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LESSON PLAN:
IMMIGRATION REFORM -- UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUE FROM DIFFERENT POINTS OF
VIEW
Background,
Activities and Critical Analysis
By Lisa Prososki
Subject(s):
secondary current events, political science, social studies, U.S.
history, civics, debate, and communication arts classes
Time: Three 90-minute or five 50-minute class periods plus additional
time for extension activities.
Objectives
- Students
will:
- utilize
their prior knowledge to brainstorm definitions for immigrant, illegal
immigrant, and undocumented immigrant and share these definitions with
classmates, as well as answer questions about immigration facts and
statistics.
- participate
in a class discussion where they must share and support their opinions
using reasons, facts, and examples.
- conduct
research using Internet, news and primary sources to learn about the
opinions of various groups representing a variety of viewpoints about
immigration reform.
- develop
a role play that illustrates a specific point of view related to immigration
reform and perform this role play for classmates.
- learn
about current laws/pending legislation related to immigration reform
by utilizing primary sources.
- debate
issues related to immigration reform based on the various viewpoints
represented in the prior class activities.
- compose
a persuasive essay, letter to the editor, or e-mail/letter to a state
senator describing their views about immigration reform and their ideas
for solving the problem.
Background:
Each year
millions of people cross the U.S. borders illegally in search of the American
dream -- a land of freedom and opportunity that can provide them and their
families with a quality of life they cannot enjoy in their home countries.
Americans
have become increasingly concerned with illegal immigration, citing the
rising cost of illegal immigrants and the strain they place on public
services such as the education, legal, and emergency medical systems in
the U.S.
With some
12 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. and working
in jobs that most Americans will not do, illegal immigrants feel they
are a crucial part of the economic prosperity enjoyed by U.S. citizens.
With many
varying opinions about illegal immigrants, people on all sides of the
issue are calling for immigration reform. Everyday citizens, business
leaders, and immigrants, legal and illegal, are making their views known
to lawmakers in an attempt to spur immigration reform that will fairly
address the problem of illegal immigration and provide a solution that
is beneficial to all people residing and working in the U.S today.
To make these lesson plans better 
Correlation to National Standards
Materials
Procedure
NOTE:
This lesson is broken into two parts. Depending on the amount
of time available for study, the lesson could be done in its entirety
or Part 1 and Part 2 could be completed as stand alone lessons.
Part 1:
The Facts of the Matter
1. Write the words "immigrant," "illegal immigrant"
and "undocumented immigrant" on the board or overhead and have
them displayed for students when they enter the classroom. Direct students
to think about each term and share his/her definition of each term with
the person sitting next to him/her. As a group, discuss the various definitions
and work as a class to record an accurate description for each term (simple
definitions are listed below).
- immigrant
-- a person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another
after being granted permission to do so by the government
- illegal
immigrant -- an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States
without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date
of a visa. This person is sometimes referred to as an undocumented immigrant".
- undocumented
immigrant -- an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States
without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date
of a visa. This person is sometimes referred to as an "illegal
immigrant".
Note:
Take time to discuss the fact that while illegal immigrants and undocumented
immigrants are the same thing, the terms have very different connotations.
Briefly discuss these connotations.
2. List the
term "immigration reform" on the board or overhead. Take 2-3
minutes to do a class brainstorming session and list all the ideas students
can generate about this topic.
3. To get
students interested and thinking more about the facts related to immigration,
particularly illegal immigrants, distribute the Immigration
Facts and Statistics worksheet and provide students with 5 minutes
to complete the questions using their prior knowledge and their best guesses.
Note: Statistics and information presented on the Immigration Facts and
Statistics worksheet was found from a number of primary sources including
the Center for Immigration Studies, Online
NewsHour, the Nightly Business Report, the White House Immigration
Reform Fact Sheet, and ABC News.
4. After
students have completed the Immigration Facts and Statistics worksheet,
work as a class to discuss the answers to each question. Once students
have some basic facts about illegal immigration, pose the following questions:
- In
your opinion, in what ways are illegal immigrants important/helpful
to the U.S.?
- In
your opinion, in what ways are illegal immigrants impacting the U.S.
in a negative way?
Facilitate a short discussion about these two questions and have students
give specific
reasons, facts, and examples to support what they say whenever possible.
Part 2:
Debating Various Points of View
Distribute
the handout From My Point of View
Part 1 to each student. Select students to read about each different
group's point of view on immigration and reforming the current laws. As
you complete the section about each group of people, take 2-3 minutes
to discuss their point of view and summarize their main ideas about illegal
immigrants.
- Divide
the class into 4 groups. Using Internet resources or other primary sources,
have students work as a group to research the common opinions of the
people they are representing. They should use the questions on From
My Point of View Parts 2-3 handout to guide their research.
