Ivey Center for the Cultural Approach to History

Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Name
Irish Immigration
Author(s)
Mark Sciuchetti
Grades / Subject / Topic
8-12 / U.S. History/World History / Irish History/Immigration
Overview/Summary:
Analyze and evaluate Irish immigration to the United States in the early 19th century, in regards to six primary sources from the time period.
Unit Name / Estimated Time Needed for Lesson
Irish Immigration / 30 minutes
State/Common Core Standard, Grade Level & Description
Standard Number / Detailed description of each standard.
Common Core Standards 5th Grade
Literacy.RI.5.5 / Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more tests.
GPS 9th - 10th Grade
SSUSH12 / The student will analyze important consequences of American industrial growth.
a. Describe Ellis Island, the change in immigrants’ origins to southern and eastern Europe and the impact of this change on urban America.
b. Identify the American Federation of Labor and Samuel Gompers.
c. Describe the growth of the western population and its impact on Native Americans with reference to Sitting Bull and Wounded Knee.
d. Describe the 1894 Pullman strike as an example of industrial unrest.
GPS 11th – 12th Grade
SSWH15 / The student will be able to describe the impact of industrialization, the rise of nationalism, and the major characteristics of worldwide imperialism.
a. Analyze the process and impact of industrialization in England, Germany, and Japan, movements for political reform, the writings of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and urbanization and its affect on women.
b. Compare and contrast the rise of the nation state in Germany under Otto von Bismarck and Japan under Emperor Meiji.
c. Describe the reaction to foreign domination; include the Russo-Japanese War and Young
Turks, and the Boxer Rebellion.
d. Describe imperialism in Africa and Asia by comparing British policies in Africa, French policies in Indochina, and Japanese policies in Asia; include the influence of geography and natural resources.
Common Core Standards
9th – 10th Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10 / CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.5
Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.6
Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.7
Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.8
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.10
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
World History Era 7
Standard 5B
The student understands the causes and consequences of European settler colonization in the 19th century.
National Standards in History
5th – 12th Grade
Standard 5B / Explain why migrants left Europe in large numbers in the 19th century and identify temperate regions of the world where they established or expanded frontiers of European settlement.
United States Era 6
Massive immigration after 1870 and how new social patterns, conflicts, and ideas of national unity developed amid growing cultural diversity.
Standard 2A
The student understands the sources and experiences of the new immigrants.
National Standards in History
7th – 12th Grade
Standard 2A / Distinguish between the "old" and "new" immigration in terms of its volume and the immigrants' ethnicity, religion, language, place of origin, and motives for emigrating from their homelands.
Trace patterns of immigrant settlement in different regions of the country and how new immigrants helped produce a composite American culture that transcended group boundaries.
Assess the challenges, opportunities, and contributions of different immigrant groups.
Evaluate how Catholic and Jewish immigrants responded to religious discrimination.
Evaluate the role of public and parochial schools in integrating immigrants into the American mainstream.
NCSS Theme / Description
Theme Number / Detailed description of each NCSS theme
III / People, Places, and Environments. Using the documents provided, analyze the interactions between the Irish and their environment in regards to their homeland, the ships that would bring them to the United States and their interactions with the Specific land to which they immigrated.
IX / Global Interactions. Analyze the influence of global interdependence with the information provided in the primary source documents.
The Cultural Approach Category / Description
Category / Detailed description of each Category that is a focus of this lesson.
Social / Analyze the interaction of the Irish immigrants with the new culture of the place to which they immigrated
Economic / Analyze the effects of the economic hardships faced by the Irish immigrants.
Religious / Analyze the impact that religion had in the lives of the Irish immigrants.
Handouts/Materials/Textbook Pages/Web Links
List all of the materials in the lesson. List pages in textbooks and online links.
All Grade Levels:
·  http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Letters/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA
·  http://www.haverford.edu/engl/faculty/Sherman/Irish/19thc..htm
·  http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Letters/PhotoCredits.aspx?culture=en-CA
·  Journal of the American Irish Historical Society. 12 (1913), 201–204.
·  www.hsp.org
·  http://www.dippam.ac.uk/ied?s
·  www.loc.gov
Guiding Questions
What should students know or understand at the completion of the unit or lesson?
All Grade Levels:
·  Students should understand the factors that caused the Irish to immigrate to the U.S.
·  Students should understand the hardships faced by the Irish population in the early 19th century.
·  Students should have a broad understanding of the effects that Irish culture had on American society.
·  The students should gain a good understanding of the lesson objectives and the factors of the Irish immigration movement in the United States.
Indicators of Achievement
List all of the important indicators of achievement (important people, places, and events) and vocabulary that students will need to know at the conclusion of the lesson.
·  Understanding of the Irish potato famine and its impact on emigration out of Ireland
·  Understanding of the initial America response to the Irish
Teaching Strategies
5 min / Introduction of SAC, including warm-up / 30 min / Primary Sources and Secondary source Analysis – Position / 30 min / Consensus Building
5 min / Organization of Teams and Groups / 10-15 min / Development
Position Sharing / 10 min / Conclusion/Summary
Describe all of the teaching strategies that you will be using in this lesson. In the squares calculate the percentage of the lesson that the strategy will take. For example in an hour lesson, lecture should take no more than 25% (15 min) of the lesson.
Lesson Procedures
In a numerical list provide a step by step outline of the lesson. Include questions you will ask the students and material you will use.
Outline (Steps also clarified in Guide Sheet)
Activity 1:
1. Explain to the students that they will be learning about the factors that contributed to the Irish people leaving Ireland for the United States beginning in the 1840s.
2. Give each student copies of the variety of primary sources or display portions on the board.
3. After the students have completely read the sources, have them list the reasons that forced the Irish to begin to immigrate to the United States. Try to see if the students can connect these reasons for immigration with the reasons others immigrated to the United States, both past and present. Categorize their reasons for leaving as either in the religious, political, economic, or social categories.
4. Utilize the Cultural Approach Patterns and Interactions worksheet and the Library of Congress Primary Sources Analysis Tool to sort and categorize the student’s information relating to each primary sources. Have the students analyze each sources using these handouts in order to help better organize their information.
5. Have each student write a paragraph explaining the issues that forced the Irish to immigrate to the United States. Another option would be to have the student’s form groups based on their reasons for leaving and argue their positions, those for and those against leaving Ireland. Also, have the students discuss the other options that the Irish might have had besides immigration to the United States.
6. Finally, conclude with a discussion on the Potato Famine in Ireland during the 1840s. Include specifics on what caused it and the results of the Famine. How students can understanding immigrations within the six categories, can some of the reasons relate to why people immigrate today?
Image / Description / Citation / URL
/ Irish waiting to leave Queenstown for New York. / “Emigrants leaving Queenstown [Ireland] for New York.” Wood Engraving, 1847. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. / http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004678776/
/ Family reading a letter written home to Ireland. / “The Emigrant’s First Letter Home.” The Illustrated London News. Project file photography, p110-205. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. / http://archives.gnb.ca/Irish/Databases/Letters/PhotoCredits.aspx?culture=en-CA
/ Image of Catholics trying to enter the United States. / Currier, Nathaniel. “The Propagation Society. More free than welcome,” 1855. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. / http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003656589/
See Handout for additional written Primary Sources.

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