We experienced a temporary sense of accomplishment in our attempts to grapple with literature critically in the classroom. After an in-depth discussion of the term, immigrant, many fourth graders wholeheartedly agreed that immigrants are terrorists. For this group of students, this was the dominant idea as troubling as it was for us, we reflected upon the reasoning for such views. This reasoning doesn’t justify their views but as educators we were trying to critically examine where the students were coming from in the development of their perspectives. Many of the fourth grade students were born following September 11, 2001 and they continually heard the rhetoric from leaders in the media using phrases such as “the people of terror” that arrived in the United States to destroy Americans. In addition, images from “Border Wars” and crime television shows that feature immigrants as criminals and as terrorists informed many students’ perspectives about immigration.

We selected Julia Alvarez’s, Return to Sender (2009) to read alongside the fourth graders, as we wanted them to gain multiple points of view about immigration. This story focuses on Tyler’s family and their struggle to maintain the farm after his father is seriously injured in a tractor incident in Vermont. His family hires undocumented migrant workers in an effort to avoid filing bankruptcy. Tyler’s friendship with Mari and her sisters force him to reflect upon his beliefs regarding Mexican immigrants. Each student received a copy of this novel to read and Christina incorporated the novel into the reading/language arts block. Students read the novel for homework and Christina led whole group book discussions. The discussion took two months and gradually over time, students began to unpack their notions about immigration. Students considered different points of view and discussed their empathy toward Mari as they personally connected with the book. Christina encouraged students to write letters to Mari and weave their experiences into the letter.

In both letters, the fourth grade students demonstrate how Mari’s point of view matters deeply to them. Both writers provide advice based upon their individual experiences. Neither student views Mari as a terrorist and they have developed a new perspective about a fictional immigrant as they display genuine concern for Mari and her family.

Journey through Worlds of Words during our open reading hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. To view our complete offerings of WOW Currents, please visit archival stream.

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• Themes: Christina Davidson, Jeanne Gilliam Fain
• Descriptors: Student Connections, WOW Currents