Book Club Portfolio

Katie McGuire

"The New Kids" 

Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens

Brooke Hauser

(1) Your points of disruption--places in the book that cause you to feel uncomfortable or angry or curious.

I had a disruption in the book when Yasmeen got married so young. Though I realize it’s a part of her culture, this goes against my cultural beliefs, so I had a really hard time with it. It made me think about to what extent immigrants should be able to live their own cultures. Should immigrants have to assimilate to American culture? Many Americans believe so. What are the benefits and costs to letting immigrants live their cultures, even if they are very different from our cultures (like in the case of Yasmeen)? The costs are that they might be things (like young marriage) that we disagree with. The cultural practices of immigrants may make us feel uncomfortable or even angry. The benefits to accepting this is that immigrants can feel more welcome here. They will realize that they are free to practice their cultural beliefs in America without being judged or harassed. This will help to make American a more wonderful place to live.

I also had a disruption with how they taught sex-ed in the book. A huge part of my culture as a member of LDS church says sex is very sacred, and the way the instructor talked about it definitely clashed with the way I have talked about it growing up. What are the benefits and costs to accepting that sex-ed maybe should be taught differently to different audiences? The benefits are that students may be more receptive to what they are being taught if it is taught more at their level and in a joking manner instead of in an embarrassing way. This could lead to them having safer sexual relations. The cost could be disrespectful conversations or not learning to talk about sex in mature ways.

Another disruption I had was around how much time the teachers had to spend to help the immigrants. I’m sure they weren’t being paid a lot, but they were spending TONS of time and energy on seeing to their students’ success. This stresses me out because sometimes I feel like the only way I can be a good teacher is by spending every waking moment helping my students. Obviously, I want to help them, but I also have my own family to take care of and love. What are the benefits and costs to accepting that helping students may take a lot of time and energy. The costs are, as mentioned before, that this is just time consuming and can be really difficult mentally and physically. It can also lead to children at home feeling somewhat neglected. That being said, the benefits of this are the success of students. All of the teachers who saw their immigrant students succeeding (such as getting the Jerry Seinfeld scholarship) in the book felt immense satisfaction. The all-nighters they had pulled grading college prep essays and helping them refine them became instantly worth it. Even if you don’t see the success that some of the teachers were able to see teachers who work with their students extensively will feel that they have done all they can to help their students.

I had a disruption with Mohammad’s whole story! UGH. I’m so torn about it. On one hand I was glad he was able to be in America, but on the other hand he had not gotten there in the legal way (plus he had hurt people along the way). I’ve always believed we should help immigrants as much as possible, but I’ve also known that illegal immigration is definitely against the law. What are the benefits and costs to realizing that sometimes illegal immigration might be the best option for someone?  The costs are realizing that the country, and maybe me, need to reevaluate our priorities and how we feel about illegal immigrants. This can be a painful process. The benefits would be that we could see people as humans instead of as “illegal”. We can realize what immigrants have been through and be more loving and caring towards them and their situations.

(2) Descriptions of the stories from the book clarify or provide examples of the ideas we have been discussing in class.

-One of the first things I noticed in the book was the difference between BICS and CALP. Many of the students in the book very quickly gained Basic interpersonal communication skills and are able to socialize with the students around them. However, they struggled with Cognitive academic language proficiency including writing essays and with many of their language skills academically. The teachers mentioned many times in the books the classic English mistakes the immigrants made and when Ann grades their papers she notices that their academic language is far from perfect even in their senior year. As we discussed in class, it can take 5-7 years for students to develop CALP. This should help us as teachers to remember that immigrants may be proficient in basic communication but will need constant support and help as they develop their academic language skills. We must be patient with this.

I also noticed that many students in the book gained cultural capital, but at what cost? One specific part of the book mentions Chit Su and how she had become accustomed to eating pizza at lunch and fries. For some reason this made me sad. It was as if she had lost her culture. As immigrants gain cultural capital in America, they may lose their own culture in the process. I hope to find ways in my classroom to preserve the culture of my immigrant students, whatever it may be. I also learned about social capital through reading the book. Students had a very difficult time developing social capital. The only people they were around with the social capital to help them move up the economic ladder were their teachers. Though people like Dariana Castro (who has incredible social capital skills) attempt to help the students get internships, etc., the development of social capital and making good connections is really difficult for these students.  

