Educational Guide: Grades 9-12
Topic 1—What does it mean to be a refugee?
Topic 2—What does it mean to be a Vermonter?
Topic 3—What kinds of stories can photographs tell
Topic 1—What does it mean to be a refugee?
PRE-VISIT: FRAMING DISCUSSIONS
Consider not only the personal and cultural impacts of being displaced from one's home, but also the lasting impact of those experiences on the ability of people to rebuild their lives in new places.
- Can you imagine how you would react if you were forced to leave school today and never return to your home again? What are the things about you that would be likely to change? What things would stay the same?
- How might the experience of losing home, family, and country affect someone's personality, and even their behavior in a new place?
- How does culture influence who we are? What is cultural identity? What are the challenges to maintaining personal and cultural identity in a new place?
- What issues do we encounter with the notion that refugees can begin “new” lives once they are resettled? Is this a reasonable expectation to have?
Available Pre-Visit Materials (see DOWNLOADS page)
- Image: Nedzad's Parents House—Nevzeta holding a photograph of Nedzad's parent's house after the war in Bosnia. All that remains of the house is the concrete foundation and walls.
- Image: Separated from his Sister in 1990—Faustine holding a photograph of his sister who still lives in Burundi and whom he hasn't seen since they were separated in1990.
- Image: Cléophace with his Workbooks—Cléophace holding his language workbooks, which are some of the only possessions he still has from his life in the Congo.
- Personal History Excerpt: Aziza—Aziza describes how her family was forced to move numerous times and how on each occasion they had to leave their homes and most of their possessions behind.
- Personal History Excerpt: John—John explains the challenges he faced when he first arrived in Vermont. He also explains how living in Vermont is in some ways more difficult than his life in the refugee camp.
- Personal History Excerpt: James—James discusses the difficulty of trying to have a life in Vermont while knowing his Mother is alive in Sudan.
- Unabridged Personal History: David and Jean-Luc—The story of these brothers, and their escape from the Rwandian genocide, is an extremely descriptive account of what happens to refugees when they are forced to flee their homes.
ON-SITE: EXHIBIT ACTIVITIES
Activity #1: Give students 15-20 minutes to look at the photographs and read several of the stories.
Activity #2: The class should then read aloud and discuss one or two stories that directly confront the “refugee experience” as it relates to losing home, family or living in a refugee camp. Of course all the stories confront these issues; however, some do it more directly than others. Teachers should review the exhibit text [see DOWNLOADS page] prior to visiting the exhibit and select the excerpts they feel are most appropriate. Some suggestions include: Abdi, Aziza, Malinga & Cléophace, and Faustine.
POST-VISIT: CULMINATION ACTIVITY
Students read the complete text of at least one of the thirteen [see DOWNLOADS page]. Students should then make a list of the physical and emotional challenges that the subjects overcame in the course of the narratives. Students should then choose to write about a moment in their lives when they overcame a challenging situation and how that situation influenced the person they are today. After the writing assignment, student will hopefully have been given the chance to reflect on the way in which personal experience influences identity. At this point the teacher should return to the lists of challenges that the students identified from the refugee stories and lead a discussion about the ways these challenges might have shaped, and continue to shape, the personalities and identities of the people that experienced them.
*Note: Teachers must be sure that students do not feel pressured to discuss traumatic experiences from their own lives. There is a potential for students to feel this expectation when presented with the content that they will be reading in the stories. This should NOT be an exercise in which students are forced to personally confront dangerous physical or emotional situations from their own lives; rather it should be an exercise that helps them appreciate how experiences impact their personal identities and the identities of others.
Related Vermont Standards
Causes and Effects in Human Societies
6.1— Students examine complex webs of causes and effects in relation to events in order to generalize about the workings of human societies, and they apply their findings to problems.
Movements and Settlements
6.8— Students analyze the factors and implications associated with the historical and contemporary movements and settlements of people and groups in various times in their local community, in Vermont, in the United States, and in various locations world wide.
Nature of Conflict
6.18— Students analyze the nature of conflicts, how they have been or might be resolved, and how some have shaped the divisions in various times of their local community, Vermont, the United States, and the world.
Identity and Interdependence
6.19— Students understand the variety of influences and impacts of the construction, preservation, and change of identity, within families, other social structures, and nations.
Topic 2—What does it mean to be a Vermonter?
PRE-VISIT: FRAMING DISCUSSIONS
Discuss the impact of incorporating refugees into Vermont communities and contemplate ways of benefiting from this demographic shift, and overcoming potential challenges that arise.
- How are Vermont communities changing with the influx of more culturally and ethnically diverse groups, such as refugees? Are these changes affecting your community and, if so, how?
- What qualities about Vermont, and Vermonters, make the State a good place to resettle refugees? What might be some of the problems? How might these problems be mitigated or overcome?
- What is cultural identity? What is your cultural identity? What are the challenges of adapting to new cultural diversity while maintaining cultural identity? Is maintaining cultural identity even important?
