Using SOURCES to Examine and Understand Immigrants’ Journeys to the United States through Ellis Island

Abstract

Teaching with primary sources provides educators with opportunities to expose students to authentic analysis, critical thinking, and perspective taking. When students are exposed to primary sources in the classroom, they can examine the point of view of the source, what information they can gain from the source, what information is missing, and the possible bias, think about why the source was created, and consider the narrative surrounding a particular source. By providing students with opportunities to examine and analyze primary sources, teachers can foster organic and authentic inquiry-based learning experiences in the classroom and give them the skills that they need to be participatory and informed citizens. An investigation employing the SOURCES Framework for Teaching with Primary and Secondary Sources affords educators just that opportunity. In order to be properly prepared for college, career, and civic life, students need to be provided the necessary skills to think critically about the sources they will encounter throughout their lives and be given multiple and sustained opportunities to engage with a range and variety of primary sources in authentic ways and to create original, evidence-based narratives. The authors of this article present a student-centered SOURCES investigation that allows students an opportunity to examine immigration journeys to Ellis Island framed around two related essential questions: What did immigrants experience during their journey to Ellis Island? and What was it like for immigrants as they arrived in the United States?