What Are They Thinking?
Migration/Immigration
In my unit on the Midwest, there is discussion about early pioneers making their way out west and passing through the Midwest, some of them settling and some of them moving on further west. I decided to use the word “migration/immigration” to see what students know about immigration, and whether or not they could tie the concept to the immigration or migration of people from the east coast of the United States to the west coast, and the impact those people had on the natives who lived there.
I worked with 5 students who are part of the SIGNET program, I asked two females and three males, two of them are African American, two are Caucasian and one is Hispanic. I chose a variety of students because immigration is something that affects cultures and specific ethnicities of people. The students were given an explanation that there is no wrong answer to my questions and that they were to brainstorm everything they know, have learned, have heard on the news, think, assume, inference or have questions about concerning the pictures I put in front of them and the word written on the back.
The first picture is a portrait photograph of a Native American male.
The brainstorming resulted in the following terms and phrases:
· Native Americans (Indians)
· teepees
· tribes
· farming
· angry/serious
· mad/sad
· Pocahontas
· feather for people who have earned it
· beads and pottery
· depression
· corn and squash
· long ago
· chief of a village
· serious but simple (no technology)
· hunting
· historic
· Indian reservations
The second picture is a photograph of early pioneers resting as a family with two wagons. see below
The brainstorming resulted in these terms and phrases:
· Pioneers
· Wagons
· West/westward expansion
· traveled in groups
· tired
· long time ago
· no school, long trips
· Negativity
· settlement
· gathering
· fields, mountains
· Blue Ridge Mountains
· trails
· pilgrims
· dirty clothes
· Oregon trail
Then I asked the student to write in between the two pictures what they thought the similarities, differences and relationship between the two pictures or people in the pictures may be, if there is one. This is what was written:
· Fighting over land
· Trading for food
· Thanksgiving
· People taking over Indian territory
· They looked like they didn’t get along because they (pointed to pioneers) took their land and conquered it and used their farms (pointing to Native Americans)
· A long time ago they didn’t like each other because they stole land
· Dressed different
· Pioneers traveled, Indians didn’t
On the back of the paper I wrote the words “Migration/Immigration” and asked the student to write down what they knew. I told them anything they thought, knew, heard, learned, and assumed was okay and that there were no wrong answers. Again here is what was written, but this time as they wrote I asked questions to make them think deeper. Here are the two extremes of knowledge I encountered during this part of the interview; my words are italicized, theirs are not.
Student #1 – Hispanic male
What do these words mean?
When people travel from one place to another
Do they travel for vacation?
No they go to live.
Why would people travel to move to live in another place?
To run away from strict rules, to get freedom
Why else?
Leave for more opportunities which means to move on and get more money
Do you know anyone who moved to live in another country?
My family moved to America from Mexico.
Which part of your family?
My parents
Where do your grandparents live?
Mexico still
So who are the immigrants in your family?
My parents and me
Where were you born?
In the United States
Does that make you an immigrant too?
I don’t know. Probably because I live with my parents
What might make immigrants different than native people?
I don’t know.
Are there any things that you do different at home than your friends or than maybe I do at home?
I speak Spanish at home.
Okay so languages might be different between immigrants and native people. Anything else?
Food?
Sure, what is the best meal your mom makes?
Ceviche.
I’ve never had ceviche, it sounds like a traditional Mexican dish right?
Right.
Do you eat pizza or chicken tenders ever?
Yes, sometimes. At school.
There is an example of you adapting and eating things from both Mexico and the United States. No what do you think, are you an immigrant or a citizen….there is no right or wrong answer remember.
I guess both.
When you look at the pictures, who are the migrants and who are the natives?
*Points to both correctly*
Why did the migrants move and what happened to the Native people that lived there?
The pioneers took the land from the Indians so they didn’t get along because the Indians didn’t want to give it to them.
Student #2 – Caucasian Female
What do the words immigration or migration mean?
When people travel from to the Blue Ridge.
The Blue Ridge Mountains?
Yeah, we learned about them last year.
Do they move there or just travel there?
Both.
Okay, what else do you know or what else do you think of when you hear those words?
Traveling and wagons.
So that’s how who traveled when migrating?
The people in the pictures.
Are there any other ways?
I guess they could walk.
Why do people immigrate or migrate from one place to another?
Because of people and destruction.
Does this still happen today?
Probably.
Do you know any examples or countries where people migrate or emigrate from one area to another?
Not really.
What about the pictures I showed you, are either of those people immigrants or migrants?
Yeah, the pioneers were like immigrants.
And why were they looking for a new place to live?
Maybe to get more land.
Was this land free?
Well kind of because they didn’t have to buy it they just took it.
Any other thoughts on these words?
Not that I can think of.
There is a clear difference in not only the understanding of the words “immigration” and “migration”, but also a completely different level of exposure to these words. Student #1 had parents who emigrated from Mexico, so he made the link and had heard those words before, even though he was born in the United States. He did mention that he has never been to Mexico, but his parents came to get a good job. He was able to think past the pictures to relative experiences from his own life and then relate them back to the subjects we originally discussed.
Student number two however couldn’t move past the pictures and what she had “learned” about immigration or migration and tried to link the words to travel she had in previous history lessons. While she understood what the words meant, she clearly had no personal experience with them or knowledge of the words in any other context besides the one I had provided her with during the interview.
This is interesting because it shows that the topic could go by completely dull to the students, or they could relate to the subject of immigration strongly because of the ethic diversity within my classroom.
The responses surprised me as I would have assuming there would be a quicker link to pioneers, migration, immigration and today’s controversies, but within this classroom the students were fairly unfamiliar with the terms. This means when I teach my unit on the Midwest, the migration of “pioneers” from the east coast to the west coast in search for land, gold, opportunity or whatever the motivation, and the impact of that migration on Native Americans already living in these areas will be something to explore, but the link to immigration today will not be as apparent as I previously thought.
