Manchester College
Department of Education
Lesson: Coming to America
Lesson by: Carl Hartstein
Length: 2 periods
Grade: 11th
Standards:
USH.3.6: Identify the contributions to American culture made by individuals and groups.
Performance objectives:
Students will create an immigrant focusing on individuals and their contributions to the
American culture mastery will be shown by identifying the contributions of immigrants to
America culture with 80%.
Assessment:
Students are going to create their own immigrant that is coming from a specified country.
The students are going to work in their groups to come up with one immigrant. While in the
groups they will give their person a name, a family background, professional skills, a personal
background, and ambitions. The groups can spice up their person’s life, as long as it is school
appropriate. Once the groups have finished working on their person, we will all meet at the front
of the class to present our immigrants to the class. After each group presents their immigrant, I
will recap their immigrant and we will decide to let the immigrant into our country by raising our
hands.
Advanced Preparation:
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5.
Print off any extra materials that I need.
Check technology to see if it is working.
Have PowerPoint ready for the lesson.
Have note cards distributed on the desks before the students get to class.
Be flexible
Procedure:
Hook: Students while sitting at their tables are given a note card specifying what country
they are from and what language they speak. At this point the people at the table are supposed to
communicate using their specified language to buy, sell, or trade goods with one another. Stop
the process and ask questions:
1. Was it hard to communicate with one another? (Bloom: Analysis)
2. Did you find the process of buying, selling, or trading goods to be frustrating?
Why or why not? (Bloom: Evaluation)
3. How could you make buying, selling or trading goods easier for yourself?
(Bloom: Evaluation)
Students will then decide whether or not they or going to migrate to a new area. If they
migrate the students will most likely move to an area of the room where the same language is
used. This is a crude representation of how urbanization and pockets of communities began.
(Gardner: Naturalist, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Interpersonal)
1. What was easier about this time through the simulation? (Bloom: Application,
Analysis)
2. Did you find the process of buying, selling, or trading to be less stressful? Why
or why not? (Bloom: Evaluation)
3. Is there still any other way to make this process easier? (Bloom: Analysis)
Step-by-step:
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Once the hook has been presented and the students have returned to their
original seats, tell them that we are going to do a roll up today!
Today we are going to discuss Immigration and Urbanization.
o The period of greatest growth in terms of immigrants coming to
America was between the 1880s-1910s.
o Before this period people could come to America unchecked and
unrestricted.
 Today people must jump through hoops to even be
considered to become an immigrant.
o Lecture notes:
 Numbers of Immigrants:
 The continent that sent the most immigrants over to
the United States between 1870 and 1920 was
Europe with 20 million people crossing the Atlantic
Ocean.
 On the West Coast at Angel Island between 1851
and 1883 roughly 300,000 Chinese immigrants
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came to the United States mainly because of the
discovery of gold.
The Islands:
 Angel Island: The Island that is commonly
forgotten about, it is located on the West Coast and
is in San Francisco, California’s bay. This is the
island that saw many Asian immigrants step on to
American soil for the first time.
 Ellis Island: The more popular island of the two is
the location of the statue of liberty. This island is in
New York City harbor.
o 20% of the immigrants that passed through
Ellis Island were detained for a day or more
before being expected. And, 2% of those
people were denied entry.
The Melting Pot:
 The idea of the melting pot is defined as, a mixture
of people of different cultures and races who
blended together by abandoning their native
languages and customs.
o As immigrant numbers continued to rise, the
idea of nativism grew.
 Nativism: over favoritism toward
native-born Americans.
Exclusion:
 Nativism was strong in the west, when native born
Americans were concerned that Asians immigrants
were going to come in and take their jobs.
 For 10 years the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed,
this banned entry to all Chinese except students,
teachers, merchants, tourists, and government
officials. This law was extended twice by congress
and upheld until 1943 when it was repealed.
 The Gentleman’s agreement was an agreement
between the United States and Japan, this agreement
made in 1907-1908 stated that Japan would limit
immigration of unskilled workers to the U.S. in
exchange the U.S. repealed the San Francisco
segregation order.
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Once the power point is done, tell the students to return to their seats and
begin the post test. Allow them sufficient time; require that once they are
finished to close their lap tops. (Bloom: Knowledge, Comprehension)
Once all students are finished begin to explain the final assessment, and
explain to them the expectations.
o This must be school appropriate.
o Students will form groups and will create a person from the
country that I have assigned to them.
o This person they are creating is going to apply to become an
immigrant to the United States.
 This immigrant is coming to the United States between
1880 and 1920. The groups can then go on to make up that
person’s life. They will also have to come up with reasons
for:
 Why should the United States allow them into the
country?
 What skills does the person have that would benefit
the country?
 What is their personal background like?
 Each group is going to present today in class, so we must
hurry and come up with good information quickly.
 You will be graded upon:
 Give the person a name.
