Migration

Due to some complications I'm now in another school--a rural school in a second grade classroom. Instead of driving past tall buildings, malls, hotels---I take long, winding roads pass farmland and trees collecting sap for the syrup-making season. Instead of having 20 + students and teaching in a classroom full of mostly Puerto Rican children, there are 14 students (with now three adults in the classroom) who are mostly white. My cooperating teacher writes a beautiful blog about her classroom and you might even be able to see some photos of me working with kids (http://sunderlandgrade2.blogspot.com/). While there are a few English Language Learners, most of them are born in the U.S. and are highly proficient (academically and socially) in English so instruction looks a lot different than it did in the urban school where many students were literally learning English in school. I make these statements not as judgments, but as observations of differences.

I'm excited to be a teacher for many reasons--but mainly because I think it's brilliant to attempt to understand how the minds of children work--how do they learn to care about the world, how do they learn to become citizens of the world. As part of my student teaching requirements, I am designing (and implementing) an integrated unit. Based on what the kids have already been taught--my unit (which I'll start in a few weeks) is titled "Measuring our stories: using geography and measurement to learn about our location and histories." I am using the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks of second grade to combine learning expectations for geography (social studies) and measurement (math). There are definitely ways to integrate literature and writing components. Students will explore their personal histories of migration--by learning about measurement tools (rulers, weights, etc.) and maps to understand key geographic elements of the world. Based on the reading I've done about English Language Learners having units that integrate many similar themes across disciplines helps, especially, ELL students develop the key language in one area (instead of having to learn many different sets of vocabulary for disconnected units). The ELL students in this class, while proficient and can easily "pass" as learning the material, I'm noticing the ways in which they are struggling with understanding (really understanding the content) because learning is so "language-based." I'm sure an integrated unit won't just help the ELL students--often accommodations for one group, is ultimately useful for everyone (it's why having students with different needs, I think, is so helpful as a teacher--it challenges teachers to make sure they are reaching all of their students).

Okay back to the unit. I ultimately want students to know that there are specific measurement tools that are helpful when creating relationships between one thing and another thing (this is what we call the "big idea") and I root some of this in immigration stories (the other part of the unit involves creating maps of their school/classroom and exploring ways to use measurement tools). Students will share their immigration stories--but I'm struggling with this. I want students to understand that some people find the U.S. home--and have always found it as home--even if they have moved within the U.S. (or been forced to moved). I want students to understand that even though the label might imply migration from one continent to another place (i.e. African American) some folks don't feel any connection to the "original home" and thus that place might not be "home" at all. I want student to understand that migration is still happening. I want students to understand that some people don't know where their biological families "came from," but that doesn't mean they don't have a history. I want to present the idea of disabled folks leaving nursing homes and into their communities as migration, too. (If you have any thoughts on good children's literature that might address some of these questions--please let me know). I want students to know that stories of immigration are fluid and there is no "right" way to answer these questions, but it's important to explore our personal histories to get a sense of how we got to where we are now. I think it's a tangible way to give second graders a sense of history and time.

I hope ultimately there is a respectful balance between giving students time to share their stories (and learn about key geographical features from these continents and using map keys to measure distance!) and exposing them to other stories of migration. By holding multiple stories, I hope students learn who is "not" in their classroom and community, but who is present in the world. I hope students learn to think critically about why this might be and whether it's good or bad or just is. And this is why teaching is so exciting for me.