teachingimmigration-blog

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Why Immigration relates to Feminism?

Immigration is often seen “moving to a place for something better.” But this unfortunately is not the case for many people who arrive to the United States, many struggle financially because they find themselves undocumented, often without a solution, and are forced to work multiple jobs. These jobs are low waged jobs, usually dangerous and laborious. Many families struggle with fear of being deported, more specifically, students enrolled in school or colleges have this fear as well. Students who arrived in the United States when they were very young, not having a say or control of immigration laws. Immigration is a feminist issue because it is affecting so many people (men included), but specifically women and children. Some women find themselves in domestic violence cases but do not report it because of fear of being deported or because they know that they cannot work and their husbands are the family’s providers. Children in school are often treated differently when they are labeled as “immigrant” or when they do not speak English. In addition, children who do not speak English often do not receive an adequate education because they are assumed to “not understand,” which makes many students fall behind academically. Families are broken apart and children are often left with other family members or family friends because of deportation. Patricia Valoy from Everyday Feminism states    “Feminism is about addressing beliefs, policies, and laws that disproportionately affect women and their families”. Immigration and the challenges that come along with it must be recognized as a part of feminism to be able to provide resources and shed light on the experiences of many in the United States.

Valoy, Patricia. “Why Immigration is a Feminist Issue.” Everyday Feminism, 27 Dec. 2013, everydayfeminism.com/2013/12/immigration-feminist-issue/.

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Why are workers who cross borders seeking jobs called illegal immigrants, while capital that crosses borders seeking profit is never called 'illegal money'

Teaching Toward Democracy 

William Ayers, Kevin Kumashiro, Erica Meiners, Therese Quinn, David Stovall (157)

All I ask is for people to realize that people who move to the United States are people, human just like you and me. 

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Fifth Day Parents are in this too.

Parents must be invited into the schools to know what their children are learning and how they are learning it.  Students come into school with so many experiences and unique stories and this is often because of the life they live at home, not in any way bad. Jennifer Adair and Alejandra Barraza in Voices of Immigrant Parents in Preschool Settings mentions= that parents know their kids the most and usually the best. It is important to have relationships with a parents because they are the “experts on their children” and often times “teachers [explain]ed a lot about teaching strategies to [parents] but rarely [ask]ed questions about their child” (Keys, Barraza 36)”. Parents should be a resource for teachers no matter the grade level, although I understand how it can be difficult to reach parents, especially immigrant parents who tend to have multiple jobs and some do not speak English. Making the efforts to communicate is essential, but it is also necessary for teachers to know that parent involvement can look differently from one culture to another. 

An important quote for teachers and parents from Keys and Barraza:

“Listening carefully to parents means taking their ideas seriously and seeing them as experts on their own children. When teachers work hard at developing relationships with immigrant parents, they can more actively and positively serve the young children of immigrants in their classrooms (39).

This extends across all grade levels and is important for students to see that there is a school and home connections on both ends.

For the fifth day, parents will be invited to share a conversation with their child’s teacher. During this time, teachers will ask questions about their students, not academic questions but social and emotional questions that allows them to get to know students better. Parents will get to share stories or experiences that the teachers should know about or allows the teacher to know the students and the families better. This day will be all about building relationships. Parents will also be asked “How would you want to be supported in the classroom? How would you want your child to be supported in the classroom? How would they like their culture/language to be represented in the classroom? Parents will have the opportunity to share their ideas and provide suggestions on what could be done differently when approaching immigration, culture, and language.

Finally, students will present their mini research projects as a group in front of the teacher and parents. This way parents will also join in on the conversation and help to deconstruct some of they myths/stereotypes that possibly affects them daily.

Keys Adair, Jennifer, and Alejandra Barraza. “Voices of Immigrant Parents in Preschool Settings.” Young Children, vol. 69, no. 4, Sept. 2014, pp. 32–39.

