Brief Description

A favorite literature selection is Joan Lowery Nixon’s A Family Apart, the story of a family of Irish immigrant children in New York City in the mid 19th century who are given up as orphans by their loving mother when she can no longer provide for them following her husband’s untimely death. The children are subsequently sent west on the “Orphan Train” through the efforts of Reverend Loring Brace and the Children’s Aid Society. This Primary Source lesson is designed to provide a connection with this literature story, our social studies curriculum and primary source photos, letters, posters or newspapers of the time to help students better understand and to bring to life “real” children’s stories. This lesson should take two one- hour sessions to locate and reflect on the material.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 1T-E2. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated operation of technology components
• 3T-E2. Use formatting capabilities of technology tools for communicating and illustrating
• 5T-E1 Locate information from electronic resources

• R-E3.Analyze selections of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by identifying the plot line (i.e., beginning, conflict, rising action, climax and resolution); distinguishing the main character from minor ones; describing the relationships between and motivations of characters; and making inferences about the events, setting, style, tone, mood and meaning of the selection.
• 1SS-E1. Understand and apply the basic tools of historical research, including chronology and how to collect, interpret, and employ information from historical materials.

Academic

• Accessing the Internet, students will be able to define primary and secondary sources and give two examples of each.
• Students will analyze at least two primary source materials and write a conclusion about their contents.
• Students will consider multiple perspectives and interpretations of the sources reviewed to include in their conclusions.
• Students will attempt to make historical connections among the primary resources reviewed with our reading text and social studies book. These connections should be recorded on the attached worksheet.

• Students will access the Internet and examine at least three different primary sources from pre-selected sites.

• Students will need access to a computer and have permission to search the Internet.
• Keyboarding skills are helpful but not required.
• Students may need the ability to minimize/maximize documents to move around among sources.
• Use of a floppy disk for storage of information would be helpful.
• Students would need to know how to use or access bookmarks if provided.

• Students will need access to a computer and the Internet.
• Students may need a copy of A Family Apart and their social studies text for connections to primary sources.
• Students may use the attached worksheet or go to this site to retrieve a copy to help organize their information.

http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/document.html

Gifted students – this lesson provides an open door to students to extend their grasp of this period of time and the lives of those they investigate. They could pursue their own family’s genealogy and see from where their families may have immigrated and how those family members were impacted. They could examine the relationship of immigrants in the mid 19th century and the trials of survival they faced to those immigrants who cross our borders from Mexico today.

Sheltered English Immersion – this story and lesson provides a rich experience to compare the opportunities these students have today compared to those of the orphaned immigrants whose photos, letters and stories we examine. Students could write and talk about how situations may be similar or different. They could explain their ideas on tape, if needed, for translation into English. They might draw or paint their story as they compare it to our story characters.

Special Education – students might identify with one or more specific aspects detailed in the story and write or tell how their life relates to our characters. If they have moved or been separated from family members, for example, they could use semantic maps or other graphic organizers to prepare a paper or discussion about what they have learned as they read this story.

Attention Deficit Disorder – Students could read a related but shorter text. The same adaptations as for special education students could also be used.

Procedures

1. Using a variety of materials, the teacher will review the definitions of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources might include letters, photographs, diary entries or first-hand accounts of an event. Secondary sources could include social studies textbooks, other literature on the subject, newspaper or other written accounts about an event.

2. Students will select one or more of the websites provided to examine primary sources.

• http://iagenweb.org/iaorphans/photos.htm
• http://www.hamilton.net/subscribers/hurd/
• http://www.rootsweb.com/~neadoptn/Orphan.htm
• http://www.rootsweb.com/~mogrundy/orphans.html
• http://comsewogue.k12.ny.us/~orphantrain/links.htm
• http://www.orphantrainriders.com/#Introduction
• http://www.awesomelibrary.org/homework.html

In addition, I have included two organizers (Organizer 1 and Organizer 2) that could be used or adapted for use as attachments.

Assessment

• Using the attached rubric, students should achieve at least a 3 in all categories.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3?id=666755
 
• For written primary source documents, the attached worksheet must have at least three questions answered.