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High school student Alonzo writes about leaving his parents in Mexico to go live with siblings in Seattle. Dharamdhoi describes taking motorcycle rides with friends through the winding Himalayas. Anzhelika recounts bombs falling around her family's Ukraine apartment and their harrowing escape to neighboring Poland.
These are three of the 15 stories included in “We Are America: Kent” written by students at Kent-Meridian High School (KMHS) as part of the "We Are America Project.” The project provides a forum for young people to tell their stories. Participants are given the same prompt: what it means to be an American.
Dr. Marissa Winmill is an educator at KMHS and oversaw the development of “We Are America: Kent.” Winmill teaches English language development for multilingual learners.
"We've had a personal narratives unit of study in these classes for years," Winmill said. "My goal was always to publish them."
Winmill is active with the Center for Learning in Practice’s Refugee Educator Foundations of Practice (REFP) which provides training, support, and resources to educators who teach students identified as refugees. As part of her work with the REFP, Winmill attended an online conference on immigration. It’s here that she learned about the “We Are America Project.”
“I applied for the program and was accepted as a teaching fellow,” Winmill said. “I worked with them [We Are America] to develop a really comprehensive curriculum that would help students talk about their identities and about what America means to them.”
Amplifying Student Voice
Most of the students Winmill works with are new to the United States.
“Three of the writers featured in the book have been in the U.S. for about a year," Winmill said. “The rest have been here for three years or longer.”
Writing can be a deeply personal activity. The medium invites introspection and sharing of an individual's lived experience. The process requires a great deal of trust.
“It's important to really get to know the students and build a classroom agreement where we respect each other,” said Winmill.
The project began with conversations and group discussions in which students shared their perspectives on what America means to them. Later, students brainstormed potential essay ideas before narrowing down the list to three topics and then one.
"I didn't really give them a protocol on what to write," said Winmill. “I think because they are new in the country, their experiences, their personal narratives, their journeys are really fresh to them and very important to them. And so, most of the stories are really their immigration journey.”
Students wrote an initial draft and shared it with peers to get feedback. Each subsequent draft provided opportunities for students to fine-tune their pieces and to demonstrate their increasing facility with both English and the conventions of essay writing. Between revisions, Winmill taught her students concepts like how to incorporate figurative language into their writing and how to write dialogue.
“This project is about amplifying student voice,” said Winmill. “No matter where our students are from, they always bring assets to their community and to the world.”
Asset-Based Mindset
Dr. Kristin Percy Calaff, OSPI’s Executive Director of Multilingual and Migrant Education, spoke about the importance of promoting asset-based mindsets during remarks at a release party for “We Are America: Kent.”
“The Multilingual Education Program has a new strategic plan, and the first area is around promoting asset-based mindsets for multilingual learners,” said Percy Calaff. “That means seeing what they [multilingual learners] bring coming in new to the country, all of the knowledge, skills, and experience they bring, and valuing that, building from that.”
Multilingualism is an asset. Research shows that speaking more than one language has cognitive and economic benefits. That’s on top of the social and cultural enrichment that comes with being exposed to a diversity of people and languages.
“Some of what we see is that students who have strong first language skills will acquire English faster, and they will perform at much higher levels if they have a strong base in their home language,” said Percy Calaff.
The challenge for educators is to help multilingual/English learners develop their English skills without students losing the ability to communicate in their home language. In Washington state, dual language programs offer students daily instruction in English and another language.
“Within those classrooms, the students benefit on both sides because they’re all becoming bilingual,” said Percy Calaff.
Heritage language programs are another potential option for students. These programs help students retain and build expertise in their home language. The state supports 85 heritage and 36 tribal language programs.
For Percy Calaff, the “We Are America: Kent” project is meaningful in a number of ways.
“I thought it was a really fabulous project,” she said. “It really values who these students are and allows them to engage and use their newly acquired English skills in these really powerful stories.”
Student Authors
Winmill is multilingual. Born in the Philippines, she moved to Texas after getting recruited to take a teaching position there.
“I grew up in a poor rural area in the Philippines,” said Winmill. “When I came to the U.S., I didn’t bring anything. The only thing I had was my education.”
Winmill has taught for more than 30 years.
“There’s no other profession where you can really empower students and motivate them to become who they are,” Winmill said.
Who they are is published authors with stories to tell and an audience eager to hear them. Percy Calaff attended the book launch party, as did the district superintendent, Kent’s mayor, a local legislator, and representatives from different local organizations.
“For them [the students] to have that exposure and to feel listened to is more than empowering,” said Winmill.
Winmill received 100 books from the publisher. Those went to the authors, school administrators, and some community members. Winmill ordered another set. The REFP purchased several copies.
“The superintendent is getting one book per library in our district, and we have 44 libraries,” said Winmill. “I’m working with the district to set up an online store where people can purchase the books.”