Researching Farewell to Manzanar

The idea for all students with this site is that they find a topic that is interesting, approachable, and objective. Students will be asked to find enough information within the novel that can be found on external sites. Students will be asked to read Farewell to Manzanar, annotate the text as it is read, and infer various sections and chapters and report on their findings. They will be asked to report on one aspect or situation from the novel.

Steps for Research Paper & Graphic Organizer:

Step One

Students will be researching a topic of interest based on the reading of Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston on their laptops

Step Two

Students will create in groups and individually, various potential topics to research. They will share out and the class will decide if the topic(s) have enough potential to be researchable.

Step Three

Students will access the Write Design Online Website to choose a graphic organizer to crystalize their thinking, research, and ideas

Step Four

Students will analyze their own research data from various sources regarding Internment, Executive Order 9066, Legality of the order, Restitution to those that have been interned, etc..

Step Five

Students will use primary and secondary sources to build up their research papers and establish a thesis statement, body paragraphs and use MLA formatting.

Step Six

Students will begin filling in their graphic organizers or outlining templates downloaded from Write Design online.

Step Seven

Students will look for any graphics, YouTube videos, articles and audio that would support their research, graphic organizers, and essays.

Step Eight

Students will present their research findings in the presentation technique of their choice.

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Primary Website for Graphic Organizers:

Below are examples of image choices and videos that can be part of the final presentations that students can choose to use in their research on the Farewell to Manzanar novel study:

"I remember that feeling of emptiness because that had changed. I knew something had changed in our life, but I didn’t know why. And then of course when my father came back, and he was totally changed, it was like my world had turned upside-down".

- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

But he had held onto his self-respect, he dreamed grand dreams, and he could work well at any task he turned his hand to: he could raise vegetables, sail a boat, plead a case in small claims court, sing Japanese poems, make false teeth, carve a pig.

Jeanne Wakatsuki in Farewell to Manzanar speaking of her fathers many skills.

We had to walk to school. They had a school, a church, you know they had two religious churches. They had a place where you could go get ice cream and candy... you know the store but that you had to pay for. -Mieko Shintani, a Manzanar internee returning after 40 years to Manzanar.