We'll be at NCSS (but even if we miss you there, we have some resources for you)

The American Immigration Council will be presenting at the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) Conference in New Orleans – and if you’re attending, we hope to meet you at one of our sessions.

We’re hosting sessions alongside HSTRY who offers a free digital learning platform that enables teachers and students to create and explore interactive timelines. If you haven’t seen their materials, such as their History of Immigration in the U.S.A timeline, you’ll want to check them out.

•        Poster Presentation 280: Crossing Borders with Digital Storytelling (Friday, November 13 3:20-4:10pm)

•        Session #1169: Create, Explore, Engage: Using Primary Sources with Young Learners (Saturday, November 14 10:10-11:00am, Room 209)

•        Session #1150: Create, Explore, and Engage: Using HSTRY in the Classroom (Saturday, November 14 8:00-8:50am, Room 221)

We love a good giveaway and we have two to share. Attend our poster presentation or session, and enter to win multicultural books generously donated by LEE & LOW Books, the largest multicultural children’s book publisher in the country. Stop by the HSTRY booth #24 in exhibit hall B and enter to win HSTRY Premium for your entire school!

Even if you’re unable to make it to New Orleans, we’d like to share with you some of the free resources we’ve made available for educators to teach about immigration critically and creatively.

  

 

• Crossing Borders with Digital Storytelling Lesson Plan: Our most popular lesson plan adaptable for K-12 is a powerful way to talk about the diversity of immigration experiences, teach 21^st century skills, and connect with students and their families.

•  Digital Learning on Immigration: Quick Lessons for Students by Students: Teach digital learning any day of the week with relevant content!  No more than five minutes in length, these films inspire dialogue, critical thinking and creative teaching on immigration. 

• 8 Tips for Teaching How to Write a Digital Story on Immigration: Middle school teacher Brian Kelley has been developing digital storytelling with his students for several years and shares some of his methods for working with students in writing about their immigration journeys. Check out his latest culture and heritage creative writing podcast (funded by one of our community grants) produced for and by students at write1world.net.

•  From Writing the Page to Pressing Play: More Tips on Teaching Digital Stories on Immigration: More practical tips and insights into developing digital stories on immigration in the classroom.

•  Teach Empathy With Digital Immigration Stories: Our blog post featured on Edutopia illustrates the connections and potential for integrating digital storytelling, immigration, and empathy. 

We’ll make more resources available after the conference, and please pass this email on to colleagues you think would be interested.

Stay connected and follow us @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration #ncss15. We offer free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration.

Student-Centered, Story-Driven Community Grants Awarded to Deserving Teachers

The American Immigration Council is proud to announce the winners of the 2015-2016 Community Grants Program. The grant program is an initiative to provide educators and/or community organizers with the resources they need to implement a successful immigration curriculum or community-based project.

This year’s winners have developed student-centered storytelling projects that engage students and families in writing and sharing immigration stories, past and present, while also demonstrating the important and varied contributions of immigrants to our country. The awardees are Eldridge Park School, Lawrenceville, NJ and Charles F. Patton Middle School, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. 

 

According to Eldridge Park English Language Learner teacher Angeline Sturgis, “my objective in this project is to create a legacy for family members which clearly documents the motives, decision-making, action, and often bravery, that led to their arrival in this country, and the beginning of their lives as new Americans. I have realized that these stories go untold, especially to children, and believe that they can and should be recorded in some way. My idea combines the parents' stories with the artwork of their children for a truly cooperative effort that will be received by the community with awe and pride.” The intended result of Ms. Sturgis’s grant project, “Telling the Family Story,” will be a small library of student and parent authored books that can be shared among school and community members.  She also hopes to host an author reading.

The focus of “One World,” a project developed by middle school English Language Arts teacher Brian Kelley, is a student-centered and student-run classroom podcast modeled after Garrison Keillor’s podcast “The Writer’s Almanac.” These short podcasts would feature students discussing writing, books, immigrant family heritage and culture with an aim to exploring how culture influences youth and writers. Each podcast would also feature student writing. Eventually, Kelley has plans to see his students spreading the word about the podcast via social media and encouraging students from all over to send in their writing and to promote deeper discussions on culture and immigration. You can follow the project twitter account @Write1World  and visit the One World website which welcomes teens to submit essays, poetry, & short stories focused on family, culture, or heritage. 

Kelley has previously collaborated with the American Immigration Council providing accounts of his experience teaching digital storytelling on immigrant family heritage with students. To read his teaching tips, please click here.

Senior Manager of Education Claire Tesh, says, “Our grant program rewards classroom teachers and community leaders who have innovative ideas in integrating immigration issues into their teaching. In return, the American Immigration Council shares their results with the greater public through lesson plans, multimedia and other projects.”  Please join us in celebrating these two noteworthy projects and stay tuned as we follow their developments in the classroom.

For over the past decade, the American Immigration Council has been providing educators with funding for projects that support its mission of promoting the benefits of immigrants to our nation. This collaboration with motivated educators across the nation engages students and communities in thoughtful dialogues centered on the issue of immigration and multiculturalism. 

Please share this post with fellow educators to spread the word about the great work of these teachers.  To learn more about our 2015-2016 grant programs and resources, including how to apply, please click here. Our next deadline is November 5, 2015. Congratulations to our deserving and inspirational teachers!