7 Phase Immigration Project
by Jeff Bush
How has immigration changed your community?
Brainstorm Community Audience:
students brainstorm and discuss who they might invite to the community event
Announce Prompt:
“What does immigration look like in your community?”
Normative and Descriptive Language:
talk to students about the difference between normative and descriptive language.
Normative language is language that communicates a value, like “good” or “bad.”
Descriptive language is language that simply describes what is happening. Descriptive language is rooted in the five senses: sight, hearing, sound, taste, or smell.
Tell students that the prompt is descriptive and should focus on what is happening, not normative language like “good” or “bad.”
Reflect:
set timer for 1 minute and ask students to reflect on the prompt.
Ask students to consider what questions they might need to ask in order to answer the prompt.
Tell students to write every questions that comes to their head, no editing.
Turn and Talk:
Direct students to find an elbow partner.
Partner A summarizes their reflections for 30 seconds
Partner B paraphrases Partner A’s summary for 30 seconds
Partner B summarizes their reflections for 30 seconds
Partner A paraphrases Partner B’s summary for 30 seconds
Whole class share out:
Say to the class: “please share one questions you heard about the prompt ‘what does immigration look like in your community?’
Remind students of the differences between normative and descriptive language, that students should share out descriptive language.
Ask for 5 students to share. As students raise their hands, do not have them share but simply number them off: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5.”
Start with student number 1. Say to the student: “please share a question you heard about ‘what does immigration look like in your community?’” Continue to student 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Write the questions on the board as students share their questions with the class.
Additional questions: ask the class if there are any additional questions that should be listed on the board. Write those questions on the board as students share additional questions.
Questions Focus:
Put students in research groups of 2.
Tell students that they will be conducting research from the US Census Bureau.
Tell students that some of the questions on the board may be connected to the research and some of the questions may not.
Ask student groups to choose 3 questions that they would like to focus on during the research.
Evidence Tables:
If students have access to the internet, direct students to the US Census Mobility Data. [If students do not have access to the internet, the classroom teacher will want to print off physical copies of the tables, then pass them out to students.]
Students get about 15 minutes to explore the data in the tables. As they explore, they should look for
1) general evidence – what is the data telling them?
2) specific evidence – is there any evidence that answers the 3 focus questions they chose?
Have students create a t-chart. On the left side, students label the chart “general evidence.” On the right side, students label the chart “specific evidence.”
Have students tape their t-charts around the room, then give the class 5 minutes to do a gallery walk. Tell students to think about the trends they are seeing. What does the evidence say? What are the trends in the evidence?
Ask students to share their reflections with the class. What are the trends and evidence? Write the students’ reflections on chart paper or butcher paper, then tape the paper up in the classroom for future reference.
Tell the students that they will be brainstorming community members students might interview and invite to the community event.
Tell the students that the rules of brainstorming are:
- No dumb ideas
- Don’t criticize other people’s ideas
- Build on other ideas
Tell the students that they will write down as many ideas as they can in 2 minutes. They should write 1 idea per post-it, note card, or strip of paper.
Tell students that they should write down community members they might interview and invite to the community event.
Set a timer for 2 minutes. Students begin writing.
Put the students in groups of 3 or 4.
Within the groups of 3 or 4, each student should read their ideas, then put the ideas in the center of the table.
Small groups then sort their ideas into 3 piles: yes, maybe, and no.
Take a piece of chart paper or large sheet of butcher paper and label the top of the paper “Community Audience.”
Ask the small groups to have someone from their group bring their best ideas for community audience to the paper and tape their ideas onto the chart paper.
Use the community audience paper as an invitation list of people to invite to the community event. Keep the paper posted in the classroom as a reminder to students who their project is for.
Driving Questions:
students iterate questions for community members
Reflections:
students discuss questions and narrow list to best options
Community Audience Invitations Creation:
students create community audience invitations (digital or analogue)
Tell the students that they will be brainstorming community members students might interview and invite to the community event.
Tell the students that the rules of brainstorming are:
- No dumb ideas
- Don’t criticize other people’s ideas
- Build on other ideas
Tell the students that they will write down as many ideas as they can in 2 minutes. They should write 1 idea per post-it, note card, or strip of paper.
Tell students that they should write down community members they might interview and invite to the community event.
Set a timer for 2 minutes. Students begin writing.
Tell the students that there are 2 goals in quality questions: questions that could uncover strong content and questions that encourage the interviewee to communicate their personal stories.
Draw a graph for students on the board with “content” and “personal”:
Explain to the students that a question high on content would be placed up the Y axis. A question high in its ability to encourage personal stories would be placed on the right side of the X axis.
