Supporting Undocumented Students
In an effort to earn my teacher as ally badge, I am not only looking into how to support LGBTQ+ students, but also how to support undocumented students. I feel now more than ever, visible allies are necessary in the classroom for undocumented students. With the current administration, even going to school can feel daunting. With a simple google search of “how to support undocumented students”, I found a few things worth noting from this website: http://www.e4fc.org/images/E4FC_EducatorTop10.pdf:
1. Create a safe space: What this means in a classroom is too long to try to put into a blog post, but when it comes to undocumented students, there are a few things that we can do to make the classroom a safe space. This includes not forcing students to self-identify as undocumented, and not placing that label explicitly on them. Doing so can put them at risk in your classroom. Another part of this is making yourself a visible ally. Using posters, stickers, whatever it is, make sure your students know that you are on their side.
2. Build agency and power: This can look a lot of different ways - empowering students goes a long way, and it a very important part of being a teacher. Some ways this can look is encouraging the students to start a club focusing on immigration issues, and supporting that club as their teacher, or educating students about how marginalized groups have fought for equal rights in the past. Knowing your history is immeasurable when it comes to finding the strength to fight for your rights.
3. Connect students to undocumented community leaders and role models: Representation is important, and having someone to look up to that shares your identity is priceless. I think that in order to accomplish this one, you have to educate yourself (which is number one when it comes to supporting any student groups). You have to be aware of the strides being made in your community and who is leading those movements.
Overall, I would say that this is a good starting resource for any teacher looking to support undocumented students.
