Overview
The purpose of this discussion is to help you imagine how it felt to be an Indian forced to undergo assimilation at a boarding school far from home and try to understand also the point of view of other people at the time.
Instructions
1. For this discussion, review your readings for Unit 2. Afterwards, you will analyze the photo of Tom Torlino embedded here. You might also look at Tom Torlino's school record at the Carlisle Indian School site. Feel free to do research outside the course if you'd like other points of view.
2. Choose one of the following characters and answer the following question FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW.
How would your character describe the impact of the transformation on Tom Torlino and others like him who attended the Carlisle Boarding School? How did this experience echo the expectations of other Americans for this type of school?
Possible Characters:
- a Navajo student
- a white American (male or female) Christian missionary
- an African American freedman from Mississippi
Be sure to put yourself in the shoes of the person you are speaking for -- try to imagine how that person felt, what their ideals were, what they thought was good or right or appropriate at the time, even if you personally do not feel that way. Remember, history is not about you; it is about what people knew and felt and believed in the past, based on different knowledge than you and other modern people have about what happened later.
Tom Torlino, a member of the Navajo Nation, entered the Carlisle Indian School, a Native American boarding school founded by the United States government in 1879, on October 21, 1882 and just before he departed on August 28, 1886. Torlino's student file contained photographs from 1882 and 1885. Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.
Before you complete your discussion, make sure you refer to the course rubric for the expectations for this assignment. Participating in the course discussions is an important part of your final grade. In your discussions, you cannot simply reply to someone's posting with "ditto" or "I agree with you". You must answer the question(s) asked in a minimum one paragraph. Your responses should also quote and cite the material you have read in the class so far; you may also do outside research. Use the Purdue OWL Chicago Style guide for help with the correct citation style for your quotes. A a
Activity 2 M1 Discussion 3: ReflectionOverview
The purpose of this discussion is to reflect on and share the things you have learned in this module.
Instructions
- Identify something that made you go "wow" in this module - what surprised or impressed or shocked you? In Their Own Words - Immigrant Oral Histories for Your Classroom - Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) ( Do this discussion using this link)
- Describe why this thing stood out to you. Use quotes from your readings and research to support your observations. Make sure to use your primary sources!
- Include an illustration from the period, and make sure you caption the illustration.
- Share two or three new words you've learned from this module and the definitions.
- Your Wow statement should be at least 100-150 words, not including the citations.