Abstract
In 2002 Whittier Elementary began a partnership with the Federal Courts in Cincinnati, Ohio, whereby they used their school as a site to host a naturalization ceremony in which 60 new citizens took their oath. The project was coordinated through the Library Media Center of Whittier Elementary and involved the entire school. This effective practice describes the award-winning project that was highlighted in the Fall 2002 issue of
The American Promise , a newsletter for educators that accompanies the video series for teaching citizenship and democracy.
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Issue
How to meaningfully teach students the values and responsibilities of American citizenship.
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Action
Students studying American citizenship at Whittier Elementary School partnered with the Federal Courts in Cincinnati, Ohio to host a naturalization ceremony in which 60 new citizens took their oath. Effective practices included:
- All classes studied responsibilities of citizenship by using social studies resources, including utilizing The American Promise video series.
- Sixth and seventh graders studied for and took mock citizenship tests similar to the one's taken by Naturalization candidates.
- Primary and intermediate classes read "The American Wei" by Marian Hess Pomeranc and "Coming to America" published by Scholastic, which offers stories of differing perspectives of immigrating to the United States -- that of an Irish girl sent to work in the Lowell, Massachusetts mills; a Polish girl who comes to live in a western Pennsylvania mining town; a Jewish girl who moves to New York City with her family; and a Finnish boy who settles in Minnesota.
- Primary and intermediate classes did research about world countries and cultures and decorated the halls with their projects.
- Students wrote letters welcoming the new citizens to their school, community and country.
- Students prepared a video of welcome that was shown by the judge at the ceremony. The message of the video was to welcome the new citizens and stress that the students appreciate the richness of the cultures from which they came.
- The older students attended the ceremony. They interviewed the new citizens to learn more about their backgrounds and their motivation to be citizens.
- The ceremony was videotaped and shown to the entire school.
- Students served as hosts at a reception following the event.
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Context
Whittier Elementary is an urban public school with an enrollment of 700 pre-school to eighth grade students. Over 94 percent of the students are from low-income families of African American and Caucasian heritage. Since the premier of the American Promise on KQED, the video series has been used in more than 50,000 classrooms nationwide to provide lessons in government, citizenship and history. The American Promise website is devoted to helping teachers, professors and educators bring democracy to life in their classrooms, and is a supplement to the videos and teaching guide produced for the original public television series.
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Outcome
The project not only gave the students at Whittier the opportunity to explore what it means to be an American citizen, but a chance to meet and know people from other countries.
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Evidence
It was reported that the project was so deeply moving for both students and staff that Whittier Elementary plans to repeat the process bi-annually.The project secured first place in a Promise of Tomorrow Contest, sponsored by a national insurance company, winning the school $2500.00.
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Posted On
December 4, 2002
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Related Practices
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Related sites
Freedom Corps
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