It was a busy year for the American Immigration Law Foundation's Curriculum Center in 2007. The Center hosted symposia nationwide in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The symposia focused on current immigration policies, presenting immigration in the classroom, sharing stories through oral history, learning with literature and media and using artifacts, primary sources and dramatic arts to teach immigration. This free day-long symposium was geared towards teachers and staff that were involved in developing and presenting curriculum to children. The program reviewed how the subject of immigration could be taught through many of the major disciplines-including language arts/reading, social studies/history, and even geography and mathematics (statistics, percentages, etc.). Participants obtained the necessary tools and ideas that are essential to teaching children about the importance of immigration to our nation.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Ken Mochizuki
Award winning children's author, Ken Mochizuki, gave a presentation on two of his books, Baseball Saved Us and Be Water My Friend, at the first teachers' symposium in Los Angeles. Mr. Mochizuki lives in Seattle, Washington, where he writes children's books and gives presentations about his work full time. Be sure to visit the publisher's website, Lee & Low's website to utilize the accompanying study guide to Baseball Saved Us.

W. Nikola Lisa
W. Nikola Lisa, author of How We are Smart, has written numerous award-winning children's books, among them Bein' with You This Way, Summer Sun Risin', and My Teacher Can Teach…Anyone!, W. Nikola Lisa was kind enough to speak at the symposium in Chicago. An accomplished story teller and a professor of education at National-Louis University, Nikola-Lisa decided to write this book after attending a lecture about multiple intelligences. He and his wife live in Chicago.

Ann Jaramillo
Author and activist Ann Jaramillo spoke to teachers about her book, La Linea at the San Francisco teachers' symposium. La Linea tells the story of a young boy, Miguel, and his sister, Elena, and their journey from Mexico to California in search of their parents. The inspiration for La Linea came from one of Jaramillo's ESL students, Maria, who told Jaramillo of her estrangement from her mother. Jaramillo wanted to tell a story that reflected her students' lives experiences and with this book, she believes she did. Jaramillo and her husband live in Sanilas, California.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Located at 97 Orchard Street, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum promotes tolerance and historical perspective through the presentation and interpretation of the variety of immigrant and migrant experiences on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a gateway to America. The museum gives a unique perspective on U.S. immigration history on account of the 7000 immigrants who called the tenement home between 1863 and 1935 and is located in New York City, where more than 30 million immigrants have arrived. At the Miami symposium, museum educator, Sarah Blannett, gave a presentation on using artifacts, primary sources and dramatic arts. Visit the museum's educational web pages to learn more about how the museum can serve as a classroom resource.

Grant Projects
John Hallagan, a fourth grade teacher at Magee Elementary School in Genesee Depot, WI, and a Curriculum Center Teacher Fellow, developed a school newspaper called Immigration Nation. Fourth grade students researched and wrote essays, historical articles, and book reviews on immigration for publication in a newspaper called "Immigration Nation." Students included cartoons, photographs, graphs, and other materials that contributed to the understanding of the American immigration story.

Sharing Stories through Writing
Michael Tajchman is presently a fourth grade lead teacher at Passages Charter School in Chicago, Illinois. His school serves a special mission to provide comprehensive educational services to children from families who are recent immigrants and refugees. Tajchman's lesson, Immigration Stories: By Children, For Children aims at utilizing a variety of research sources to write their own immigration stories for other children, in order to foster understanding of present day immigrant experiences.

Sharing Stories through Artifacts and Heirlooms
The National Archives offers an array of resources to help your students learn how to work with primary sources, artifacts and heirlooms. Whether sharing a family heirloom or studying everyday objects, resources at the National Archives will help your students organize detailed information.

Additional Resources:
The Immigrant Experience Political Cartoons