Representatives from 10 sovereign Native American nations in Michigan, five State of Michigan agencies, two universities, and three private organizations collaborated to develop two short curriculum units, one for 3rd grade and one for 5th grade. Each grade level unit includes five lesson plans and support materials for teachers using information from two archaeological sites provided by MDOT and cultural, historical, environmental, and indigenous knowledge provided and vetted by Michigan Native American tribal partners participating in the project. The lesson plans use the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework and focus on specific Michigan Social Studies Standards. The lesson plans also provide links to Michigan English Language Arts (ELA) literacy standards, as well as science and math applications.

How does media coverage of migration shape how Americans’ views of migration by youth? Why are so many young people trying to migrate to the United States? What are their journeys like? What happens when they get to the U.S.-Mexico Border? What role does U.S. policy play in this situation? These are the major questions that students will explore in this 4-day mini-unit, which results in media literacy and creative assessments.

This unit focuses on underreported stories of migration and the local history of everyday people of the City of Newark. From the global stories of women migrants on the move to the wards of the City of Newark, we will examine the experiences of the people who live and inhabit these places and spaces, and who also make history.

Far too often we solely focus on major reported stories related to migration from the point of view of the elite, those in power, or the victors who wrote down their version of history for posterity. This unit seeks to reclaim history for those who resisted, suffered, lost yet triumphed. Anchored by Pulitzer Center migration resources, this unit explores the intersection of the history of the City of Newark (aka Brick City) and global migration using a variety of historical documents, texts, and visuals in which everyday people and the disenfranchised occupy an important space of representation.

The purpose of this unit is for students to investigate migration and immigration policies across the globe using current events articles from the Pulitzer Center. Students in this unit will read, comprehend, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate these articles. From these articles students will discover issues and trends of migration and immigration from an international perspective, and will compare and contrast the policies they learn about. It is important for students in the 21st century to view reality from outside of their individual context.

As part of this nine to ten-lesson unit, students utilize news stories supported by the Pulitzer Center from Time for Kids and Mission Local to familiarize themselves with the concept of an underreported migration story. They will then research stories, summarize and share the gist of what they read to their small groups and to the entire class. As part of their conversations, students will note key details and themes from the stories they explored about migration and consider why these stories could be considered “underreported.”

The story of migration is a shared human experience. Utilizing sources such as “Women on the Move” from National Geographic and The Everyday Projects, students will address the following questions:

Using scales of analysis, what are the common themes that are seen in migration stories?
What are the reasons that cause one to migrate?
In what ways does physical geography intersect with migration?
Based on your analysis of various sources in the media, how is migration perceived by general audiences?
Developing social and emotional learning, how do individual and under-reported stories inspire your own activism in regards to migration?
As they engage with these questions, students will be asked to utilize a variety of skills. They will compare and contrast various migration stories on different scales of analysis, analyze sources critically for author’s purpose and target audience, develop critical thinking skills to analyze complex questions that arise from migration crises, and develop persuasive writing skills that inspire letters advocating for an action to address challenges faced by people who are migrating.

In this unit, students will analyze how climate change affects migration around the world and the policies that could be effective in addressing the issue. To start, students will investigate what motivates people to move in general. Then students will read “The Great Climate Migration” by Abrahm Lustgarten and Meridith Kohut, where they will be introduced to how climate change may affect migration in the future. Students will then investigate how climate change is impacting migration by reading and presenting about specific scenarios around the globe. Finally, students will begin to research how policy can address climate migration to avoid disastrous outcomes in the future.

In this writing-based unit, students will reflect on how global issues influence their lives through the lens of migration. Students will make personal connections to migration by exploring its impact on themselves and their families through research and interviews, resulting in a feature article on the theme of “My Personal Story of Migration.” This will encourage a “citizen of the world” mindset while developing positive identity awareness.

This collection uses primary sources to explore John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

In an eight week unit of study, students will explore concepts of migration through the lens of cultural identity and perspective. What are elements of culture that shape us, shape how we see others, and shape how we are seen in return? Students will investigate shifts in cultural norms and stereotypes specific to forced migration and captivity as depicted in The Tempest by William Shakespeare and supplemented through a variety of texts, discussions, and reflections.

Award-winning writer Jacqueline Woodson describes her books as “real, hard, yet hopeful.” This unit strives to be all three. Certainly, we need to give students opportunities to analyze and understand the world and its injustices; however, we also have an imperative to help foster hope while giving students the agency and skills to use their voices to speak up and change the world—even if that world is the one right outside their front door.

This unit hopes to amplify voices of individuals that you don’t often hear from—those from underreported stories, and from students’ own communities. Through these individual stories, universal truths are also illuminated.

Migration normally happens out of necessity: work, natural resources, or safety for one’s life. The desire to migrate may be a solution for many but there are barriers that can prohibit the need for safety and prosperity. A large number of students’ families are renting or experiencing homelessness in many parts of the United States. They are entering secondary education ready to get jobs to help their families to gain or just maintain a stable home. Students are also preparing for their small individual migrations from their current schooling location and/or homes to a place of post-secondary education or occupation.

How are migrants portrayed in the news and media? Who gets to tell the story of migration, and what aspects of the story tend to go underreported? How do these stories, and the perspectives from which they’re told, impact our own perceptions of migration?
In this unit, students learn to identify underreported stories of migration, and what is missing from mainstream media representations of migrants’ experiences. They analyze nonfiction texts and images, practice identifying perspectives in media, and synthesize their learning to form a new understanding of migration. In their final project, students communicate how their perspective on migration has grown or changed through a creative project, original news story, or existing news story edited to provide a more holistic picture of migration.

In this six-lesson unit, students will explore stories from people who have migrated to Europe or North America from different countries in Africa in order to analyze the following essential questions:

This mini-unit follows an interdisciplinary unit where students read the novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. As part of the unit, students discussed the inherited trauma that the descendants of two half-sisters in the book, born during the 16th century in what is now present-day Ghana—one enslaved and the other married to a white enslaver—have been dealing with for several generations. Another major component of this novel is migration, as many of the characters move from one place to another in order to escape prejudice, violence, and unrest. While the characters from the novel who had been enslaved were forced to migrate, other characters chose to relocate for more opportunities, freedom, security, and safety.