Ivey Center for the Cultural Approach to History
Lesson Plan Template
Lesson Name
Irish Immigration
Author(s)
Mark Sciuchetti
Grades
8-12
Subject
U.S. History/World History
Topic
Irish History/Immigration
Overview/Summary:
Analyze and evaluate Irish immigration to the United States in the early 19th century, in regards
to six primary sources from the time period.
Unit Name
Irish Immigration
Estimated Time Needed for Lesson
30 minutes
State/Common Core Standard, Grade Level & Description
Standard Number
Detailed description of each standard.
th
Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g.,
Common Core Standards 5
chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and
Grade
problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or
Literacy.RI.5.5
information in two or more tests.
GPS 9th - 10th Grade
SSUSH12
The student will analyze important consequences of
American industrial growth.
a. Describe Ellis Island, the change in immigrants’ origins
to southern and eastern Europe and the impact of
this change on urban America.
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b. Identify the American Federation of Labor and Samuel
Gompers.
c. Describe the growth of the western population and its
impact on Native Americans with reference to
Sitting Bull and Wounded Knee.
d. Describe the 1894 Pullman strike as an example of
industrial unrest.
GPS 11th – 12th Grade
SSWH15
The student will be able to describe the impact of
industrialization, the rise of nationalism, and the
major characteristics of worldwide imperialism.
a. Analyze the process and impact of industrialization in
England, Germany, and Japan, movements for
political reform, the writings of Adam Smith and
Karl Marx, and urbanization and its affect on
women.
b. Compare and contrast the rise of the nation state in
Germany under Otto von Bismarck and Japan
under Emperor Meiji.
c. Describe the reaction to foreign domination; include the
Russo-Japanese War and Young
Turks, and the Boxer Rebellion.
d. Describe imperialism in Africa and Asia by comparing
British policies in Africa, French policies in
Indochina, and Japanese policies in Asia; include
the influence of geography and natural resources.
Common Core Standards
9th – 10th Grade
CCSS.ELALITERACY.RH.9-10
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources, attending to such
features as the date and origin of the information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a
primary or secondary source; provide an accurate
summary of how key events or ideas develop over
the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3
2
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a
text; determine whether earlier events caused later
ones or simply preceded them.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as
they are used in a text, including vocabulary
describing political, social, or economic aspects of
history/social science.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.5
Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key
points or advance an explanation or analysis.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.6
Compare the point of view of two or more authors
for how they treat the same or similar topics,
including which details they include and emphasize
in their respective accounts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.7
Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g.,
charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in
print or digital text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.8
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and
evidence in a text support the author's claims.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic
in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.10
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend
history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text
complexity band independently and proficiently.
World History Era 7
Standard 5B
The student understands the causes and consequences of
European settler colonization in the 19th century.
National Standards in
History
th
5 – 12th Grade
Standard 5B
Explain why migrants left Europe in large numbers in the
19th century and identify temperate regions of the world
where they established or expanded frontiers of European
settlement.
United States Era 6
Massive immigration after 1870 and how new social patterns,
conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing
cultural diversity.
Standard 2A
The student understands the sources and experiences of the
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new immigrants.
National Standards in
History
7th – 12th Grade
Standard 2A
Distinguish between the "old" and "new" immigration in
terms of its volume and the immigrants' ethnicity,
religion, language, place of origin, and motives for
emigrating from their homelands.
Trace patterns of immigrant settlement in different regions
of the country and how new immigrants helped
produce a composite American culture that
transcended group boundaries.
Assess the challenges, opportunities, and contributions of
different immigrant groups.
Evaluate how Catholic and Jewish immigrants responded
to religious discrimination.
Evaluate the role of public and parochial schools in
integrating immigrants into the American
mainstream.
NCSS Theme
Description
Theme
Detailed description of each NCSS theme
Number
People, Places, and Environments. Using the documents provided, analyze the
III
interactions between the Irish and their environment in regards to their
homeland, the ships that would bring them to the United States and their
interactions with the Specific land to which they immigrated.
Global Interactions. Analyze the influence of global interdependence with the
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information provided in the primary source documents.
The Cultural Approach Category
Category
Social
Economic
Religious
Description
Detailed description of each Category that is a
focus of this lesson.
Analyze the interaction of the Irish immigrants
with the new culture of the place to which they
immigrated
Analyze the effects of the economic hardships
faced by the Irish immigrants.
Analyze the impact that religion had in the
lives of the Irish immigrants.
Handouts/Materials/Textbook Pages/Web Links
List all of the materials in the lesson. List pages in textbooks and online links.
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All Grade Levels:
 http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Letters/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA

http://www.haverford.edu/engl/faculty/Sherman/Irish/19thc..htm

http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Letters/PhotoCredits.aspx?culture=en-CA