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Fourth Day: A day in another’s language

Oftentimes, we English speakers, take for granted that we can speak English, and about the privileges that comes along with it. Bilingualism in the United States is often seen as a recognizable and celebrated piece of knowledge, but only if English is the first language in the situation. For instance, a person whose first language is Spanish and has an accent when speaking English is often looked down upon because there are assumptions behind an accent, that many people believe. When a student enters the classroom and sounds linguistically different than everyone else, this student is often viewed as separate from the rest. Instead of his or her language being acknowledge as a language that also carries value and knowledge, the English language is almost always encouraged right away and accents are seen as something that “will eventually go away.” For some reason, speaking English without an accent is always the goal, I speak so confidently of this because this is what happened when I was learning English. Not acknowledging a language as having value and depth shows that the English language is viewed as “higher” than the rest. It also means that a part of a child’s identity is taken away, since language does play a role in a person’s identity and how they navigate the world through language. Many students, who are learning English, do not have the opportunity to speak their first language and show their knowledge of this language because classrooms are usually not set up this way.  As Natasha Kumar Warikoo mentions t regarding bilingual language development: “immigrant youth are best supported when schools foster bi-cultural identities, enabling them to navigate multiple cultural worlds effectively” (Tamer). If teachers were able to create activities where students can combine both English and their first language into lessons, I believe that it will create confidence among students by knowing that their language is celebrated as well.

Students will have the opportunity to experience a level of discomfort that many have never felt before through the use of a different language other than English.

During this day, there will be two different options depending on your class or your school. The point is for your class to be read to in a different language. This could be done by someone who the teacher invites into the classroom to read a book, or a parent who speaks a different language other than English, or a student who is willingly to participate and can read in another language. This person, the reader of the story, will finish the book and then provide instructions to what the students have to do, which will be to draw about how the book or activity made them feel. Most Students will likely not understand that instructions, so that then the teacher will repeat the instructions. Some students will be lost, frustrated, confused, maybe even mad. The point of this lesson is to try to get a feel for what other students and people might feel when they first enter a space where they do not understand the language. 

After, students, the teacher, and the person who read the book, will come together to be taught a few words about the language that the book was read in. Then as a group, the teacher will ask students:

How did this activity make you feel?

How do you think people who do not speak a language that is spoken in most places, but is not official, feel? 

What would’ve helped you to understand the story better (other than having it being read in English)? 

How can we make this a classroom where all languages are accepted?

**This could be an on going activity where different parents/volunteers/students come into the classroom and teach children a few words about another language they might speak.

Tamer, Mary, and Natasha Kumar Warikoo. “Usable Knowledge.” 11 Dec. 2014, www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/14/12/education-immigrant-children.

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Third Day: Why?

There are a lot of why’s to this day. Why incorporate immigration, culture, diversity into the classroom? Students need to feel represented in the classroom. They need to be told that they matter, especially when so many factors are against them, an example politics and the government, are often not in their favor. Someone has to believe in them and encourage them. By beginning to talk about immigration it leads to different conversations that must be had in the future with students, past this one planned week. When talking about the reasons why people move to the United States, it must also be considered the fears and challenges that people face. Harvard Professor Natasha Kumar Warikoo, in an interview, said that many schools with immigrant children “have yet to learn to support effectively,” and schools should adapt their teaching style and the information that is taught (Tamer). In addition, she mentions that “immigrant youth inevitably must navigate multiple cultures, many schools and districts have yet to develop strategies” and for the most part “classrooms in the U.S tend to be incredibly focused on the United States” (Tamer). It is imperative that students are receiving an education that includes everyone, not just repeatedly learning about what they keep seeing around them.

Students will be encouraged to think of reasons why so many people immigrate  to the United States, or any country. 