I worked with 5 students who are part of the SIGNET program, I asked two females and three males, two of them are African American, two are Caucasian and one is Hispanic. I chose a variety of students because immigration is something that affects cultures and specific ethnicities of people. The students were given an explanation that there is no wrong answer to my questions and that they were to brainstorm everything they know, have learned, have heard on the news, think, assume, inference or have questions about concerning the pictures I put in front of them and the word written on the back.
The first picture is a portrait photograph of a Native American male.
The brainstorming resulted in the following terms and phrases:
· Native Americans (Indians)
· teepees
· tribes
· farming
· angry/serious
· mad/sad
· Pocahontas
· feather for people who have earned it
· beads and pottery
· depression
· corn and squash
· long ago
· chief of a village
· serious but simple (no technology)
· hunting
· historic
· Indian reservations
The second picture is a photograph of early pioneers resting as a family with two wagons. see below
The brainstorming resulted in these terms and phrases:
· Pioneers
· Wagons
· West/westward expansion
· traveled in groups
· tired
· long time ago
· no school, long trips
· Negativity
· settlement
· gathering
· fields, mountains
· Blue Ridge Mountains
· trails
· pilgrims
· dirty clothes
· Oregon trail
Then I asked the student to write in between the two pictures what they thought the similarities, differences and relationship between the two pictures or people in the pictures may be, if there is one. This is what was written:
· Fighting over land
· Trading for food
· Thanksgiving
· People taking over Indian territory
· They looked like they didn’t get along because they (pointed to pioneers) took their land and conquered it and used their farms (pointing to Native Americans)
· A long time ago they didn’t like each other because they stole land
· Dressed different
· Pioneers traveled, Indians didn’t
On the back of the paper I wrote the words “Migration/Immigration” and asked the student to write down what they knew. I told them anything they thought, knew, heard, learned, and assumed was okay and that there were no wrong answers. Again here is what was written, but this time as they wrote I asked questions to make them think deeper. Here are the two extremes of knowledge I encountered during this part of the interview; my words are italicized, theirs are not.
Student #1 – Hispanic male
What do these words mean?
When people travel from one place to another
Do they travel for vacation?
No they go to live.
Why would people travel to move to live in another place?
To run away from strict rules, to get freedom
Why else?
Leave for more opportunities which means to move on and get more money
Do you know anyone who moved to live in another country?
My family moved to America from Mexico.
Which part of your family?
My parents
Where do your grandparents live?
Mexico still
So who are the immigrants in your family?
My parents and me
Where were you born?
In the United States
Does that make you an immigrant too?
I don’t know. Probably because I live with my parents
What might make immigrants different than native people?
I don’t know.
Are there any things that you do different at home than your friends or than maybe I do at home?
I speak Spanish at home.
Okay so languages might be different between immigrants and native people. Anything else?
Food?
Sure, what is the best meal your mom makes?
Ceviche.
I’ve never had ceviche, it sounds like a traditional Mexican dish right?
Right.
Do you eat pizza or chicken tenders ever?
Yes, sometimes. At school.
There is an example of you adapting and eating things from both Mexico and the United States. No what do you think, are you an immigrant or a citizen….there is no right or wrong answer remember.
I guess both.
When you look at the pictures, who are the migrants and who are the natives?
*Points to both correctly*
Why did the migrants move and what happened to the Native people that lived there?
The pioneers took the land from the Indians so they didn’t get along because the Indians didn’t want to give it to them.
Student #2 – Caucasian Female
What do the words immigration or migration mean?
When people travel from to the Blue Ridge.
The Blue Ridge Mountains?
Yeah, we learned about them last year.
Do they move there or just travel there?
Both.
Okay, what else do you know or what else do you think of when you hear those words?
Traveling and wagons.
So that’s how who traveled when migrating?
The people in the pictures.
Are there any other ways?
I guess they could walk.
Why do people immigrate or migrate from one place to another?
Because of people and destruction.
Does this still happen today?
Probably.
Do you know any examples or countries where people migrate or emigrate from one area to another?
Not really.
What about the pictures I showed you, are either of those people immigrants or migrants?
Yeah, the pioneers were like immigrants.
And why were they looking for a new place to live?
Maybe to get more land.
Was this land free?
Well kind of because they didn’t have to buy it they just took it.
Any other thoughts on these words?
Not that I can think of.
There is a clear difference in not only the understanding of the words “immigration” and “migration”, but also a completely different level of exposure to these words. Student #1 had parents who emigrated from Mexico, so he made the link and had heard those words before, even though he was born in the United States. He did mention that he has never been to Mexico, but his parents came to get a good job. He was able to think past the pictures to relative experiences from his own life and then relate them back to the subjects we originally discussed.
Student number two however couldn’t move past the pictures and what she had “learned” about immigration or migration and tried to link the words to travel she had in previous history lessons. While she understood what the words meant, she clearly had no personal experience with them or knowledge of the words in any other context besides the one I had provided her with during the interview.
This is interesting because it shows that the topic could go by completely dull to the students, or they could relate to the subject of immigration strongly because of the ethic diversity within my classroom.
The responses surprised me as I would have assuming there would be a quicker link to pioneers, migration, immigration and today’s controversies, but within this classroom the students were fairly unfamiliar with the terms. This means when I teach my unit on the Midwest, the migration of “pioneers” from the east coast to the west coast in search for land, gold, opportunity or whatever the motivation, and the impact of that migration on Native Americans already living in these areas will be something to explore, but the link to immigration today will not be as apparent as I previously thought.