For this assignment, we were asked to evaluate five different websites on the basis of credibility and usefulness in the classroom. Here is what I found:
SITE A) FAIRUS.org
Fairus.org is the site of a legitamate activist organization stemming
from Washington DC. There is a lot of good articles and educational
tools for obtaining facts and information about events but, overall I
would not use this site as a tool for teaching about immigration.
Their principles clearly state that they exist with the purpose of
reforming immigration legislation in the United States and our goal as
educators is not to enforce such opinions on our students. Even the
language used throughout the site clearly conveys disapproval of
immigrants; "flagrantly violate", "immigration causes substantial
harm", "deterrence, apprehension and removal". I agree with Brianna
that a more basic foundation of immigration knowledge must first be
established before building up to such opinionated discussions.
Students should be taught information based on facts and history only
so that they can understand a concept and then form their own opinions. Also the site is extremely one sided; I might use it for educational
purposes if I found another website to justify the other side of the
debate and encourage the free thinking of my students.
SITE B) http://blog.immigrantconnect.com/
Immediately when I saw this site to be a blog I decided that I would
not use it for instruction. I might refer students to the blog site if
their passion about the topic drives them to take part in online
discussions outside of school but any information posted here is not
credible. There are some good updates and posted links to credible
news resources but one would be better off going straight to those
news sites and foregoing the blog step in-between. I would say that I
would use this site to bring up the existing opinions and debates on
immigration, but there are no comments on the posts. Ryan also made an
excellent point about the disclaimer being a huge sign that
information here is biased and not credible.
SITE C) America.gov
America.gov is, so far, the most reliable source for immigration. This
site does not focus on illegal immigrants or current debates and
policy which, although are relevant and should be discussed as a unit
in the classroom, should not be the main point to convey to a group of
students. The important information to teach is US history and that
immigration is what started this country. News is available on the
site as well so I am sure that I could find articles dealing with
present day immigration and the conflicts we face as a nation today.
Another great feature of this site is that the information is
available in multiple languages so ESL learners would have an
advantage.
In the classroom, I would likely show the 'Immigration and U.S.
History" page then have students use the site to look up current
events dealing with immigration and have discussions and debates
centered around the topic.
SITE D) USCIS.gov
USCIS.gov is a site that appears to be targeting immigrants to the
United States. The site provides necessary forms and helpful
information about our laws, which I could create a lesson about for my
students. There are current articles based on new legislation and
updates regarding immigration that would provide useful information to
aid my students' understanding of immigration, past and present. The
site also provides credible sources as a .gov site, links to other
helpful sites and was updated recently.
The mission statement: "USCIS will secure America’s promise as a
nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to
our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits,
promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring
the integrity of our immigration system" indicates that the
information provided by the site is specifically intended to enhance
understanding of immigration and would be helpful to my students.
I would definitely pull this website up in class to show my students,
pick an article that best suits the standards for that lesson and
finally have the students summarize an article from the site to share
with the class then discuss what findings and implications they
discovered to effect present day immigrants.
SITE E) TheOnion.com
I would absolutely not use the onion.com in my classroom to teach
about immigration ... or anything for that matter. The Onion News
Source is a collection of untrue stories written to make fun of
current news. I was thinking that I could show this site to show my
students an example of why you cannot trust everything you find on the
internet but, it honestly seems like a waste of time to read anything
from this site. In addition, the privacy site states that "The Onion
is not intended for readers under 18 years of age." Many of the
articles contain inappropriate content and do not belong in the
classroom.
