I Taught With Papers, Please
I Taught With Papers, Please
I Taught With Papers, Please
By Zack Hartzman
May 6, 2021
Summary
Every year I teach about the history of immigration in the United States.
We always spend a chunk of time discussing the challenges that immigrants face and the racist laws that were created to limit immigration to the United States.
One of the focal points of this unit is covering the Immigration Act of 1924, which placed massive restrictions on immigration to the United States.
Specifically it limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota.
The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States per the national census.
This basically meant that larger amounts of white immigrants from Europe would be able to move to the United States while severely limiting immigrants of color from South America, Africa, and Asia.
While the game does not include the exact same restrictions as the Immigration Act of 1924, it lets us play with overall theme of immigration restrictions/issues that we still face in the United States today.
We all know that remote teaching has its challenges, especially when it comes to keeping students engaged.
I have found that playing games does a really good job at getting students to participate and talk to each other over Zoom.
I know I'm not the only teacher that often has a class full of blank boxes where students only talk in the chat instead of speaking out loud.
Reference
Hartzman, Z. (2021, May 6). I taught with papers, please. Hey Listen Games. https://www.heylistengames.org/post/i-taught-with-papers-please