Quick Digital Learning Day Lessons on Immigration by Students for Students

Officially, Digital Learning Day is February 17^th, but you can teach digital learning day and engage students (#DLDay) any day of the week on immigration with our mini-lessons! We pair historical political cartoons with short video clips produced by young adults on immigration themes and provide rigorous questions for student reflection and class discussion. No more than five minutes in length, these films inspire dialogue, critical thinking and creative teaching on immigration.  Additional activities are provided to extend learning and explore the themes covered in the films.

Our digital learning mini-lessons on immigration makes it easy to: insert and adapt short lessons, ask students to draw connections between historical and present immigration themes, engage students with multimedia, and underscore the power of young voices.  

Shadows of immigration past hangs behind the same Americans barring entry to new arrivals. Credit: The History Project, University of California, Davis

How to Use the Mini-Lessons

The mini-lessons include questions that can be used as warm-ups, homework, extra credit, in-between time during standardized testing days, or extended into full lessons in order to provide students with both historical context and real-world accounts on the impact of immigration today. Currently, we have three mini-lessons but plan to include more in the future. 

Teachers have to flexibility to adapt the guide to best meet classroom needs and extend learning with suggested activities.

Extend the Lessons

 

While we include suggested activities that build upon the themes discussed in the films, it is the perfect opportunity for students to cultivate their own voice through a digital storytelling project and/or service-learning. 

• Cross Borders with Digital Storytelling – Using digital storytelling to capture immigration stories is a powerful way for teachers to create opportunities for “empathetic moments” among students and shape classroom environments. Our most popular lesson plan for K-12 students makes it easy to implement in the classroom. 

 

•  Combine Digital Learning with Service Learning – Our current community grants recipients are using digital technologies to reach beyond the classroom walls to study immigration issues that matter to them. Read about our current inspiring teachers who use podcasts and digital immigration narratives to learn more about immigration and a previous project where students brought awareness and assistance to migrant farm workers in their local community. Use this lesson plan to create a similar service-learning initiative in your community – and of course, feel free to apply to our next round of community grants.

We’d Love to Hear What You Think! Let us know your thoughts by emailing us or by filling out a brief feedback form. We’re also on twitter – use the hashtag #DLDay, our handle @ThnkImmigration, and @OfficialDLDay.

Digital Learning and Empathy Underscore the Classroom Projects of our Community Grant Winners

The American Immigration Council is proud to announce the winners of the 2016-2017 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 are using digital tools in the classroom with students to make personal and relevant connections to immigration and importantly to engender understanding and empathy. The awardees are teachers Ms. Ashley Fort at Batesburg-Leesville Primary School, Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina and Mr. Tyler Thornburg at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The idea behind Ms. Fort’s project titled “Family Artifact Research Project” is that “young students need to know how culture has contributed to the diversity of their community and country” and digital storytelling on immigration and family heritage supplemented with literary and informational texts can help provide students with both context and personal content to deepen their understanding and appreciation for diversity. To produce their digital narratives over the course of this one-week unit, second-grade students will conduct online research, use the Little Bird Tales storytelling app (which we feature on our Crossing Borders with Digital Storytelling lesson plan), and read the The Granddaughter’s Necklace by Sharon Dennis Wyeth among other texts. 

In Mr. Thornburg’s project, “How Immigrants Affect Us,” students will create a podcast interviewing an immigrant about their journey to the U.S. and how that affected their life. The theme for eighth grade students is immigration particularly “understanding how immigrants have played a critical role in the creation of the U.S. and how often their side of the story is left out of textbooks.” The interview podcast project aims to insert those often overlooked, but critically important voices in American society. The interviews will take place during an evening at the school when community and family members can be present. Mr. Thornburg noted that “many of our students come from immigrant families and I do not think that many of them understand the sacrifices that their family members have made to get them to where they are.” It is his hope that the project will tell the stories of the people who make their school.

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 email with fellow educators to spread the word about the great work of these teachers. To learn more about our 2016-2017 grant programs and resources, including how to apply, please click here. Our next deadline is July 1, 2016. Congratulations to our deserving and inspirational teachers! 

If you like our work, please pass this email, tell a friend, and give them this link http://bit.ly/1KdE5Zz to sign up to receive updates and free resources.

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.