Seventh grade students in English and Social Studies classes participated in a powerful interdisciplinary learning experience that bridged the English and Social Studies curriculum through a shared focus on refugees and global displacement. In English class, students engaged in thoughtful book club discussions of the novel Refugee by Alan Gratz, which follows the intertwined journeys of three young people fleeing conflict and persecution in different parts of the world and across different time periods. Through discussion, students shared ideas, posed questions and supported their thinking with textual evidence to deepen their understanding of the human impact of displacement.
The experience culminated in a video conference with multiple displaced individuals organized in partnership with the Wo International Center and NaTakallam, a social enterprise that connects refugees and displaced people with learners around the world through language exchange and conversation. Students spoke with speakers from Syria who shared their journeys of fleeing conflict and rebuilding their lives in places such as Lebanon, Italy, Canada and Brazil. Hearing these firsthand perspectives allowed students to connect themes from the novel to real-world experiences, deepening empathy and awareness. Many students described the conversations as eye-opening, noting that they gained a clearer sense of the realities refugees face and found the learning both meaningful and memorable.
In Social Studies, some students further explored the Syrian refugee crisis through an immersive virtual reality experience of the Za’atari Refugee Camp, adding visual context to concepts studied across both disciplines. Together, these experiences encouraged students to move beyond the text and classroom, fostering critical thinking, compassion and a deeper understanding of global displacement.
