Cultivating Belonging with Students from Refugee Backgrounds
Classroom in the United States.. Photo provided courtesy of author.
By Jennifer C. Mann
19 september 2022
As more families seek refuge in the United States, teachers who have not been accustomed to teaching students from refugee backgrounds will now have to figure out how best to meet the academic and socio-emotional needs of these students. This has been my experience as a teacher. The unfortunate reality is that in US schools, students from refugee backgrounds have often not found belonging. Instead, they face ongoing discrimination, exclusion, othering, and silencing. Students from refugee backgrounds deserve to be in spaces where they feel a sense of belonging, and currently many of our schools are not yet spaces of belonging. In this recorded conversation, my students and I discuss how we worked together to create these spaces of belonging.
Student Understandings & Suggestions for Belonging
In our recorded conversation, Sue Mar (all student names are pseudonyms) shared her understanding of belonging as not needing to explain herself because teachers have already done the work to build understanding of the cultural and religious backgrounds of their students and are not requiring students to do all of the work of educating their teachers. Amora emphasized the importance of being accepted and feeling safe. Fahim discussed the connection between students and teachers as significant for him. He feels that teachers should try to understand their students’ day to day lives and struggles and be an active participant in helping students to problem solve. I share some ways I worked with my students to implement their suggestions.
Taking Action in Classrooms
An important step we take as educators is to educate ourselves. By learning about the history, culture, religion, and tradition of our students, we reduce miscommunication and enhance connection. After some understanding is gained through our own reading and researching, then we can seek more specific understandings of the experiences of our students by building genuine relationships with them and learning from them. We don’t want to interrogate or pry in unhealthy ways. Often students from refugee backgrounds have experienced trauma, and we do not want to focus on their trauma. Instead as relationships are built and trust is established, I have found it possible and productive to begin asking open ended questions. Some of the questions I have found particularly helpful include:
What were you surprised about when you moved to the United States? (This opens the door for students to discuss differences in a safe way.)
What’s one memory you have of growing up in ______? (A question like this is appropriate because it allows the student to determine what sort of memory to share with you.)
What are some things you think I don’t know about your country/culture that you wish I knew? (By asking this question you are valuing your students and their experiences and knowledge.)
What can I do to be a better teacher for you? (Your action that follows this question is more important than the question itself.)
Is there anything that you need help with outside of the classroom? (This provides an opportunity for us to be a resource to students – perhaps they need help understanding a document they received in the mail, or they wish to know how to access certain services.)
Together, as educators, we can shift refugee students’ experiences in US public schools. This shift will happen as we promote a sense of community by cultivating belonging in our classrooms.
Read more: Academic article, “Stories that are worth sharing”: Insights from Middle Eastern Refugee Migration Stories through an Inquiry into Narrative
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this publication belong solely to the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of REACH or the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
About the Author
Jennifer C. Mann is currently a doctoral student in the Literacy and English Language Arts Education program at NC State. She has spent 15 years teaching students ranging from Kindergarten to College, spending the majority of that time as a high school English Literature teacher, specializing in instruction to culturally and linguistically diverse students. Her research interests include critical literacy, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and the social emotional well-being of marginalized students, particularly refugees and immigrants. Her recent publications can be found in Language Arts, Urban Education, and Journal of Language and Literacy Education. Connect with Jennifer on Twitter.