Students will be divided into groups (different groups than the day before) and will have the opportunity to talk about reasons why they (personally) would move from the country they are living in. Students should be prompted to think about government/politics, societal problems, human rights etc. Students in each group will write on a poster paper these possible reasons. Then as a group, the teacher and students will talk about why some people have to leave the countries in which they were born in or why others decide to leave. The teacher will then visit the Global Citizen website, this organization raises awareness and money to combat different world issues through social media which means those who have access it can join in to create chance, as described on their website: “We are a social action platform for a global generation that wants to solve the world’s biggest challenges” (Global Citizen). The website has a section explaining possible reasons why people choose to immigrate, the site can be found here. By using this resource, it opens up the conversation to other challenges that are experienced by people all over the world. It also allows students to explore and learn about how they can initiate change as well. 

The teacher will show students this website and they will compare their responses to the list, and discuss what’s different? what’s missing?

Then, students will have the opportunity to explore the scholastic website section about immigration. It is a great tool that allows students to take a virtual tour of Ellis Island, explore further why people, a long time, immigrated to the United States. On this website students will also be guided to look at the immigration data in the section “Who Lives in America? Explore Immigration Data.” 

Students will also have time to work on their project/presentation for the 5th day.

As an exit ticket students will have to draw what are some of the things they would take if they had to move to another country. Then they will have to write on the paper and mention two different things they learned from their exploring on the website and one thing they found surprising. These exit tickets will have the shape of a suitcase, as pictured below, symbolizing the suitcases and the bags that some people take when moving to a new place.

This worksheet originates from activityvillage.com.uk

Welcome back! Sign in to start taking action.” Global Citizen, www.globalcitizen.org/en/about/who-we-are/.

Tamer, Mary, and Natasha Kumar Warikoo. “Usable Knowledge.” 11 Dec. 2014, www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/14/12/education-immigrant-children.

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Second Day: For Students

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Days 2,3,4 will be dedicated for students to learn more about immigration and for those students who are immigrants themselves or come from diverse background to be part of a conversation that has to do with them. The lesson is  created for 5th/6th graders or middle school.

Many students who move to the United States and begin school rarely have the opportunity to talk about their experiences about immigration, their culture, and their language. The process in schools automatically becomes focused on having students learn English and adjusted to “American” culture. Talking about immigration, the challenges that immigrants face, cultures, and languages should be implemented to students’ curriculum so that they have a voice in their learning and be allowed to share their experiences as well. Taking the step to first identify any biases students might have about other students is the first step, it’s a tool that they can use for any situation they might have; identifying their biases allows for a more democratic and equitable classroom, this is what the first activity of the lesson will do. Teaching tolerance describes this as an essential activity because “By connecting stereotypes to myths and then dispelling those myths, students will confront the lies that are the foundation of bigotry toward immigrants” (Teaching Tolerance). This is crucial because this allows students to begin to think critically about everything that they hear from peers, family members, adults, and the media. By acknowledging these myths students then are able to continue to learn about various languages and cultures that surround them. Holding on to prejudices and myths about individuals who are often grouped creates an environment where it becomes difficult to learn about them, which is why it is necessary for these to be broken down first. Geneva Gay mentions in The Importance of Multicultural Education that “ unfamiliar groups, cultures, traditions, and languages can produce anxieties, hostilities, prejudices, and racist behaviors among those who do not understand the newcomers or who perceive them as threats to their safety and security,” which is why students must learn about one another (Gay 30). At the same, teachers must make space for multiculturalism in their classroom. As Geneva Gay agrees in another article Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teachers, “culturally responsive teaching deals as much with using multicultural instructional strategies as with adding multicultural content to the curriculum” (Gay 107). This allows students to learn about cultures and diversity while learning the common subjects taught in school.

The second day will be for students to reveal what they know about immigration, their own biases and myths. As a group, students will identify who is an immigrant. Students will have the opportunity to share their thoughts through a class discussion about their assumptions.

First, students will be given a piece of paper and asked to draw what an immigrant person might look like to them during the time of their travels or perhaps to imagine an immigrant person, what do they look like? Students will also be asked to write a short paragraph explaining their reasoning behind their drawing.

