Humanizing Advocacy in Schools Serving Refugee and Immigrant Families

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Perspectives on Advocating for Immigrant and Refugee Learners and Their Families

Abstract

This study uses humanizing advocacy for working with Somali refugee and immigrant students in Ohio, and it draws on interviews with six teachers who exhibited a humanizing pedagogy. It also examines ways in which teachers act as advocates for their students and go above and beyond methods of teaching English to ensure that refugee and immigrant children are engaged in the classroom and all school-related activities while their cultural ways of being are honored and validated. Parents and families of refugees and immigrant desire that their children are successful in schools, without necessarily giving up their language and cultural practices or their identities as members of different ethnic and language groups.

Author

• Sahra Ahmed, The Ohio State University