 Appropriateness
 If you followed the guidelines: stayed between the
years of 1880-1920, gave their person a skill,
personal and family background, and ambitions.
o Students must finish their person twenty minutes into the second
period, so that all the groups can present their person.
o The students will present their immigrant to the class and after
each group I will recap their immigrant and then the class will
vote.
Closure:

Today we learned a great deal about immigration and how it impacted
urbanization, and what immigrants had to go through to just gain entry into the
country. Tomorrow you will be working on your presentations.
Enrichments:
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This lesson is adapted for students who are ADD/ADHD because the day flows
well. We are always moving from one activity to the next so that we can
accomplish all of our goals. I think that because we do not spend more than
twenty minutes doing one thing, students with ADD/ADHD will be more likely to
stay engaged and enjoy the activity.
I also believe that the Activity is adapted well for students with ADD/ADHD
because it is an activity that requires good information, so all the group members
must be involved. Having a fast paced activity in a way fits their desire to be on
the move, they want to keep moving to the next point or just be active period. So
having them do quick work and then stand and present as a group their immigrant
to the class I believe satisfies their needs.
This lesson is adapted for students who emotionally disabled because it is a very
social activity. Having this social interaction with other students will benefit
these students because it helps them develop necessary skills to succeed in and
outside the classroom. They learn informal social skills while interacting in their
group, trying to come up their immigrant and forming how they are going to
present. The presentation develops formal social skills, so if these students make
it to college or have a job that may require them to give a presentation or some
sort they will have an idea of what to expect.
This lesson is adapted for students who are gifted and talented because I do not
set up who needs to play what role in the activity. This gives the gifted and
talented students the opportunity to take the leadership role and lead the group
through their activity. I also think that because they can take the leadership role
they will benefit from being socially interactive with their group mates.
Self-reflection:
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Was my lesson engaging?
Was it informative?
How did I influence learning?
Was the final assessment appropriate?
What could I have improved on?
What went well?
Would this be a lesson I would use again?
The lesson today went really well. I feel like the students were engaged and had a good time
doing the final activity. I however felt really cramped for time because due to time restrictions
from the days before, we did not get my pre-test done. So today we did my pre-test, lesson, post-
test, and activity. While I was strapped for time I feel like the students still enjoyed what we did.
My teacher and the English teacher gave me feedback that the students really enjoyed what we
did. I was so relieved to hear that the students enjoyed what we did. I was also relieved to see
how the students did on the post-test as well
Class periods 1-2
Groups:
1. Japan, 25
2. India, 18
3. Korea, 57
4. England, 34
5. Poland, 56
6. Russia, 19
7. Ireland, 22
8. Italy, 29
9. Germany, 45
10. Vietnam, 24
11. Scandinavia, 37
Class periods 4-5
Groups:
1. China, 37
2. Cambodia, 56
3. Ottoman Empire, 28
4. Austrian Empire, 18
5. France, 20
6. Ireland, 26
7. Germany, 30
8. Russia, 44
9. Korea, 50
10. Japan, 31
Class periods 6-7
Groups:
1. China, 43
2. Vietnam, 18
3. Cambodia, 29
4. India, 46
5. England, 37
6. France, 27
7. Poland, 20
8. Italy, 19
9. Ottoman Empire, 58
10. Scandinavia, 32
Carl Hartstein
12-9-10
Educ352
Interview
Interview
Learning about the classroom I will be taking over next semester was very important to
me. I was interested in learning about the students and about who they are. I was also interested
in getting to know him as a person and as a teacher. I also took the liberty in asking the English
teacher the same questions. I look at the both of these men as my cooperating teacher, and I
need to take advantage of learning from both of them. They are both experienced and love what
they do.
I started off the interview discussing the move to the New Tech. schooling. Both of my
teachers were in complete favor of moving to this new idea in teaching, but both saw how much
of a change it would take to move the entire school to New Tech.. They also pointed out that
student motivation in school has increased at Rochester because students are now more engaged
and involved in the material. I moved from the discussion of New Tech. to how they view
reading in their own content areas. My history teacher said that in this classroom they still value
the importance of reading, because he believes that if students do not know the vocabulary or
how to pull out vital information they cannot be successful in his class or in any other class. My
English teacher agreed with the history teacher and went on to explain that know what to pull out
of a text or lesson will benefit the students not only here in school, but at the job, and every other
aspect of life. They both believe that the students in this class are motivated and driven to be
successful, they said that their desire to be successful is because they know how to read the
content and pull out what is important and vital. I agreed with them both, because I also believe
that to be successful in any class in America we must be able to read any source and pull out
what is important and discard what is not. I then moved forward to modifying and enriching
lessons for students who are exceptional learners. Both teachers explained that the modifications
for the projects are already built into the final project. The exceptional learners that are in their
classes are not the low incidences; they tend to be the more common disabilities that we see in
our society. We have a lot of ADD/ADHD students who are adapted for just because it is a
project that the students are responsible for accomplishing. This helps keep the ADD/ADHD
students on task and engaged throughout the project. From each unit to the next the projects are
differentiated, there have not been repeat projects yet this year and the students enjoy each
performing each project because it is not the same thing each day.
