A Student-Centered, Project-Based Approach to Teaching about Immigration

On Monday, October 26th, we invited more than 50 students and their teachers from selected Long Island schools to come together to discuss immigration law and policy at our Teach Immigration Student Forum, a full day event held at Nassau BOCES, Garden City, NY.

Their teachers, Dr. Steven Burby and Ms. April Francis, applied for our two-year program where we provide educators with free and current educational materials on immigration law and policy and pair them with volunteers who are immigration lawyers. Together the teacher and lawyer teams co-teach at least two classroom lessons and then help students find their point of view in the production of student-created materials that connect to what they have learned and to share with their school and communities.

At this student forum, seventh-grade students from Lawrence Road Middle School in Uniondale and ninth-graders from the Brentwood Freshman Center engaged in concurrent workshops about visas for immigrants and the President’s executive action regarding immigration. Students worked in groups to learn deliberative dialogue via a partnership with Street Law, Inc., a non-profit education organization, to help them examine immigration reform and issues in the upcoming presidential election using evidence and logic.

“The information the students are learning will effect change in their own community,” said Ms. Francis, Lawrence Road Middle School Social Studies teacher.

 “This is an opportunity for project-based service learning. These students are motivated” said Brentwood English teacher Dr. Steve Burby.

What follows are photos from the forum highlighting the work of participating students. We look forward to continue our work with them and their teachers as they develop service-learning projects. 

Students listening to a session on visas for immigrants and visitors. 

Students writing monologues to explore varied responses to the President’s executive action on immigration.

Students working together to complete the writing task.

A student group participating in a deliberative dialogue on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Additional Resources:

• Teachers interested in the program attended free trainings in the summer of 2015 and the fall of 2014 and were supplied with teaching materials and recommended activities. To learn more about our previous training, please click here.

Stay Connected!

The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration.

Engaging Immigrant Parents as Partners

Part One: Recognizing Underlying Principles

-- Contributed by Eileen Gale Kugler

We are thrilled to publish this two-part series on engaging immigrant parents by Eileen Gale Kugler. In this series, she notes a critical disconnect between many immigrant families and schools and provides practical tips for educators to understand the value of diverse perspectives and to build important partnerships with all parents. To read part two, click here.

Sylvia’s Story

Sylvia, a participant in a leadership class for immigrant parents in a diverse high school, presented a problem she had encountered: “One of my stepdaughter's teachers thought someone else did her homework. But the reason she is doing so well is that I am working with her at home.” Sylvia emigrated from Guatemala as a child and attended U.S. schools from 4th grade on. She speaks English fluently and is committed to helping her stepdaughter, who recently arrived from Guatemala.

“Call the teacher,” the leader of the class advised. “This is clearly a misunderstanding, and the teacher would want to know what is actually happening.” Sylvia was amazed: “You mean I can talk to the teacher? I felt I would be insulting her if I did.”

Sylvia’s story can tell us a great deal about engaging the growing number of immigrant families in our schools. While there are some commonalities among immigrants, they are diverse in many ways, even if they have emigrated from the same country. And despite a widely-held belief that the only obstacle to engagement is language, Sylvia shows that knowledge of English is not the only issue. Cultural barriers often remain, with many parents bringing the norms and expectations of school involvement in their home country with them.

Understanding How to Develop Authentic Parent Engagement

To effectively attract and engage immigrant parents as partners, educators need to first recognize some underlying principles.

• Every parent has something of value to share. The goal of engaging families is to build a partnership to support the students and the school itself. This work begins with the belief that every parent cares about their child and has something of value to share. Partnerships with parents cannot be built on blame – or pity.

Families of international backgrounds bring many strengths that are often overlooked. Think of the organization and resilience of an immigrant family who made the challenging journey to the U.S. or the respected work ethic of immigrants. In my work with immigrant parents, I am always impressed with their commitment to spend time together as a family, even when their children become teenagers.

• Cultural Differences Impact Involvement.  Immigrant families bring with them the experiences and norms of the educational system in their home countries. They need information about the American educational system provided in a way that acknowledges and respects their cultural background.

For example, I visited a school in China that prided itself on high parent involvement. Over 90% of the families at this school came to parent programs, but all of these programs consisted of one-way information sessions, with no opportunity for the parents to engage in a dialogue or share their perspectives, knowledge or ideas. So an immigrant parent with a past school experience like this might attend a program at a U.S. school where the principal provides information, but would not participate in an activity where parents were expected to contribute their own ideas or insights. In fact, that is exactly what was happening in a school where I was invited to speak in the Midwest. The principal and faculty found the parents’ behavior a challenging obstacle until they recognized that this was how these parents thought they were supposed to act. With this understanding, the school leaders could strategically design outreach and programs to actively engage this community.

