After completing this unit students will be able to:
Seven (45-60 minute) class periods
United States History and Government: grades 9-12, California History: grades 6-12
Local history, American History: Immigration, Westward Expansion, Social/
Cultural History
.
Lesson 1: Motivations, Expectations, Fears and Realizations (1
class period)
Students will be introduced to the four themes that will guide our exploration
of the experiences of early Californian settlers: motivations, expectations,
fears, and realizations through the study of excerpts from four personal
narratives describing a pioneer/migration experience to California provided
by the instructor. These narratives can be drawn from a variety of historical
and contemporary sources: stories of Asian immigration to the San Francisco
Bay Area (such as those found in Elaine Kim's East to America : Korean
American Life Stories ), accounts of migration to the Bay Area in the
1960s by people seeking political and cultural freedom (Irwin Unge's The
Times Were a Changin' : The Sixties Reader) or more recent accounts
of people coming to the Silicon Valley as part of the new digital gold rush
(many of which can be found searching http://www.wirednews.com).
-Provide all students with a copy of a the excerpts from the narratives.
-The students will brainstorm keywords/adjectives that would be demonstrative
of the four themes (motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations)
through a class discussion. A class member will record the results of the
brainstorming session.
-Students should: read the excerpts from the narratives, highlight 1 (one)
piece of evidence of the four themes (motivations, expectations, fears,
and realizations) and explain in a journal entry how their evidence relates
to the four themes.
-Teacher will compile the results of the brainstorming session, creating
a bank of searchable keywords to be disseminated in the form of a
handout to the class on the following day.
Lesson 2: Searching for Sources (3 class periods)
Students will be given a demonstration showing the basic search features of the American Memory Collection. Students will be shown how to compile a bookmark file in Netscape Navigator to collect their research results.
Using the search strategies developed in the previous activity, students will search the California As I Saw It collection for at least four documents that depicts the motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations of individuals who settled in California between 1849 and 1900. Students will be shown the differences between a keyword, subject, and title search in order to maximize their results. After locating the documents from the California as I Saw it Collection, students will search all American Memory collections for relaxant pictures, movies, maps, and sound files to illustrate their script.
Through their searching, students will find the following:
4 references linked to California As I Saw It that
depict the 4 themes
4 related images (linked) from any American Memory collection
2 related motion pictures or sound files from any American Memory
collection
-Students should print out the bibliographic information page for every
American Memory Collection document that they will have links to
in their finished hyperscript.
Homework: Writing the scripts
After searching the collections and locating documents in the California
As I Saw It collection that provide examples of the motivations,
expectations, fears, and realizations of California settlers between the
years of 1849 until 1900, students will begin to write their scripts. Using
the Hyperscript
example as a guide, students will construct a dramatic scene that includes
the following elements:
Links
1. Students should include a link, relevantly placed, that connects to text
documents found in the California As I Saw It collection that provide
examples of the motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations
of California settlers between the years of 1849 until 1900. Students should
provide a link to a separate document for each of these four themes.
2. Students should include in their script links to at least 4 images found in the American Memory Collection that relate to the subject matter of their script.
3. Students should include links to at least 2 sound recordings or motion pictures found in the American Memory Collection that relate to the geographical and chronological subject matter of their script.
Dramatic Elements:
1. Scene Description (time period, geographical location, description of
what is visible on stage, physical description of characters and their clothing).
This component should contain at least one link to an illustrative photograph
or print from the American Memory Collection.
2. Student's should include at least two characters in the dialogue.
3. Student's should write an "Author's Note" at the end of the piece that explains how the selected links to the American Memory Collection are illustrative of the motivations, expectations, fears and realizations of settlers in California during this time period.
Lesson 3: Creation of Hyperscript (3 class periods)
Students will convert their written script into a hyperscript.They will
be shown how to create a HTML document and how to insert links to items
in the American Memory Collection. In addition, they will be shown
how to insert images they selected from the American Memory Collection
into their hyperscript and link them to their source in the American
Memory Collection.
Students will arrive to class with their finished script on a disk. They will then cut and paste the text into a blank page of a HTML authoring program (Netscape Composer, Adobe Pagemill, etc.) Using the HTML authoring program, the students will insert the pictures they have selected from American Memory in appropriate places and link those pictures to thier source in the American Memory Collection. . They will also select relevant portions of text from their script to link to relevant American Memory documents, pictures, sound and movie files.
Care must be taken when linking to an American Memory Collection document that the link is a permanent one - that it will work not just the first time but on return visits to the site as well. For directions on how to create a permanent link to an American Memory document, go to the Technical Information page <http://learning.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/techfaq.html>and click on Linking and Bookmarking link <http://learning.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/link.html>.
The graphical layout of the hyperscript is up to the instructor. However, a standardization is suggested to make the reading process as easy as possible. To see some possible design options, visit either of these examples of student hyperscript projects:
Links to the Past Main Project Page
1. Does the hyperscript illustrate the four themes (motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations) ? Provide examples.
2. Are all of the links relevant to the story presented? Are any of the linked items anachronistic?
3. Was the script interesting to read? If not, what suggestions would you make?
4. Compare the experiences of the characters in the hyperscript with more recent immigrants and emigrants to California. How are they similar? How are they different?