Immigration Reflective Essay

In order to effectively teach the patterns of conflict involved immigration, I have used technology in three different ways; through a short Prezi presentation, an interactive game, and two short videos concerning the differing views of immigration by the two leading candidates in the upcoming Presidential election. By providing a variety of learning materials, my students stay interested and engaged throughout the lesson. According to “Instructional Technology and Media for Learning,” text in the Enhancing Learning with Text and Visuals chapter; not only do a variety of visuals engage students. Visuals also assist in making theoretical ideas more solid, motivate learning by holding their attention longer, and lastly, a variety of visuals assist in remembering content; they hear the information from the teacher, and see it/read it with the visual content. For all of these reasons, new information is easier for students to comprehend using visual content.

Rachel Radar’s Prezi presentation, ‘Immigration in the USA,” is packed full of essential information for the students to learn in order to truly understand a brief timeline of the history of immigration in the United States. By including this

presentation, the students essentially learn the information twice, verbally from the instructor (me), and physically through the presentation.

Ellis Island National Park’s, “From Ellis Island to Orchard Street with Victoria Confino” interactive game, engages the students and breaks up the monotony of learning through lecture.

This game not only refreshes students’ minds and gets them excited, it also teaches them what immigration was like in the turn of the century. This technology benefits the students because it engages essential problem solving skills that come with mastery of this subject. These students have to truly understand the content learned in ‘Direct Instruction’ in order to do well in this interactive game. “From Ellis Island to Orchard Street,” also helps myself, as an educator, because it teaches the students what I have taught them, for a second time-which further drives home the

lesson.

My final form of technology used for this lesson are 2 short political videos concerning the differing views of immigration by the two leading candidates in the upcoming Presidential election. I have included this because I believe it is imperative for children to learn the importance of being educated about our current government, with all aspects. Immigration is a big issue in this upcoming Presidential candidacy, everyone should be educated on this subject. In addition, showing students current events directly aligns with this PSS because they are learning patterns of conflict. Lastly, my goal is to help breed a future generation of educated adults who take advantage of our political system, by voting and being thoroughly educated about the differences between each candidate.