Download TAH Grant -Lesson Plans – Priscilla DeBan

TAH Grant -Lesson Plans – Priscilla DeBan
North Rose-Wolcott Middle School
Unit Title: US Immigration 1850-1900
Discipline: Social Studies
Grade Level: 7
Time Frame: 3 Class Periods
Background Information: The 1800’s was a time of turmoil and change in the United
States. Many of those changes were shaped by events going on around the world as well
as within the borders of the United States. The United States today evolved from those
changes.
Unit Objective: Students will be able to explain the impact of immigration on the United
States during the late 19th century.
NY State Learning Standards - Standard 1: History of the United States and New
York: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding
of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the
United States and New York.
Intermediate #1 -The study of New York State and United States history requires
an analysis of the development of American culture, its diversity and multicultural
context, and the ways people are unified by many values, practices, and traditions.
Intermediate #2 - Important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs, and
traditions from New York State and United States history illustrate the connections and
interactions of people and events across time and from a variety of perspectives.
NY State Learning Standards - Standard 2: World History
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of
major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine
the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
Intermediate # 2 - Establishing timeframes, exploring different periodizations,
examining themes across time and within cultures, and focusing on important turning
points in world history help organize the study of world cultures and civilizations.
Intermediate #3 - Study of the major social, political, cultural, and religious
developments in world history involves learning about the important roles and
contributions of individuals and groups
Essential Question: How did emigration to the United States impact the cultural makeup of the US?
Lesson One – Role Play
Lesson Goal: Students will be introduced to factors behind immigration to United States
during the second half of the 18th century.
Lesson Objective: Students will identify examples of “push-pull” factors which
influenced immigration to the United States.
Materials Needed: 8X10 signs, note cards, chart paper
Lesson:
Classroom will be prepared with 8 X 10 or larger color coded signs, representing
areas of the room as countries of the world – United States, Ireland, Great Britain,
Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, China
As each student enters the room they will be given a color coded note card. Each
card will represent a person from one of the countries listed above. The front of the card
will state the name, age, sex, occupation and country of origin of a person. The back of
the card will describe the year and life style of the person on the front.
Students will be asked to read about “themselves” and go the area of the room
that represents their country. Then, using the information they have been given, students
will be asked whether they would “immigrate” to the United States. If so they will move
to the area of the room that represents the United States.
Each student will then be asked why they did or didn’t immigrate and which
country the majority of immigrants came from.
The teacher will then introduce the “push-pull” factors of 18th century
immigration. Using chart paper and student input the factors will be listed and identified
as push or pull factor.
Closure: The push-pull factors of immigration will be reviewed as well as
country of origin.
Homework: Students will be given note cards and a list of vocabulary words.
Words are to be defined on note cards in preparation of the next day’s reading.
Vocabulary words/concepts: emigrant, immigrant, steerage, hardship, tenement,
prejudice, famine, push-pull, blight, landlord, detention
Evaluation: Evaluation will be done through observation, class discussion and
completion/evaluation of homework.
Reflection:
Samples of Lesson 1 note cards
Number of cards should equal # of students with the proportion equaling % of
immigrants from those countries
Ireland (39%) – blue cards
Germany (31%) – white cards
Great Britain (16%) – pink cards
Other countries (1%-9%) – green cards (Scandinavia, Poland, Sweden, France)
Front of blue card
Back of blue card
Name: Shawn Clancy
Sex: Male
Age: 14
Native Country: Ireland
Occupation: Oldest son of farm family
7 children, mother and father
Year:
Economy: Potato famine has hit the
country side
Life Style: Poor,
Religion: Catholic
Front of pink card
Back of pink card
Name: William Preston
Sex: Male
Age: 35
Native Country: Great Britain
Occupation: Lord - Royalty
Year:
Economy: With industrial changes you
grow fields of crops with little cost
Lifestyle: Wealthy, landowner
Religion: Protestant
Push Factor
