Takaki - Chapter 6

I think that Takaki does a good job of laying out how life was difficult for the Irish both before and after their immigration to America. However, I think that some underlying statistics about the number of people who were affected by this is clearly missing from Takaki's story, and I think these statistics would help students in better understanding just how dramatic this event was for the Irish.

First, I would divide students in small groups, probably no more than 4 people, and ask that they do some research on the Internet about the number of people who died in Ireland as a result of the famine, how many people left for America, and how many people remained in Ireland despite their struggle to survive. By taking the research into their own hands, students would be able to discover for themselves their own statistics as opposed to just having them handed to them. This would allow for them to develop their research skills.

Next, I would have the groups come up with a way to visually represent their information, with the expectation that they would present this information to the class. They would have the option as to how they would do this. Some ideas that they may come up with could be a representation through acting it out in front of the class, making a graph, or making a poster with different symbols for each group of people.

Lastly, they would present their findings to the class. In the end, this lesson would incorporate all three types of learning.