Use a few student question examples and chart these questions on the example graph on the board. Ask students for any clarifying questions.
In small groups, have students draw a graph with “content” and “personal.” Students can draw graphs on a large sheet of paper at tables/desks, a spot on the whiteboard, or a piece of butcher block paper taped up on the wall.
Direct students to graph their questions on the graphs in front of them. Give groups 10-15 minutes to accomplish this task.
After groups are finished graphing, ask each small group to identify their 3 best questions.
Have each small group share their 3 best questions. As each small group shares their 3 questions, have one student from each small group read any additional questions.
After all small groups have shared, ask the groups to revisit their list of questions. Considering the new questions they just recorded, combined with their original questions, what 10-12 questions might be best to include in a possible list of questions for interviews?
Using the list of community audience generated in the previous lesson, write out the list of potential community audience members on separate sheets of paper. Tape these papers around the room.
Ask students to choose a community audience member, then direct student to stand by the paper for that community audience taped up on the wall. There should be no more than 2-3 students per paper.
Using digital or analog tools, have students create invitations to the community event to send to the potential community audience members.
Model Interview:
students volunteer to model interview, conduct tuning protocol on interview
Revise:
student groups discuss questions and narrow list to best options
Interview Reflection:
students consider what makes for a successful interview
Community Audience Invitations Delivery:
students email, mail, or hand-deliver community audience invitations
Model Interview:
Prior to class, identify extroverted students who would like to model an interview in front of the class. You will need one student to ask questions, one student to record the responses, and one student to answer the questions. Ask these 3 students privately if they would like to participate in a model interview.
Set up desks or tables and chairs so that the two students interviewing and recording are facing the interviewee. If possible, move the rest of the class into a semicircle around the 3 chairs.
Prior to the model interview, inform the class that they will be doing a loose protocol based on a protocol called “Critical Friends.” In this protocol the class will share “likes,” “wonders,” and “next steps.” “Likes” are celebrations. “Wonders” are areas with questions or growth needs. “Next steps” are suggestions for what to do next.
Instruct the class to make 3 columns on a sheet of paper and label these columns “likes,” “wonders,” and “next steps.” Communicate to students to use these columns to record their thinking during the model interview.
Conduct the model interview.
Thank the students for participating in the model interview. Ask the rest of the class to turn to an elbow partner and share at least one “like,” “wonder,” and “next step.”
Begin the Critical Friends protocol by asking student to share “likes.” When finished, move to the “wonders” and “next steps.” Spend 3-5 minutes on each category. As students share their thinking, have a student document their thoughts in 3 columns on the board.
“what might be essential to do in conducting a successful interview?”
After the written reflection, first ask the 3 student who participated in the model interview. Ask them to incorporate their experiences, feelings, and thoughts. Ask the rest of the class to share their reflections on the prompt: “what might be essential to do in conducting a successful interview?”
Have a student document student thinking on a chart paper hung on the wall. When finished, plan to keep this chart paper displayed on the wall as a norm or goal for groups to aspire when they conduct the interview.
Do any questions need to be added, subtracted, or edited?
How might groups consider a broader plan to create a successful interview experience? Students should consider where and when the interview takes place. Students should also consider how they will record the interviews.
(Note: if students don’t have access to digital cameras, they will need to consider using cell phones.)
Feedback Protocol:
student groups share interview questions and conduct Critical Friends
Homework Conduct Interview:
student groups interview community members, use video and/or audio
Community Audience Invitations Follow-Up:
students record which community audience members will attend, follow-up with community audience members if necessary
Break the class into a combination of small groups. Ideally there would be 3 small groups in each combined group. If necessary, the combined groups can only include 2 small groups.
Students complete the Critical Friends protocol in the combined groups, taking turns to share their interview plan and interview questions. If there are some combined groups of only 2 small groups, have those combined groups of 2 switch with another combined group of 2 small groups for the third rotation.
Example rotation if 3 small groups in combined group:
Round 1: group A shares, groups B and C provide feedback
Round 2: group B shares, groups A and C provide feedback
Round 3: group C shares, groups A and B provide feedback
Example rotation if 2 small groups in combined groups:
Round 1: group A shares, group B provides feedback
Round 2: group B shares, group A provides feedback
Round 3: group A switches with group C from another combined group of C and D. Groups A and C decide which group would benefit the most from additional feedback, then conduct Critical Friends with that group.
[Note: because of the scheduling constraints of conducting an interview, teachers may need to schedule a gap between project lesson 4 and project lesson 5.]
