Social Education 82(6), pp. 307–314 ©2018 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching Controversial Issues Rethinking Immigration as a Controversy

Dafney Blanca Dabach, Natasha Hakimali Merchant, and Aliza K. Fones

Banning refugees. Building a wall along intensified.2 Moreover, presidential Although some educators may avoid the U.S.-Mexico border. Separating policy decisions that have momentous immigration as a discussion topic,3 oth- children from their parents. Detaining consequences for minoritized groups ers enthusiastically choose it precisely and deporting immigrants at higher rates. and, more broadly, for U.S. society are because of its relevance.4 Further com- Immigration is front-page news. While currently being implemented. plicating decisions about whether and immigration has historically been a divi- As the U.S. and other nations grapple how to teach about immigration is the sive issue in the United States,1 debates with the boundaries of inclusion at a question of who is in the classroom. surrounding immigrants—particularly time of increasing political polarization, Under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling those from Latin America, the Caribbean, teachers face quandaries about how in Plyler v. Doe (1982), undocumented and Muslim-majority countries—have to address immigration in classrooms. students have the right to attend pub- REUTERS/Yuri Gripas REUTERS/Yuri

Supporters of the Dream Act rally on Senate steps in Washington, D.C., December 6, 2017, to urge Congress to pass a bill that will allow Dreamers to permanently stay in the country.

November/December 2018 307 lic K-12 schools.5 In addition to the ing a more inclusive society. Although undocumented students often remain estimated 11.4 million undocumented space constraints prevent us from elab- silent regarding their status.15 In other people currently in the United States, orating on this study here, we draw from situations, the epistemologies (that is, an estimated 5.1 million youth have this work and connect it to larger ques- the systems, frameworks, and ways of at least one undocumented parent.6 tions about immigration discussions in knowing) that emerge in discussions This means that undocumented youth, schools, including whether to frame are limited in scope such that even if and citizen children of undocumented immigration as a controversial issue. students speak, they may make asser- parents (who are also directly affected tions that repeat common discourses by immigration policies), are part of Immigration as a Controversy that objectify, essentialize, and mar- U.S. school systems. Discussions about Prior scholarship on teaching controver- ginalize immigrant populations—even immigration become more complex at a sial public issues (CPIs) reveals its many when the speakers are from immigrant time when the topic is hyper-present in benefits and significance for democratic communities themselves.16 Teachers societal discourse—yet these conversa- education.10 This work simultaneously may also focus on particular topics tions can be silenced in school settings highlights considerations surrounding (e.g., immigration and the economy) where students’ and families’ immigra- what should be considered an “open” rather than tackle broader social and tion status may be unknown, assumed, versus “closed” controversy. Open con- moral questions that transcend utili- or ambiguous.7 In what follows, we troversies are those that are framed as tarian functions; for example, should highlight our research study that inves- legitimately controversial; closed con- families be separated at the border?17 tigated social studies teaching in such troversies are those that are no longer If the terms of the debate are set up in settings. We then critique the teaching legitimately controversial (i.e., women’s narrow ways or ways that merely repeat of immigration from the framework of a suffrage in the U.S.), while others are common ideas, students miss learning political controversy, and we conclude in a limbo that Diana Hess describes opportunities that shape their under- by drawing from Elliot Eisner’s work as “tipping”.11 Specific topics are not standing and wider construction of the to suggest humanizing, contextualizing, inherently open nor closed, but shift issue of immigration. and agentive approaches to teaching over time and across contexts.12 Hess about immigration.8 By “agentive,” we further notes that “the decision about Larger Societal Framing: mean approaches that create space for whether to construct an issue as open Tendency toward immigrant-origin youth to imagine and or closed is, by definition, a form of Dehumanization act instead of being subjects of conver- position-taking on the part of the school The larger historical and contemporary sation. and teacher, and therefore, controver- framing of immigration also poses chal- sial”.13 Planning for such discussions lenges for discussions of controversial The Civic Lessons and Immigrant is nuanced and involves professional public issues. Normative immigration Youth Study judgment. debates can have a tendency toward Through the Civic Lessons and dehumanization, with immigrant “oth- Immigrant Youth (CLAIY) study, we Classroom Dynamics, ers” characterized as fundamentally sought to learn from skilled and expe- Immigration, and Controversy different from existing “mainstream” rienced civics teachers in immigrant set- While discussing controversial pub- populations. One of many historical tings. Specifically, we wanted to know lic issues can serve democratic ideals, examples is Meat vs. Rice: American how they taught about elections in there are cautions in framing particular Manhood Against Asiatic Coolieism, mixed-citizenship settings where some issues as open controversies. As Lisa Which Shall Survive?18 The authors of youth had formal citizenship rights Sibbett insightfully notes, some domi- this 1902 work, Samuel Gompers and and others did not. Over six years, we nant voices become easily empowered Herman Gutstadt, argued that Asian gathered (2012–2013) and analyzed during discussions of controversial immigrants were so profoundly different (2012–2018) data from the classrooms issues, while non-dominant voices from White men that they could subsist of four U.S. government teachers who often remain unheard.14 Teachers have on rice, while White men could not and were selected from a pool of 39 nomi- to deal with the reality that unequal needed meat. This book became part of nated secondary social studies teach- societal relations underlie what is U.S. Senate records, forming part of what ers.9 From this research, we were able said—and what may be left unsaid—in was a legitimate debate at the time. This to better understand skilled teachers’ classroom discussions. The uneven- is an example of the process by which practices when working with immi- ness of underrepresented perspectives non-White immigrant groups become grant youth and to consider the broader is likely to be amplified on the topic framed as ontologically different. The implications of these practices for creat- of immigration, especially because trope becomes: they are different from

