American Democracy and the Promise of Justice

Unit Objectives

This unit is designed for middle school students, but could be modified for high school students based on the lexile level of Refugee. It is a writing project in which students must inform the reader of current legislation on refugees and immigrants, based on the school district’s informational writing requirement for the unit in which they read the book. Possible anchor questions for the writing assignment could be: 

• What is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)? Would this legislation have affected any characters in Refugee? Do you know anyone who is directly affected by DACA? What was one thing you learned from Ms. Ocampo about what it is like for her to be a DREAMer?
• How have today’s immigration laws impacted you and your family and friends? Do you know anyone whose immigrant status is uncertain, or who fears deportation to their native country (you do not have to state names)?
• Do you think we can change the moral narrative that is centered around refugees and immigrants in the United States? Why or why not?
• How do you feel about Presidential Proclamation 9645? Do you think it is helping keep terrorists out of the United States? Ms. Alkrekshi described the impact on her family of this ruling; what is one thing that you will remember from her class visit?

Students will use their classroom Chromebooks to log on to Schoology, the Learning Management System (LMS) that Colonial School District extensively uses for its students. I will post initial warm-up questions in our class’s English section, and respond individually to students’ posts. After they are familiar with some of the issues and legislation, they will get to choose from several writing prompts and will conference with me on their choice before beginning to write. Students will write their informational essays in Google Docs; they will share their files with me from the beginning so that I can make suggestions to them throughout their writing process.

Seventh grade Writing standards will be taken from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)¹² and the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards for Speaking and Writing and Listening and Reading;¹³ The Colonial School District’s English Language Arts standards also require that through reading a diverse array of classic and contemporary literature as well as challenging informational texts in a range of subjects, students are expected to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspective.¹⁴  I will also incorporate the district’s writing standards of research - both short, focused projects and in depth research - is emphasized.¹⁵

Thoughtful and respectful class discussions are an integral part of seventh grade ELA classes, as students prepare to increasingly work on group projects and have partners in eighth grade and high school. They are expected to learn how to conduct discourse in a civil, considerate manner, even when they may disagree with a classmate. Students will be discussing and exchanging views about refugee and immigrant policies during the entire process, and will need to learn to do so thoughtfully and politely.