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Running Head: Historical Implications Reflection

Historical Implications Reflection

TESOL 507: School, Community and Family Culture
Samantha Chella

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Running Head: Historical Implications Reflection

The Mexican American cultural group has faced a multitude of

challenges over the past 150 years of migrating into the United States.
Because they have shown a consistent and well-tested durability as a
community and culture, they have remained a powerful and inspirational
group of Americans. What is different and more difficult for this particular
group of immigrants was that the border was so close and so often
disputed between Mexico and the United States. The fact that a country
which is so different politically and socially in its foundation, is just a line
in the sand away from the land of opportunity makes illegal immigration
such an available and criticized practice. Mexican Americans faced
challenges at the end of the 1800s and into the 20th century due to
discrimination and many, many illegal and brutal crimes committed
against them. They then faced union issues as farmers, riot issues as they
moved into urban cities, and still today are facing the constant push-back
politics of the American dream and immigration.

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Running Head: Historical Implications Reflection

An important lesson about diversity taught here by the Mexican

American population is that as such a large group, although they have
power in numbers they have seen that just because you are the majority
in some areas of the nation, it is still incredibly important to assimilate to
the culture in which you live. These people have a history of ancestors
who fought to become Americans. They came as Mexicans with the dream
to work speak and live as United States citizens. They have celebrated
their cultures origins, maintained holidays, beliefs, and overall roots. The
important message about diversity here is that you can be a Mexican in
origin and an American in the end. Diversity is about having a rich and
broad background that contributes to learning a new way of life and
putting it together to form a whole.
A great way to embrace diversity in your classroom is to discuss the
challenges and the milestones of the cultures represented in your
classroom. Educators could assign group research projects and have them
study their own or other native countries and the road that led them to
where we are today as the melting pot country we have become. A great
way to do this may be to purposefully plan ahead and design groups in
accordance with countries they are not from. This way, they will come
together as a group that has a lot to learn equally from their research.
They could do a PowerPoint presentation such as the one I have created
here on Mexico. They will discuss milestones and hardships the culture
has faced through its history of immigration into the United States.

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Running Head: Historical Implications Reflection

The connection with students outside their group here could be that
these peers are presenting on their classmates native cultures! How
interesting to watch your peers, who before may have not understood
your background, present information and have studied where you came
from. I think the students would really connect with an assignment like
this because they would be able to feel pride as other students share out
the challenges and perseverance of their cultures! I also believe that the
students will connect in a more meaningful way once they understand
each other and the road that led them all into the same classrooms.
Prejudice and mistreatment comes from ignorance, and by putting
together an assignment such as this, you are forcing your students to
move from ignorance to understanding.
This type of project will contribute not only to the individual students
invaluably, but also to the classroom environment as a whole. It will be a
stronger and safer community for students to discuss their families,
homes, and experiences as language learners because now each and
every student will have a greater understanding for where they are
coming from.
Another lesson that could be done to further the classroom community
could be to have students openly reflect upon the cultures theyve
learned about. Its important to have them actively listen to each other
as they present. In requiring students to write a short reflection between
these presentations, they will have a deeper understanding and be forced

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Running Head: Historical Implications Reflection

to not only understand but respond to each culture.

A final practice this assignment has inspired in me as an educator is to
push students to visually communicate more often. I think a presentation
like a power point, or using photos to communicate and form connections
with any content is a more powerful way to communicate the important
parts about history. Seeing is believing, and as many facts as you list and
essays that you write just simply arent as effective as showing. This is
doubly important as many of our ELL students depend on visual
stimulation to enhance and help them comprehend whats being
communicated.