rabbit hole, she found herself in a world where the rules had changed, her surroundings were unfamiliar, and the inhabitants spoke in strange tongues. Alice's journey is not unlike the experience of an immigrant who relocates to a new country. Using passages from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, along with various history texts, class discussions of students' experiences, and primary source documents and images from the American Memory collections, students uncover the common themes of the immigrant experience.

Objectives	Students will be able to: understand common themes of the immigrant experience, such as pushes and pulls, encountering differences, and assimilation; identify the common themes of the immigrant experience in a primary source oral history or narrative; draw conclusions about the themes of the immigrant experience by analyzing primary source photographs; and reinforce and extend understanding of the immigrant experience by creating a primary source photographic exhibit.
Time Required	Two weeks.
Recommended Grade Level	Grades 6-8.
Curriculum Fit	American History, Language Arts, and English as a Second Language.
Standards	McREL 4th Edition Standards & Benchmarks Civics Standard 24. Understands the meaning of citizenships in the United States, and knows the requirements for citizenships and naturalization Historical Understanding Standard 2. Understands the historical perspective Language Arts Standard 4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes Standard 6. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts Standard 7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts Standard 9. Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media US History Standard 17. Understands massive immigration after 1870 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity
Resources Used	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from Carnegie Mellon University's Web site American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920

Overview | Teacher's Guide

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Last updated 03/10/2003