Curated OER
Becoming American: Between Two Worlds
Learners examine American identity. In this immigration lesson, students explore the plight of Chinese Americans in their attempts to assimilate into the American culture while keeping their Chinese identities.
Curated OER
The Immigrant Experience In America
Students study immigration, Ellis Island, and tenement life from 1890 to 1924. Each student create an identity of an immigrant and write an essay in the first person. Essays describe what they found when they arrived in New York City.
Curated OER
The Immigrant Experience in America
Learners explore immigration in the United States. In this immigration lesson, students read about Ellis Island and tenement houses as they conduct research regarding the topic in order to write an essay.
Curated OER
Becoming American: The Chinese Experience
Students examine the experience of Chinese American immigrants in the PBS series BECOMING AMERICAN. ESL learners investigate and explore their own identities within a multicultural context.
Curated OER
Immigration into an Urban Industralized Northeast: 1879-1914
Learners study how three ethnic groups were introduced to urban, industrialize, northern cities. They examine how these groups were greeted and accepted be the 'native born' Americans and how successful they were in assimilating with...
Curated OER
The Insights of American Blacks During the 19th and 20th Centuries in New Haven, Connecticut
Students examine the contributions of African Americans in New Haven, Connecticut in the 19th and 20th centuries. After being introduced to new vocabulary, they review the elements of autobiographies and read excerpts of African...
Facing History and Ourselves
Many Voices, One National Identity
To conclude the unit on "Exploring Identity in the United States," pupils consider whether it is possible to combine many voices into one national identity. After creating an identity chart that lists words, phrases, and images that they...
Curated OER
Immigration in the United States
Students explore how recent immigration and migration patterns impact social and political issues. They apply affective learning techniques
Curated OER
Teaching Reading Comprehension through Social Studies Readings
Examine how immigrants have changed the environment of the United States. Individually, middle schoolers will take a pre- and post-test to assess their reading comprehension. In groups, they compare and contrast the religions of...
Annenberg Foundation
Utopian Promise
Scholars learn all about the Puritans in the third installment of a 16-part lesson series. After watching a video, they read and discuss biographies of Puritans and Quakers from American history, write journal entries and poetry, and...
Curated OER
The House on Mango Street
Students read The House on Mango Street and analyze why the author chose to tell this story and how the characters are affected by immigration, poverty, and discrimination. Students compare this story to others about immigration to...
National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...
PBS
Puerto Rican Perspectives
Puerto Ricans are wholly American, but their history with the United States has been one of tumult. Using clips from a PBS documentary, viewers consider the history of the island and Puerto Rico's contributions to the mainland United...
Facing History and Ourselves
Finding Your Voice
To begin a study of what it means to be American, high schoolers first consider their own identities. They draw a picture of what they think an American looks like and share their images. Next, they examine an image of the "Flag of...
Curated OER
Grappling with Identity in Latino Poetry
Learners identify some common themes involving the Latino immigrant experience as conveyed through a variety of media, explore issues of identity in some examples of poetry written by Latinos and learn some basic poetry reading strategies.
Curated OER
State of Mind: Inventing the American Identity
Learners define national identity, explain importance of having national identity, describe America's national identity, work together and formulate class vision of what America's national identity is, identify United States symbols and...
Curated OER
The Harlem Renaissance: Black American Traditions
High schoolers examine the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. As a class, they are introduced to five artists and discuss their art and techniques. Using the internet, they also research the philosophers of the time period and how...
Annenberg Foundation
Masculine Heroes
What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...
Curated OER
From America, With Love
Students research the experiences of specific immigrant groups in the United States. Letters are written from imaginary immigrants to relatives in their countries of origin, including historically accurate details.
Curated OER
The Cajuns: Natives with a Difference!
Students examine the immigrant experiences of various culture groups. Using this information, they work together to compare and contrast these experiences with those of the Cajuns. As a class, they define ethnic group and research the...
Curated OER
Reformers versus Residents in Five Points: A Role Play
Social Studies and role-playing can go hand in hand. Learners use supporting evidence found in primary and secondary source material to develop a character from the Five Points neighborhood in the 1850s. Each student takes on the role of...
Curated OER
Cultural Riches
Young scholars examine culture and how immigrants adapt to American culture while contributing elements of their various cultures to that of the United States.
Curated OER
Ellis Island: Gateway To America
Fifth graders study the immigration station on Ellis Island. Through several activities, they see that immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island came to America from different countries, mostly those in Europe, for a variety of reasons.
Curated OER
Opportunity and Danger
Students analyze the immigrant experience. In this Chinese immigration instructional activity, students research Internet and print sources regarding the topic. Students also watch videos regarding the topic and interview immigrants or...