Sample Lesson Plan Format

Class: World History

Grade Level: 9th

Unit: Colonialism and Immigration

Teacher: Miss Flaherty

Iowa Core State Standards (ICSS)

SS-WH.9-12.25: Determine multiple and complex causes and effects
of historical events within world history.
(Why did immigrants come? What did they bring with them? What are the effects)

21st Century Skill(s)

21.9–12.TL.4: Essential Concept and/or Skill: Demonstrate critical thinking
skills using appropriate tools and resources to plan and conduct research,
manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions.
(Researching immigrant experiences and primary sources including
records from Ellis Island and censuses)
21.9–12.ES.1: Essential Concept and/or Skill: Communicate and work
productively with others, incorporating different perspectives and cross cultural
understanding, to increase innovation and the quality of work. (Creating and
performing a skit as an immigrant family about immigrant experiences/American
dream)

National Standards
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide
- for the study of the past and its legacy.
- the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions.
- for the study of global connections and interdependence.
- for the study of people, places, and environments.

Essential Question
How do immigrants and their experiences shape American society?

Objectives
- Determine reasons people emigrate to the United States
- Note some of the nations from which people emigrated in the late 19th and early
20th centuries
- Describe the experiences of those immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and kinds of
work they did and how they lived
- Explore life and work in America at the turn of the 20th century

Assessment
Pre-assessment quiz online about Ellis Island to gage where the class is at and get them
ready for the lesson.

Self-assessment after group activity and presentations/skits. Students will evaluate

themselves and the work they put into their immigrant experience, as well as identifying
two things they learned about their immigrant’s experience/journey. I will take the groups
answers to the focus questions to evaluate.

Exit slip with two things they learned and one thing they still have a question about.

Anticipatory Set
Do now/bell-ringer
Bring in a box/steamer trunk (I have one that is easy to move). Written on the
board is “Look at the trunk below. This is all the room you have to pack up your life and
move to a brand new country. In your journal, draw or write about what you decide to
take with you. Why do you choose these things?”
Anticipatory – 5 minutes
I walk into the room only speaking in Irish or French (either way it will be a
language that most of the students are unfamiliar with. If it is a substitute they may use a
language they are comfortable with or simply use gibberish. The idea is that the students
should not be able to understand what you are saying). Go around asking questions and
expecting answers or papers. Try to give them orders like stand up or move to another
desk.
Introduction – 10 minutes
Many immigrants came to the United States at the end of the nineteenth century
and the first decades of the twentieth century. They came from all over the world and
many faced discrimination and hardship as they struggled to build a new life for
themselves. Often they could only bring a few things and did not know English.
TAKE QUIZ BELOW AS PREASSESSMENT (gage where students are at and what
needs the most focus on the Ellis Island part of today’s lesson. Disregard the stated ‘the
article’ in the question on the quiz)
https://www.ducksters.com/history/us_1800s/ellis_island_questions.php

Teaching: Activities -
Video on Ellis Island (provides background and information for quiz that was just taken).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDNKHWzQiz8 – 4 minutes
Directions for group skits/presentations about the immigrant experience – 6 minutes
Teacher will divide class into “families” that are immigrating into the United
States (already decided groups, not just counting off. Groups of 4 and 5). Students in each
group will be a member of a family (can be extended or made up of many different
members). Folders are given by teacher containing materials needed by the group. Inside
is:

BIENVENIDOS! WILKOMMEN! BIENVENUE! FAILTE! VITEJTE! SHALOM!

You and your family are immigrating to America. You’ve made it to Ellis Island and are
waiting your medical and legal inspection. What have you experienced? Tell the other
immigrant families around you.
FOCUS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER (Taken from PBS ‘The New Americans’)
Why did immigrants leave their homelands?
What possessions did they bring to America?
How did immigrants begin their new lives in America?
Did they remain in New York City or move to other areas of the country?
What kind of housing could they find? What kind of jobs did they do?
What elements of their old life did they keep (food, holidays, games)?

