Immigration and Deportation Law Timeline Activity

Abstract

This resource supplements the Deportation Nation syllabus available in the TRAILS database. To interactively chronicle the evolution of immigration and deportation laws in the U.S., each student is assigned as a "resident expert" on a law, policy, or practice. They produce a short "visual essay" in PowerPoint or Prezi and make a brief 5 minute...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Latina/o Sociology

Resource Type(s):

Assignment

Class Level(s):

College 400

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

This activity is associated with the Deportation Nation syllabus available in TRAILS.

All students are required to submit their visual essay electronically on the same date during Week 3 in the course. The presentations are made over the course of two weeks as we address the legal construction of "illegality" and the experience of "illegality."...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Research the history of an important immigration or deportation law.
2. Produce a visual essay in PowerPoint or Prezi.
3. Practice presenting research to a group of peers.Draw upon and cite peer-reviewed sources and images in ASA format.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. This assignment is worth 30 points, or 15% of their grade. Students are assessed based on how well they address the economic and political context leading up to the law, the purpose of the law, and the its implications for non-citizens and U.S. society.
2. They are also assessed based on visual appeal. Do the images capture the context of the time? Do they avoid too much text? Is the text additive to the essay? Could a non-expert understand the basics of the law by reviewing the visual essay alone?
3. They are assessed based on how well they convey the main points of the essay in a presentation of 5-7 minutes. Finally, they are assessed based on whether they accurately reference 2 peer-reviewed sources and images in ASA format in a works-cited slide.