After, students will have the opportunity to talk about the different assumptions and myths regarding immigration and immigrant people. Students will then be asked to share their drawings/writing that they completed and from here, the teacher can begin to unpack the stereotypes, prejudices, and misconceptions that there may be among students regarding immigration, culture, and languages.

Using the information gathered from the drawings and writing, students will then be divided into 5 groups, using one of Teaching Tolerance’s activities. At each working station there will be two myths about immigration written on poster paper which students have to answer these three questions:

Where you think this myth comes from

Who benefits from this myth

Why this myth is untrue

Students will then rotate five times allowing them to spend some time at each station reflecting and adding on to the poster paper pertaining to a myth. Once students return to their original groups then their assignment will be given.

Assignment for Day 5: Research your two myths regarding information, possibly finding out data/numbers regarding the myth that makes it untrue. This, along with the Teaching Tolerance’s ‘Ten Myths About Immigration fact sheet, will be presented to class parents on Day 5, when they are invited to come in to school for a workshop with teachers.

“Culture in the Classroom.” Teaching Tolerance, 14 July 2017, www.tolerance.org/culture-classroom

Gay, Geneva. “Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching.” Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 53, no. 2, 2002, pp. 106–116., doi:10.1177/0022487102053002003.

Gay, Geneva. “The Importance of Multicultural Education.” Educational Leadership, vol. 61, no. 4, 2004, pp. 30–35.

“Immigration Myths.” Teaching Tolerance, 18 Aug. 2017, www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/immigration-myths

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First Day: For Teachers

This first day, out of five will be dedicated to all of the teachers and staff who work in the school and are a part of the students’ daily lives. Teachers who teach at urban schools or schools with a high population of immigrant students, who often are considered the minority, often do not receive the training they need to reach students who are culturally and linguistically different than them. Jennifer Adair mentions in “White Pre-Service Teachers and ‘De-privileged Spaces’” that many white teachers, usually women, choose to teach at “disadvantage schools” thinking that they will be able to help students. Adair mentions that when white teachers’ assumptions about their students are proved wrong “they turned to the students of color in their cohort for new tools and directions in how to appropriately think and talk about multiculturalism, bilingualism, and teaching diverse sets of children (Adair 192). This process, Adair refers to as “de privileging Whiteness” and “could significantly change how prepared White teachers are to enter communities and cultures different from their own” (Adair 192). This includes deconstructing the stereotypes about their students, who are usually students of color not just with white teachers, but all teachers because everyone has biases.  Furthermore, Adair in “Examining Whiteness as an Obstacle to Positively Approaching Immigrant Families in US Early Childhood Educational Settings” mentions that “many early childhood teachers are reluctant to address cultural, racial, linguistic differences in the classroom, afraid that young children are ill-equipped to handle such conversations (Adair 644).

By knowing that most teachers are not taught to view their privilege compared to the students they teach, I envision this day to be a professional development day that allows teachers to share their experiences in the classroom. I think it is important to acknowledge that some teachers already do a great job with talking about these topics but there are some who need to be taught and giving them a space to be heard on what they have tried to implement in the classroom already. 

Goals of this professional development:

Understand privilege and begin to recognize your own biases and privilege

Learn what it takes to teach immigrant children/children with cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

How can teachers support?

These goals will be presented to the staff.  

First Activity: The facilitator of the workshop will write “immigration” on a large piece of paper or white/chalkboard. And ask the audience what comes to mind that when a word like this is said. The staff will be invited to share their biases and assumptions or any myths about immigration of this word as well as  what other people say, what the media says, something political, the good and the bad. Then the myths will be deconstructed through the Teaching Tolerance list about immigration: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/spring-2011/ten-myths-about-immigration

Then, the staff will be divided into groups to break down stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination specifically focusing on immigrant students come up with definitions about them. Staff will be asked if they could share how students who are immigrants are discriminated against. In these groups teachers and the facilitators will also talk about hidden biases, what do these do in education, especially teaching students who are different. 