Social Education 308 Engage Students of Today. Inspire Citizens of Tomorrow.

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Add the powerNovember/December of curiosity to your 2018classroom today. 309 Visit mheonline.com/inspirecuriosity us. And they are a threat to us, whether disease and intrusion. When immi- [D]on’t whisper about it be an economic, military, cultural, or grants are semantically linked to natural [undocumented status], you say it other societal threat.19 disasters, viruses, or literally termed out loud. I mean, don’t ever name Dehumanization also occurs through “aliens,” this undermines their human- a kid in terms of documentation the language used to describe minori- ity. Dehumanization easily becomes a but … openly talk about [it] tized immigrant groups. Sometimes this feature of how immigration is discussed. in a natural way, [recognizing] language is easily recognizable as inflam- When immigrants are dehumanized, the fact that not everybody has matory. For example, recent remarks by their legitimacy is simultaneously under- documentation and that’s a pretty President Trump linked immigrants from mined. And when their legitimacy is normal thing.23 Haiti, El Salvador, and Africa to fecal mat- undermined, this makes it harder to have ter, while he simultaneously described debates that occur on an equal footing. Normalizing the presence of undoc- Norwegian immigrants positively.20 One must ask: What is the starting point umented students through signaling However, there are also subtler aspects for debates surrounding immigration, practices helps provide a sense of of language that frame particular groups both in classrooms and in societies at safety and avoids the perception that of immigrants as problems. Linguist Otto large? And how are immigrants framed, undocumented people are outsiders Santa Ana analyzed years of immigra- either implicitly or explicitly? and “others” who were not in the room, tion coverage by the , particularly when issues about immigra- a publication that prides itself on journal- Considerations and Alternatives tion are discussed. istic integrity and balanced reporting; he to Teaching Immigration as Second, teachers built deep, trust- found that the metaphors journalists used Controversial ing relationships with students. If tense subtly linked Latino immigrants to natu- Through our research, it became clear topics emerged, there was a broader ral disasters. He argues that even when that skilled and experienced educators relationship of trust between teachers coverage is seen as “neutral,” metaphors who were knowledgeable about their and students. Knowing students deeply frame immigrants as dangerous. The most students’ immigration status had prac- meant that teachers had a better sense common dominant metaphor he found tices that were important inside and of students’ actual circumstances; this was “immigration as dangerous waters,” outside their classrooms. First, teach- afforded greater insight into their situa- reflected in language such as “flood” and ers developed norms that enhanced tions and allowed educators to be more “drowning,” as well as phrases such as students’ safety and that countered sensitive to students, rather than mak- “awash under a brown tide” and “relent- common constructions of immigrants ing assumptions. In essence, the ways less flows of immigrants.” Associating as “others.” One of these norms con- teachers interacted with students (in a “dangerous waters” with “immigration” cerns language for referring to undocu- variety of formats, including one-on- metaphorically “transform[s] aggregates mented people. As one of our teacher one interactions) mattered just as much of individuals into an undifferentiated participants noted: “I don’t use the as instructional decisions about content mass quantity.” Santa Ana further notes: word ‘illegal’ in my classroom and I and controversies. For example, Daniel, don’t let the kids use the word ‘illegal’ in an undocumented student in one of Since the power of metaphor my classroom.”22 Another teacher, who our teachers’ classrooms, was able to increases with repetition of had a similar practice, also encouraged develop trust and disclose his status to such implicit, but unnatural the safety of undocumented students his teacher, even while keeping his sta- associations, it is important by acknowledging their presence in the tus private from his classmates. When to point them out…. Treating classroom without naming specific stu- asked privately about whether he would immigration as dangerous waters dents. One way she did this was through feel comfortable sharing his immigra- conceals the individuality what we describe as a signaling practice, tion status in a classroom discussion, of the immigrants’ lives and in which she addressed the whole class he said, “I don’t share like that.”24 This their humanity. In their place with statements such as, “If you are again highlights the significance of who a frightening scenario of undocumented, please see the schol- is in the classroom and who shares what uncontrolled movements arship information on the door.” She during such discussions, even when of water can be played out had posted this information in a highly the outcome of public debates directly with devastating floods and visible spot so that “any kid walking in affects students. Although Daniel did inundating surges of brown the classroom … [could] see this.” She not disclose his status to his classmates, faces.21 further noted the importance of nor- his teachers’ knowledge of his situation malizing undocumented status through provided a better educational experi- Santa Ana also found metaphors of language use: ence than he had in prior classrooms.

