Teacher's Guide

The lesson focuses primarily on gaining insight into French Canadian immigrants and their contributions by juxtaposing information from American Life Histories with that of the Nineteenth Century Periodicals, looking for areas of commonality and contradiction.

Students work in groups of two at the computers. Because some of the documents are long, limit the topics assigned to research to ten and make each group responsible for only two or three of them. This allows students to skim through lengthy passages.

Half of the class searches through the American Life Histories; the other half looks for information on the same topics in the Nineteenth Century Periodicals.

Students post their findings on a bulletin board in the classroom to facilitate group discussion.

The bulletin board becomes a whole class graphics organizer for this lesson.

Procedure
(Click on the Day for detailed information)

Day One
Have your students point their browser to the Student Page. If working offline, print the PDF of this file.

Day Two
Share the American Memory collections Search Tips with students.

Day Three, Four and Five
Students are encouraged to investigate many interviews and periodicals during the search process.
Students begin their American Memory collections search.

Day Six
Groups read the notes they posted to class; class takes notes; discussion ensues.

Day Seven
Complete class discussion.

Day Eight
Student-partners research and select different photos for analysis.

Evaluation

1. Graphically depict the influence of French Canadian immigrants in our region.

Use the following: Assignment 1 Rubric

2. Assume the role of foreman in a textile mill at the turn of the century. Using the characteristics of the immigrants discussed in class, persuade your boss to hire French Canadians.

3. Assume the role of a French Canadian immigrant. Produce a journal entry or write a letter to a relative in Canada.

4. Write an article for a gazette published in "Little Canada" at the turn of the century.

Use the following: Assignment 2, 3, 4 Rubric

Some of the items listed above are very closely connected and may be covered with a single example or reference by the student.

Extensions:

Research the strong resistance to assimilation on the part of French Canadian immigrants. What do you see as the ultimate reason for the demise of the "survivance" philosophy?

Compare/contrast the experiences of an immigrant in New England today with those of a French Canadian immigrant in the late 19th century.

Research the peculiar conflict between French Canadian and Irish immigrants (both predominately Catholics) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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