Abstract
This article critically examines the reality of building community in public schools and specifically identifies the obstacles faced by teachers who try to create community with refugee students. The research in the article focuses on Ms. Patricia Engler, a teacher in a newcomer center for refugee students located in an urban setting. Engler created and fostered a sense of community for middle-school students in her classroom who often felt disconnected to their fellow students, their school, and the neighborhoods in which they lived, and was able to focus on work that she intuitively felt was right for her students based upon their specialized needs. The article also presents multiple ways of thinking about how to build community for all students through a description of different classroom activities and instructional strategies Engler employed in her classroom with newcomer children.
Response to this Article
David L. Keiser, Let a Thousand Teachers Bloom. A Response to "Creating Communities"
Recommended Citation
Roxas, K. C.
(2011).
Creating Communities: Working with Refugee Students in Classrooms.
Democracy and Education,
19
(2), Article 5.
Available at:
https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol19/iss2/5