Welcome....
For the longest time, people have been coming to this vast country we call the United States, and for many reasons such as: Fleeing attacks, a better working environment, to be away from the chains of slavery, or even to reunite themselves with family members. Whatever the reason may be, the United States prides itself on the basis of freedom.
With each passing year, the United States allows for immigrants to pass through our borders and establish themselves on the grounds of citizenship (as long as they adhere to our laws of being a citizen). Illegal immigration has been another "heated" issue with numbers equaling in 2008 to nearly 20 million!! There have been mixed feelings coming from the United States as to how the government should handle the up and coming year with the new rise of immigrants, along with illegal immigrants, who just want a piece of our American "freedom" pie. Some government officials look to reforms on immigration so as to lower the amount of foreigners allowed to come to the United States. Another way of ensuring this, is presented in the form of raising the difficulty of the citizenship test that immigrants must take and pass to be able to live in the U.S.
My question to you is: Should the United States continue to "tighten the grips" on immigration (legal or illegal), or should America be open to all seeking it's freedoms?
What you will be doing is taking the information that you find from both websites; positive and negative effects of immigration in the United States; and asking yourself the likely question of what outweighs the other. You should pay attention to the article on "US immigration has a positive effect on wages" to see if this holds true in reality and whether you agree that it is positive. With the article on "The Real Problem with immigration", pay attention to the paragraph under the heading The Real Problem, that talks about the issue of national security, and see how this might lead to worries such as whether another 9/11 attack could occur. I have also provided you with a short video footage at the very bottom of the webquest (please watch AFTER you look at the two websites) that will let you see what it means to be directly impacted by immigration, through the eyes of immigrant children, or children speaking of their parents or grandparents experience with immigration.
I ultimately would like to give you as individuals an opportunity to write up a paper (At least 2 pages in length). This will not be just any MLA or APA paper, but rather you writing a letter to the government about what you feel they should do about immigration for the year 2009. I will provide you with more thorough instructions when you reach the posting labeled "Letter to the government". Please keep in mind that you should take this writing assignment VERY SERIOUS and not as some chance to slack off and write up the night before it is due. Believe it or not, immigration IS affecting you as Americans whether directly or in some other form. I am giving you a chance to carefully and thoughtfully respond to this issue by writing this letter, so again, please plan your two weeks accordingly so as to get everything done.
1.2 The Real Problem with Immigration...and the Real Solution
The Real Problem with Immigration:
It is here that you will find out some of the direct implications of immigration in the United States. This article tends to highlight mostly the issues with immigration. PLEASE ONLY READ THE ARTICLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEBPAGE. I have provided some questions for you to think about while you are reading through this article. You are NOT required to write these questions down and turn them in, but I should hopefully see your responses to them as you work through your letter response to the government about immigration in the year 2009.
- While there are many problems listed in this article about immigration in the United States, what has been the underlying factor in the government wanting stricter policies towards allowing foreigners past our borders?
- What is the "culture of illegality"?
- Will the United States economy in the future suffer if our borders are loosened to allow for more immigrants?
These are just a few questions to get you going on your quest to my original question formed in the Introduction of this WebQuest. I know that this article may seem long, but PLEASE read all of it and carefully, because the article address a lot of the issues that the influx of immigration has caused in the U.S. You can find this article under the label "The Real Problem with Immigration" that is located on the right side of the WebQuest (Note that the main label this article is found under is "Immigration").
1.3 U.S. Immigration Has A Positive Effect on Wages
So you might be asking yourselves what some of the positive aspects of immigration are?
It is my hopes that this website, "U.S. Immigration Has a Positive Effect on Wages", will help
you in your quest of answering my question. I would like for you to again read the entire article.
Please DO NOT click on any other links or parts of the webpage, but only read the article. So,
instead of asking you questions for this article, I am going to list some ideas and terms to remember
that will be key in writing your letter to the government. These are just some of the important parts
of this article:
- The theory of the more immigrants come to the U.S., the lower the wages will be for all workers (both U.S. and foreign).
- Most foreign workers tend to take on the jobs that we as Americans don't see as fun or professional. What might these jobs be?
- Immigrants who are hired to work in special jobs such as with advanced technology, actually create more growth in our economy.
There is more to this article than what I listed and it will be up to you to search out those important parts that can be helpful in your brainstorming period as to what you would like to write to the government. You can find this websites article along with the previous article on the right hand side of the WebQuest, labeled "U.S. Immigration-Positive Effect on Wages".
