|
Our Changing Voices
Overview
Through dialogue, documentation, research, and interviews,
students understand their role in society, bringing together all people
to create a new sense of community. This unit provides a background to
students' family histories, and gives them an opportunity to listen to
the voices of immigrants of the past.
The students identify the issues involved with the migration
of a community or family into the state of Nebraska. By examining the
traditional picture of immigration, students then turn the microscope
onto their own families to have a better idea of their own history and
their own voices.
| Objectives |
Students will be able to:
- use American Memory collections to search and evaluate primary documents;
- discuss their own family history and put it into context of
immigrant stories;
- investigate the changing demographics of their own communities;
and
- analyze concerns and answers to questions related to migrations' shifts.
|
| Time Required |
All three lessons are connected, but may be used
independently. Each lesson takes from two to five days. |
| Recommended Grade Level |
Designed for 12th grade Citizenship Issues/Government
class, but can be adapted for grades 9-11. |
| Curriculum Fit |
Government, sociology, human behavior, language arts. |
| Standards |
McREL 4th Edition Standards & Benchmarks
Geography
Standard 9. Understands the nature, distribution and migration of human populations on Earth's surface
Standard 12. Understands the patterns of human settlement and their causes
Historical Understanding
Standard 2. Understands the historical perspective
Language Arts
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 |
| Final Project |
Students create a family album which reflects how
they see themselves in their community. |
| Resources |
American Memory
Personal Narratives
- Atkin, S. Beth. Voices from the Field: Children
of Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories. Boston: Joy Street
Books, 1993.
- Bode, Janet. New Kids on the Block: Oral
Histories of Immigrant Teens. New York: Franklin Watts, 1989.
- Davis, Marilyn. Mexican Voices/American
Dreams: An Oral History of Mexican Immigration to the United States.
New York: Henry Holt, 1990.
- Greenberg, Judith. Newcomers to America:
Stories of Today’s Young Immigrants. New York: Franklin Watts,
1996.
- I Was Dreaming to Come to America; Memories
from the Ellis Island Oral History Project. New York: Viking,
1995.
- Monk, Linda R., ed. Ordinary Americans:
U.S. History Through the Eyes of Everyday People. Alexandria,
VA: Close Up Publishing, 1994.
- Namias, June. First Generation: In the Words
of 20th Century American Immigrants. Boston: Beacon Press,
1978.
- Poynter, Margaret. The Uncertain Journey:
Stories of Illegal Aliens in El Norte. New York: Atheneum,
1992.
- Santoli, Al. New Americans: An Oral History.
New York: Viking, 1988.
- Steltzer, Ulli. The New Americans: Immigrant
Life in Southern California. Pasadena, CA: NewSage Press,
1988.
Internet
|
|
