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Interview
First of all, can you tell me a little bit about your course?
The course is SPAN 3401: Latino Immigration and Community Engagement. I have been teaching it since 1996 and have placed over 4,000 students in the community. It is taught in Spanish after students have completed 2.5 years of Spanish language instruction. I typically teach 5 sections each year with 20 students in each. Students complete 33 hours of work in a community organization and complete a civically engaged project.
My goal is to teach students about Latino immigration, in the classroom and in the community. We analyze issues such as the relationship between the global economic system and emigration from Latin America, human rights issues along the U.S./Mexican border, numerous US federal immigration policies and the contributions of Latino immigrants in the US. A theme that runs throughout the course is the critical importance of listening to the voices of the affected, in this case, immigrants themselves. Students have many opportunities to do this through their community engagement, numerous guest speakers and visits to the community
What are the main course design components?
A central feature is connecting the academic material studied with the community-engaged learning component. I have been involved in the Latinx community since the early 90s at a time when the Latino immigrant population was growing tremendously and there was great need for Spanish speakers, which is why I originally developed this course. Over the years, I have formed community partnerships with numerous organizations. My students work in a range of education environments from pre-school to adult education, in activist organizations focused on human rights, with media organizations or immigration law offices. My goal is that the relationship between organizations and students is a mutual benefit as students learn directly about critical immigration issues from people who are most affect and the organizations are able to utilize students' Spanish & other skills.
We take 5-6 field trips throughout the semester so that students can learn about multiple organizations and their work in the community. For example, we visit the Latino markets on Lake St. and meet with the Latino Economic Development Center so that students will see first-hand the incredible economic benefits that Latino businesses have brought to Minneapolis. We also meet with immigration lawyers, immigration activists and a women's group.
Students complete a class project in which they are directly involved in an immigration policy issue. In previous semesters we have partnered with COPAL (Comunidades Organizado el Poder y la Acción Latina) on their MN Latino Vote and Freedom to Drive Campaigns and with Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee on the municipal I.D. This coming year, we will work on the US Census. These projects aim to help students fulfill the CLE credits of Civic Life and Ethics.
This is a dynamic course! Is there anything that helps you facilitate the moving parts?
The most important thing that helps me facilitate this course are my personal connections in the community, but there are a few other things that also make it logistically possible. For example, this course is scheduled for a 2.5 hour time block on a weekly basis. This allows us enough time to complete meaningful community site visits within the time-frame of the course. In addition, this course has a $25 fee, and that allows me to pay guest speakers and thus give students more direct contact with Latino immigrants, leaders, organizers and policy makers.
What is your favorite assignment or reflection activity?
At the beginning of the semester, I like to set the tone for the course by making sure we reflect on both structural racism and how it plays a role in our own advantages or disadvantages in society. I use a role-playing activity and I draw on Gary Howard’s work on honesty, empathy, advocacy and action to introduce the topic and incorporate it throughout the semester.
You clearly put a lot of time and effort into this course experience for both students and community. Can you say more about what you believe the benefit to be for each group?
A goal for my students is to help them become more knowledgeable and civically engaged, both of which are accomplished in my class. Their engagement in class and in the community gives them opportunities to learn with their head and with their heart. I believe that this initiates a deeper understanding and increases the likelihood that they will become more meaningfully engaged in society upon their graduation, in some way or another.
Thus, in the short run students learn a great deal about life from the perspective of immigrants and organizations benefit from the use of students' skills. All benefit from simply getting to know each other as human beings and to understand each other better. In the bigger picture, it is better for all when people are more informed and practice in participatory democracy at deeper levels.
After many years of utilizing community engagement, what would you say is your best advice for faculty who are new to engaged pedagogy?
Whether or not you have established relationships in the community, be sure to work with the Center for Community-Engaged Learning (CCEL). They can remove a lot of the pressure regarding communication with organizations and also give great resources and advice for course design. However, I will also say that it is important for faculty to make connections with the organizations where they are asking their students to engage. This can be as simple as a yearly meeting with someone from CCEL or even a phone call to check-in with the site supervisor from the organization. It will be enriching for instructors and it will also help ensure that everyone’s goals and needs are being met through the partnership.
I think another important piece of advice I have is to make sure that you consider your own positionality as it relates to engaging with the community, particularly if you are sending your students into low-income communities. We always have to be mindful of the impacts for the community as well as our students. This is why open lines of communication are extremely important.
There are many online resources as well as workshops available to help frame up these parts of a course, and I encourage instructors to take responsibility for preparing themselves to address power dynamics in the classroom, but even more importantly in the community.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and the wonderful advice. We appreciate your time!
