US Immigration Policies

Today I went to Cesar Chavez to teach a lesson about US immigration. This is not an area of significant expertise for me, but Wamiq and Mara and I put together a solid lesson. (They taught the same lesson earlier in the day.) Class started a little late and the end of the day announcements began early so it was challenging to pack in everything I had planned, but I did cover much of the lesson and most students were engaged. They had a number of questions about US immigration policy and were responsive to questions. One of the students is writing her thesis on this topic so I gave her my email in case she wanted help with some sources.

This lesson reiterated to me that I should focus on one or two key points and not try to pack too many different points into the lesson. While teaching I feel like I want to expose them to as many ideas and facts as possible, but this desire needs to be stifled sometimes. Twice I have had the afternoon bell ring while still trying to finish, which makes closing the lesson difficult.

I stayed and spoke with the teacher after school. She mentioned that the students are 3-5 years behind grade level. This was not especially obvious in the class, because the students get things quickly and easily analyze concepts, but she said it is evident in their writing. It struck me when she said that another teacher had made an allusion to the Scarlett Letter and the students did not know what she was talking about. In fact, they have not been exposed to to many of the books most of us read in high school.