•  The Complexities of English Remain a Barrier. Many parents with knowledge of English still lack understanding of its nuances or the academic language used in schools. Schools often rely on students to translate information sent home, but the students may be unreliable translators and they may screen information. Further, this places the child in an inappropriate adult role.

Ideally, information sent to immigrant parents should be translated by a native speaker. The information is most effective if the translator goes beyond just a literal translation to recommend the best way to communicate the message within that culture. Some schools hire Family Liaisons to provide this culturally competent connection to the community.

At school meetings, interpreters usually translate only what is being said by others, leaving immigrants as passive listeners. But immigrant parents themselves can be encouraged to become active contributors, with the support of the interpreter.

•  Immigrant parents are diverse. Immigrant families are diverse themselves, from their knowledge of American culture and norms to their education and socio-economic level to their immigration status. Strategies to reach out to immigrant families need to be grounded in the specific needs and interests of the immigrant families within that community.

Different programs will speak to different immigrant parents. Some families need basic support, and schools can build trusting relationships by connecting them with community services such as health care. In Texas, Education Austin builds the capacity of their families by helping qualifying individuals apply for U.S. citizenship, with support from pro bono attorneys and volunteers. 

In classes I led to develop immigrant parent leaders at a high school in Virginia, a number of the parents said the current programs for immigrant parents were too basic and not relevant to their needs. While those programs met the needs of some parents in the community, these immigrant parents needed more sophisticated programs on how to be their child's advocate in school, something they did not know from their home countries. These parents were ready to step into leadership positions, with information and ongoing support.

Part Two provides Strategies to Build Partnerships with Parents.

Eileen Gale Kugler helps schools develop positive high-achieving culture that values every student and family. She is author of the award-winning “Debunking the Middle-class Myth: Why Diverse Schools are Good for All Kids” and Executive Editor of the global resource, Innovative Voices in Education: Engaging Diverse Communities. She can be reached at EKugler@EmbraceDiverseSchools. Follow her on Twitter at @embracediversiT

Additional Resources 

•  Want to read more? Click here to purchase Innovative Voices in Education: Engaging Diverse Communities and read our book review of this important resource. Enter promo code RLEGEN15 at checkout for 20% discount. You can also read a previous article “How Immigrant Students Strengthen American Schools” by the author feature on our blog. 

Stay Connected!

The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration.

A New Resource for Addressing Some Concerns of Immigrant Students

As teachers and school professionals, we know you are a trusted guide for your students, and in particular, some of your more recently immigrated students may share questions and concerns with you that you may feel like you need more information to address. These concerns may require extra support perhaps requiring students to seek mental health counseling and legal assistance.

The U.S. Department of Education recently published a resource guide for educators to support undocumented youth with a focus on secondary student access to higher education. It is estimated that about 65,000 un­doc­u­mented stu­dents gradu­ate high school each year, but only about 54 per­cent of all un­doc­u­mented young people have a high school dip­loma, com­pared to 82 per­cent of those born in the U.S. Included in this guide are: tips for school personnel to welcome immigrant students and their families into the classroom; information on de­ferred ac­tion for child­hood ar­rivals (DACA); (which of­fers some young people a tem­por­ary re­prieve from de­port­a­tion and opens ac­cess to some jobs and schol­ar­ships); successful school models that address specific immigrant student needs; and information on scholarships available for undocumented students.

One thing to remember is that all students, regardless of immigration status, are guaranteed by law a right to a free public education under the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyer v. Doe. The U.S. Department of Education issued a fact sheet for schools on educational services for immigrant students and those recently arrived in the U.S., and together with the Department of Justice, published a joint guidance letter , fact sheet and Questions and Answers reminding school districts of their federal obligation to educate all students residing in their respective district and how to enroll them.  A student’s immigration status isn’t something that teachers can or should inquire about and school staff are prohibited by federal law from taking action that may intimidate or “chill” immigrant students from attending school. 

We will continue to support your work to teach about immigration critically and thoughtfully with all students with our free lesson plans and resources and to support your immigrant students.

Please help us to disseminate this vital information by forwarding this email and tell your colleagues about us.

Additional Resources:

•   Navigating College Applications for Undocumented Students - a brief guide on our blog to assist school professionals in supporting undocumented students when applying to college with links to trusted resources.  

•  Public Education for All? Lessons From Plyer v. Doe – a high school lesson plan where students explore personal beliefs about immigration and education, and then do a close reading of an article about the landmark Plyer v. Doe Supreme Court decision. 

