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Children’s Literature and the Immigrant Experience


Seminar Leader:
H. Gerald Campano

Preface:

The human condition is increasingly characterized by mass migration due to war, climate change, neoliberalism, and histories of imperialism. Many people are dispossessed and displaced, and others move for survival and to provide better life opportunities for themselves and their families. This greater flow of people has also been met with a resurgence of nativism and ethnonationalism, but also a dedication to immigrant rights and well-being. One context where these political and social contestations play out is in the school system, where teachers are grappling with what it means to teach to the cultural, linguistic, and experiential pluralism of their student populations. This course investigated migration and human mobility through children’s literature and young adult fiction. It invited participants to develop curriculum that is responsive to the robust diversity of contemporary classrooms in Philadelphia and beyond.

TIP curriculum units are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

Unit TitleAuthor

2024


Identity and Immigration: An Upper Elementary Literacy Unit

Emma Connolly
Keywords: Creative Writing, fiction, Fifth-Grade, literacy, podcasts, poetry, upper elementary

«Ahora empieza una nueva vida para ti»: migración y desplazamiento en el mundo hispanohablante / “Now a new life begins for you”: Migration and displacement in the Spanish-speaking world

Matthew Fischetti
Keywords: AP Spanish Language and Culture, Central America, children’s literature, discrimination, displacement, film, Honduras, IB Spanish, immigration, incarceration, Latin America, migration, militarized global apartheid, Morocco, Music, North Africa, poetry, Spain, Spanish, xenophobia

Boundaries, Borders, and Sliding Glass Doors: Where do we come from, and where are we going?

Emma Steinheimer
Keywords: Borders, Boundaries, children’s literature, Creative Writing, Critical Literacy, cultural identity, fiction, place-based learning, poetry, storytelling, Writing Workshop

You Have Power! Give It a Voice.

Jennifer Gallagher
Keywords: ability, assumptions, communication, Culture, disability, Identity, Immigrant, journey, language, prejudice

Multilingual Elementary Students’ Exploration of Place, Identity and Memory through Sensory Poetry and Imagery

Katie Miller
Keywords: cultural capital, English language, English language learners, Identity, Imagery, multilingual, Place, poetry

The Power of Food Stories

Anna Herman
Keywords: cuisine, Culture, food culture, food stories, global food, migration, seed stories, supply chain

Teaching Literacy to Second Language Learners through Multi-Cultural Books

Michelle Jackson
Keywords: ELA, ELL, fiction books, Literature, LSS, Science, writing

Widening the Margins: A multi-genre unit

Christina D'Emma
Keywords: Antigone, Drama, drama strategies, effective speaking techniques, ghazal, Greek tragedy, immigration, Informational text, ode, one act play, pastiche, poetry, project based learning, Syrian refugees, U.S.-Mexico border, verse novel

Immigrant Children’s Literature: Reading and Writing in a Postcolonial Continuum

Geoffrey Winikur
Keywords: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Historically Responsive Literacy, Jazz Pedagogy, Postcolonial Literature, Young Adult Fiction

Daughters of Immigrants: Poetry, Spoken Word, and Collage Essays

Lisa Yuk Kuen Yau
Keywords: border crossings, daughter of immigrants, literary collage, national identity, poetry, spoken word, women immigrants, women refugees

Can You Hear Me? Let’s Lift the Voices of Immigrant Students

Sondra Gonzalez
Keywords: cultural storytelling, culturally responsive teaching, English language acquisition immigration experiences, ESOL/ELL education, immigrant student narratives, multilingual learner empowerment