Social Education 310 Broadening the Frame of Trust, Relationship-Building, and vate (even through common practices Curricular Choices Implicit Curriculum like “Stand up if you think ‘x,’” which In this section, we present ideas that We begin with the implicit curriculum of may have unintended consequences).27 broaden the frame of immigration trust and relationship-building because Furthermore, teachers may wish to beyond common debates, using Eisner’s in our research this was foundational.26 think about what kinds of implicit curriculum framework.25 Eisner argues First, we suggest that teachers establish messages might be communicated in that there are three kinds of curricula: norms and practices around the impor- the absence of boundaries around the explicit, implicit, and null. The explicit tance of safe space. We also suggest that use of humanizing language, especially curriculum is the curriculum commu- teachers cultivate more knowledge of when referring to populations affected nicated directly to students, whereas students through one-on-one interac- by policies under discussion, or what the implicit curriculum describes mes- tions. It may be important to examine kinds of messages are communicated sages that are communicated indirectly the stakes of whole-class activities, and when students remain silent during to students, yet that are nevertheless even small-group activities, in which debates about policies that have a direct significant. The null curriculum is what students might feel forced to reveal effect on them and their families. is not taught. things that they would rather keep pri-

Suggestions for Teaching about Immigration

Immigration has been a perennially divisive issue in the United States and in other nation-states, particularly as nations grapple with the boundaries of inclusion. In an age of increasing political polarization, where the reality of mainstream political discourse often relies on dehumanizing and facile rhetoric, educators are tasked with the paradoxical ideal of preparing students for an inclusive demo- cratic society. We offer the following suggestions for teachers who aim to teach about immigration through a lens of humanization.

Safety not Silence: Do prioritize safety in the classroom, ber that undocumented individuals are not simply nameless but do not avoid important topics like immigration. Instead, and faceless beings defined by their immigration status. The consider how to reframe different questions surrounding more you can provide texture to the diverse lives of immi- immigration. grants, the more you work to undo dehumanizing stereotypes.