Stay Connected!

The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration.

New Lincoln Exhibit Encourages Immigration Connections for Educators and Students

“The United States of America is, and always has been, a nation of immigrants.” This is the first line of the “American by Belief” exhibit which opened to the public last week at President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, D.C. and will remain open for two years. Through a series of colorful and descriptive panels, visitors are encouraged to draw connections between Lincoln’s largely unexamined history on immigrants and immigration and contemporary issues in U.S. immigration. President Lincoln’s Cottage consulted with the American Immigration Council on the current immigration policies contextualized in the exhibit.

Historian Jason Silverman’s book Lincoln and the Immigrant, provided much of the fascinating historical background for the exhibit. Notably, his book is the first in over 6,000 Lincoln biographies to recognize the important role immigrants had in shaping Lincoln’s personal and political beliefs, including his signing into law the 1864 Act to Encourage Immigration. Professor Silverman also discussed Lincoln’s immigration policy and the formation of his beliefs with the American Immigration Council’s Executive Director Benjamin Johnson who provided insight on current policies at a recently hosted event at the Cottage.

As the exhibit highlights, “Lincoln recognized immigrants as one of America’s greatest resources and its best hope for the future. He believed America offered immigrants the full realization of its founding promises and a fair chance to succeed.” One-hundred and fifty years later, many people are still arriving for those same promises and what unites us may be these indelible beliefs.

If you live in the Washington, D.C. area or are coming for a visit, we encourage you to see this special exhibit. Highly engaging, visitors of all ages can write their immigration stories, no matter how recent or distant, and visually display their journey on an interactive map. For those who can’t make it in person, you can also participate by downloading a copy of the “Tell Your Immigration Story” lesson plan which is built upon our “Crossing Borders with Digital Storytelling” lesson plan, featured in the President Lincoln’s Cottage School Programs brochure.

Additional Resources:

·       Read Patrick Young’s review “New Book Examines Lincoln’s Personal Relationships with Immigrants” on Professor Silverman’s seminal book Lincoln and the Immigrant, which “at just over a hundred pages…will leave you thinking for weeks.”

·       Read our article “Teach Empathy with Digital Immigration Stories” published on Edutopia which details the connections and opportunities for student engagement and inter-cultural understandings when sharing immigration stories in the classroom.

Stay Connected!

The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration #teachimmigration. You can also follow the exhibit and President Lincoln’s Cottage @LincolnsCottage #AmericanbyBelief.

What Are Your State’s Policies Towards Immigrant Access to Higher Education?

It’s October and many high school seniors across the country are busy preparing to apply for college, which means that teachers, guidance counselors, parents and others are also busy — helping students fill out FAFSAs, select schools, revise essays, and write recommendation letters among other tasks.  Each year, an estimated 65,000 of these soon-to-be graduated youth are unauthorized immigrant students who were brought to the U.S. as children, and who face distinct challenges from their peers when accessing college. 

While guaranteed a right to public K-12 education under the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyer v. Doe, there is no corresponding federal edict for how unauthorized youth are to be treated in a post secondary setting. As a result, many states have responded in diverse ways with some states allowing for tuition equity and financial aid and others barring unauthorized students from enrollment, and still others with no explicit policy governing access towards higher education for unauthorized youth. 

You can find out what your state policies are towards immigrant access to higher education on this map from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). Specific state information and context can also be found on this interactive map from America’s Quarterly.

A recent commentary on state legislation from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) notes that “since 2001, 17 states have enacted measures that would allow qualified unauthorized immigrant youth, often referred to as DREAMers, to pay resident tuition rates at their postsecondary institutions.”  Click to read the full commentary and to view a chart of the post secondary policies for the top 15 states of residence for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) youth.

Immigrants have and will continue to contribute to American public education. As our demography continues to shift, the contributions immigrants make in our communities and classrooms will help bring to light that education opens opportunities for career and civic engagement as proven by our immigrant past.  Simply put, we have much to lose in our immigrant future by not investing in the aspirations of all our students.

Additional Resources:

• Read our previous blog post, “Navigating College Application for Unauthorized Students” addressing frequently asked questions that may arise when assisting youth.  In particular, we highlighted Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC)’s Educator’s Guide as another good source of information on broaching potentially sensitive topics with students.

• The DACA program created in 2012 provides temporary relief from deportation and work permits for up to two years if unauthorized youth meet age and other requirements. For information on DACA, please read the American Immigration Council’s DACA Resource Page.

The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to teach immigration. We also welcome teacher and student book reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration.