English Confronting Modernity: Becoming Citizens of the World: Refugees and Globalization

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Refugees and Globalization

Today we read chapters ten and eleven of Tree Girl. The setting of chapter eleven was the refugee camp at San Miguel in Mexico. This chapter is helpful in understanding globalization and how not only the commodities or products in one country impact the economy and culture of another but how the political events or disasters also impact other nations.

I did some drawing on the whiteboard to illustrate the concept of a refugee. Some students did have some prior knowledge about refugee camps because they learned about the Lost Boys of Sudan last year. I drew a group of people in one place, discussed situations that would make them disperse, and then talked about where the now refugees might go. Next, we talked about the impact a mass of people would have if they had to suddenly migrate to another town or state. What impact would that have on the people in the new place? What about the resources? Who would organize the relocation? What might be the conditions or conflicts a refugee could expect? We talked a little bit about the Red Cross and humanitarian efforts, too because there is mention of a gringo handing out rice to the people -- both the gringo and rice prompted interesting conversation from the students: " Do the Maya even eat rice? I thought they were corn people." "Why is the gringo speaking in Spanish? Doesn't he know there are like 23 Maya languages?"

We did a large Socratic Seminar today. I developed questions for chapters nine, ten, and eleven so that we could practice "building on ideas of others" in discussions. (Earlier in the week, they tried this out in groups of four with some success.) As I posed questions, I gave students a chance to write down their responses (think), then share their responses with their neighbor (pair), and then share their ideas with the class. After a student shared, I asked, "Would anyone like to build on ___'s idea?" When a student raised a hand, I would first ask for them to restate or clarify their classmate's point before building on that idea. After a few times, I didn't need to prompt this and students running the discussion. This was a great opportunity for students to name one another, celebrate ideas, and make connections -- beautiful.

Here are some of the questions we discussed in chapter eleven, 155-169. The first two questions are not useful for discussion, but it helped us clarify the setting for students who may not have been following the text. Questions 3-6 ask students to predict and analyze using support from the text.

1. Describe the refugee camp at San Miguel.
2. What was the first thing Gabriela did upon arriving?
3. Do you predict Gabi will or will not find Alicia?Explain based on the setting and the authorial pattern you've notice in the plot.

4. What were the social values -- altruistic, individualistic, competitive, cooperative -- of the refugee camp? State at least two and give quotes from the text.
5. Did Gabriela share the values of the rest of the camp? Why or why not? p. 162-165
6. How did the camp experience impact Gabi's view on America? On her Maya culture? What does modernity mean to Gabi?

For the upcoming research project, students may want to learn more about refugee camps or refugees. Discovering Dominga is one source for that, but this book can be, too.

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Re-imagining the English Classroom

This unit is an example of what English teachers can do to explore global issues of social justice through reading and writing. This is specifically designed using eighth grade Common Core Standards, but the units are appropriate for middle through high school students. The essential question that began this blog is this: How have the Maya responded to signs of change, and what can the Maya teach us about tradition, cooperation, and democracy? However, it expanded to other units that also seek to find the lessons of modernity -- or the belief that knowledge, the economy, technology and even our selves are capable of never-ending improvement. That said, our work is to uncover the darker side of such progress, which is also complex and shows how we are implicated in the lives of people all over the world. The format of these units is mostly inquiry-based, but we hold onto the core of our discipline, which is narrative. History is a narrative just as stories are, so we need to see any story as having gaps that prompt questions and further inquiry.

For the Maya unit, students will learn about cooperation through inquiry by beginning with a central text, developing comprehension and literary analysis skills while reading the central text, and then filling in the narrative gaps with additional inquiry researching a variety of genres. The summative assessment will enact this principle by presenting their research through multiple genres and then sharing their findings in a oral presentation and gallery walk. I try variations of this with each unit.

1. Thus, the first learning goal is to understand that knowledge is constructed by and through multiple sources. For this reason, we will do fishbowl and socratic seminars throughout the 3 weeks . The summative writing and speaking assessment is a multigenre project (see Romano’s Blending Genre, Altering Style or many websites) that synthesizes various sources to answer our essential question using multiple genres. Students are free to select from a variety of topics.

2. The second goal is to consider what different genres do to help us understand Maya experiences; thus, students will be able to examine the structure, authorial language, and authenticity of historical fiction and testimonio and to analyze what impact each has on the reader’s experience.In reading various texts, students will practice comprehension skills, identify and analyze literary devices, and trace the theme of cooperation. The summative reading assessment is a written assessment about figurative language, vocabulary in context, dialogue, and genre.

3.The third goal is to enact inclusivity, participation and critical engagement -- pillars of thick democracy. The texts in this unit captures the resilience of people and the value of cooperation. By focusing on Maya genocide of the early 1980s and exploring their culture, American students can learn the true meaning of cooperation and gain a greater sense of democratic living while also celebrating the resilience of a people. We will see how the Maya maintain their cultural foundation while making modern adaptation.

The novel, Tree Girl, is the central text, so the study guide here follows this book chapter by chapter indicating places for additional inquiry. Students will do inquiry during workshop time and keep notes in their research journals. The testimonio of I, Rigoberta Menchu, and numerous documentary and other media resources capture the social structures that created oppression in Guatemala and the mechanisms people used to resist and maintain traditions such as coops for farming and weaving and integrating Catholicism with indigenous religion. The two books are also a source of comparison as we think about how we learn about history.

As we see in Grandin's book, "Repression severed alliances between reforming elites and popular classes, disaggregated powerful collective movements into individual survival strategies, extracted leaders from their communities, and redefined the relationship between human beings and society" (196). However, individuals, especially activists like Rigoberta Menchu, while extracted did not remain isolated. Out of such manifestations grew a new way of thinking that resisted oppression –granito de arena. This metaphor for cooperation is a powerful message for any democratic society and is particularly relevant for developing classroom ethos. Guatemala advanced democracy not through autonomy or isolated freedom but rather a "collective action laid bare the social foundations of self" (181). This, I think, is what is worth knowing and teaching in our schools; this notion of democracy is worth contemplating, and so this unit attempts to explore these notions by using stories as points of access for these young thinkers.

Ganito de arena – a humble phrase that says “ I alone can’t change things. But I can HELP to change things." It’s a collective concept of change! It signifies a process that change can take many forms. It comes through struggle that unites collective rights and individual rights. What I give is only a tiny contribution (as with all the people we will meet in this unit). There are no heroes, but when the hand of destiny touches you, you have to act – you don’t have a choice.

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Refugees and Globalization

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