Productive Discussions about Immigration in a Democratic Classroom Culture, with Zorielle Rodriguez-Alcazar (Peekskill High School & University at Albany, SUNY)

In today’s environment, how should teachers help students understand immigration? How can they create a classroom culture in which students can discuss these kinds of highly sensitive and personal controversial issues? And why is it important that we give students the chance to talk about these issues?

To examine these issues, Brett speaks to Zorielle Rodriguez-Alcazar, a veteran high school teacher at Peekskill High School in Peekskill, New York. Zorielle, who is also a doctoral student in the University at Albany’s School of Education, is a creative and thoughtful veteran social studies educator who gets to know her students well and adjusts the curriculum to engage their interests. In this episode, Zorielle shares her experiences and suggestions for how to develop a positive democratic classroom culture that enables teachers to generate powerful discussions of challenging public issues.

Episode Resources

Immigration Stories Project from U. of Minnesota

Resources for Teaching about Immigration from Learning for Justice

ESD Resources

Brett Levy's Open Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

ESD Facebook Page (Please like!)

ESD YouTube Channel (Please subscribe!)


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