Video Editing Tutorial:
video editing tutorial for basics of video editing
Video Editing:
student groups edit videos into 3-5 minute mini-documentaries
Community Event Planning:
students discuss how to design the community event around attendees. What will the space look like? How can the event highlight the work of students in the physical space? How will attendees feel welcomed and comfortable at the event?
[Note: the tutorial resources you choose will vary based on the video editing software available.]
Give each student 3 post-it notes. Tell students that they will need to write questions or important ideas from the video editing tutorial on these post-it notes. Tell students to consider what is an important idea or an important follow-up question.
Show the video tutorial to the class.
After the tutorial, tell students to write important ideas or important questions on the post-it notes. Only one idea per post-it.
Draw a T-chart on the board. Label one side “important ideas” and the other side “important questions.” Direct students to place their post-it notes on the appropriate side of the T-chart.
Use the feedback on the T-chart to direct next steps. If there are many important questions, ask students to give feedback on what is essential to know moving forward.
If necessary, create a list of questions to address later.
If there is a small group of students who want additional help, consider scheduling a workshop with those students. In the workshop, explore the questions these students have about how to use the tool. During this workshop, make sure to include 2-3 students who are experts on the tool. When students ask questions about the video editing tool, the student experts answer the questions. The teacher’s role is just to facilitate the conversation and support the student experts.
As small groups work on editing, make sure to move around the room, checking in with groups.
Consider keeping a chart with each small group listed. As you check-in with each group, record the progress and address any essential questions.
Set a timer for 3 minutes. In those 3 minutes, students should think and write about the following questions:
What will the space look like?
How can the event highlight the work of students in the physical space?
How will attendees feel welcomed and comfortable at the event?
After the writing, direct students to grab their piece of paper and form a large circle. The circle can be formed with chairs, sitting on the floor, or standing in the room. Make sure the circle is a single layer and all students can see each other.
Find a talking piece in the room. The talking piece is just an object that is easy to hold and pass. Some example: a paper weight, a rock, a ruler, etc. Tell students that the rule of the circle is that the only person talking is the person with the talking piece. The job of the class is to listen to the person with the talking piece.
Assign one student to be the recorder for the conversation. The student should record the ideas is bullet-form, trying not to repeat ideas, and write on a piece of large chart paper.
Start the circle conversation by passing the talking piece to the person next to you. The student may pass on saying anything by passing the talking piece to the person next to them.
Start with the first question, then move on to the second and the third question:
What will the space look like?
How can the event highlight the work of students in the physical space?
How will attendees feel welcomed and comfortable at the event?
When finished with the questions above, the students will generated a lot of ideas. Ask the student recorder to summarize the ideas presented. As the recorder summarizes the ideas, the class should huddle around the paper posted on the wall.
Ask students to consider which ideas are most important.
Give each student a marker, then tell them they will participate in a dot voting exercise. Each student can for for 3 ideas by drawing a dot next to that idea. Give the students time to vote using the dot method.
When finished, the top ideas for the community event will be clear. Use the dot voting to create a “to-do” list. Assign one item to each small group in the class. Create a timeline of when these to-do items are due.
Feedback and Revision:
Critical Friends with students in class or community members
Community Event Planning:
prepare the space for the community event
Community Event:
show video to community members
Community Event Planning:
Give additional time for the small groups to plan their piece of the community event.
As small groups work on this event, move around to room to check in with the groups. How are they doing? What do they need?
Community Event Planning:
Give additional time for the small groups to plan their piece of the community event.
As small groups work on this event, move around to room to check in with the groups. How are they doing? What do they need?
Community Event:
Implement the community event, following the class plan.
As the community events takes place, look for opportunities to celebrate the work of the students and encourage students to celebrate the work of each other.
Document the event with lots of pictures.
When the community event is concluded, put these pictures into a slideshow or short video with background music.
Reflection and Celebration:
using a socratic-circle, students reflect on the video making experience and celebrate their successes
Have student take out a piece of paper and write a T-chart on the paper. Tell students to label the left side “grows” and the right side “glows.”
Set a timer for 2 minutes and give the students time to reflect on the community event, using the T-chart to record their thinking.
Form a circle and have students bring their T-charts with them. Integrate the talking piece from the previous lesson.
Begin the circle conversation asking students to share one “grow.”
Continue the circle conversation asking students to share one “glow.”
When finished with the project, consider using the pictures, sample writing, reflection, or chart papers to create a more permanent document of the project. For example, print some pictures on glossy paper and display them on the board.