Latinx Histories, Cultures, and Communities

Unit Sequence:

Days 1-3: Building Background Through Esperanza Rising Except Reading

Before examining the migration experiences of Puerto Rican and Dominican communities, students must first develop an understanding of immigration, adaptation, identity, and belonging. Immigration serves as an important foundation for the unit because it introduces students to the human experiences behind migration and helps them understand how movement can affect individuals, families, and communities over time.

Using Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising, students will explore the journey of a young girl who leaves Mexico and immigrates to California. Through Esperanza's experiences, students will examine how migration can influence opportunities, relationships, culture, and identity. Key vocabulary throughout this section includes migration, immigration, immigrant, identity, culture, belonging, community, adaptation, resilience, and tradition. As students analyze Esperanza's story, they will make connections between historical and contemporary migration experiences while reflecting on how family, culture, and community help people navigate change.

Day 1: Why Do People Move? Geography Focus: Movement and Human Migration

• Supporting Question: Why do people leave one place and move to another?

Students begin by reading an excerpt from "Los Higos (Figs)"[19], which introduces Esperanza's departure from Mexico and her journey toward California. Students participate in a Think-Pair-Share activity and analyze online artifacts and photographs of migration experiences to explore why people relocate and the emotions associated with leaving home. Through discussion, students identify push and pull factors and consider how moving can affect a person's sense of identity, security, and belonging.

Learning Objective: Students will define migration and immigration, identify push and pull factors, explain reasons people migrate, and connect migration stories to their own experiences.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain why people migrate and identify factors that influence movement.

Check for Understanding: Cool Down Reflection Question: Why do people migrate?

Guiding Reflection Questions

• How does immigration shape a person's identity and sense of belonging?
• What connections can I draw between Esperanza's experiences and those of people in my own family, community, or culture?
• How do family, culture, and traditions help people adapt to change?

Day 2: Adapting to a New Place Geography Focus: Human Adaptation and Settlement

• Supporting Question: How do people adapt when they arrive in a new place?

Students read a selected excerpt from "Las Guayabas (Guavas)"[20] that highlights Esperanza's arrival in California and her initial experiences in a migrant-worker camp. Through class discussion and a T-chart activity, students examine the challenges and opportunities that accompany migration while exploring how family, community, and support systems help people adapt to unfamiliar environments. Students also consider how changes in social status, language, and surroundings influence a person's identity and sense of belonging.

Learning Objective: Students will analyze challenges immigrants experience, explain adaptation and belonging, identify community support systems, and evaluate how migration impacts relationships.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain how people adapt while maintaining important aspects of their identity.

Check for Understanding: Quick Write: How did Esperanza adapt to her new life?

Guiding Reflection Questions

• How does immigration shape a person's identity and sense of belonging?
• What connections can I draw between Esperanza's experiences and those of people in my own family, community, or culture?
• How do family, culture, and traditions help people adapt to change?

Day 3: Immigration and Identity Geography Focus: Migration and Identity

• Supporting Question: How can migration change a person's identity and sense of belonging?

Students revisit key moments from both excerpts and discuss how Esperanza's experiences shape her identity. They analyze how family, culture, and traditions help people maintain a sense of belonging during times of change and reflect on Esperanza's resilience as she adapts to her new life while preserving important aspects of her heritage.

To demonstrate their understanding, students will complete an Immigration Journey One-Pager. In this mini-project, students will create a visual summary of Esperanza's experience by developing a timeline of five to seven key events and incorporating symbols representing migration, culture, and identity. Students will use vocabulary from the unit and write an explanation of how migration affected Esperanza's life. They will conclude by reflecting on how Esperanza's experiences connect to the lives of migrants today.

Learning Objective: Students will examine the impact of migration on identity, organize information chronologically, use textual evidence, and reflect on resilience and belonging.

Lesson Outcome: Students can describe how migration influences identity and belonging.