“Immigrant families” research/prepare to speak to the others – 25 minutes

Families will use the focus questions to guide their quick research about their
immigrant/ethnic experience coming to America. Internet resources are provided on
GoogleClassroom as starting points but students are encouraged to search for themselves.
I will be around to answer questions and prompt research in certain directions. Use of a
greeting in the family’s first language is encouraged. Families will answer the focus
questions which I will collect at the end of class and evaluate as an assessment. Students
are welcome to draw answers to questions (for example traditional foods or dress for the
immigrants) or write a poem as alternative options (some answers can be written, some
can be drawn- it doesn’t have to all be one or the other).

“Immigrant families” speak to the other “families” around them at Ellis Island – 30 min
Families will tell others about their immigrant experience or what they brought
with them. Why did they leave? What do they hope to do in America? After each of the
family members talk, they will walk to my desk for their “examination” and turn in the
answers to their focus questions. I will fan out “fate” cards for them to pick at random. I
have created to see what happens to the family members in America. There are many
different options (I created about twenty) including:
- detained for small pox; stay two weeks on Ellis Island in the hospital
- your name is spelled wrong but you make it through immigration
- someone stole your wallet and all your money in it. You must beg and live on the
streets for the first two weeks
- you have a disease and are sent back to your home country
- you find work in a sweatshop but are injured on the job. You can no longer work
- you die of typhoid in the tenements
- you get a promotion at your job in one of New York’s department store
- you travel west and find good farmland to start raising your own crops
- you fall in love with another immigrant and you start a family in a small house on
the outskirts of Boston
- you die of tuberculosis
- you are hit by a streetcar and injured so you cannot work
- you travel to the west coast and begin your own small business there. Success!
- you write books and pamphlets for other immigrants and make good money
- you pass your citizenship test with ease
- you get the highest grades in your school class and go onto college with
scholarship
- you invent a new kitchen appliance that is a huge success!
- you work as a fireman but become ill from smoke inhalation. You now have a
permanent cough
 - you are homesick for your old country and you return to it
- you become friends with the mayor of Baltimore and get a job in the government
- you become the police chief in Chicago
- you become a famous musician and share your culture with others
- you have a fight with your sibling over money and where to settle. You split and
never speak again
- you open a grocery business that specializes in foods from your old country. It is a
huge success with other immigrants!
- The bank approves the loan you need to build a new family home
- you become the mayor of your new hometown

Closure
Sharing Out the Experience – 5 minutes
Regrouping as a whole class and quieting down after the immigrant families have
their fates.
- What were the most surprising things you learned today?
- Do you know if any of your ancestors faced struggles like these immigrants we
learned about?
- Do you think immigrants still face some of these challenges today?
Exit Slip – 5 minutes
On a half sheet of paper, students will write down two things they learned in class
today and one thing that they are confused about or what is unclear to them. I will collect
these at the door as they leave.

Independent Practice

Find a news article about immigration to the United States today- is it on the TV news
tonight? Please cite it. What are some things that have changed for immigrants? Have
things stayed the same? Compare and contrast your article and what you know about
today’s immigrants to what you have learned about immigrants at Ellis Island.
Comparison should be about one page typed and double spaced. Be prepared to share
some of what you learned in the next class.

Materials
- Manila folders with directions for group projects/skits. These will contain focus
questions to guide the preparation for the skit/presentation
- My steamer trunk (used by me for anticipatory but can be prop for skits as well)
- A few cloth bundles/sacks and hats to use as props for the groups
- “Fate” cards (written by me and kept on desk)
- Charged laptop

Duration
90 minutes
- 15 for anticipatory/introduction
- 10 for teaching/directions on activity
- 25 for group research and planning for skit/presentation
- 30 for group presentations/skits/ “fate” cards
- 10 for closing discussion and homework assignment

“I Can” Statement
I can describe immigrant experiences of those coming to America in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.

Modified from Madeline Hunters Lesson Plan Design