tlp_10_hrossow

Hope Rossow Teacher Lesson Page
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3.6 Identify the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights as key American documents
 * Standard**

What rights was Mary's family looking for in America that they didn't have in Russia?
 * Guiding Question**

Free To Be Me
 * Title:**

//"Our Constitution is founded on the principle that all men are equal as citizens and entitled to the same rights, whether they achieved citizenship by birth, or after coming here as immigrants, seeking to find in America new freedom and new opportunities."// John F. Kennedy, 1960 Imagine that you have just found out you are going to be leaving your home country, Russia, to start a new life in America. The only information you have about America is from letters you have been sent from family members already living there, and amazing stories you have been told by others living in your community. You have never seen any real pictures of America. The only world you know is a small, rural village in region of Russia called The Pale. As a poor Jewish family in Russia, life has not been easy. Taxes are high and rights for Jewish people are limited. What rights and freedoms do you and your family expect to find in the United States that you do not have in Russia?
 * Introduction:**

Mary Antin was a young girl who emigrated from Russia to Chelsea in the 1800's. In this lesson, you will be looking at images from Mary's village in Russia, as well as images of Chelsea. It is your job to figure out how moving to Chelsea changed the lives of Mary's family. Look carefully at the pictures, and think about what life in Russia and Chelsea was like. You will compare and contrast life in Chelsea and Russia and answer the questions:
 * Task:**
 * Where would you rather live? Why?
 * What could or couldn't you do in each location?
 * Were people treated equally?

In groups you will answer questions about your images and read sections of a book that Mary Antin wrote called "The Promised Land". In these readings you will better understand Mary's feelings about America, and what rights were most important to Mary and her family.

When you have finished, your group will make a poster advertising the different rights immigrants gained by moving to America.

Lesson Process:
Working in small groups, you will be given a set of images. Some of you will have all images of Chelsea, and the others will be given images of a Russian Pale. It is up to you to figure out which images your group has been given. Try to answer the following questions about your pictures:
 * Day One-**
 * Where/when do you think these pictures were taken?
 * Would it be easy to live here? Why or why not?
 * What do you think life was like for children who lived here?


 * Images of Chelsea**
 * [|Old Chelsea Photos]
 * [|Chelsea Square Photos]
 * [|Chelsea Broadway]
 * [|Chelsea Business]


 * Images of the Pale**
 * [|pale pics]
 * HEDER (HEBREW SCHOOL) FOR BOYS IN POLOTZK p. 34
 * THE WOOD MARKET, POLOTZK p. 52
 * MY GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE, WHERE I WAS BORN p. 80
 * THE MEAT MARKET, POLOTZK p. 98
 * SABBATH LOAVES FOR SALE (BREAD MARKET, POLOTZK) p. 124

After completing your image inquiry, we will come together. As a group, we will look at all of the images,discuss the details of the images, and your group will share it's thoughts from the inquiry page. At the end of the lesson, you will learn about the early life of Mary Antin(where she came from, when she moved to Chelsea, etc.). After learning about Mary, it will be your mission to discover how the images we viewed relate to Mary's life. Hint: Think about the images you looked at, and the questions you had to answer. Remember to think about what you already know about Mary and her family. Try to infer based on what you already know.
 * Where did they live before they came to America?
 * What might it have looked like in their home country?
 * Where did they live when they got to America?
 * What might their new home have looked like?

__From The Promised Land - p. 195__ //In Chelsea, as in Boston, we made our stand in the wrong end of the town. Arlington Street was inhabited by poor Jews, poor Negroes, and a sprinkling of poor Irish. The side streets leading from it were occupied by more poor Jews and Negroes. It was a proper locality for a man without capital to do business. My father rented a tenement with a store in the basement. He put in a few barrels of flour and of sugar, a few boxes of crackers, a few gallons of kerosene, an assortment of soap of the "save the coupon" brands; in the cellar, a few barrels of potatoes, and a pyramid of kindling-wood; in the showcase, an alluring display of penny candy. He put out his sign, with a gilt-lettered warning of "Strictly Cash," and proceeded to give credit indiscriminately. That was the regular way to do business on Arlington Street. My father, in his three years' apprenticeship, had learned the tricks of many trades. He knew when and how to "bluff." The legend of "Strictly Cash" was a protection against notoriously irresponsible customers; while none of the "good" customers, who had a record for paying regularly on Saturday, hesitated to enter the store with empty purses[|The Promised Land-Pg. 195]. //

//The boasted freedom of the New World meant to him far more than the right to reside, travel, and work wherever he pleased; it meant the freedom to speak his thoughts, to throw off the shackles of superstition, to test his own fate, unhindered by political or religious tyranny.// As a class we will read the book "Kids are Citizens" by Ellen Keller. After we read the book, we will discuss what freedoms we have as citizens of America. Together we will brainstorm the following questions:
 * Day Two-**
 * What would it feel like if we didn't have some of those rights?
 * Are you citizens now, or do you have to wait until your an adult?
 * What rights are most important to you? Why?

You will again work in groups to learn about Mary Antin and her family. You will be given paragraphs from "The Promised Land", written by Mary Antin, that relate to our discussion, examples of Mary's school work, and images of Russia and Chelsea. With your group, think about what freedoms would be most important to you. Are the freedoms you find important the same as what the Antin's found important?

Your group will be creating a poster showing the rights you feel are most important to you. If you come across "tricky words" as you're reading, remember to use the glossary.


 * //The Gentiles used to wonder at us because we cared so much about religious things about food and Sabbath and teaching the children Hebrew They were angry with us for our obstinacy as they called it and mocked us and ridiculed the most sacred things There were wise Gentiles who understood These were educated people like Fedora Pavlovna who made friends with their Jewish neighbors They were always respectful and openly admired some of our ways But most of the Gentiles were ignorant and distrustful and spiteful They would not believe that there was any good in our religion and of course we dared not teach them because we should be accused of trying to convert them and that would be the end of us. //The Promised Land - Page 16

> [|The Promised Land-pg.25]
 * //If a Jew and a Gentile kept store side by side the Gentile could content himself with smaller profits He did not have to buy permission to travel in the interests of his business He did not have to pay three hundred rubles fine if his son evaded military service//

> [|The Promised Land-Pg. 202].
 * //Father himself conducted us to school. He would not have delegated that mission to the President of the United States. He had awaited the day with impatience equal to mine, and the visions he saw as he hurried us over the sun-flecked pavements transcended all my dreams. Almost his first act on landing on American soil, three years before, had been his application for naturalization. He had taken the remaining steps in the process with eager promptness, and at the earliest moment allowed by the law, he became a citizen of the United States//

> [|The Promised Land, p. 260]
 * //Once a great, hulky colored boy, who was the torment of the neighborhood, treated me roughly while I was playing on the street. My father, determined to teach the rascal a lesson for once, had him arrested and brought to court. The boy was locked up overnight, and he emerged from his brief imprisonment with a respect for the rights and persons of his neighbors. But the moral of this incident lies not herein. What interested me more than my revenge on a bully was what I saw of the way in which justice was actually administered in the United States. Here we were gathered in the little courtroom, bearded Arlington Street against woolheaded Arlington Street; accused and accuser, witnesses, sympathizers, sight-seers, and all. Nobody cringed, nobody was bullied, nobody lied who didn't want to. **We were all free, and all treated equally, just as it said in the Constitution! The evil-doer was actually punished, and not the victim, as might very easily happen in a similar case in Russia. "Liberty and justice for all."** Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!//
 * [|"The Promised Land" glossary]

Finish and present posters**.**
 * Day Three-(if needed)**

//If education, culture, the higher life were shining things to be worshiped from afar, he had still a means left whereby he could draw one step nearer to them. He could send his children to school, to learn all those things that he knew by fame to be desirable. The common school, at least, perhaps high school; for one or two, perhaps even college! His children should be students, should fill his house with books and intellectual company; and thus he would walk by proxy in the Elysian Fields of liberal learning. As for the children themselves, he knew no surer way to their advancement and happiness. [|The Promised Land-pg.204]//
 * Conclusion:**

We have learned a lot about the rights we have because we live in this country. It is easy to see what rights were most important to the Antin's. Freedom was so important to the Antin's that they were willing to leave their family and friends behind just to make a better life for themselves. Many of your families may have left their home countries looking for some of the same rights the Antin's did.

You will be able to create a poster showing at least three rights/freedoms you find most important living in America.
 * Assessment:**

-listed less than three freedoms -children couldn't provide explanation for their choices -minimal attention to detail/visual interest -could be neater -some spelling errors
 * Needs Improvement**

-children were able to provide explanation for at least one of their choices -some attention to detail(color, decoration, illustrations, etc.) -neat, well planned out -few spelling errors
 * Adequate**
 * -**listed three

-children provided some explanation for their choices -paid extra attention to details -thoughtfully laid out -one or two spelling mistakes
 * Good**
 * -**listed more than three freedoms

-children provided detailed explanations for their choices -excellent detail(quotes, images, etc.) -Well laid out, easy to understand -No spelling mistakes
 * Exceptional**
 * -**Listed more than three freedoms

> Classroom Book: > ISBN: 07922-86839
 * Resources:**
 * [|Congress for Kids]
 * "The Promised Land" by Mary Antin
 * "Kids are Citizens" by Ellen Keller - Links to Teacher's Guide
 * [|Old Chelsea Photos]
 * [|Chelsea Square Photos]
 * [|Chelsea Broadway]
 * [|Chelsea Business]
 * [|pale pics]
 * WGBH Freedom: A History of US