History Teacher Shares Curriculum at CASE Conference
March 6, 2013
At the 2013 CASE Conference in Chicago, IL, Regina Dominican Social Studies Teacher Brad Williams presented a unit on American Immigration titled Immigration: Ellis Island from 1870-1914 and the Contemporary United States. The unit focuses on the experience of immigrants during the late 1800s and early 1900s and draws connections between the causes and effects of immigration from that time period to the modern day.
Using the Understanding by Design and Project Based Learning curriculum frameworks this unit promoted knowledge acquisition among students as well as an understanding of the reasons for immigration and the experiences of immigrants. Students did so by analyzing and synthesizing primary and secondary sources to understand the push and pull factors of immigration, reasons one would or would not be admitted into the U.S. and the emotions experienced by those who took the risk and made the commitment to immigrate. The unit culminated with a performance assessment in which students recreated Ellis Island and participated in the recreation as either immigrants or Ellis Island personnel (security, medical staff, translators and interviewers) with the expectation that they would apply their understanding of the history in a realistic, authentic and transferable way.