- When research
has been completed and each group has a clear understanding of what
the people they represent believe about illegal immigrants, direct students
to Part 3 of the From My Point of View handout. Give groups 15-20 minutes
to create and practice their role-play.
- Have each
group present their role-play to the class. Students should pay careful
attention to each group presentation to learn how each group feels about
the issues surrounding illegal immigrants.
- When all
groups have completed their role play demonstrations, distribute current
information about the laws governing illegal immigrants and/or the legislation
being considered by lawmakers to reform immigration laws and policies.
This information can be found using the Related Links section included
below.
- Keep students
in their role play groups and have them brainstorm what they think the
group they are representing would like/dislike about the laws/legislation
discussed in step 4 directly above. A graphic organizer such as a Pros/Cons
chart could be used to organize this information. Have the group create
a written proposal that lists what they believe should be done to address
the issue of illegal immigrants.
- Bring
all of the groups together as a class to present their proposals and
discuss and debate the various points of view related to immigration.
Encourage groups to use their Pros/Cons charts and their written proposals
to support the point of view they are representing.
- As a final
activity, have each student draft a letter, persuasive essay, or letter
to the editor that describes what they believe should be done to solve
the problem of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Students should utilize
what they have learned from their research and class discussion and
debate activities to formulate a plan that addresses the point of view
provided by each of the groups they learned about. Encourage students
to share their work by e-mailing state lawmakers or submitting their
writing to the school or local newspaper.
Related
Links
The White
House Immigration Fact Sheet
Outlining President Bush's plan for immigration reform, the site provides
facts, statistics, and detailed information about what the President believes
should be done to reform U.S. immigration laws and policies.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060327-1.html
Online
NewsHour "Rallying for Rights" on 4/10/06
This article examines two differing opinions about the rights of illegal
immigrants and focuses on what some typical Americans feel along with
the ideas of legal immigrants, most of them from South American countries.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june06/immigration_4-10.html
Online NewsHour "Immigration Debate" on 3/31/06
In this article the role of illegal immigrants filling low-level, low-paying
jobs and the effect of this labor source on the U.S. economy is examined
and discussed from various points of view.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/jan-june06/immigration_3-31.html
Online
NewsHour "Building Up the Border" on 2/15/06
This article explains various points of view about increasing border security
through the use of fences and increased border patrolling, among other
things.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/Latin_America/jan-june06/fences_2-15.html
U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services
Sample questions from the Naturalization Self Test offer opportunities
to view the types of questions presented on the citizenship test in an
interactive format.
http://uscis.gov/graphics/exec/natz/natztest.asp
Pew Hispanic
Center
The site provides statistical information and studies about America's
Hispanic population and has specific links dedicated to immigration issues
http://pewhispanic.org/
U.S. Senate
Use the search function to learn about immigration reform legislation.
http://www.senate.gov/
U.S. House
of Representatives
Use the search function to learn about immigration reform legislation
http://www.house.gov/
Abcnews.com
"Rallies Called to Make Illegals Legal" on 4/10/06
The focus of this article is on two varying points of view shared by two
mothers who reside in the U.S.-one is an illegal immigrant, the other
a member of a group opposing illegal immigrants.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1825363&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
Extension
Activity
Have students learn about the steps are for becoming a U.S. citizen. Use
primary sources to research the process and create a flow chart that documents
the steps. Using an online source such as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services Naturalization Self Test available at
http://uscis.gov/graphics/exec/natz/natztest.asp
Have students answer the sample questions to see what types of knowledge
immigrants must have about the country. Have students discuss the steps
to citizenship and why they are important for those considering immigration
to the U.S.
Correlation
to National Standards
McRel
Compendium of K-12 Standards Addressed:
McRel Compendium
of K-12 Standards Addressed:
United
States History
Standard 31: Understands economic, social, and cultural development in
the contemporary
United States
Civics
Standard 11: Understands the role of diversity in American life and the
importance of shared
values, political beliefs ,and civic beliefs in n increasingly divers
American society
Language
Arts
Writing
Standard 4: Gathers and uses information for research purposes
Reading
Standard 5: Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process
Standard 7: Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret
a variety of
informational texts
Listening
and Speaking
Standard 8: Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
Thinking
and Reasoning
Standard 1: Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting
an argument
Standard 6: Applies decision-making techniques
Working
with Others
Standard 1: Contributes to the overall effort of a group
Standard 4: Displays effective interpersonal communication skills
About
the Author: Lisa Prososki is an independent educational consultant who
taught middle school and high school social studies, English, reading,
and technology courses for twelve years. Prososki has worked with PBS
TeacherSource and has authored and edited many lesson plans and materials
for various PBS programs over the past nine years. In addition to conducting
workshops for teachers at various state and national meetings, Prososki
works as an editor, creates a wide range of educational and training materials
for corporate clients, and has authored one book.
To find
out more about opportunities to contribute to this site, contact Leah
Clapman at extra@newshour.org.
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