Hi Prerna! :)
I really enjoyed the Supporting Immigrants in Schools series, too! I especially enjoyed seeing how the teacher in the "Immigration in Elementary Schools" opened up dialogue with her young students. So often, schools prioritize strict test-based curriculums that see students as numbers instead of children living in a complicated, often scary, world. Students come to school with more than just their academic lives, yet so many curriculums do not honor this. What goes on inside the classroom is inseparably linked to what is going on in the outside world. I thought the teacher did a great job leading with compassion and talking about difficult issues surrounding immigration in age-appropriate ways. She centered her students' feelings and their experiences with their family and other loved ones, creating a space where they felt comfortable sharing their thoughts. This highlights that hard conversations such as immigration don't need to be left outside the classroom door. Instead, it is quite the opposite. Children come to school carrying these issues, regardless of whether they are acknowledged by the school. Refusing to talk about immigration is refusing to accept many students' realities.
I really enjoyed the Supporting Immigrants in Schools series, too! I especially enjoyed seeing how the teacher in the "Immigration in Elementary Schools" opened up dialogue with her young students. So often, schools prioritize strict test-based curriculums that see students as numbers instead of children living in a complicated, often scary, world. Students come to school with more than just their academic lives, yet so many curriculums do not honor this. What goes on inside the classroom is inseparably linked to what is going on in the outside world. I thought the teacher did a great job leading with compassion and talking about difficult issues surrounding immigration in age-appropriate ways. She centered her students' feelings and their experiences with their family and other loved ones, creating a space where they felt comfortable sharing their thoughts. This highlights that hard conversations such as immigration don't need to be left outside the classroom door. Instead, it is quite the opposite. Children come to school carrying these issues, regardless of whether they are acknowledged by the school. Refusing to talk about immigration is refusing to accept many students' realities.