S9/E8: How to Cultivate a Sense of Belonging for Immigrant-origin Students with Jessica Lander

Highest Aspirations

What are the essential elements of success for learning communities to support immigrant students? How can incorporating storytelling into the classroom be used to build empathy and understanding for both students and educators? What are examples of innovative programs or collaborative approaches that are successfully improving outcomes for newcomers and immigrant students?

We discuss these questions and much more with Jessica Lander. Jessica Lander is an award-winning teacher, writer and author. She teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students in a Massachusetts public high school and has won numerous awards for her teaching, including being named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2021, presented by the Varkey Foundation and being named a MA Teacher of the Year Finalist in 2022, presented by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Jessica writes frequently about education policy and teaching. She is the author of Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education, a coauthor of Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success and the author of Driving Backwards.

Download the episode transcript here.

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