District/School Administration PK-16 Program Support Educational Technology
Technology Toolkit

Coming to America
Mendon-Upton Regional School District

Description of Activities

As an introduction to immigration, the class read the book If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine and Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro. These books are relevant for students studying immigration to the United States.

While in the lab, students interactively explored and researched teacher-selected immigration sites on the Internet. Students took notes for their classroom assignments, looking for information such as reasons immigrants came to America, what their trips were like, how they traveled through Ellis Island, and what their new lives were like. Technology enabled the students to listen to voices of immigrants telling their experiences, watch video clips of Ellis Island, and take a virtual tour of Ellis Island.

In the classroom, the students went back in time and took on the role of an immigrant. Students wrote journals and recorded why they left their homeland, the journey to Ellis Island, and arrival at Ellis Island. The students had to include information that was as accurate as possible considering their Internet research virtual experiences. Some of the students participating in this assignment wrote a letter to a friend or relative telling them why they left their homeland and what life was like in America.

The students also researched their own family histories, interviewing relatives and researching how and when their families came to America. The students were able to virtually see the Ellis Island records and search for their ancestors' names. They were also able to create family trees. Students gathered data on their classmates' ancestors and then created graphs showing the heritage of the class as a whole.

The culminating activity was a performance that featured student projects, posters, family trees, and PowerPoint presentations. This allowed the students to share their knowledge of the unit and cultural diversity. It reinforced the metaphor that our America is indeed a cultural "melting pot."

The teacher created a PowerPoint presentation [PPS] about this project, as well as a web-based Activities Resource Page, which is located at
www.mu-regional.k12.ma.us/immigration/anationofimmigrants.htm.

Universal Design/Inclusion
This interactive multi-disciplinary unit offered appropriate, creative, and well-integrated challenges to assist students of all learning styles to achieve understanding. It allowed for students to be actively involved in lessons that included role-playing and hands-on activities while allowing teachers to extend activities, limit websites, and choose appropriate rubrics. In researching their own family heritage, students were encouraged to research real-life experiences, thus making the subject matter more meaningful. Using technology resources, students of all learning styles had the option of reading, listening, or viewing the lessons. This unit promoted a high level of interaction that was interesting, motivating, and exciting for all, including the teachers!

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