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AEI 2011: Immigration in New York



Chris Zarr leads the group on a tour of the National Archives at New York City as part of the K-12 Archives Education Institute, 15 October 2011. Photograph by Bonnie Marie Sauer. Courtesy of the National Archives at New York City. Image via ART's Flickr page.

The program included a panel moderated by Chris Zarr, Education Specialist at NARA-NYC, featuring:

• Pamela Cruz, Director, Girl Scouts of the USA National Historic Preservation Center

• Richard Geldmacher, Social Studies Cluster Teacher, PS 68, Bronx; Chapter Leader, United Federation of Teachers

• Ellen Noonan, Adjunct Professor of Public History, New York University; American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

• Andy Steinitz, Master of Science Student, Library and Information Science, Pratt Institute; Assistant Registrar-Transfer Articulation, Office of the Registrar, Pratt Institute

View the 2011 AEI photo album

Following the October AEI event, Marisa Gitto was appointed Curriculum Coordinator and worked with a core group to draft curriculum focusing on immigration in New York. The group created questions, exercises, and activities that could apply across multiple grade levels utilizing the same primary source materials. The final version will be publicly released later this fall.

The second annual K-12 AEI was held at the National Archives at New York City (NARA-NYC) during 2011 New York Archives Week, bringing together 35 local K-12 educators and members of the archives community. The group discussed strategies for teaching primary source materials on the topic of immigration in, and around, New York. The group also reviewed the Common Core State Standards. The New York State Board of Regents approved legislation that will institute the common core in K-12 education. By 2014-5, New York teachers and educators will be assessed based on criteria developed from these standards along with additional standards set by the NY State Department of Education (NYSED). The new state assessments will focus on deeper levels of thinking to encourage college and career readiness. 



Illustration. “New York- The Club-Rooms of ‘The Christian Union for Chinese Work,’ in Brooklyn- Ladies Teaching Pupils the Alphabet.” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. 6 October 1883. Page 101. Courtesy Brooklyn Public Library.


Utilizing the collections of NARA-NYC, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Ukrainian Historical and Educational Center of New Jersey, the group began to develop questions, exercises, and activities for students based on the new Common Core State Standards. Archivists contributed primary source material, including newspaper illustrations, maps, photographs, documents, and ephemera such as digital images of hand baggage tags. These items represented the diversity and rich holdings of the participating repositories.
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