From Teaching Tolerance Activity: Groups will then receive two charts with phrases on them, one column will have phrases that are from different countries and the other column will have phrases specifically from the United States. Teachers will have to match the phrases that are the most similar, one from each column. Then teachers in their groups will be asked to think about the differences and similarities in cultures and languages and asked the following:

Name three ways language diversity is a part of your classroom.

How can you use sayings like these to celebrate differences as well as highlight the connections that exist in your classroom?

After, teachers will have the opportunity to take the Common Beliefs Survey from the Teaching Tolerance website, which allows teachers to answer a question given and then reflect on why they might feel this way. Then, as a whole group, teachers will go over the survey and be asked why they felt a certain way about a common belief, these common beliefs will be met by the facilitator with the background story, also provided by Teaching Tolerance.

Finally, teachers will go back to their small groups and come up with a list of ways that they believe are the best practices when teaching immigrant children or children with a diverse background. These ideas will be written down on a poster paper and then presented to the whole group. A possible list that could be given to teachers about these ideas could include: 

overcoming stereotypes (just like they themselves did)

culturally relevant curriculum (working towards it)

honoring home languages

learn about cultures

authentic relationships

Final question/Exit ticket: What did you learn from this professional development?

Sources for activities:

https://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/Common%20Beliefs%20Survey%20New_1.pdf

http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/common_beliefs_descriptions.pdf

Sources:

Adair, Jennifer Keys. "Examining Whiteness as an Obstacle to Positively Approaching Immigrant Families in US Early Childhood Educational Settings." Race, Ethnicity and Education, vol. 17, no. 5, 01 Jan. 2014, pp. 643-666. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1038065&site=ehost-live.

Adair, Jennifer. "White Pre-Service Teachers and "De-Privileged Spaces." Teacher Education Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 4, 01 Sept. 2008, pp. 189-206. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ838708&site=ehost-live.

“Culture in the Classroom.” Teaching Tolerance, 14 July 2017, www.tolerance.org/culture-classroom.

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Explanation

I plan for this to be a long week of lessons for teachers, students, and parents to be involved. I will explain each activity, lesson, workshop that will take place across 5 days that will allow everyone in a school to be involved with the topics of immigration, cultures, and languages.

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I figured I would share a picture of me in my ESL class probably when I had just moved here from Peru. 

(I recently visited my ESL teacher from elementary school and she shared with me this picture she took, thank you Mrs. S)

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A project for change.

Before I begin, I must share that I am an immigrant myself. I moved from Peru to the United States when I was seven years old, I did not speak English, and attended a predominantly white school. I was clearly the outcast but I assimilated well into “American” culture. There rarely were opportunities where students could share about their culture or language, it was clear that only one language was accepted. The decision to move to the United States came from my mom’s teaching at a private school, where they wanted someone who was a native Spanish speaker, a few months later we arrived. I understand that this is not the situation for many immigrants who risk everything, including their lives, and live here undocumented because the government system makes it so difficult to process all of the paperwork. This changed my life and brings me to this moment to talk about immigration and how we as educators can talk about in the classroom, more specifically, why we should talk about with students. I was expected to go to college and here I am, a senior education major, who plans on teaching. Attending college is definitely a privilege, although, expensive, definitely a rewarding one, especially with a class like Women and Gender Studies: Gender Equity in the Classroom. We haven’t just talked about gender, we have talked about race, class, ageism and all that falls under feminist studies and how these impact the ways students learn and teachers educate in the classroom. Immigration is a feminist issue that often leaves people, usually women and children hopeless, in fear, alone, in poverty, suffering for their human rights and even education rights. I hope to leave you with a sense that you can talk about immigration, culture, and language to your students, of any grade because you can create change. I encourage you try it whether there are students who are immigrants or speak another language or not.