This Isn’t New: Contextualize immigration policy—and even Immigrants Have Power and Agency: Show examples of anti-immigrant rhetoric—within a historical context, while also immigrant communities, including undocumented individuals, paying attention to how rhetoric has been used over time as organizing and holding power. Portraying immigrants simply a political strategy. When students are able to see that anti- as victims of dispassionate policy does not allow the resilience immigration sentiment and policies are not a new phenom- and work of communities to speak. While we urge you to high- enon, students may raise critical questions about the utility of light contributions of immigrants to shifting policy, it is equally alarmist xenophobic discourses. Seeing these patterns over important to highlight the ways in which communities work time can help students understand the ways that rhetoric has through civil society, apart from governmental institutions, to been used as a tool of oppression. organize towards an improved quality of life. Broadening the frame in this way, will allow you to bring forward art and cul- Build Relationships with Students: One of the most effec- ture as forms of expression of humanity, power and resilience. tive ways you can broker difficult conversations with students around controversial public issues is by building relationships Signaling Support and Safety: While words are incredibly with the students. When topics are difficult and tense, teach- important, so too are the implicit messages your students ers are able to leverage relationships and goodwill with their get from curriculum and pedagogical choices. Something as students as they present ideas that might be new and chal- simple as a sign you put up in your classroom which signals lenging. Additionally, good relationships allow teachers to be resources for undocumented students can demonstrate that classroom advocates for students who may feel vulnerable in you are a safe person for undocumented students. The ways class discussions where their identities are in question. in which you group students together and the time/cover- age you give to topics are all messages that you send to your Immigrants are More than their Status: Be careful of lan- students about what content is worthy of time and careful guage and pay attention to specifics. It is important to remem- attention.

November/December 2018 311 Reframing Immigration through that undocumented people encounter in Notes Explicit Curriculum daily life.31 In addition, migration can be 1. Aviva Chomsky, Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal (Boston: Beacon Press, 2014); Mae Contextualizing Migration humanized by building deeper under- M. Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the One shortcoming of many immigration standings of migrant-sending regions and Making of Modern America (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004). debates is a lack of context. This contrib- the larger forces that shape migration. The 2. Rand Quinn, Megan Hopkins, and Lisa García utes to the null curriculum on immigra- Reimagining Migration Project (https:// Bedolla, “The Politics of Immigration and tion, producing limited understandings reimaginingmigration.org) also features Education,” Education Policy 31, no. 6 (September 2017): 707–715. of migration. We suggest contextualizing immigrant stories and provides further 3. Dafney Blanca Dabach, Aliza Fones, Natasha immigration historically and geographi- contextualization of migration. Hakimali Merchant, and Adebowale Adekile, “Teachers Navigating Civic Education When cally, including: Students Are Undocumented: Building Case Analyzing the role of globaliza- The Power of Social Movements Knowledge,” Theory & Research in Social Education tion, conflict, and increasing and Political Action 46, no. 3 (2018): 331–373. 4. Wayne Journell and Erin L. Castro, “Culturally natural disasters and the role they Analyzing social movements, especially Relevant Political Education: Using Immigration as play in contributing to the causes those led by immigrants, can provide a a Catalyst for Civic Understanding,” Multicultural of migration.28 window into the power of political action. Education 18, no. 4 (Summer 2011): 10–17. 5. Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982). Contextualizing immigration pol- Fascinating developments in the study of 6. Migration Policy Institute (MPI), “Unauthorized icy beyond the United States to social movements, including analyses of Immigrant Population Profiles” (Washington, D.C.: MPI, 2016), www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/ include human rights and inter- “social movement spillover,” also offer us-immigration-policy-program-data-hub/ 32 national migration and refugee compelling theories about social change. unauthorized-immigrant-population-profiles. policies geographically and his- Depictions of youth in the contemporary 7. Dafney Blanca Dabach, “‘You Can’t Vote, Right?’: When Language Proficiency Is a Proxy for torically. “Dreamer” movement counter images of Citizenship in a Civics Classroom,” Journal of Contextualizing U.S. immigration youth as apathetic or apolitical. These International Social Studies 4, no. 2 (2014): 37–56; Dafney Blanca Dabach, “‘My Student Was policy over time by examining examples of political action challenge the Apprehended by Immigration’: A Civics Teacher’s the history of nativism, historical idea that one’s formal citizenship status Breach of Silence in a Mixed-Citizenship Classroom,” rationales for immigration exclu- determines political participation. Harvard Educational Review 85, no. 3 (Fall 2015): 383–412. sion and restriction, and con- 8. Elliot W. Eisner, The Educational Imagination: On nections to larger systems of op- Conclusion the Design and Evaluation of School Programs (3rd pression such as race. (The PBS Tensions over who should be allowed into ed.) (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002). 9. For more on our methods, see Dafney Blanca documentary Race: The Power of nation-states in these times of increased Dabach and Aliza K. Fones, “The Civic Lessons An Illusion, Episode 3 offers tools conflict, globalization, and natural disas- and Immigrant Youth (CLAIY) Study: Implications 29 33 for Teacher Education,” The Teacher Educator 53, for doing this.) ters are intensifying. While the topic no. 3 (2018): 328–346 and Dabach et al., “Teachers of immigration is important to teach, Navigating Civic Education When Students Are Basic Humanization approaches to addressing this subject Undocumented: Building Case Knowledge.” 10. Diana E. Hess, Controversy in the Classroom: The Because of longstanding patterns of are of equal consequence. Immigration Democratic Power of Discussion (New York: dehumanization in immigration debates need not be taught as a controversial Routledge, 2009); Diana E. Hess and Paula McAvoy, The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in (combined with asymmetrical power topic. In fact, it is a normal process that Democratic Education (New York: Routledge, 2015). relationships when those in different has occurred for millennia. In light of the 11. Hess, Controversy in the Classroom, 113. positions interact around the topic), it historical and contemporary dehumaniza- 12. Hess, Controversy in the Classroom; Jonathan Zimmerman and Emily Robertson, The Case for becomes important to humanize immi- tion of immigrants, we argue for refram- Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in grants. Sources have become increasingly ing typical approaches to immigration American Schools (Chicago, University of Chicago plentiful, including those that feature the debates, especially by examining what is Press, 2017). 13. Hess, Controversy in the Classroom, 115. voices of undocumented people, such as implicitly or explicitly taught about migra- 14. Lisa Sibbett, “Clarifying—and Challenging— the Living Undocumented series (https:// tion and immigrant populations, as well as Classroom Controversy, Theory & Research in livingundocumented.com) and media what is not taught. This is significant, not Social Education 46, no. 1 (2018): 155–163. 15. Ariana Mangual Figueroa, “Speech or Silence: from journalist Jose Antonio Vargas (e.g., only because an increasing share of the Undocumented Students’ Decisions to Disclose or www..com/watch?v=tmz9cCF0KNE K-12 student population is either undocu- Disguise Their Citizenship Status in School,” American Educational Research Journal 54, no. 3 and his memoir, published in September mented, from mixed-status families, or (2017): 485–523. 2018, Dear America: Notes of an otherwise affected by current discourse 16. Dafney Blanca Dabach, Aliza Fones, Natasha Undocumented Citizen).30 There is also and policies on immigration and refugees, Hakimali Merchant, and Mee Joo Kim, “Discourses of Exclusion: Immigrant-Origin Youth Responses to the Undocumented and Awkward series but also for the sake of knowledge con- Immigration Debates in an Election Year,”Journal on YouTube, produced by undocumented struction that builds broader, deeper, and of Language, Identity & Education 16, no. 1 (2017): people; it breaks down norms of invis- more contextualized understandings of 1–16. ibility by describing common situations migration, both past and present. continued on page 314