Check for Understanding: Immigration Journey One-Pager

To demonstrate understanding, students will complete an Immigration Journey One-Pager mini-project. In this mini-project, students will create a visual summary of Esperanza's experience. They will create a timeline of 5-7 important events, with symbols that represent Esperanza’s journey to America.  The timeline should depict her culture and identity, connecting her to her roots in Mexico and America.  Students will also write an explanation of how the events on their timeline connect to the effects of immigration on Esperanza's life and conclude by explaining how Esperanza's experiences connect to people's lives today.

Puerto Rico Case Study

Day 4: Puerto Rico Geography (Geography Focus: Place and Human-Environment Interaction)

• Supporting Question: How does Puerto Rico's geography influence the way people live?

On Day 4, Geography and Place, students will explore how geography influences the way people live, work, and interact with their environment through an in-depth study of Puerto Rico. Students begin by locating Puerto Rico on a map and examining its position in the Caribbean. Using maps, atlases, satellite imagery, and Google Earth[21], students investigate Puerto Rico's climate, landforms, natural resources, and major cities. As they analyze geographic features, students discuss how factors such as location, weather patterns, and access to resources influence settlement patterns, transportation, economic opportunities, and daily life. Throughout the lesson, students examine the relationship between people and their environment while considering how geography contributes to culture and identity. To demonstrate their learning, students create a Puerto Rico Geography Profile that highlights key geographic features and explains how geography shapes life on the island.

Students will identify Puerto Rico on a map, analyze its geographic features, explain how geography influences settlement patterns, and examine the relationships between people and their environment.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain how geography influences culture, opportunities, and daily life.

Check for Understanding: To demonstrate student learning, students will create a Puerto Rico Geography Profile, a one-page visual summary that highlights the island's key geographic features and explains how geography influences daily life. Students will include a labeled map of Puerto Rico, important landforms and bodies of water, climate information, major cities, and natural resources. They will also explain how geography affects where people live, work, travel, and interact with their environment.

Students will answer the cool down questions in 3-5 sentences:

• How does Puerto Rico's geography influence the culture, opportunities, and daily lives of the people who live there?

*The Geography Profile will serve as a reference for future lessons as students connect Puerto Rico's geography to migration patterns, culture, and identity.

Resources: National Geographic Kids: Puerto Rico; Britannica School; Library of Congress Maps Collection; Google Earth.

Day 5: Puerto Rican Migration to the United States (Geography Focus: Migration and Human Movement)

• Supporting Question: Why have Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States?

On Day 5, Puerto Rican Migration to the United States, students explore the migration experiences of Puerto Rican communities and examine why people move from one place to another. Students read selected excerpts from Chapter 10, "Dreams of a Better Life," and Chapter 11, "Angels on the Ceiling," from When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago.[22] These excerpts highlight the hopes, challenges, and adjustments that come with moving to a new place while maintaining connections to family, culture, and home. Students also analyze oral histories from Puerto Rican migrants[23] and identify the push and pull factors that influenced migration from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States. Through maps, timelines, and discussion, students investigate how migration affects opportunities, relationships, identity, and belonging. To demonstrate their learning, students create a Migration Timeline and Reflection that traces a migrant's journey and explains how migration shapes a person's life and sense of community.

Students will analyze migration narratives, identify migration routes, examine push and pull factors, and explain how migration influences identity.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain how migration influences identity, family, and community.

Check for Understanding: Migration Timeline and Reflection

Students will create a visual “Migration Timeline” highlighting key events in Esmerelda’s migration from Puerto Rico.  The timeline should include important locations before and after migration

Reasons for migration

• Challenges and opportunities experienced along the way
• Significant events that shaped the migrant's experience
• A brief reflection explaining how migration influenced identity and belonging

Students will answer the cool down questions in 3-5sentences:

• How does migration influence a person's identity, family, and sense of belonging?

Resources:

• When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago (Chapter 10: "Dreams of a Better Life" and Chapter 11: "Angels on the Ceiling")
• Puerto Rican Diaspora Oral History Project
• PBS Latino Americans
• Migration maps of Puerto Rico and the United States

Day 6: Puerto Rican Culture and Identity (Geography Focus: Culture and Cultural Diffusion)

• Supporting Question: How has Puerto Rican culture been preserved and transformed in the United States?

