Comparing and Contrasting Global Migration Policies

This unit was created by Dr. Matthew Wynne, a 7th grade Social Studies teacher in Fayetteville, NC, as part of the spring 2021 Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowship program on Stories of Migration. It is designed for facilitation across approximately three or four 60-minute in-person or virtual class periods.

For more units created by Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellows in this cohort, click here.

Unit Objectives:

Students will be able to…

• Define migration and related terms
• Understand how migration impacts diverse nations
• Analyze issues and trends of migration through news articles
• Compare and contrast between migration policies in the U.S. and other countries/regions
• Evaluate the fairness and equity of migration policies in diverse nations

Unit Overview:

The purpose of this unit is for students to investigate migration and immigration policies across the globe using current events articles from the Pulitzer Center.  Students in this unit will read, comprehend, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate these articles.  From these articles students will discover issues and trends of migration and immigration from an international perspective, and will compare and contrast the policies they learn about.  It is important for students in the 21st century to view reality from outside of their individual context.

Essential Questions:

• Why are people from different parts of the world migrating?
• How does policy impact the lives of migrants?
• How are the experiences of individuals like/unlike the experiences of other people who are migrating from different parts of the world?
• What personal and local connections can I make to the experiences of people who are migrating? 
• How can I use my voice to advocate for action that would support people who are migrating?

Performance Task:

Students will create a final project that encapsulates and shares their learning by demonstrating:

• Understanding of migration policy in a country/region outside of the U.S.
• Understanding of how policies affect migrants in their chosen country/region
• Ability to cite factual information from news sources about migration/migration policy

They will have the choice to create a PSA poster; a song or poem; a short video; or a letter to a government official.

Three-day unit plan, including warm-ups, texts and video resources, discussion questions, activities, graphic organizers for student projects, and performance tasks for the unit.

This unit is assessed through the following formative and summative assessments.

Formative Assessments:

1. Day one: Completed KWL chart capturing previous knowledge, learning, and questions before and after reading an article on U.S. migration policy
2. Day two: Completed pictorial journal in which students visualize the experience of a migrant in an assigned region, and write a paragraph from that migrant’s point of view

Summative Assessments:

Students will create a final project that encapsulates and shares their learning by demonstrating:

• Understanding of migration policy in a country/region outside of the U.S.
• Understanding of how policies affect migrants in their chosen country/region
• Ability to cite factual information from news sources about migration/migration policy

They will have the choice to create a PSA poster; a song or poem; a short video; or a letter to a government official.

North Carolina 7th Grade Social Studies Standards:

7.B.1 Understand how individual and group values and beliefs have influenced various cultures.
7.H.1 Evaluate historical and current events from a variety of perspectives.
7.G.1 Understand ways in which geographical factors influence societies.