Available Pre-Visit Materials (see DOWNLOADS page)
- Image: John, his wife, and their four children—John's family sitting in their living room, where they have both the American and Burundian flags hanging on the walls.
- Image: Binh with Loan and her two grandchildren—Binh together with her daughter and her two grandchildren that were born in Vermont.
- Image: Cleophace, Malinga, Bernadette, and King—A Congolese family that now lives in Burlington, VT.
- Featured Personal History: Victoria—Victoria explains how she was able to complete high school while working a full-time job and also supporting her family in Africa. Her experience articulates how life can be vastly different for students attending even the very same high school.
- Featured Personal History: Abdi—Abdi describes challenges he faced as one of the first Somali refugees to attend his high school.
- Featured Personal History: Alex—Alex explains the issues many refugees face in maintaining their cultural identities while adapting to life in Vermont.
ON-SITE: EXHIBIT ACTIVITIES
Activity #1: Give students 15-20 minutes to look at the photographs and read each of the stories.
Activity #2: The class should read aloud and discuss one or two stories in which the refugees describe their lives here in Vermont. Teachers should review the exhibit text [see DOWNLOADS page] prior to visiting the exhibit and select the excerpts they feel are most appropriate. Several suggestions include: Alex, James, Victoria, and John.
POST-VISIT: CULMINATION ACTIVITY
Pairs of students will interview one another about personal, family or social traditions that are important in their lives in an attempt to highlight elements of cultural identity and diversity. Students will be responsible for writing a narrative describing the tradition that their partner chooses to share with them. After writing the narrative, the students will show their partner and get feedback on whether the narrative needs any changes. The narratives will then be read aloud to the class by their authors. The activity ends with a class discussion about the relationship between something as simple as traditions and the concept of cultural identity. With a model of cultural diversity on a classroom scale, the students should be more able to contemplate the impact of cultural differences in their community and the state.
Related Vermont Standards
Causes and Effects in Human Societies
6.1— Students examine complex webs of causes and effects in relation to events in order to generalize about the workings of human societies, and they apply their findings to problems.
Movements and Settlements
6.8— Students analyze the factors and implications associated with the historical and contemporary movements and settlements of people and groups in various times in their local community, in Vermont, in the United States, and in various locations world wide.
Meaning of Citizenship
6.9— Students examine and debate the meaning of citizenship and act as citizens in a democratic society. (6.9 aa. Examine ways people become citizens of the United States.)
Concepts of Culture
6.13— Students understand the concept of culture, including the cultures of indigenous peoples, in various times in their local community, in the United States, and in various locations worldwide.
Forces of Unity and Disunity
6.14— Students understand the tensions between the forces of unity and those of disunity in various times in their local community, in the United States, and in various locations world-wide.
Interdependence
6.19— Students understand the variety of influences and impacts of the construction, preservation, and change of identity, within families, other social structures, and nations.
Topic 3—What kinds of stories can photographs tell?
PRE-VISIT: FRAMING DISCUSSIONS
Students contemplate the ways in which photographs can both represent and misrepresent reality and truth, and they also discuss the dilemmas associated with using beauty and aesthetics to convey hardships and suffering. [Teachers should use age appropriate magazines and newspaper stories as image resources including events, editorials, and advertisements.]
- Are photographs a representation of reality or an interpretation of reality? If they are an interpretation of reality, who is doing the interpretation? The photographer? The viewer?
- What kinds of things can influence someone's experience in viewing a photograph? What is the impact of presenting photographs with text?
- Do photographs tell the truth? Do they sometimes tell the truth? How might we recognize when they are, and when they aren't?
- How do you feel about photographs that portray suffering in an aesthetic manner? Are there issues with trying to depict problems in a beautiful way?
*All images and stories are widely applicable to these discussion questions. Students may view photographs individually to discuss basic visual content, or as triptychs (three-image series) to discuss their impact as a storytelling device. Comparisons can also be drawn between the photographic storytelling and the written personal histories—along with the impact of using them together.
ON-SITE: EXHIBIT ACTIVITIES
Activity #1: Students explore the exhibit for 10-15 minutes looking ONLY at the photographs.
Activity #2: Teacher gathers students together to discuss initial impressions of the images and also what the students think they know about the storytellers from the photographs alone.
Activity #3: Students spent 10-15 additional minutes reading the accompanying text and then discuss how impressions developed, evolved, or changed altogether.
POST-VISIT: CULMINATION ACTIVITY
Student search the school library or internet for several examples of images being used to communicate personal struggle. Students evaluate these examples and determine which are most effective at communicating their message and which are least effective. Selecting one example of each (i.e. effective vs. ineffective), students form a written argument for why they feel one is more effective than the other. The emphasis should be placed upon students developing personal preference and criteria for evaluating successful visual storytelling. These opinions should then be discussed as a class to highlight the similarities and differences that exist in the ways that different people experience visual media.
Related Vermont Standards
Responding to Media
5.14— Students interpret and evaluate a variety of types of media, including audio, graphic images, film, television, video, and on-line resources.
