Ed Smith Students Learn Civic Readiness – and Empathy – through ELA Project
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and SCSD Superintendent Davis will soon be receiving heartfelt, well-researched letters from concerned citizens.Thanks to an ELA project created by Ed Smith 6th grade teacher Shannon Dodge, students read the novel ‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz – a tale of three refugee children. Touched by the stories, they researched and watched videos to gather more information about the refugee crisis. Then, they each wrote a letter to Mayor Walsh or Superintendent Davis, expressing their thoughts about the refugee crisis and their pleas for change within the City of Syracuse to better support refugee children and their families.
“I wrote about how most refugees are children under age 18,” Issa Etra said. “I wrote about how refugee students deserve more English as a New Language teachers, more translators, more resources to help them in school.”
Issa knows firsthand how much such resources could help: a refugee himself, he came to the U.S. from Iraq in 2015.
“When I came here, the main issue I had in school was that I was bullied. This project was important because it helped our class gain more of an understanding of refugees – and about me. It allows us to have more information about what’s really happening in the world. It’s important that we treat everyone with respect. Treat everyone as a friend. If there are refugee students in your school, help them. Be a friend. Explain what’s going on, and don’t be a bully.”
Classmate Elan Braimah said that was his take-away from the project: realizing what he could do to make a difference right in his own school building and his own life.
“The language barrier is huge – we can find ways to help refugees just by stepping in to help if we see someone struggling,” he said. “One story we read followed a little boy from Syria who experienced a Civil War. I can’t imagine having to experience that. This book showed what refugees go through – we hear about these things, but the book really gave me an inside perspective. It made me realize that there are things we can do to help refugees in their daily lives.”
“This book and this project really helped me understand what refugees go through,” Joseph LaClair agreed. “I learned that we can help by being friends with them. We can let them know they’re not alone and they have someone they can open up to. My favorite part of this project was writing a letter to Superintendent Davis. I really want him to help, so we can make our refugee students feel more welcome.”
“I have lots of friends who are refugees,” Max Ferguson said. “This book helped me a lot as a person because it helped me really see and understand what’s happening in the world right now. I was scared to have these conversations before because I didn’t want to be ignorant about what my friends had experienced. But now, I feel like it’s really important to have these conversations, to talk about what they’re going through. They may be refugees, but they are people, too. It’s important for us to let them know that they are seen and heard.”
Ms. Dodge said her objective with the project was to help her students connect – learning not just it means to be a refugee, but also how to support them.
“I love this project because we have so many former refugee children in our school,” she explained. “Children walk the halls with them, eat lunch with them, and share a school with them but have no idea of their story. After reading the novel and seeing the reactions from the children, I knew I had to invest more time letting them learn and explore the refugee crisis, because it is closer to home than we think.”
We’re so proud of these #SCSDCivicReady Ed Smith students for taking the time to learn about – and speak out in support of – the refugee community!
