This is a statement from Jeff Bush, Social Studies teacher at Innovation High School, Kent County ISD, and creator of our ELM series on immigration:
Students found the “Exploring Immigration” video series professional, organized, intriguing, with great information on immigration and history. One student said she felt as if she were watching the History Channel. Many students thought the information presented helped them better understand immigration and the world.
For me, one of the greatest benefits in using “Exploring Immigration” is the quality of the experts interviewed in the video series. “Exploring Immigration” captured some of the best minds in government, non-profit, advocacy, and academia. Exposing students to that level of expertise offers great opportunities to analyze ideas, weigh those ideas against the evidence presented, and apply that analysis to a real-world issue. I believe that exposing students to this level of expertise will ultimately help them succeed in their post-secondary lives.
Another major benefit of “Exploring Immigration” was the chance to connect current events with my course content in an objective and unbiased manner. When I used “Exploring Immigration” there were many political controversies developing on the national scene, and some of the controversies were specifically related to the issue of immigration. However, our class stayed above the fray of political controversy because “Exploring Immigration” does not advocate a position. The experts interviewed represent all sides of the issue, and the video series does a great job balancing the ideological spectrum of the immigration debate.
