Artifact Reflection

Title: Immigration Unit

Date: May 2014

Artifact Description:
The artifact that I have chosen is my thematic unit on Immigration to America and more
specifically, Wisconsin. I taught this unit while I was student teaching in New Glarus in a third
grade classroom in May of 2014. I choose immigration to Wisconsin as my theme for this unit
because of an upcoming field trip planned for Old World Wisconsin. I felt the students would
benefit from learning about the history behind immigration to Wisconsin prior to visiting such a
historic venue. The unit is comprised of three different lessons, a pre-assessment and a final
assessment. I taught the lesson in three consecutive days and closed out the lesson by
administering the final assessment.

ALIGNMENT - Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment:
I feel that this artifact best aligns with standard four of the Wisconsin Standards for Teacher
Development and Licensure which states: The teacher understands and uses a variety of
instructional strategies to encourage students development of critical thinking, problem solving,
and performance standards. This artifact aligns with standard four because I used a variety of
instructional strategies while teaching this unit. These instructional strategies included:
cooperative learning, discovery learning, whole group discussion, and independent study. I was
able to enhance student learning by using a wide variety of materials. I incorporated a fantastic
book titled, They Came to Wisconsin, in which I chose some great passages to read aloud to the
students. I felt that reading these passages aloud to my students would reach my auditory
learners. I also utilized artifacts and pictures of immigrants to show the students how immigrants
from different cultures dressed and what their homes looked like prior to immigrating to
Wisconsin. I knew that having visual artifacts for my students to physically look at would help
my visual learners. I also incorporated two videos to enhance my unit and to encourage student
learning. I played the students a firsthand account of an immigrants experience on the ship
across the ocean and coming into Ellis Island for the first time. I also showed the students
another video on the history of Ellis Island. To encourage discovery learning and to engage my
kinesthetic learners, I had my students map out the journey of a selected immigrant from their
home country to America. I varied my role in the instructional process from instructor, coach,
and audience when I had my students break into groups to study why or why not immigrants
came to America. Once the groups had come up with the pros and cons of coming to America,
the class had a student lead debate. I also carefully evaluated how to achieve my learning goals
after I had my students complete the pre-assessment which was a list of important immigration
vocabulary words. I was able to assess the background knowledge my students based on which
vocabulary words they already knew. Based on this information, I was able to shape my
instruction to meet my students needs. For some students, that meant reviewing the key
vocabulary words to reinforce their meanings and how it related to the unit. For other students,
that meant engaging them in deeper conversation surrounding immigration.

UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement Alignment:
I believe this artifact best aligns with KSD1.e. which states: The candidate, with appropriate
student input, has the ability to develop relevant, goal-directed, engaging, clear, and varied
learning activities that progress coherently and produce a unified instructional setting that
reflects recent professional research. I feel that this artifact aligns with this KSD because it
shows that I was successful in creating a unit that meets all of the criteria for this KSD. I
successfully created a unit that progressed coherently from the first lesson on why immigrants
chose to leave their home country, the second lesson on how they arrived in America, to the final
lesson on what they did and how they created lives for their families once they settled in
America/Wisconsin. I also developed relevant, goal-directed, engaging and varied learning
activities throughout this unit. The purpose for this unit was to build some background
knowledge for the students on Wisconsin immigration history prior to their fieldtrip to Old
World Wisconsin. I also created lessons that varied in instructional strategies and material to
engage my students and meet their specific learning needs.
Secondary Alignment:
KSD1.d. Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources
KSD3.c. Engaging Students in Learning

Reflection:
What I learned about teaching/learning:
From this artifact, I learned the importance of using a variety of instructional strategies to
encourage students development of critical thinking, problem solving and performance skills.
This is important because each students development of critical thinking, independent problem
solving and performance capabilities are at different levels and the lessons should be shaped to
meet their needs. I also learned that for students to learn on a deeper level, there needs to be
flexibility in the teaching process for adapting instruction to the meet the students needs.


What I learned about myself as a prospective educator:
By completing this unit, I learned that getting to know my students on a deeper level and what
their learning style is, is key to shaping my instruction. I learned the importance of constantly
monitoring and adjusting strategies in response to learner feedback like my pre-assessment. I
learned that this ties in with the importance of using alternative explanations to assist students
understanding. As an educator, I need to keep in mind the cognitive processes associated with
various kinds of learning and how I can stimulate these processes within the lesson to encourage
student learning.