I loved observing the teacher’s inclusive pedagogy in the book. They were able to incorporate strategies to help many different learning styles and had great multicultural content. I thought a great example of inclusive pedagogy was when the English teacher took the time to talk through writing essays with the students who she knew had a very difficult time with English. She could have just let them struggle, but she took the extra time to help them, even though she had many students to help in the class and a huge list of things to do. I was really impressed by this!

I thought about our discussion of poverty as I read through the book as well. Many of the students had been homeless in their lives and were now part of the poor or working class. It was touching that Dariana Castro kept snacks for students and was so willing to give these to them. The teachers themselves were obviously struck by the living conditions of the students. It takes a team effort to get Mohammad out of his horrible living situation and into Cindy’s home. Ann Parry is shocked to find that Jessica is living on her home. We as teachers need to be aware of our students who are living in these conditions.

3) How the stories from the book will influence your thinking about your future work as a teacher.

As I read the stories of the immigrants, especially the undocumented immigrants, I realized how much stress being an undocumented immigrant can bring. Mohammad’s story especially sheds light on the fear that comes with being an undocumented immigrant. He is constantly worried about getting taken back to Sierra Leon. Those students in our schools who are undocumented are constantly worried about being caught and kicked out of the country. They have to always be careful around law enforcement. It is even mentioned that they always make sure they don’t use their student pass on the metro during the weekends in fear of getting caught and then deported. This would be so stressful. Undocumented immigrants today live in even more fear, as our current President has been very vocal against immigration and has tried getting rid of programs like DACA. As teachers we must realize this is a reality and support our students in whatever way we can, just as the teachers do in the book.

 Not only do these students have the stress of currently being undocumented immigrants, but many of them have been through traumatic situations to get to where they were at. When I learned of Ngawang and his experience in the suitcase coming to America I was shocked. Though most of our students won’t have this extreme of stories, many of them (immigrant or not) will have had incredibly hard life experiences. Do we teach them like that? Do we treat them like they are struggling? Because they likely are! I hope as a teacher that I can look out for my students and help them. I hope I will realize all of them are passing through something hard and treat them in this way.

-The stories in the book also inspired me to be a better teacher because of the examples of the teachers in the book. They are incredible! The students love them and trust them. The teachers do all they can to help ensure the success of their students. They invest time, energy, money, and much more to help them. When I think about my future work as a teacher, I hope to realize that I have a job to not only help my students develop academically, but also in other ways. I can help by making dispositional objectives for my students to ensure they develop the skills necessary to not only succeed academically, but in all other aspects of their lives. A good story from the book that illustrates this is the interest the teachers took in Yasmeen, even coming to her bridal shower and always talking to her about her marriage and supporting her, despite their misgivings about the situation.

(4) Ideas from the book that you believe must be shared with the other members of the class. 

I think the most important thing to understand is that no matter WHAT your position is on immigration, these people are PEOPLE. Immigrants that come to the United States illegally are PEOPLE. Immigrants that come to the United States legally are PEOPLE. As teachers, I think it is our job and duty to love ALL of our students regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. I have heard so many comments that are inappropriate towards Hispanic immigrants during my life. I was shocked when the first couple of days of my practicum one of the teachers told a terrible joke about Hispanics. I wanted to ask, “Would you want your Hispanic students to hear you say that?” I should have had the courage to ask him that. I hope that in the future as a teacher I can be an advocate for any student. One of the greatest parts of this book is when the author is talking about immigration. She talks about how many people believe that immigrants lack grit or work ethic. That’s why they miss school. She slams down this falsehood and tells the story of students who are going to school full time, taking care of their little siblings, and working a part time job. She declares that these students do NOT lack work ethic or grit. I hope to remember this as I am teaching and see my students for who they truly are.