What does it mean to be an American?

We will be spending the rest of the spring learning about immigration in the United States from the late 1800s onward in social studies. This unit will build awareness of the history of immigration in our country and explore the impact of immigration on the diversity and changing face of America. We will begin by looking at our own classroom and our diverse backgrounds, and then move more into the history and current issues surrounding immigration.



Unit Highlights:

* Migrant Worker Service Learning Project - The 8th grade students in the immersion program at Hamilton MS have asked us to join them in a service learning project that will benefit workers at a local migrant labor camp. We have already started learning about the migrant labor experience, and will be creating informative posters and skits to teach the other kids at JSIS about the issues. We will also be doing a sock drive that will supplement a food drive the students at Hamilton will be doing. Students are already working hard gathering ideas and starting to organize for the sock drive (sock drive scheduled to begin May 6th or 7th)

* Ellis Island Simulation - Students will each take on the role of either an immigrant or immigration officer from Ellis Island in the early 1900s. Immigrants will be creating personal passports and will complete a set of immigration papers they will present to the officers. The officers will also create a mini profile (similar to the passports) and will be responsible for turning our room into the Ellis Island immigrant receiving rooms. On Friday, May 8th, our immigrants will arrive at Ellis Island and our officers will evaluate the documentation and determine who will be allowed to stay, and who will need to return to their home countries, based on a realistic evaluation process.

* Civics CBA - As a state requirement, students will also complete civics Classroom Based Assessment. Students will research two positions on a public issue and then write a persuasive paper, stating a position on the issue and how it relates to a right or the common good. Currently there is a lot happening in our nation with immigration reform, so we will be choosing an issue based on what is currently happening in Washington DC. We will investigate the Dream Act 2009, unless there is new breaking news about a different reform plan over the next few weeks.

* Immigrant Interview - As the culminating project for this unit and for the year, students will select a family member, friend, neighbor, or a member of the JSIS staff who is a first generation immigrant, and conduct an interview about their experience. Students will then create posters that share this personal story of immigration, and compare this experience to that of an early immigrant at Ellis Island. On Friday June 5th we will have an informal poster sharing time around the room from 10:15 to 11:25. Families are welcome to come and participate in this event if you would like.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kicking Things Off!

WELCOME/BIENVENIDOS

We are all very excited to be starting this immigration unit. Students have already been hard at work with our service learning project and the start to our Ellis Island simulation. We have a lot we want to squeeze in this spring. It's going to be busy, but also a lot of fun!!

Progress Report on our Service Learning Project:
 We have already learned a lot about migrant farm workers. We've learned about some of the push and pull factors in their immigration. We've learned a lot about the work and living conditions, and some of the challenges migrant workers and their families face.
We've also talked a bit about César Chavez and the long struggle for social justice for the farm workers. We were very lucky to have Señor Barry, an aide in the BOC classroom, come and talk to us on Tuesday. Señor Barry worked as a campesino (farm worker) when he was younger, and was able to share with us some of his first-hand experiences. Señor Barry was also very active in fighting for farm workers' rights...he even worked directly with César Chavez!
The students have done all of the planning for the service project, and it's coming along great. We will hopefully get the sock drive off and rolling by the middle of next week. Students are busy creating posters that both inform people about the sock drive and the experiences of migrant workers. Some students have also written their own short skits that help demonstrate what the migrant experience is like and about the work of César Chavez. We think it's very important to educate the other kids and teachers at JSIS about the issues so that the sock drive has a little more meaning!

Preparing for Ellis Island:
The students received their personajes (characters) on Tuesday and have begun preparing their passports/immigration journals. Half the class is taking on the roles of immigrants while the other half, the roles of immigration officers at Ellis Island. Later this week and through next week we will continue to build our personajes and prepare for our day of immigration on Friday May 8th.
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