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Project Reflection

Posted by Helen Kilmartin in American History - Baird on

Our first project in history this year was an in depth look at immigration into America. I didn’t find this project too difficult or too easy. It was a perfect combination of both. I think that the groups were good picks. I also liked how this project took something that we already knew, but showed it in depth and showed us each something different.

I was shocked and not surprised during this project. The data we have gathered is that even though over time America has had their ups and downs with the rate of immigrants coming into America. I knew that before, but I never knew why. I have learned that their were different acts that allowed some types of people to come in and not to come in. 

I feel like the amount of U.S immigrants will decrease over time. The word has spread that America is the land of the free and of opportunity. The U.S.A isn’t that much different than some other countries, so people will start immigrating everywhere else. Eventually all the countries will have almost the same views, maybe not in his century but someday. When that day comes immigration will definitely slow down because people will have the same options as America, but closer to their home.

We thought we should have it interesting so people wouldn’t be bored, but also show that we know our facts. Korah came up with the prezi.com presentation and its was super cool. We wanted to have some visuals but still have words so we could stay on track. We followed the 10 word rule and overall I think our presentation was a success.

Group work was challenging because we didn’t know what the other people were doing and when it was done. It was also challenging that we didn’t really understand things the same as our group members. I know I was confused on the push and pull aspect of the project but after my group members explained I understood it better. Another challenging thing is trying to get done on time. I know mine was a little late and I didn’t find this project easy or too challenging.

I would get all of my work done early so we could have time to check it, add, or practice the presentation. Other than that I honestly wouldn’t change anything. I think our presentation was great and our facts were good.

I liked this project and I am excited to see what else we do this unit. I know it was a little difficult because we didn’t have you in the room with us while we were working on it, but I feel like we essentially did good.

Project Reflection

Posted by Korah Lovelace in American History - Baird on

  The first project we were given In American History was one which we looked at immigration to the U.S causes over many decades.We broke off into groups of 3 and studied the decades 1830 to 2000. I was assigned the years 1890-1940 and already had a pretty basic idea as to why people would move to America during this time.I knew that the Holocaust would be a big factor but one thing that shocked me was the Russians who were escaping religious persecution in the Soviet Union. This event really surprised me because the targeted group was Christians. Prior to this project I thought that Christianity was the top religion therefore people couldn’t be persecuted if they were Christian. At this time period Atheism was the doctrine of the Soviet Union. This really changed my view on how people approach religion.  

The last two decades (1990-2000) the highest number of immigrants moved to America. Based on that trend I can predict that factors going on in current world news would cause many people to immigrate to America. For instance, I am aware of the problems in the middle east, so maybe those factors will contribute to an increase of immigration.

 Working on this project showed how we have grown since 9th grade. I was expecting certain people to procrastinate or not give their all. I was surprisingly shocked at how easy it was to get in contact with my group members and how we all cooperated with each other.I think we all stepped our game up knowing that the 11 grade year would be particularly hard.
 Once we gathered enough research it was hard to figure out how to present our work without repeating too much of what other groups would say or putting our audience to sleep. We had a lot of information and very little time and space to match. We didn’t want to put a chart up and read off it because no one wants to look at charts after doing a whole project on spreadsheets  and probably organizing their own work in charts. The idea of using a prezi was brought up by me because I remember watching a prezi presentation over the summer. As an audience member I liked how everything was animated and it almost felt more like a very interesting TED talk, rather than a high school keynote presentation. Looking back, I feel like we choose wisely because we were the only ones in the class who did a prezi which makes us stand out. We really just wanted to be remembered because everyone was going to present that same information and when people reflected on this project we wanted to be one of the groups they would bring up.


 I do regret not remembering all the information we were suppose to relay verbally to to the class. Once we began to present it was as though we all forgot the valuable details we meant to say. However, I feel as though our basic ideas were grasped by the class because it was all around the same research that everyone else did. So, if I could do anything differently it would have been to give more details during the presentation as if we were presenting to an audience who didn’t do this project.  

 Once we were first introduced to the immigration project it was hard to picture what our final work would look like and how we would even go about this long journey of research we had ahead of us. Now that we were able to successfully tackle not understanding a project to actually finishing it, the bar for all our other work is set higher. I feel like once I have completed something I didn’t think I could, any other thing should become easier to handle.  

With that said I am excited about any other challenging work we will have in the future and how I am able to confidently start something when I have no idea what my outcome would be.



Reflection

Posted by Taylor Ximines in American History - Baird on

I guessed what surprised me the most about this project was that a lot of the reasons for my time period 1890-1950. What surprised me is that the push and pulls were very similar as well as very different. Some of the similar reasons had to do with the economy, war, and thinks of that sort. And the different ones had to do with the problems in individual countries. Also the demographics of the people that came also. It seems like up until a couple decades ago most of the immigrants were coming from Europe. Now they all are coming from everywhere in the world. 
I believe that over the next couple decades, better education and opportunity will be the reason for immigrants. America has one of the best education systems and people can get jobs here in almost anything so I predict this will be the pattern and reasons for them to come. If you look at immigration as of now our economy is not the greatest, but I think the idea that America gives other people is that want to come to this country is freedom and you can do more in this country than in other countries. 
We decided to make charts with as little words as possible. We did this because it is easier on both us the presenters and the people watching the presentation. This way we can be more engaging with the audience as well as present our project. Having a million words on the slide can be distracting as well as tacky. So to keep it clean and simple this is the method we chose to do.
For me personally, having to come together to present all of the information was the hardest part. Sometimes we did not necessarily agree with the information and reasons that were given. So we had to put our own opinions aside and trust that our group member knew what they were talking about.
If I had to do anything differently it would be the time period that I had research. I say this because to me from about 1950-present is what catches my interest more. Not saying that the time period I did was boring, but it just was not what I really wanted to do. I would aslo only do a push or a pull reason and not both. For me I feel like some push and pull factors are not that important. For example: If one decade immigration spiked up a million, and in the next decade it went down a million I would only want to know the push or pull for those two decades not both because they wouldn't be important. Overall though I am pleased with our final product.

Reflection

Posted by Imani Rothwell in American History - Baird on

This was a very interesting project. The years I studied was 1950-2000. I was kind of shocked that there was no major pull factories besides immigrants being sold the American Dream thinking America will solve all their problems. The Pull factories was not so shocking. I knew the Korean war was defiantly to be one of them because that was an ugly war that left a lot of families broken. Then there was the cuban revolution that exile a lot of middle class families. Right around the time of the revolution a law has been passed granting people who is in the army, sick, or has been made to leave the country the opportunity to bring their families with them and make them citizen. This was a pull factor that I was shocked about because American government to me would want to keep immigrants out rather then let them come and bring their family.
The most obvious part of explaining my data would have to be that around my time period is war and government issues. In the 1950's World War Two just ended our money was up and there was job opportunities. My time period was after the wars and depression and women rights. 
When looking at the trend I can see the immigration rate going down. Technology is advancing which I can see they having a car human detector to detector if anyone is hiding. I can also see other places government  changing making it better for their people which will make them want to stay rather then leave. 
My group decided that we do not want to be standing and giving a boring presentation with reading so we gave summaries on the powerpoint then explain in greater detail so our audience will not be bored. We figured that the excel will be to confusing and a long powerpoint will be boring. Dealing with teenagers they prefer a quick visual powerpoint.
The most challenging part was one of my group member was slacking so we did not have an accurate idea on how good we were with our presentation. Its frustrating when a group member lie about the information and you have no idea rather or not your group is passing of failing because of the slack. Especially when they spend work period on other things besides their work.
If I had to do this project over I would add pictures and be more creative with my presentation. I feel that the information is dry and my audience will be sitting there half way listing because the information was not delivered right. 
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AMHIST-012

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2012-13

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