Great Teaching Ideas
lesson & unit viewer
Famous Immigrants
published on: 2/28/2003
Contributing Teacher(s): Sharon Hoefer
Subject Area: Social Studies/U.S. History
Grade Range: High School (9-12)
Materials Needed:
- Poster board
- markers
- access to Media Center resources for research
Instructional Strategy: Summarizing and note-taking
Process Standards:
- Goal 2.1 plan and make written, oral and visual presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences
Content Standards:
- Social Studies 6. Relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions
Time Allowance:
Description: This lesson incorporates research and oral/written presentations on a famous immigrant, three scoring guides are attached.
Classroom Component: Description: This lesson incorporates research and oral and written presentations on a famous immigrant and his or her contribution to the American culture.
This is a three to four day project that is part of a large unit on the Second Industrial Revolution. A part of this unit covers immigration in the late 1800''s (although current immigration issues are also incorporated into the unit). Topics discussed include the immigration process, why come to the U.S., from where/period that immigrants came, contributions in work force and special areas, pros and cons of immigration, illegal immigration, etc. This particular project seeks to get students to realize who some of our famous immigrants are and areas of their contributions to the American culture. This project works well before a discussion of the pros and cons of immigration. Handouts: Assignment sheet and rubric attached. Listed below are possible immigrants to select from. There are others. These work well and give a variety of contributions.
Knute Rockne Samuel Gompers Charlie Chaplin John Muir Louis B. Mayer Bob Hope Enrico Fermi Martina Navratilova; Charles Steinmetz Felix Frankfurter Samuel Goldwyn Carl Schurz Joseph Pulitzer Albert Einstein James Hill I.M. Pei Arnold Schwarzenegger Irving Berlin Alfred Hitchcock Levi Strauss Elie Weisel Greta Garbo Mikhail Baryshnikov Hyman Rickover FAMOUS IMMIGRANTS DIRECTIONS: You are to "interview" an immigrant to the United States. The immigrant you are to interview will be given to you. There are 4 parts to this assignment. ALL PARTS MUST BE COMPLETED FOR THIS PROJECT TO BE GRADED. PART 1: IMMIGRANT INTERVIEW - "Interview" your immigrant by using resources in the Media Center, such as encyclopedias, library books , or magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated - for some of the more recent immigrants. Use the Readers'' Guide to find articles. You may also wish to use the internet. Try to answer the following questions:
- Name of your immigrant -
- Where they were born? (what country - also city if given) -
- When they were born? (month, year) -
- When did they come to the U.S.?
- Why did they come to the U.S.?
- List information about their life - facts such as family background, education, what they did in the U.S., when they died if they have, where they live now. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Feel free to list more - this will vary depending on what immigrant you are doing.
- What contributions did they make to the U.S.? What are they known or famous for? PART 2: REPORT - Using the information that you gathered about your immigrant in your "interview," write this into report form - SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS. Be sure to present your material neatly, using correct spelling angrammarer. When you turn in your report, staple the interview sheet to the back of it. PART 3: PROJECT - Make a project to represent your immigrant. This project should show the following information:
- name of immigrant
- picture of the immigrant
- where they came from (flag, outline of country, )
- when they came
- something to show what this immigrant contributed to the U.S.
- IDEAS: a collage (an assembly of ideas on a piece of paper - pictures. to show the information above), an object (maybe a replica of what they contributed to the U.S.), YOUR IDEA of how to do this - BE CREATIVE!
| RUBRIC: REPORT | ||
| EXCELLENT | ACCEPTABLE | NEEDS IMPROVEMENT |
| Reader can easily understand your immigrants story, enough information given to give a complete picture of topic. | Some good information given, but enough left out to cause reader to have some questions, a more complete report needed. | Much information left out, reader can learn little from your report, many questions need to be answered. |
| 15 | 10 | 5 |
| Writing style contributes to report - few grammgrammarpelling, etc. errors. | Writing style somewhat distracts from report, several grammar, spelling, etc. errors. | Enough errors with grammar, spelling, etc. to greatly distract from report. |
| 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Report presented neatly, few erasures, etc. | Lack of neatness somewhat distracts from report. | Lack of neatness greatly distracts from report. |
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
| RUBRIC: PROJECT | ||
| Project is complete, exhibits required parts effectively, much can be learned about your immigrant from this work. | Project lacks some parts that would help with understanding your immigrant. | Too much to give a good picture of this immigrant. |
| 15 | 10 | 5 |
| Method of presentation reflects effort to be creative, shows extra effort on your part. | Some lack of effort to be creative, not as eye-catching as could be. | Little effort to be creative, project just presents information, little effort in how this is done. |
| 12 | 8 | 4 |
| Project neatly presented, contributes to project. | Lack of neatness somewhat distracts from project. | Lack of neatness greatly distracts from project. |
| 6 | 4 | 2 |
| RUBRIC: REPORT TO CLASS | ||
| Presentation reflects your understanding of your immigrant''s life, story told of life, poster shared with class. | Presentation shows some understanding of immigrant''s life, effort to "know" information would help, little use of poster. | Presentation shows little understanding of this immigrant, lack of effort to "know" material is very evident, little if any use of poster. |
| 9 | 6 | 3 |
| Presentation reflects planning and practice, smoothly done. | Lack of planning and practice distracts somewhat from presentation. | Little planning or practice is evident, greatly distracts from presentation. |
| 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Method of presentation helped audience gain information, stood, good volume, good speed of delivery, not all read,etc. | Method of presentation somewhat distracts from information. | Method of presentation greatly distracts from information. |
| 3 | 2 | 1 |
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Sharon Hoefer
New Franklin Middle-High
New Franklin R-I
(660) 848-2314
EMAIL: shoefer@nfranklin.k12.mo.us