Social Education 312 Inspire Global Thinkers and Uncover Connections in Social Studies

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313 Google Cardboard is a registered trademark of Google LLC. Into Social Studies™, The Learning Company™, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt®, and HMH® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. 09/18 WF635184 17. This is not to say that immigration and economics 29. Larry Adelman, executive producer, Race: The are separate from moral questions. However, a Power of an Illusion, Episode 3 (San Francisco: typical framing of economic questions surrounds California Newsreel, 2003). whether immigrants take U.S. workers’ jobs. There 30. Jose Antonio Vargas, Dear America: Notes of an has long been a broad consensus of immigrants’ Undocumented Citizen (New York: HarperCollins, The positive impact on the U.S. economy (see Aviva 2018). Chomsky “They Take Our Jobs!” and 20 Other 31. “Undocumented and Awkward: Episode 1,” Myths About Immigration [Boston: Beacon Press, Youtube.com (published November 8, 2011), www. Social Studies 2007] and Carola Suárez-Orozco and Marcelo youtube.com/watch?v=1XbnTK6udQA. Suárez-Orozco, Children of Immigration Professional [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 32. For example, see Veronica Terriquez, “Intersectional 2001]). Yet this does not prevent the issue from Mobilization, Social Movement Spillover, and coming up repeatedly, and being given more atten- Queer Youth Leadership in the Immigrant Rights e-newsletter tion than a focus on broader questions of globaliza- Movement,” Social Problems 62, no. 3 (August tion and economic marginalization and the histories 2015): 343–362. now arrives in of systems that create the necessity of migration for 33. Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco and Minas Michikyan, many populations that otherwise would not migrate. “Introduction: Education for Citizenship in the Age your inbox two 18. Samuel Gompers and Herman Gutstadt, Meat vs. of Globalization and Mass Migration” in Global Rice: American Manhood Against Asiatic Coolieism, Migration, Diversity, and Civic Education: times a month! Which Shall Survive? (San Francisco, Calif.: Asiatic Improving Policy and Practice, eds. James A. Banks, Exclusion League, 1908; original work published Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and Miriam Ben-Peretz 1902). (New York: Teachers College Press, 2016), 1–25. That’s double the 19. Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and updates on social studies the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon References & Schuster, 1996) is an example of work that posi- Chang, Aurora. The Struggles of Identity, Education, content you can use tions immigrants as dangerous threats. The scholar- and Agency in the Lives of Undocumented ship of Leo R. Chávez, including The Latino Students: The Burden of Hyperdocumentation in your classroom and Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the (Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2018). Nation (Redwood City, Calif.: Stanford University Chomsky, Aviva. “They Take Our Jobs!” and 20 Other Press, 2008), is important in analyzing and debunk- career. Staying current Myths About Immigration (Boston: Beacon Press, ing these threats. 2007). 20. Josh Dawsey, “Trump Derides Protections for is also easier with TSSP’s Gallo, Sarah and Holly Link. “Exploring the Immigrants from ‘Shithole’ Countries,” The Borderlands: Elementary School Teachers’ new mobile-friendly Washington Post (January 12, 2018), www. Navigation of Immigration Practices in a New design for smartphone or washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks- Latino Diaspora Community,” Journal of Latinos protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries- and Education 15, no. 3 (2016): 180–196. in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711- tablet. 11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html. Reimagining Migration Project, https://reimagin ingmigration.org. 21. Otto Santa Ana, Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Suárez-Orozco, Carola, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Robert Discourse (Austin, Tex.: University of Press, T. Teranishi, and Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco. 2002), 72–77. “Growing Up in the Shadows: The Developmental Share your social Implications of Unauthorized Status,” Harvard 22. Dabach et al., “Teachers Navigating Civic Educational Review 81, no. 3 (September 2011): studies professional Education When Students Are Undocumented: 438–472. Building Case Knowledge,” 342. Alongside our news with us! If you have teacher participants and many others, we take the recently experienced position that humans cannot be “illegal”—even Dafney Blanca Dabach is an Associate though actions may be adjudicated as “illegal.” We Professor at the University of Washington’s Col- also note that what is legal in a society is different lege of Education. Her research is situated in the an achievement, job from what is moral or just (see Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait [New York: Mentor/New field of immigration and education, with particu- promotion, or have American Library, 1964]) and often reflects unequal lar attention to examining secondary school-based content ideas to share societal power. For more on the emergence of sys- contexts that immigrant youth encounter in U.S. tems of “illegality,” see M. M. Ngai’s Impossible schools. Recently, she has been examining ques- with your colleagues, Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern tions about how secondary social studies teachers America. approach teaching about U.S. government and please email us at tssp@ 23. Dabach et al., “Teachers Navigating Civic civics in immigrant-youth contexts. Natasha Education When Students Are Undocumented: Hakimali Merchant is an Assistant Profes- ncss.org. Your achievement Building Case Knowledge,” 346. sor at the University of North Georgia’s College of may be highlighted in an 24. Dabach, “‘My Student Was Apprehended by Education where she primarily teaches courses in Immigration’: A Civics Teacher’s Breach of Silence the social foundations of education. With a back- in a Mixed-Citizenship Classroom,” 403. upcoming edition! ground in social studies education, Natasha’s schol- 25. Eisner, The Educational Imagination: On the arly pursuits primarily focus on curricula on Islam Design and Evaluation of School Programs. in secondary school social studies contexts. Aliza 26. Dabach et al., “Teachers Navigating Civic Fones is a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the University Education When Students Are Undocumented: of Iowa where she works on a federal grant to sup- Building Case Knowledge.” port the instruction and educational opportunities 27. See, for example, Mangual Figueroa, “Speech or and outcomes of English learners. She is a former Silence: Undocumented Students’ Decisions to Disclose or Disguise Their Citizenship Status in K-12 English Language Learner (ELL) teacher, and School.” her research interests include ELL program policy, 28. See Carola Suárez-Orozco and Marcelo Suárez- content area instruction of ELL students, teacher Orozco, Children of Immigration (Cambridge, education, and dual-language education. Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001).

Social Education 314