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1. Lesson Title: Investigating the Immigration Act of 1924, and its Influence on Immigration

2. Demographics: This lesson plan is designed for an eleventh-grade classroom (see Unit Demographics), and would most likely be appropriate for those with upper-level reading and writing skills. It could, however, also be modified for use with all ability levels. As related to content knowledge, previous units have discussed immigration, and the earlier periods of large-scale immigration. The students have also previously been exposed to lessons related to the concept of race, and its historical dimensions. As related to skill knowledge, the students have had previous experience analyzing charts and other primary documents, and are able to skim articles in order to find related material. Most importantly, the students have had ample experience drawing inferences from collected information.

3. Rationale: This lesson relates to the unit theme in many ways. First, and most obviously, the Immigration Act of 1924 had a great impact on the ethnic makeup of America. The Act was designed to maintain the ethnic composition of 1924, and to prevent further infiltration by the newer ethnic groups. The act was directly related to the philosophy of the "100 Percent American." Particular immigrants were excluded because it was felt that they could never fit into a 100 Percent mold. Interestingly enough, however, many of those who were excluded were white (besides the Chinese and Japanese). Further, many of those who were allowed continued immigration, were actually non-white. The pictures are used to display the concept visually. As the students will come to find, immigrants were excluded for many other reasons beside ethnic composition.
This lesson relates to several standards as outlined by "Learning Standards in Social Studies." First, in Standard I - History of the United States and New York, under key idea #1, a performance indicator states that students should "analyze the development of American culture, explaining how ideas, values, beliefs and traditions have changed over time..." During World War I, and previous to, immigrants had been welcome because of the shortage of workers available. As the war drew to a close, however, perceptions about immigrants changed. The second standard related to this lesson may also be found in Standard I under Key Idea #2. It states that the students should," compare and contrast the experiences of different groups in the United States." By assigning each student a separate immigrant group, and then bringing those groups together to find whether they were still allowed to immigrate, the students are comparing and contrasting the experiences of those immigrant groups.
This lesson utilizes the basic principles of the inductive model, as outlined in Models of Teaching. The inductive model involves three teaching strategies, the first in concept formation. In this case, this involves each student collecting data related to the Immigration Act of 1924 from their packets, and then using that data to organize their respective immigrant groups. The second teaching strategy involves an interpretation of data in which the students will explore the reasons why particular immigrants were excluded, and relate the reasons to the data uncovered. The third strategy involves an application of principles, here the students will apply the information learned in the immigrant lesson to the unit theme, "100 Percent Americanism."
This lesson would relate to most students culturally because it discusses the malleability of racial definition. Although Eastern Europeans were excluded at that point in time, their descendants may be considered ?100 Percent American? now. It is an interesting change. Also this lesson may be considered marginally interdisciplinary because it introduces The Great Gatsby. The book will be examined in the classroom at a later date.

4. Goals and Objectives: Lesson Goals:

Skill Objectives: 5. Procedures: (5 min.) Introduction: As the students enter the room, they are handed a reading packet and told to pick a card from the ones fanned out in the teacher?s hand. They are also told to place their homework from the night before in a pile. The bell rings. The teacher tells the students that they will be investigating the causes and consequences of the Immigration Act of 1924. They may work in pairs, or by themselves, and they will be given 25 minutes to complete the packet given to them.
I. (22 min.) The students begin work on their packets, and the teacher circles the classroom giving advice and praise, but sparingly, thereby encouraging students to work independently. When appropriate, each student comes to the board, writes their country under the particular category, and tapes their immigrant card next to their country. The teacher writes a check in her grade book when she sees that they have completed the sheet.
II ( 5 min.) The teacher calls the students? attention to the front of the classroom. She then asks them if they can place the countries under each category into greater categories (Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, Caribbean, etc.). The teacher arranges them according to the students? requests, using a map when needed. She then calls the students up to the board, and asks them to look at those who were excluded, and tell her why the quotas were considered racially biased. The students will notice that many in the "unlikely" category were white, while many in the "likely" category were non-white.
III. (5 min.) The teacher then points to the list the students made which explains why particular immigrants were no longer wanted. Example List (All from the Urban Frontier Reading)

1. Many of the newer immigrants were not Protestant.
2. It was feared that Eastern European immigrants would bring Communism.
3. It was feared that a large amount of immigrants could not be assimilated.
4. Labor organizations viewed immigrants as job competition. 5. Progressives felt that immigrants were more likely to commit crimes and consume alcohol.
6. Eastern European immigrants, along with Asian immigrants, were considered to be inferior.

The teacher notes numbers 1-5 caused number 6. She then asks the students what this lesson tells them about racial categories. As the students will hopefully recognize, the definition of one?s race changes as the reasons behind one?s racial identity come and go.

(8 min.) Closure: The teacher moves to the sideboard and asks the students to fill out the chart by relating the day?s lesson to the unit theme. She advises them to pick up the Great Gatsby chapters on their way out, noting that she will be checking the next day to see that they answer the questions in their journals. She also notes that they should keep their packets because they will be using them again.

6. Evaluation:
Student Evaluation: The students will be evaluated by the responses they provided in class, both by their oral responses and by the answers they wrote on the board. The lesson would be deemed a success when the responses were found to be meaningful and appropriate, and they coordinated with the lessons goals.
Teacher Evaluation: The teacher's effectiveness will be judged by the degree of students response. If the students seem engaged and the teacher senses active learning, the lesson may be considered a success.

7. Sources:

Professional Resources: Bogue, Donald J. The Population of the United States: Historical Trends and Future Projections. New York: The Free Press, 1985.

Chermayeff, Ivan, Fred Wasserman and Mary J. Shapiro. Ellis Island: An Illustrated History of the Immigrants Experience. New York: Maxmillan Publishing Company, 1991.

Documents of American History: Vol. II, Since 1898. Commanger, Henry Steele. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1973.

Handlin, Oscar. A Pictorial History of Immigration. New York: Crown Publishers, 1972.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1922.

Flanders, Stephen A. Atlas of American Migration. New York, Facts on File, Inc. 1998.

Whitman, Sylvia. Immigrant Children. Minneapolis: Carol hoda Books, Inc., 2000.

Student Resources/Materials: