Glocalization: Writing Feature Stories on Family Migration

This unit was created by Donna Torres, a middle school ELA teacher in the Bronx, NY, as part of the spring 2021 Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowship program on Stories of Migration. It is designed for facilitation across approximately ten 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…

• Identify essential ideas, elements, and structures in articles about migration
• Write informational text to explore personal stories of migration
• Produce clear and coherent writing
• Conduct short research projects drawing on several sources including interviews and credible online sources
• Reflect on the impact of migration to self and family
• Develop positive identity awareness

Unit Overview:

In this writing-based unit, students will reflect on how global issues influence their lives through the lens of migration. Students will make personal connections to migration by exploring its impact on themselves and their families through research and interviews, resulting in a feature article on the theme of “My Personal Story of Migration.” This will encourage a “citizen of the  world” mindset while developing positive identity awareness.

Performance Task:

Students will research, write, and publish a feature article on the topic of personal/family migration. To prepare for this task, they will…

• Determine the characteristics of a feature article and identify them in published news stories.
• Use relevant evidence to explain analysis of texts in writing and discussions.
• Develop and implement a research plan to gather credible sources through interviews and other media.
• Pose open-ended questions during interviews that elicit elaboration. 

Pedagogical Vision:

• Develop positive identity awareness: Who Am I?
• Foster a “citizen of the world” mindset.
• Generate a culture of high expectations. 
• Teach thinking and learning skills explicitly. 
• Use formative and summative assessment to provide regular, individual feedback targeted at improvement. 
• Link new learning to prior knowledge.

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

Click below to read feature articles by Kylie, Gharam, Miley, and Alicia, students in Donna Torres’ class at the Urban Institute Of Mathematics. For their performance task, they interviewed family members and conducted research to learn about and share their personal histories of migration.

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

Formative Assessments:

1. Analysis of the structural elements of a feature story, using Pulitzer Center reporting (graphic organizer included in Day 2 of the unit plan)
2. Interview question and quote worksheet (included in Day 6 of the unit plan)
   • Click here for an example of one student’s interview worksheet
3. Peer-/Self-evaluation of feature articles (worksheet included in Day 9 of the unit plan)
4. Written contributions to Jamboard reflections

Summative Assessments:

• Students will research, write, and publish a feature article including visuals on the topic of personal/family migration.

Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W. 7.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization. This may include personal, cultural, textual, and thematic connections. 
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.7: Gather relevant information from multiple sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information in writing while avoiding plagiarism
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.R. 7.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it. Cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W 7.6: Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish a minimum of three pages of writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.