Life as a Refugee
Just as our world evolves, our people change too. Different families rise to power, with different theories and beliefs, creating challenges that often lead to war and turmoil. Families are separated, children fall ill, and pets are forgotten. The only thing keeping them going is hope. Hope of a safe space to grow, hope of reclaiming their identities, hope of something, anything, better.
Fear, the fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of anything just outside the comfort zone, the thing that drives most decisions. Refugees have always been met with fear. As a human race, we lack the knowledge surrounding the lives of refugees; it’s a taboo topic. Parents do not talk about it with their children, community members do not discuss it with their acquaintances, bosses don’t speak with their employees, teachers do not talk about it with their students, and it’s time for a change.
On this particular day, I stumbled upon an article about a Syrian teen refugee, seeking asylum. I had wanted to do a lesson on life as a refugee, but I just didn’t know where to start. So, this article was where I began. I decided to start with a discussion with my seventh graders about what they knew about refugees. I was saddened by the answers, but not surprised. I mostly received “Mexicans” or “Don’t they smuggle drugs into the US?” I guess everyone had to start somewhere.
This was a lesson that I wanted my students to really get something out of, a lesson on values. So, I made it student-centered and research-based. The students would work with a partner to create a timeline. They were to define “refugee” and research a time in which people fled their countries for safety. Each partnership would have a different war or time period to research. Upon completing research, they were to create a physical timeline with text and pictures depicting the lives of those civilians.
My students loved this project, almost as much as I did. On the final day, they presented their findings and were so proud of their work. We even met a few standards along the way.