Agricultural changes & developmentslandlords wanted larger parcels of land
to grow crops on instead of renting to tenant
farmers, more profit than renting
Poor harvests – poor farmers couldn’t
pay their debts or their rent, faced eviction
Industrial Revolution – more jobs in the cities,
cheap production of goods reduced artisan
sales
Religious persecution/turmoil
Political turmoil
Over crowded conditions
Crop failures
Pull Factor
Freedom of religion
Economic opportunity
Louisiana Purchase expanded the US
making land more abundant
Stories of better life in America
Improved farming conditions
Lesson 1 cont’d
Class size – 18 students
Additional Cards
Germany – White cards – 6 cards – 31%
Wilhelm Schmidt, age 26, Lutheran, wood craftsman, poor economy, 1882
Frau Schmidt, age 22, wife of Wilhelm, mother of 3 young children, 1882
Henry Schmidt, age 3, father and mother are being persecuted for their religious choices,
1882
Karl Warner – age 33, farmer looking for land, 1860, economy is changing to an
industrialized one, becoming urban culture rather than rural
Margot Warner – age 25, wife of Karl, mother of 4 young children
Warner children – ages 2, 4, 5 and 7
Ireland – Blue cards (Ireland) – 7 cards – 39%
Shannon Clancy, age 33, mother of 7 children, Irish Catholic, poor farm family, 1845
Timothy Clancy, age 35, father of 7 children, Irish Catholic, poor farmer, crops failing,
1845
Molly Clancy, age 51, matriarch of Clancy clan, farm widow with small land plot, 1845, l
no money to pay her rent
Nancy McClary – age 18, 1865, persecuted for practicing Catholicism, left her family to
find work because there were too many mouths to feed at home, servant in wealthy
British home
Brian Delaney – age 12, homeless, orphan, 1860, has no home, no food and no where to
go
Great Britain – Pink cards – 3 cards – 15%
Lady Mary Preston, female, 29, wealthy aristocrat
Oliver Mendal – 17, orphan with no family, working in coal mines, 1850
Poland (other countries) – Green cards – 1% - 9%
Stanley Cusack, age 40, - 1850 – Polish nobility & former government official, change in
government has affected Stanley’s noble status and job standing
Lesson Two
“Irish Potato Famine”
Lesson Goal: Students will be introduced to the Irish Potato Famine as a push factor.
Lesson Objective: Students will be able to describe the effects of the Irish Potato
Famine on the people of Ireland.
Materials Needed: Lyrics, “Give me Three Grains of Corn, Mother” by Amelia
Blanford Edwards
Lesson:
Opening: Lesson will begin with lyrics of “Give me Three Grains of Corn
Mother” being read to the students, omitting the word Ireland. Students will be asked
what country this song may have originated from and how they came to that conclusion.
Using the lyrics, what might the possible reasons for Irish emigration from
Ireland? Go over the lyrics stanza by stanza to make it easier for the students to get the
most from them. Review the concept of push factors.
Background Knowledge:
1798 – British Union Act made Ireland part of Great Britain
Penal laws meant to keep Irish in subservient role
Prohibited Catholics political representation
Prior to 1840’s- good crops led to population growth but little economic opportunity
1845- Potato blight begins. Leaves turned black and crops rotted in the ground from an
airborne fungus (phytophthora infestans) brought from North America
Britain maintained a laissez-faire policy, to let it resolve itself naturally
Irish grain farmers afraid of eviction would sell to Britain to help pay their rent
even though Ireland needed the food
1845-184 Crops failed
Homework: Students will be given a passage from Robert Whyte’s diary, “The Ocean
Plague.” Students will be asked to draw conclusions about the journey from the passage
(see worksheet).
Accommodations: Students will be put into heterogynous groups that will take into
affect student abilities.
Evaluation: Evaluation will be done through observation as groups work, class
discussion and homework.
Reflection:
Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother
by Amelia Blanford Edwards
Give me three grains of corn, Mother, only three grains of corn;
It will keep the little life I have 'til the coming of the morn.
I am dying of hunger and cold, Mother, dying of hunger and cold,
And half the agony of such a death my lips have never told.
It has gnawed like a wolf at my heart, Mother, a wolf that is fierce for
blood;
All the livelong day, and the night beside, gnawing for lack of food.
I dreamed of bread in my sleep, Mother, and the sight was heaven to see;
I awoke with an eager famishing lip, but you had no bread for me.
How could I look to you, Mother, how could I look to you,
For bread to give to your starving boy, when you were starving too?
For I read the famine in your cheek and in your eyes so wild,
And I felt it in your bony hand, as you laid it on your child.
The Queen has lands and gold, Mother, the Queen has lands and gold;
While you are forced to your empty breast a skeleton babe to hold.
