The exciting aspect of utilizing this WebQuest to aid in student learning is that it allows the educator to activate student's prior knowledge beginning in a wide range of content areas. Although this lesson is anchored in high school social studies, it incorporates English/language arts and Spanish foreign language. This lesson can easily be adapted to middle school learners. Educators should plan on 2-3 class periods to complete the activities in this WebQuest.
One recommendation would be for students to begin in an English/language arts classroom reading, analyzing, and discussing Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. Students in a Spanish foreign language class period would begin by discussing Mexican American culture. In the social studies curriculum, this lesson would be best taught following an unit on the Mexican War for Independence or as an extension to the social and economic impacts of the Great Depression/Dust Bowl in the United States, but it could also be used in a sociology classroom to analyze similarities and differences between one’s own and others’ perspectives. Pairing this WebQuest with the book Esperanza Rising, makes this an engaging lesson to be used with gifted students or in advanced placement classrooms.
Task:
Students will assume the role of a teenager who has immigrated from Mexico during the time of the Great Depression. Students will write a journal entry about their experience. To prepare, students will need to learn about the experience of Mexican immigrants by listening to interviews, viewing images, and reading other primary and secondary sources from the Library of Congress Pathfinder.
A Vocabulary Guide is provided under the Student Investigation drop-down menu to aid students in their research and writing journal entries.
Step 1:
Divide students into groups of four to six students. Assign each group the role of a different family member (e.g. mother, father, teens, children, grandparents) who immigrated to the United States from post Revolution Mexico. Assist students to develop a narrative for their family member through a small-group discussion about what the migrant experience might have been like for that family member during the Great Depression. Ask students to discuss in their groups what they know of the present experiences of Mexican Americans and link current events to historical events. Remind students to keep their narrative in mind while utilizing the Library of Congress Pathfinder. Completion of Steps 1-4 allows formulative assessment of student learning. Step 5 is the formal assessment piece of this WebQuest.
Step 2:
Student should work in pairs to complete the National Archives Photo Analysis Worksheet. Students should take turns being responsible for writing down the details, questions, and inferences they make when looking at the photographs on the Library of Congress Pathfinder.
Step 3:
Student pairs should use the backside of the photo worksheet to record their notes while listening to the audio recordings from the 1930s and instructed to visualize what each speaker is saying. Students may need to play the recording several times. Students should take turns writing down any words they find interesting or unfamiliar vocabulary on the back of the photo worksheet. Remind students to think about what the person's perspective might be and to formulate questions they would have asked as the interviewer. Instruct students to write down these questions. When students are finished listening to the recordings, instruct students to write a brief statement summarizing what they have learned.
Step 4:
Students should read the secondary source linked from the Library of Congress on Mexican immigration during the Great Depression. Students need only to read the first page on the opened link. Instruct students to write down questions they have during the reading and when students are finished, write a brief statement summarizing what they have learned. Call on students to answer any questions generated by the WebQuest before returning students to their original small groups to discuss what they have learned about the issues facing Mexican Americans during the Great Depression.
Step 5:
Students should use what they have learned from conducting research into the experiences of Mexican Americans and listening during group discussions to write a journal entry from the historical perspective of a migrant teenager living during the Depression era. Student entries should include an accurate portrayal of life at the time, include the vocabulary words read or heard, and display knowledge of historically significant events. Once completed, have students read the "Conclusion" section of the WebQuest. Grade journals and return. Ask for volunteers to share either an excerpt from their journal or something new they have learned from participating in the WebQuest. An exit slip could be used to record what was learned by each student rather than call on each student individually. A copy of the grading rubric for the journal entry can be found under the drop-down tab marked, "Evaluation".
One recommendation would be for students to begin in an English/language arts classroom reading, analyzing, and discussing Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. Students in a Spanish foreign language class period would begin by discussing Mexican American culture. In the social studies curriculum, this lesson would be best taught following an unit on the Mexican War for Independence or as an extension to the social and economic impacts of the Great Depression/Dust Bowl in the United States, but it could also be used in a sociology classroom to analyze similarities and differences between one’s own and others’ perspectives. Pairing this WebQuest with the book Esperanza Rising, makes this an engaging lesson to be used with gifted students or in advanced placement classrooms.
Task:
Students will assume the role of a teenager who has immigrated from Mexico during the time of the Great Depression. Students will write a journal entry about their experience. To prepare, students will need to learn about the experience of Mexican immigrants by listening to interviews, viewing images, and reading other primary and secondary sources from the Library of Congress Pathfinder.
A Vocabulary Guide is provided under the Student Investigation drop-down menu to aid students in their research and writing journal entries.
Step 1:
Divide students into groups of four to six students. Assign each group the role of a different family member (e.g. mother, father, teens, children, grandparents) who immigrated to the United States from post Revolution Mexico. Assist students to develop a narrative for their family member through a small-group discussion about what the migrant experience might have been like for that family member during the Great Depression. Ask students to discuss in their groups what they know of the present experiences of Mexican Americans and link current events to historical events. Remind students to keep their narrative in mind while utilizing the Library of Congress Pathfinder. Completion of Steps 1-4 allows formulative assessment of student learning. Step 5 is the formal assessment piece of this WebQuest.
Step 2:
Student should work in pairs to complete the National Archives Photo Analysis Worksheet. Students should take turns being responsible for writing down the details, questions, and inferences they make when looking at the photographs on the Library of Congress Pathfinder.
Step 3:
Student pairs should use the backside of the photo worksheet to record their notes while listening to the audio recordings from the 1930s and instructed to visualize what each speaker is saying. Students may need to play the recording several times. Students should take turns writing down any words they find interesting or unfamiliar vocabulary on the back of the photo worksheet. Remind students to think about what the person's perspective might be and to formulate questions they would have asked as the interviewer. Instruct students to write down these questions. When students are finished listening to the recordings, instruct students to write a brief statement summarizing what they have learned.
Step 4:
Students should read the secondary source linked from the Library of Congress on Mexican immigration during the Great Depression. Students need only to read the first page on the opened link. Instruct students to write down questions they have during the reading and when students are finished, write a brief statement summarizing what they have learned. Call on students to answer any questions generated by the WebQuest before returning students to their original small groups to discuss what they have learned about the issues facing Mexican Americans during the Great Depression.
Step 5:
Students should use what they have learned from conducting research into the experiences of Mexican Americans and listening during group discussions to write a journal entry from the historical perspective of a migrant teenager living during the Depression era. Student entries should include an accurate portrayal of life at the time, include the vocabulary words read or heard, and display knowledge of historically significant events. Once completed, have students read the "Conclusion" section of the WebQuest. Grade journals and return. Ask for volunteers to share either an excerpt from their journal or something new they have learned from participating in the WebQuest. An exit slip could be used to record what was learned by each student rather than call on each student individually. A copy of the grading rubric for the journal entry can be found under the drop-down tab marked, "Evaluation".