Through this assignment I got to know the real teachers that I am working with and their
views on different issues like New Tech., reading in the content, and making adaptations for
exceptional learners. While I had other questions that were not part of the requirements for this
assignment I feel like I know who I am working with and what to expect when I take over in the
spring. I feel like I am prepared for next semester and I feel like I know better who I am working
with as a team to help push and drive further instruction with. Because, we all agreed that
student success is our number one goal.
Carl Hartstein
12-9-10
Educ352
Journals
October-7: (7 hours)
Today was my first day at the high school, and I was incredibly nervous. I did a lot of
walking around getting to know the students and seeing what they are working on. We really
stress reading in the content. Students have to know the vocabulary and how to pull out vital
information from the text so they can be successful.
October-14: (7 hours)
Today I was so much more comfortable with being in the classroom. I feel like the
students here look forward to seeing me on Thursdays, which I am really grateful for. We are
working on finishing our power points for the Civil War. Students are identifying the vocabulary
words of their sections and giving the important details. This is a connection with focusing on
reading in the content because they are identifying vocabulary words and key information. The
students will then present their section to the class for the test.
November-4: (7 hours)
Today in class we focused on creating note cards. The note cards are key words that are
going to be used for their final activity. There are 24 different key words and each group must
split them amongst themselves. Each student is using research to identify and define what the
significance of the person or term is. I think this is a great way to teach the industrial revolution
in America because we do not have to teach by the book. We allow the students to research and
learn the key elements of this time period on their own.
November-11: (7 hours)
Today we focused on completing the note cards. We also quizzed them over the note
cards they did. The quiz was a selection of one note card, and they were supposed to repeat the
information they have written down on that vocabulary word. I think this really connects the
students to knowing the content and being able to read into what is important about the
vocabulary.
November-16: (7 hours)
Today in class we worked on our flow charts. The flow charts are for the English part of
the course but they incorporate the vocabulary words that they have been working on. They are
to write a story that uses these words. The story can be anything the group decides. This
reinforces the content and what they have been reading and researching.
November-18: (7 hours)
Today in class we worked on presenting our stories. This is their final assessment over
this unit. The students gave their own grade, and we as the teachers would use their grades as a
reference. But, the peer grade is a part of the final grade. This reinforces everything we have
worked on for the past few weeks. Supporting our content and reading in the content.
November-30: (7 hours)
Today I taught my lesson. My lesson was an introduction to the Big Apple Unit. I
focused on the vocabulary of the unit, and what I believed to be important to the content. There
was a short lecture and then the final activity. The final activity was for the groups to create an
immigrant that would be applying to enter the United States.
December-2: (7 hours)
Today in class we focused on learning more about the conditions new immigrants had to
endure when coming over to the United States. We worked with a website that gave a virtual
tour of a tenement that immigrants lived in between 1880-1920. The students filled out a
handout so we can assess what they have worked on. There was not much of a connection to the
vocabulary of the unit.
Pre-Test Results
Period 1 & 2
20
18
16
14
12
10
Period 1 & 2
8
6
4
2
0
0 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 11
Period 4 & 5
14
12
10
8
Period 4 & 5
6
4
2
0
0 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 11
Period 6 & 7
25
20
15
Period 6 & 7
10
5
0
0 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 11
Post-Test Results
Period 1 & 2
35
30
25
20
Period 1 & 2
15
10
5
0
0 to 3
4 to 7
8 to 10
Period 4 & 5
30
25
20
0 to 3
4 to 7
15
8 to 10
10
5
0
0 to 3
4 to 7
8 to 10
Period 6 & 7
20
18
16
14
12
10
Period 6 & 7
8
6
4
2
0
0 to 3
4 to 7
8 to 10
4 to 7 graph
All Periods
16
14
12
10
8
All Periods
6
4
2
0
4
5
6
7
This graph shows the range of 4 to 7 points on all the post test graphs. This graph shows the number of
students that scored four, five, six, and seven points.
Pie chart for Pre-Test: All Periods
All Periods Pre-Test
0 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 11
This chart shows the three different ranges students could achieve and the number in each category.
For 0-3 there were 39 students overall, for 4-6 there were 49 students overall, for 7-11 there were 11
students overall.
Pie chart for Post-Test: All Periods
All Periods
0 to 3
4 to 7
8 to 10
This chart shows the different ranges the students could achieve on the post-test and the numbers in
each category. For the range 0-3 there were only 4 students, for 4-7 there were 24 students overall, and
for 8-10 there were 72 students overall.