A babe that is dying of want, Mother, as I am dying now,
With a gastly look in its sunken eye, and famine upon its brow.
What has poor Ireland done, Mother, what has poor Ireland done,
That the world looks on and sees us starve, perishing one by one?
Do the men of England care not, Mother, the great men and the high,
For the suffering sons of Erin's Isle, whether they live or die?
There is many a brave heart here, Mother, dying of want and cold,
While only across the Channel, Mother, are many that roll in gold;
There are rich and proud men there, Mother, with wondrous wealth to view,
And the bread they fling to their dogs tonight would give life to me and you.
Come nearer to my side, Mother, come nearer to my side,
And hold me fondly as you held my Father when he died.
Quick! For I cannot see you, Mother, my breath is almost gone.
Mother, dear Mother, ere I die, give me three grains of corn.
Lesson Two – Homework
“June 16, [1847]: The past night was very rough, and I enjoyed little rest. No additional
cases of sickness were reported, but there were signs of insubordination amongst the
healthy men who complained of starvation and want of water for their sick wives and
children. A deputation [group] came aft to acquaint the captain with their grievances, but
he ordered them away, and would not listen to a word from them. When he went below,
the ringleaders threatened that they would break into the provision store……
In order to make a deeper impression on their minds, [the captain] brought out the old
blunderbuss [a type of rifle] from which he fired a shot [in the air]…….The deputation
slunk away muttering complaints. If they were resolute they could easily have seized
upon the provision.”
Robert Whyte, The Ocean Plague: A Voyage to Quebec in an
Irish Immigrant Vessel, 1848
Answer the following questions using the above passage. Answer in complete sentences.
1. Describe what the conditions were like for passengers in steerage.
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2. Name 2 things steerage passengers complained of:
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b) _____________________________________________________________________
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3. How were the passengers treated when they complained? ______________________
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4. How might the passengers be feeling? Explain.
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5. Why do you think the passengers didn’t seize the provisions?
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Lesson Three
“Tenement Life”
Lesson Goal: Students will be introduced to the conditions of tenement life in America.
Lesson Objectives: Students will be able to describe ways in which tenement life differs
from life in Ireland.
Materials Needed: Masking Tape, Internet Access, Computer, Large Screen Monitor
Lesson:
Along the floor of the room map out dimensions of a tenement apartment, front
room 11 X 12, Bedroom 8 X 8, kitchen 11 X 10. Begin by asking the students what the
tape might represent. Students will then be asked to imagine 10 or more people living in
that space. Using the large monitor and the pictures on the next pages students will
discuss life in the tenements and how it is different than life back home.
Background knowledge:
Tenement Life: Crowded conditions, no running water, poor sanitation and garbage
removal, little heat, poor air quality & circulation, an average tenement had 18 rooms per
floor with only the front 2 getting sunlight or air, 240,000 people lived within one square
mile.
As a class, we will play, “A Day in the Life History Game” at
http://pbskids.org/stantonanthony/day_in_life.html .
Homework: Students will be asked to imagine themselves as one of two different
characters: either a young Irish immigrant living in the United States writing to family
back in Ireland or a young Irish person living in Ireland, during the 1850’s.
Evaluation: Opening game will be used to determine prior knowledge. Evaluation will
be done with letter student writes.
Reflection:
Family life in a tenement
Market in the Tenements
Playtime for the kids
Irish Immigrant Assignment
Date___________________
Name___________________
Mrs. DeBan
Choose one of the two characters below. Imagine you are one of them and write a letter
to your family. Use any or all of the resources (pictures, passages, songs, and websites
(http://pbskids.org/stantonanthony/day_in_life.html ) to help you write your letter. Be
sure to include at least 4 details of your life.
1. You are a young Irish person living in New York City in a tenement with 9 other
people in 1855. Write a letter to family back home in Ireland of your life in New York.
Be sure to include details of what your life is like in New York. Include things like living
conditions, food supply, activities, and what you would like to do with your life
2. You are a young Irish person living in the countryside of Ireland during the 1850’s.
Write a letter to family members who have immigrated to New York. Be sure to include
details of what your life is like in Ireland. Include things like living conditions, food
supply, activities, and what you would like to do with your life.
Date_________________
Dear ________________________,
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