It's Not Just In Storybooks
This year in English Language Arts, we honored the 6th grade curriculum theme, The People, by reading stories of youth from all over the world facing unfathomable challenges.
While literature serves an essential glimpse into the lives of others, readers can feel somewhat removed. On Thursday, February 29th, GUS parent and local educator, Shawna Daoust P’26’26’28 came to our classroom and shared stories of student immigrants living in our greater community.
Now a middle school English Language Learner (ELL) teacher in Swampscott, Shawna feels “drawn to the inner city and immigrant experience”. While students can be learners of English for a variety of reasons, many of the children Shawna works with are new to the United States. “Last year, when I was teaching K- 4th grade students, I worked with students from all over the world. In Kindergarten I worked with children from Russia, the Ukraine, Ethiopia, Brazil, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.” She drew a connection between her students and those seated before her. “Every single one of us is here, in this room today, because somewhere in our lineage, someone chose to immigrate to America. We are all a part of an immigration story and we have so much we can learn from each other.”
Shawna continued: “Immigration evokes such a strong emotion in me when I think of the word. [It] can make me feel sad. I think about the way that immigrants in our country are treated, spoken about, and misunderstood. We know that in books and movies, America is often depicted as the land of opportunity. It doesn’t mean when someone moves here, everything falls into place and life becomes perfect. Immigration is also a word that makes me feel inspired. It takes so much courage to move to a new country and start over. I can’t imagine being a new student at a new school where I can’t even speak the language. Can you? When I work with my ELL students, I make sure to always provide opportunities for them to talk about their home countries/cultures and their own personal experiences. I also provide opportunities for them to teach the class words or phrases in their native language. I think it’s important for immigrants to be able to merge their two worlds (both countries) and not feel like they are leaving behind the life they left. Even if they are coming to start life over, it is still a part of their personal history that needs to be honored.”
Our interview concluded with Shawna offering some sage advice.
Educate yourself. Do not make assumptions about immigrants (or anyone for that matter).
Read. It is one of my favorite ways to learn about the immigrant experience.
Be grateful that you were born in this country. It may not always feel like it, but it is a privilege. People risk their lives everyday just to get into our country and we are already here.
Be an ally. Look for ways to help people. Stand up for people.
Volunteer. There are many organizations that help immigrants to relocate to our country. Donate something to someone else who arrived here with nothing.
Vote when you are old enough.
Be kind. Small acts of kindness can go a long way.
At Glen Urquhart School we make an effort to consider whose stories are being told, who is telling those stories, and who is left out of the stories. Shawna Daoust’s visit not only provided our sixth graders with stories of students their age; our sixth graders were given the opportunity to consider the role they want to play in those stories as integral members of The People.