Neighborhoods

Introduction:

America today is a melting pot of cultures. Many of us come from families who immigrated from other countries into America. Therefore, we need to understand and celebrate our unique diverse backgrounds. By developing a better understanding of the many cultures represented by various American ethnic groups we can begin to accept, respect, and live in an environment rich with diversity.

Imagine that your family has just immigrated America. You are excited about the opportunity that awaits you. There are many different types of people that surround you as you wait patiently on line in Ellis Island to register yourself as a citizen. As you wait on line and look around thinking and wondering if the other immigrants have the same questions as you do. For example-- Where are all these different people coming from? What was life like for them in their home country? What are they feeling right now? Are they as anxious and excited as you are about starting a new life in America? Will they be accepted in America? What will happen if they aren't accepted? What if the customs and traditions that you have from your home country is not accepted by others in America? What can you do to help others understand and accept you into their environment?
You decide that as soon as you and your family have set up a home for yourselves, you will organize a Street Fair inviting other families from different cultures to come together and share stories, celebrations, and information about their background.

Contents

The Task:

Your family will work together (4-5 people) to discuss and outline important information about your culture that your would like to share. Families will be assigned into the following cultural groups:

African American
Asian American
Hispanic American
Irish American
Jewish American
Italian American

The topic areas each family will research will be:

holiday celebrations
arts and crafts
food and music
historical background

Each family member will research one of the topics and prepare a multimedia presentation using PowerPoint or HyperStudio to teach others about your cultural family. You will present this information on a special day dedicated to your culture. In addition, this presentation will be available for all to see at the Street Fair.
Any information that is found will be written down in a journal that each student must create.

Contents

Resources

Web-based Resources

The American Immigration Home Page:
http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Immigration/index.html

Ellis Island
http://www.ellisisland.org/

New York, NY, Ellis Island -- Immigration: 1900-1920 http://cmpl.ucr.edu/exhibitions/immigration_id.html
Great photos of immigrants coming off the boat and entering Ellis Island. This site is a great photographic starting point to launch an immigration study.

At http://www.wnet.org/tenement you will visit a building in New York where immigrant families lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. Click on Urban Log Cabin. By clicking on different rooms, you will see a picture and read a story about the family that lived there. On the left, it is 1870. On the right side the year is 1915 or later. Make a list of the families living in the building for both time periods. Next to each family, tell the country they came from.

The Urban Log Cabin
http://www.wnet.org/archive/tenement/logcabin.html
Over ten thousand people lived at 97 Orchard Street between the years 1870 and 1915. You may visit some of them, like the 1915 Rogarshevskys seen below, by clicking on the rooms of the tenement building from each era. There are eleven doll house dioramas in all. The dramatizations are based upon actual tenants.

New York City at the Turn of the Century
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/papr/nyc.html

"The Ethnic Mosaic of the Quad Cities"
http://www.augustana.edu/library/ethnic/
This is the electronic version of the exhibit, "The Ethnic Mosaic of the Quad Cities" Look at original photos of immigrant families as they share family celebrations, take a look at religion, work and business, and more. All sections have original photos.

Ellis Island
http://www.icgnet.com/users/phil/ruins/ellis/index.html
Ellis Island was the "Gateway to America" from 1892 until it closed in 1954, when it
began its slow decay. Back in the early '70s, before it was restored, Ellis Island was only
accessible by boat...so good friend Steve Siegel & I rowed out from New Jersey to take
photographs. The Registry Hall, the morgue, the communicable disease ward, the cafeteria, over thirty buildings to explore. Some were filled with old forms from its last active days in the '50s. There were even clothes left from the occupation by a group of protestors in the early 70s. Check this site out…complete with photographs of the various rooms in Ellis Island.

Non-Web-based Resources
* Encyclopedia
* Videos
* Books
* CD-ROMs
* Local residents/guest speakers

Contents

The Process:

1. Identify what culture you would like to research.
2. Meet with your cultural family
3. Select a family leader who will oversee your family's progress and be a representative for your family at Culture meetings
4. Brainstorm what you know…
Your first activity as a family will be to create a web map that shows any information your family knows about your culture. The family leader will be the person to record your responses and create the web.
5. Decide who will research holiday celebrations, food and games, arts and crafts, historical background
6. Conduct your research using web-based, electronic, and printed materials
7. Record facts and information in journal. Make sure you record pertinent URLs, CD-ROM titles, books, etc… in your journal
8. Print out any important electronic material (websites, CD-ROM encyclopedia articles)
9. Meet in your family to discuss what you have learned.
10. Sort and sift information according to its importance.
11. Take this information and design a paper prototype (using PowerPoint or HyperStudio).
12. Present your prototype to your teacher
13. Once approved, begin creating your electronic presentation.

Contents

Learning Advice

Help everyone in your family. If you find information that someone else is researching then share it with them. Keep a good record of the sites you have located which contain useful information. You may want to visit these again and much time can be spent relocating sites. Keep focused on your assigned research area and record your information immediately in your journal. Make sure your journal has a special section for recording URLs and other resources.

Contents

Evaluation:

Evaluation will be broken up into two categories based on a 100 point scale:

Individual Evaluation - 60 points
Group Evaluation - 40 points

At the end of the research period you will be meeting as a family to put together your presentation. At that time you will be sharing the information you have gathered. Your family will be evaluated on how well you worked as a cooperative group to make decisions, listen to each member's ideas thoroughly, and how effectively you work as a group to create your final electronic presentation, and the quality of your in-calss presentation. You will also be evaluated individually on the quality of your journal entries and your paper prototype. The following grading scale outlines exactly what I will be looking for in both your individual and group work.

Contents

Conclusion:

By the end of the research period your family should have a clear idea of the major celebrations, customs, traditions, and historical events particular to your assigned culture. Eventually, you will be putting this information into an electronic presentation. Included in this presentation will be the major areas you researched.

Contents