American Democracy and the Promise of Justice

Classroom Activities

(designed for a daily 60-minute ELA class)

Day One

Introduction to DACA, Presidential Proclamation 9645, and Writing Assignment (this should occur immediately after finishing the novel Refugee, ideally the following day)

Warm-Up

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. They will go to our class section and access the following websites and answer these questions in a series of Schoology posts:

Schoology Information

1. At the end of the novel, each of you will complete a research-based writing piece about our current immigrant and refugee policies in the United States. To get you thinking about these issues, you will visit the below websites and answer the Discussion posts.In the United States, there are thousands of undocumented immigrants (they do not have papers that say they can legally live in the United States) called “DREAMers” who were brought here as children. After watching the videos;^{27 28} and reading about DREAMers and DACA,;^{29 30} post your thoughts to these questions in the discussion post below:

A. Who are the DREAMers, and why are they called that?

B. What do you think should happen to the young people affected by DACA: Should they be allowed to stay in the United States and become citizens? Why or why not?

C. Have you ever known anyone who is a DREAMer (if so, you don’t have to type their name below; you can just say “yes” or “no”).

2. President Trump issued travel restrictions for people from seven countries as part of Presidential Proclamation 9645.³¹ Last year, the Supreme Court upheld his Proclamation, saying that presidents have substantial power to regulate immigration.³²

A. Do you think Presidential Proclamation 9645 is based on anti-religious feelings against Muslims? Why or why not?

B. Do you agree with the travel ban? Why or why not?

C. Which of the three characters from Refugee—Mahmoud, Isabel, or Josef—would be impacted by this ruling?

Assignment Explanation

I will tell the students that this unit requires an informational writing piece, and that they will be researching and gathering information about several aspects of immigration and refugee policies before they choose their writing topic. I will also announce that tomorrow we will have class visitors: Ms. Ocampo, a teacher in Colonial School District who is a DREAMer; and Ms. Alkrekshi, an immigrant and ESL teacher whose Libyan family members cannot visit her in the United States.

Day Two: Guest Speakers

Introductions

I will welcome our two guest speakers, DREAMer Ms. Ocampo and native Libyan Ms. Alkrekshi, into our classroom and introduce them to the students. The two women are there to talk about their experiences as an undocumented immigrant and status under DACA (Ms. Ocampo), and how Presidential Proclamation 9645 has affected their family (Ms. Alkrekshi). Students will ask the women questions at the end of the discussions; if they are a quieter group or are having trouble thinking of questions, the following could be used as a guideline:

• Are you afraid to leave the United States because you might not be able to re-enter? If so, how does this affect your daily life?
• What will you do if the Supreme Court rules that DACA protection will end?
• How do these policies make you feel? Have you, or would you, do anything to try and change these laws (for example, have you visited lawmakers or protested?)?
• How do you stay connected with family members that can no longer travel here to visit you, or because you cannot leave?

Day Three

Warm-Up

Students will log on to Schoology and answer the following warm-up questions about the previous day’s class visitors: What was one thing you learned from Ms. Ocampo about what it is like for her to be a DREAMer? Ms. Alkrekshi described the impact on her family of Presidential Proclamation 9645; what is something that you will remember from her class visit? If your family was no longer welcome to visit or live in the United States, would you try to do anything about these policies?

Class Activities

After students have finished typing their thoughts on Schoology, they will “turn and talk” with their shoulder partners about their ideas. Then, students will share out some of their answers for the class.

I will then give students the below graphic organizer, which will help them develop their ideas on DREAMers and those affected by Presidential Proclamation 9645. (I often incorporate sentence starters in graphic organizers, due to students’ varying levels of English proficiency.)

Name:

Date:

Directions: Answer the questions below in complete sentences (for example, you cannot answer them with one-word answers like “no” or “yes”).

1. What do you want to do when you graduate from high school? For example, will you start working, go to college, or join the military? Why?

When I graduate from high school, I want to…….

2. When you are an adult, do you want to stay in Delaware, or move somewhere else? Why?

I would like to live ………. because…….

3. What kind of job would you like to have when you are 25 years old? Why?

4. Do you think you would like to have children? Why or why not?

5. How would you feel if someone told you that you could not have any of these things? Or do what you wanted with your life? Or that your family could not visit you?

Schoology Exit Ticket

Students will log on to Schoology and answer the following “exit ticket” questions: What have you learned about DREAMers and the people affected by Presidential Proclamation 9645? Have your opinions changed? What are your ideas on what can be done about DACA and Presidential Proclamation 9645? What do you think it means to be an “American?”

Day Four: Reading, Vocabulary, and Comprehension

Reading

Students will read excerpts with their partner of some of the poems in Somos como las nubes/We Are Like the Clouds, which describe the journeys that thousands of children take from Mexico and Central America in search of a safer life in the United States.

In particular, we will focus on the poems El Palabrero/The Talker, Las Chinamas, El desierto/The Desert, Caballa de Carrera/Racehorse, and Nos presentamos a la patrulla/We Introduce Ourselves to Border Patrol. 

Schoology: Comprehension

After we read the poems and talk about them and the book’s illustrations, students will log on to Schoology and watch the following videos about migrant children:

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/opinion/migrant-children-detention-border.html³³
2. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/i-am-trash-migrant-children-reveal-stories-detention-separation-n895006³⁴

After they have watched the videos, they will respond to the following questions on Schoology: What are some reasons the children have left their countries? Do you agree with the policy on separating children from their parents at the border? Why or why not? How does what is happening right now mirror what happened to the characters in Refugee?