On Day 6, Puerto Rican Culture and Identity, students explore how Puerto Rican culture has been preserved and transformed in New York City and other Puerto Rican communities throughout the United States. Through a cultural gallery walk[24], students examine photographs, music, food, language, celebrations, and community stories that highlight Puerto Rican traditions both on the island and in neighborhoods such as El Barrio (East Harlem) in New York City. Students discuss how cultural practices are passed down through generations while adapting to life in a new environment. As they move through each station, students gather evidence about how culture helps people maintain a sense of identity and belonging after migration. To demonstrate their learning, students complete a Culture and Identity Comparison Chart that compares life and cultural traditions in Puerto Rico and New York.

Students will identify important Puerto Rican cultural traditions, analyze how traditions are preserved over time, explain how culture adapts in a new environment, and compare cultural practices in Puerto Rico and New York City.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain how culture changes while remaining connected to heritage.

Check for Understanding: Culture and Identity Comparison Chart

Students will compare:

• Music and dance traditions
• Food and family celebrations
• Language and communication
• Community traditions in Puerto Rico and New York
• Similarities and differences between life on the island and life in New York City

Resources

• Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino
• Puerto Rican community interviews from New York City
• Cultural photographs from Puerto Rico and New York
• Bomba, Plena, and Salsa music resources
• PBS Latino Americans segments on Puerto Rican migration to New York
• Puerto Rican Diaspora Oral History Project[25]

Students will answer the cool down questions in 3-5sentences:

• How do Puerto Ricans maintain their culture while adapting to life in New York?

Dominican Republic Case Study

Day 7: Dominican Republic Geography (Geography Focus: Place and Human-Environment Interaction)

• Supporting Question: How does the geography of the Dominican Republic influence culture and daily life?

On Day 8, Dominican Migration to the United States, students examine the migration experiences of Dominican communities and investigate the factors that have influenced movement from the Dominican Republic to the United States. Students read selected excerpts from the last chapter of Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez, which focuses on Anita's family's experiences living under the Trujillo dictatorship and the difficult decisions they faced as they sought safety, freedom, and new opportunities. These excerpts help students understand how political conditions, fear, and hopes for a better future influenced migration decisions.

Students also analyze Dominican oral histories that provide real-life accounts of migration experiences. Using migration maps, oral histories, and U.S. Census data, students explore the political, economic, educational, and family-related factors that encouraged migration. Through discussion and source analysis, students identify push and pull factors, trace migration routes, and consider how migration can affect identity, opportunity, family relationships, and belonging.

Students will analyze migration narratives, examine oral histories, identify push and pull factors, and explain migration patterns from the Dominican Republic to the United States.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain how migration affects individuals, families, and communities.

Check for Understanding: Migration Route Map and Push-Pull Factor Analysis

Students will create a map that traces migration from the Dominican Republic to the United States and includes:

• Major locations along the migration journey
• Push factors that encouraged people to leave
• Pull factors that attracted people to the United States
• Evidence from oral histories and migration narratives

Students will conclude by responding to the question:

How do migration experiences shape a person's opportunities, identity, and sense of belonging?

Lesson Guiding Questions:

• What factors encouraged families to leave the Dominican Republic?
• Which reasons were push factors and which were pull factors?
• How might migration affect family relationships and community connections?
• In what ways does migration shape a person's identity and sense of belonging?
• How are Dominican migration experiences like and different from Puerto Rican migration experiences?

Resources

• Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez (selected excerpts describing Anita's family under the Trujillo dictatorship and their hopes for freedom and opportunity)
• Dominican Migration Oral Histories[26]
• PBS Latino Americans
• S. Census Migration Data
• Migration maps of the Dominican Republic and the United States

Day 9: Dominican Culture and Identity (Geography Focus: Culture and Cultural Diffusion)

Supporting Question: How do Dominican communities maintain cultural traditions while adapting to life in the United States?