1.4 Inquiry
This is where you will get further directions on the two activities I have for you to complete on Immigration. Since I only have two activities for you to do, this should mean that you need to put in the time and effort to make sure you complete these assignments. I will make two separate posts, each explaining the assignment, and one with a link to open up the set of questions for the video I have posted at the bottom of the WebQuest labeled "Notre Dame students share their Immigration Stories".
I expect you as Juniors and Seniors in high school to do the work that is required and to not cheat. Academic dishonesty is absolutely not an option, so please do your own work (Especially the questions assignment for the video).
You may use either the Computer Lab during class to view these websites and to type the letter for the government, OR you may use a personal computer such as at home or anywhere else outside of school. HOWEVER, I would prefer for you to use the computers in the Lab so that I may see the progress you are making and also to answer any questions that you may have.
1.5 Inquiry-Video Questions: Notre Dame Students share their Immigration stories
This is the actual video that you as the student are to watch and then answer the questions that are provided (please have these questions printed out prior to starting the video) as you go along with the video. Luckily for you, the video is short and therefore once it is done loading you can go back to any part in the video if you happen to miss something that you may need to use in order to answer the questions.
Here is the video:
Ask yourself the question: What were there families struggles? Do you think America welcomed them with open arms? Why did the Polish family not want to go back to their country once they were in America?
1.6 Letter to the Government
This is your directions for the paper assignment:
- 1-2 page minimum, 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
- Please put the appropriate title (e.g. your name, the date, teachers name, name of assignment).
- After putting the appropriate title, hit enter twice, type "Dear Head of Government", and hit enter once.
- Type what you would like the Head of Government to propose for 2009 on Immigration. Include all that you learned thus far as well as maybe some policies that they might want to consider in the next presidential campaign.
- Keep in mind while writing this, that even though this letter won't actually be stamped and mailed off to the head of the U.S. Government, you should write as though it will. (As your teacher, I will know if you did not take this assignment seriously).
- Be ready to turn this in at the end of the two weeks.
Good luck! Let me know if you need help!!
1.7 Teacher Help
Here is what you (the teachers) will need to know:
- This WebQuest is intended for the grade range of 11th to 12th graders. Specifically for either Social Studies, Government or Sociology classes.
- What your students will learn is how Immigration affects the United States and how some of our government officials who oppose immigration, plan to handle this issue. Your students will learn how to carefully and considerately approach this issue and prepare intelligent arguments that do not show ignorance or lack of respect.
- This overall project should take about 1 & 1/2-2 weeks, and computer lab time should be used wisely. If you plan on a two week date I would give your students at least one of those weeks to use the computer lab DURING class time. If you plan on a one and 1/2 week date I would give your students at least 3 class periods in the computer lab.
- Here is the grading rubric: (Total points for the assignment is 50)
25 points-All the questions are answered in the specified quantity (Complete sentences or short answers or both). The student shows thoughtful, well answered responses that are related directly to the video or in the case of the first two questions, are not about some other topic.
20 points-All the questions are answered, but 1 or 2 are not written in the specified quantity. The student still sticks to thoughtful, well answered responses.
15 points-One or two questions are left unanswered. Most of the questions are not written in the specified quantity. Most, but not all of the answers are thoughtful and well done, and there are some that tend to be unrelated to the question(s).
10 points or below-A large amount (over half) of the questions are not answered and those that are answered are not in the specified quantity. The student does not stick to the related question and shows a lack of understanding and seriousness. This student overall shows that they did not pay attention to the video.
Letter to the Government (25 points)
25 points-The length of the paper is in the specified 1-2 page quantity. The student used 12 pt. font, Times New Roman and double spaced. The student shows a thoughtful, well-written responses and the paragraphs are concise and coherent. This paper sticks to the topic and shows that the student responded to the questions laid out for website #1.
20 points-The length of the paper is close to the 1-2 page quantity. The student used 12 pt. font, Times New Roman and double spaced. There is a bit of a problem with the paper being concise and coherent, but overall the student still wrote a thoughtful, well-written paper. The student showed they responded to the questions laid out for website #1.
15 points-The paper is short of the 1-2 page quantity. The student used the 12 pt. font, Times New Roman and double spaced. Paragraphs at times do not seem concise nor coherent. The paper could show more of a thought process and did not seem to show a response to the questions from website #1. There are some grammar and sentence issues as well.
10 points or below-This paper does not meet the requirements of page quantity. The student seems to be confused about the 12 pt. font, Times New Roman and double spaced paper requirement. This paper is not concise nor coherent and paragraphs are short. There are equally a lot of grammar and sentence issues. Overall, this paper does not show the students seriousness for the assignment or for their grade.
It is alright, as a teacher, to use your best judgement along with my grading rubric. It is here as a good judger of your students work, but you should not completely rely on it.
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