As students read from this book and our other selections, they will use a vocabulary graphic organizer like the one below to define words with which they are unfamiliar and use those words in a sentence. Students can use a classroom dictionary, or a good online source, such as Merriam-Webster’s Learners Dictionary.³⁵

Name:

Date:

Vocabulary Journal

Sentences

• The security company was on patrol in the mall’s parking lot.

Day Five: Reading, Vocabulary, and Comprehension

Students will read excerpts with their partner from Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees; we will concentrate on the first chapter, “Turned Away,” and the third chapter, “Stormy Seas.” The first chapter recounts the story of Ruth, a Jewish teenager who was on the S.S. St. Louis and survived the war, and the third one is about José, who leaves Cuba on an overcrowded boat with his family for the United States. While they read, students will continue to fill out their Vocabulary Journal and will then go on Schoology to discuss the following questions: How were Ruth’s and José’s journeys different from Josef’s and Isabel’s? What new details did you learn about the S.S. St. Louis that you didn’t know before? What did Ruth and José do with their lives after surviving their trips and immigrating to new countries?

Day Six: Immigration and Refugee Information/Policies

So that the students are well-informed about today’s refugee and immigrant policies and have more material to use in their informational essay, as a class we will look at information on the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, as well as the United States’ refugee rules, which are defined on the website for The American Immigration Council (I mentioned both websites in the Content section above). I will display the websites on the Smartboard, and as we talk about the information, students will fill out the below graphic organizer (they may work with partners).

Name:

Date:

Directions: Answer the below questions after looking at the information on some of the United States’ immigration laws and policies.

1. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

A. Why weren’t there many immigrants from Asia, Africa, or Latin America before this Act was passed?

There weren’t many immigrants from these places because …

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B. After the Act was passed, what were some of the immediate effects? (Hint: Where were higher numbers of immigrants now coming from?)

The United States saw a rise in …

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C. If this Act were not passed, do you think some of your family members would have had to stay in their native countries and not come to the U.S.? Why or why not?

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2. U.S. Immigration Council

A. Why has the United States stopped accepting as many refugees as it did in previous years? Do you agree or disagree, and why?

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B. In 2018, which area of the world made up the largest number of refugees to the United States? The lowest? Why do you think this happened?

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C. Why do you think so many refugees and immigrants want to come to the United States?

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Day Seven: Suggestions and Considerations on Fixing Immigration Policies

We will be looking at some of the opinions and recommendations made in August 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations in its Independent Task Force Report; this is a comprehensive report of over 115 pages, and we will not have time to look at it deeply or in its entirety. I will focus on the first six pages of the Introduction, which briefly describes some historical factors and crises facing immigration, and some factors in the U.S.’s failure to devise comprehensive solutions to immigration. Then, we will explore another of the Council’s webpages,³⁶ which gives statistics on immigrant numbers, how Americans feel about the issue, and what recent presidents have tried to do to improve or restructure immigration policies. While they read, students will continue to fill out their Vocabulary Journal, and will fill out the below graphic organizer:

Name:

Date:

Directions: Answer the below questions after looking at the information from the Task Force.

1. What does the poll say about how most Americans feel about immigration? Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?

The poll says …

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I agree/disagree because …

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2. Why do you think the United States has not been able to pass any major laws on immigration in the past 20 years?

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3. Do you think the United States should continue letting people immigrate here because it is the ethical (fair, right) thing to do? In other words, do you think the country has a responsibility to do so? Why do you feel this way?

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Day Eight: Topic Choice/Voice Recording

Students will choose which topic they would like to write about for their informational writing piece; the below graphic organizer will help them organize their thoughts.

When students have finished the graphic organizer, they will go to Vocaroo³⁷ to make a voice recording of their choice and their reasons for wanting to write on this topic. As stated above in the Content section, I think it will be useful for students to increase their familiarity and comfortability with recording and listening to themselves, as well as help them prepare for the ACCESS test. There are many options for saving and sharing the Vocaroo audio files: email, embedding a code, or getting a QR code. For my purposes at George Read, I will have students embed the URL code of their recording in their writing piece.

Name:

Date:

Directions: Now that you know more about immigrants and refugees, it is time to start your writing project! You may pick from the below options; circle your choice.

1. DACA and DREAMers: What is DACA, and who are the DREAMers? What are the current laws in the U.S. about this group of people? What does the future hold for DACA/DREAMers?
2. What is Presidential Proclamation 9645? Whom does it affect, and how has it changed immigration/refugees coming to the U.S.?
3. How did the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 change immigration to the U.S.? For example, in the number of immigrants, and where they came from?
4. What are the U.S.’s current policies on refugees and immigrants? What do you think can be done to improve the system?

I have decided to write about  ……………… because

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Some websites/resources I have found:

My Vocaroo audio file can be found here (you will copy and paste the “Embed code”):

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Day Nine: Individual Student Conferences and Starting to Write

I will meet with individual students and review the above graphic organizer with them to ensure they are on the right track and understand their writing projects. While I am meeting with them, the other students will continue to work on their projects, which they will create and share with me in Google Docs. The goal for today is that they write their introduction paragraphs. As I will have access to their shared documents, it will be easy for me to monitor them.

Days Ten, Eleven, and Twelve: Writing

Students will continue writing their pieces in Google Docs.

Day Thirteen: Last Day to Work on Projects

This is the last day students will have to work on their projects. I have scheduled five days, because my ELs usually need more time to work on writing pieces, though the number of days may be shortened depending on teachers’ classes and students. During the last ten minutes of class, Students will log on to Schoology and answer the following discussion questions: In what ways has this writing project helped you learn more about the U.S.’s immigration and refugee troubles? How do you think you can help draw more attention to these issues?