Sessions
Creating Fertile Spaces for Refugees - Issues and Answers at the iEARN Conference
Helaine Marshall
Long Island University
Helaine Marshall
Dr. Marshall began her career as a middle school French teacher in Newton, MA, and then, after teaching English in France for two years, decided to move into the field of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). She holds a B.A. and M.A. in French from Tufts University and a doctorate in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University. Helaine is Professor of Education and Director of Language Education Programs at Long Island University – Hudson, where she teaches courses in TESOL methodology, linguistics, and multicultural education. Helaine began flipping her teacher education courses in Spring 2012 as part of a teaching innovation grant and found the results so positive, that she now flips all of her courses. Her research interests include flipping the online learning environment and culturally responsive teaching for SLIFE (students with limited or interrupted formal education) and other struggling language learners. She includes a chapter on flipped learning in her book Making the Transition: Culturally Responsive Teaching for Struggling Language Learners (U. of Michigan Press, 2013). You can find out more about Helaine at http://malpeducation.com/.
Rudayna Abdo
Thaki
Rudayna Abdo
As a daughter of Palestinian refugees, displaced from Lebanon during the civil war in the mid-1970s, Ms. Abdo founded Thaki, an organization designed to assist refugee and disadvantaged children to learn and thrive through self-paced, motivational electronic tools, so as to unlock their academic potential. She is a big believer in using technology to ignite the passion for learning and growing. She believes in leveraging partnerships to sustainably balance the inequity in this world. She has 20+ years of experience as a an urban planner, a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies from MIT and a master’s degree in Urban Planning from McGill University.
Kimberly Peterson
Winchester Public Schools
Kimberly Peterson
Ms. Peterson has worked in the education field for more than 20 years, beginning as a classroom teacher. Trained in SiOP, WIDA, Literacy Lessons, Reading Recovery, and many other approaches to literacy development, Ms. Peterson has taught in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. She was previously coordinator for ESOL professional development in the Prince William County Schools and is now ESOL Program Coordinator in our host district for the iEARN Conference, Winchester Public Schools in Winchester, Virginia.
Moataz Alnajar
Winchester Public Schools
Moataz Alnajar
Moataz is a Syrian refugee who arrived with his family and is living in Winchester, attending John Handley High School. He participated in the International Film Club, an iEARN Project, as a guest speaker for a live, interactive online Zoom session with students from several countries who had viewed the documentary film, Sunflower Seeds, about young Syrian refugees living in Greece. The students in the online session asked Moataz about his experiences as a refugee and he shared his and his family’s perspectives, much as he will do in this iEARN Conference Roundtable session.
Type: Roundtable
Location: Room 1306
Date: Thursday
Time: 11:00-11:50 AM
This session is associated with a UN SDG!
This session relates to the International Film Club iEARN Project!
Session Description
This session is about reimagining refugee work from being a community or school burden to being an opportunity for growth and enrichment. The use of the phrase “create fertile spaces” highlights the intent of this positive mindset and serves to counter the commonly held deficit mindset regarding refugee populations.
What will educators learn and be able to do at the end of the session?
- Explore the five tenets of Geneva Gay’s Culturally Responsive Teaching (2018)
- Examine effective ways to leverage technology for today’s struggling learners
- Develop guidelines for all stakeholders to use when interacting with refugee populations
- Establish a network of concerned educators for sustaining the conversation
Additional Session Information
This roundtable will explore the following discussion questions:
- What is your most pressing issue regarding working with refugee populations?
- What strengths have you noticed that refugees exhibit in their interactions in school and in the community?
- What are some of the resources you have found useful to you in your work with refugees?
- How can the non-refugee students and community members facilitate the creation of fertile spaces for refugees?
- How do you envision collaborating with colleagues to continue this discussion to everyone’s benefit?
Session Resources
Creating Fertile Spaces for Refugees: Issues and Answers
List of responses to our 5 questions and list of guidelines based on the presenters' insights
Creating Fertile Spaces for Refugees: Issues and Answers
Notes from Brainstorming on the 5 questions.
List of guidelines based on our roundtable discussion.
Creating Fertile Spaces for Refugees: Issues and Answers
PowerPoint for overall Roundtable and slides for the Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Intercultural Communication Framework
Creating Fertile Spaces for Refugees: Issues and Answers
Link to our mailing list. This will place you on the list to be part of the new iEARN GOAL: Migrants and Refugees - how iEARN can contribute to solutions; Enter your name, email, place of work, role or position. We will be in touch!