On Day 9, Dominican Culture and Identity, students explore how Dominican communities have preserved cultural traditions while adapting to life in the United States. Through a cultural gallery walk, students examine photographs, music, dance, food, baseball traditions, oral histories, and community stories that highlight Dominican culture both in the Dominican Republic and in communities throughout the United States. As students move through each station, they gather evidence about how cultural traditions are maintained across generations and how they evolve in response to new environments.

Students also compare Dominican and Puerto Rican experiences, identifying similarities and differences in migration patterns, cultural traditions, family life, language, music, and community connections. By revisiting what they learned throughout the unit, students begin synthesizing their understanding of how geography, migration, and culture influence identity and belonging.

Students will identify important Dominican cultural traditions, analyze how culture is preserved and adapted after migration, compare Puerto Rican and Dominican experiences, and synthesize learning from the unit.

Lesson Outcome: Students can explain how migration contributes to both cultural preservation and cultural change.

Check for Understanding: Puerto Rican and Dominican Culture Comparison Chart

Students will compare:

• Music and dance traditions
• Food and family celebrations
• Language and communication
• Community traditions
• Similarities and differences between Puerto Rican and Dominican experiences in the United States

Students will conclude by responding to the question: How do Dominican and Puerto Rican communities preserve their culture while adapting to life in the United States?

Resources

• Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino[27]
• Community interviews
• Oral histories
• Cultural photographs
• Dominican and Puerto Rican music and cultural resources

Day 10-11: Culminating Performance Task- “Passport to the Caribbean”

• Compelling Question: How do geography, migration, and culture shape the identities of Puerto Rican and Dominican communities in the United States?

Throughout the unit, students have explored the geography, migration stories, and cultural traditions of Puerto Rican and Dominican communities. Now, students will become geographers and cultural storytellers as they create a project that demonstrates how geography, migration, and culture influence identity and belonging. Using maps, oral histories, literature, photographs, and primary sources, students will answer the compelling question and share what they have learned about Caribbean communities in motion.

Students Will:

• Choose their project option
• Develop a claim that answers the compelling question.
• Compare Puerto Rican and Dominican migration experiences.
• Analyze how geography influences migration and culture.
• Use evidence from multiple sources to support their ideas.
• Explain how identity is shaped by migration, family, culture, and community.
• Present their learning in a creative and engaging format.

Choose Your Project….

Day 12: Time to Present and Reflect- Passport to the Caribbean: Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic Student Project Checklist[28]

Use this checklist to make sure your project is complete before submitting.

Project Rubric

Total Points: _____ / 36

Reflection Component: Letter Home

After completing your project, write a Letter Home from the perspective of a Puerto Rican or Dominican migrant.

Prompt:  Imagine you have recently migrated from Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic to the United States. Write a letter home to a family member or friend describing your journey and your new life. Explain why you left, what challenges and opportunities you have experienced, what you miss about home, and how your culture helps you stay connected to your family and community. Use evidence from the unit to explain how geography, migration, and culture have shaped your identity and sense of belonging.

Appendix on Implementing Academic Standards

The following standards are from the District of Columbia Public Schools. They address the subjects under the heading of 6^th grade World Geography, 6th grade ELA, and 6^th grade Social-Emotional and Academic Development.

Given the integration focus of this unit, I have incorporated a few standards from each subject area the classes will cover, including ELA (Reading and Writing), Social Studies, and Social-Emotional Learning.

1. Social Studies
   1. 6.2 Analyze how the environment and physical geography shape human behaviors and identities.
   2. 6.37 Analyze the reasons for and consequences of the migration of people within, from, and/or to one region or country in South America and the Caribbean over time and assess the impact of migration on the region.
   3. 6.52 Analyze the reasons for and consequences of migration of people within, from, and/or to one region or country within North America over time and assess the impact of migration on the region.
   4. 6.6 Evaluate the strengths and limitations of different geographic tools, data sets, and primary sources for understanding the lived experiences of individuals in different parts of the world.
2. ELA
   1. RL.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone
   2. W.6.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
3. Social-emotional Academic Development
   1. SL.6.4 Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.