Journal of the American Irish Historical Society. 12 (1913), 201–204.

www.hsp.org

http://www.dippam.ac.uk/ied?s

www.loc.gov
Guiding Questions
What should students know or understand at the completion of the unit or lesson?
All Grade Levels:

Students should understand the factors that caused the Irish to immigrate to the U.S.

Students should understand the hardships faced by the Irish population in the early 19th
century.

Students should have a broad understanding of the effects that Irish culture had on
American society.
 The students should gain a good understanding of the lesson objectives and the factors of
the Irish immigration movement in the United States.
Indicators of Achievement
List all of the important indicators of achievement (important people, places, and events) and
vocabulary that students will need to know at the conclusion of the lesson.

Understanding of the Irish potato famine and its impact on emigration out of Ireland

Understanding of the initial America response to the Irish
Teaching Strategies
5 min
Introduction
of SAC,
including
warm-up
5 min
Organization
of Teams and
Groups
30 min
10-15 min
Primary
Sources and
Secondary
source
Analysis –
Position
Development
30 min
Consensus Building
10 min
Conclusion/Summary
Position
Sharing
Describe all of the teaching strategies that you will be using in
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this lesson. In the squares calculate the percentage of the lesson
that the strategy will take. For example in an hour lesson, lecture
should take no more than 25% (15 min) of the lesson.
Lesson Procedures
In a numerical list provide a step by step outline of the lesson. Include questions you will ask the
students and material you will use.
Outline (Steps also clarified in Guide Sheet)
Activity 1:
1. Explain to the students that they will be learning about the factors that contributed to the Irish
people leaving Ireland for the United States beginning in the 1840s.
2. Give each student copies of the variety of primary sources or display portions on the board.
3. After the students have completely read the sources, have them list the reasons that forced the
Irish to begin to immigrate to the United States. Try to see if the students can connect
these reasons for immigration with the reasons others immigrated to the United States,
both past and present. Categorize their reasons for leaving as either in the religious,
political, economic, or social categories.
4. Utilize the Cultural Approach Patterns and Interactions worksheet and the Library of Congress
Primary Sources Analysis Tool to sort and categorize the student’s information relating to
each primary sources. Have the students analyze each sources using these handouts in
order to help better organize their information.
5. Have each student write a paragraph explaining the issues that forced the Irish to immigrate to
the United States. Another option would be to have the student’s form groups based on
their reasons for leaving and argue their positions, those for and those against leaving
Ireland. Also, have the students discuss the other options that the Irish might have had
besides immigration to the United States.
6. Finally, conclude with a discussion on the Potato Famine in Ireland during the 1840s. Include
specifics on what caused it and the results of the Famine. How students can
understanding immigrations within the six categories, can some of the reasons relate to
why people immigrate today?
Image
Description Citation
Irish waiting
to leave
Queenstown
for New York.
“Emigrants leaving
Queenstown [Ireland] for New
York.” Wood Engraving,
1847. Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs
Division, Washington, D.C.
URL
http://www.loc.gov/pictur
es/item/2004678776/
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Family
reading a
letter
written
home to
Ireland.
“The Emigrant’s First
Letter Home.” The
Illustrated London News.
Project file photography,
p110-205. Provincial
Archives of New
Brunswick.
Image of
Catholics
trying to
enter the
United
States.
Currier, Nathaniel. “The http://www.loc.gov/pi
Propagation Society.
ctures/item/20036565
More free than
89/
welcome,” 1855. Library
of Congress Prints and
Photographs Division,
Washington, D.C.
http://archives.gnb.ca
/Irish/Databases/Lette
rs/PhotoCredits.aspx?
culture=en-CA
See Handout for additional
written Primary Sources.
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