Different Worlds

In the fall of 2008, a group of middle school students set out to explore the controversial attitudes that surround the topic of immigration in the US. Through a year-long inquiry project, sixteen immigrant students investigated the history of US immigration, listened to and read individual stories of US immigrants, researched and discussed current US immigration policy, and reflected on their own experiences as children of immigrants. It is these personal experiences that give them privileged access to authentic knowledge and understanding of the immigrant experience. In personal narrative form, sixteen immigrant youth share their expert, bicultural perspectives on sacrifice and loss, gratitude and hope, and learning to negotiate two different worlds.