Goal for the day: To start to put together all the pieces of the immigration puzzle
We spent the first part of class starting to assemble all the different pieces from the past two days of studying immigration reform. I passed out the following diagram of causes, impacts, and solutions as a reference to help see what the various articles, events, videos, and films we'e looked at fit into the big picture.
We then started to debrief the takeaways from the "Getting to Maybe" article and the behind the scenes work that goes into crafting a bipartisan compromise on an issue like immigration. I passed this summary of what was in the bill. You should look up how your senator voted on this bill in 2013 to see if he or she will support these measures. This is a starting point for understanding your senator's position on immigration reform. I also reviewed the process that the Gang of Eight had to go through to get the bill to the Senate floor so that it would pass.
“You kick their ass one day and you’ll work with them the next. If you can’t do two things at once, don’t get into politics.” ~ Senator Lindsey Graham
I passed out this sheet summarizing the politics of immigration reform so that you can begin to think about what Democrats and Republicans typically believe and why when this issue comes up. Your particular senator might diverge from this point of view, but it's important to know the party dynamics around the issue.
We then debriefed the film by talking about immigrant integration relative to Durango and La Plata County. I asked how welcoming a place Durango and La Plata County is and how we could make it more so.
After break, I shared the story of The Unity Project, a welcoming initiative that took place between 2007 and 2011 here in SW Colorado. I put up a summary of research that the Unity Coalition did to support the project and a list of activities that the project did or carried out to promote tolerance and understanding between the many cultural groups within our community.
We then broke down by Senate Committee with two tasks to work on. The first was to come up with three things that the group wanted to know more about their particular issue. This will form the substance of the review session on Wednesday. The second was to come up with homework questions for the other group. Each group came up with about five questions for the other group to answer as homework. I gave out points for the quality of the questions and for successful answers.
Homework due on Wednesday, November 19th
Complete the questions created by the other committee.
We spent the first part of class starting to assemble all the different pieces from the past two days of studying immigration reform. I passed out the following diagram of causes, impacts, and solutions as a reference to help see what the various articles, events, videos, and films we'e looked at fit into the big picture.
We then started to debrief the takeaways from the "Getting to Maybe" article and the behind the scenes work that goes into crafting a bipartisan compromise on an issue like immigration. I passed this summary of what was in the bill. You should look up how your senator voted on this bill in 2013 to see if he or she will support these measures. This is a starting point for understanding your senator's position on immigration reform. I also reviewed the process that the Gang of Eight had to go through to get the bill to the Senate floor so that it would pass.
“You kick their ass one day and you’ll work with them the next. If you can’t do two things at once, don’t get into politics.” ~ Senator Lindsey Graham
I passed out this sheet summarizing the politics of immigration reform so that you can begin to think about what Democrats and Republicans typically believe and why when this issue comes up. Your particular senator might diverge from this point of view, but it's important to know the party dynamics around the issue.
We then debriefed the film by talking about immigrant integration relative to Durango and La Plata County. I asked how welcoming a place Durango and La Plata County is and how we could make it more so.
After break, I shared the story of The Unity Project, a welcoming initiative that took place between 2007 and 2011 here in SW Colorado. I put up a summary of research that the Unity Coalition did to support the project and a list of activities that the project did or carried out to promote tolerance and understanding between the many cultural groups within our community.
We then broke down by Senate Committee with two tasks to work on. The first was to come up with three things that the group wanted to know more about their particular issue. This will form the substance of the review session on Wednesday. The second was to come up with homework questions for the other group. Each group came up with about five questions for the other group to answer as homework. I gave out points for the quality of the questions and for successful answers.
Homework due on Wednesday, November 19th
Complete the questions created by the other committee.