A Second Chance for Refugee Students

Refugee students face special challenges as they flee the traumas of war and the hardships of refugee camps to begin life in a new country. Educators should be sensitive to these students’ special needs, which differ from those of other immigrants. For example, many such students suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and isolation. Group or individual tutoring provides a supportive academic environment for refugee students. To create a welcoming classroom, teachers can also use such strategies as learning a few words of the students’ native languages and teaching literature of their country of origin. Awareness of cultural differences can help teachers avoid misunderstandings. By their very survival, refugee students demonstrate a will to live and succeed, but they need educators’ support to thrive

New Texts, New Tools: An Argument for Media Literacy

Why is it important to teach media literacy to students? Given the incidents of violence occurring in schools, we know that students are influenced—sometimes tragically—by what they see and hear in the media. By teaching them to develop critical skills, students acquire the tools to make responsible choices. An effective media literacy program follows the following steps: background, tools, deconstruction, evaluation, and original construction. Through understanding the purposes, tools, and biases of a variety of media, students can become sensitive and discerning when confronting their media-saturated world

New Texts, New Tools: An Argument for Media Literacy

Why is it important to teach media literacy to students? Given the incidents of violence occurring in schools, we know that students are influenced—sometimes tragically—by what they see and hear in the media. By teaching them to develop critical skills, students acquire the tools to make responsible choices. An effective media literacy program follows the following steps: background, tools, deconstruction, evaluation, and original construction. Through understanding the purposes, tools, and biases of a variety of media, students can become sensitive and discerning when confronting their media-saturated world

A Second Chance for Refugee Students

Refugee students face special challenges as they flee the traumas of war and the hardships of refugee camps to begin life in a new country. Educators should be sensitive to these students’ special needs, which differ from those of other immigrants. For example, many such students suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and isolation. Group or individual tutoring provides a supportive academic environment for refugee students. To create a welcoming classroom, teachers can also use such strategies as learning a few words of the students’ native languages and teaching literature of their country of origin. Awareness of cultural differences can help teachers avoid misunderstandings. By their very survival, refugee students demonstrate a will to live and succeed, but they need educators’ support to thrive

Serving the Needs of At-Risk Refugee Youth: A Program Evaluation

Refugee students, although frequently subsumed under the “immigrant” heading, often suffer from effects of significant trauma that can make them more vulnerable than children of voluntary immigrant families. This study evaluated a program created specifically for refugee youth at-risk for academic failure and “social death.” The program goals included the creation of a refugee-school-community services coalition designed to deliver culturally appropriate services for a diverse population of refugees. Using mixed methods, I found that the program resulted in positive change in the attitudes and behaviors of the refugee participants and in community social service providers

A Safety Net? Using New Technologies to Engage Education Students in Controversial Topics

As new technological platforms for media increase, so do the calls to utilize them in the classroom. From online discussion boards to synchronous online learning, teachers hear claims of the relative advantages of new technology over the old. However, technologies seem to develop faster than they can be evaluated for effectiveness in the classroom, and more research is needed to inform practice (Fernández, 2007; Fisher, 2003; Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000; Park & Bonk, 2007). As Snelbecker (1999) has suggested, teaching and learning theories ought to be driving the use of emerging technologies in the classroom, and not the reverse. However, practical considerations often take priority, such as nontraditional students’ needs for flexible scheduling and even the rising cost of fuel to drive to a campus. Thus, in reality, it often falls to teachers to connect students’ needs for emerging technology to effective pedagogy