By Mark Ambrogi
Our Town of Immigrants seemed like it would be a perfect project for Cindi Hamlow’s Pleasant View Elementary fourth-grade class to pursue in the 2017-18 school year.
“The STEM/Literacy Coach (Kathy Drake) at Pleasant View made me aware of the Anonymous Tolerance Matching Grant available through DonorsChoose, and we agreed that it was a great fit with the district’s Strong In Every Way Campaign, specifically, the strand of Developing Cultural Understandings,” said Hamlow, who just finished her first school year at Pleasant View. “Further, as a former International Baccalaureate teacher (at School 27 in Indianapolis), I’ve seen firsthand the engagement and interest that students exhibit when allowed to question and explore the diversity that exists in and around their lives. After brainstorming and tweaking, this project was born, with the intention of giving students the opportunity to inquire and look at their own community through a potentially new cultural lens.”
Hamlow, a Zionsville resident since 2007, is trying to raise $991 through donorschoose.org for two iPad Minis so the students can produce a documentary answering questions about immigrants in Zionsville.
“There are many great ways to show the diversity of our town, and interviews definitely fall into that category,” Hamlow said. “First-hand accounts make the experience personal and foster the school/community relationship that makes learning relevant for kids. That being said, depending on the questions that the students pose, our research and documentary will certainly extend beyond the interviews of individuals, but we won’t know where that leads until the students take us there.”
Hamlow said the iPad Minis will be used for a variety of purposes.
“First and foremost, they will be used to document the questions, thinking and reflections of the students throughout the process,” Hamlow said. “They will also serve as research tools for recording interviews and looking up additional information. The technology department at the district level has also offered support in teaching students how to use iMovie to edit and produce the documentary.”
Hamlow said she has a couple of ideas for potential speakers to visit her class, but suggestions are welcome.
“Part of what makes this project exciting is meeting new people and making new discoveries about our community,” Hamlow said.
Donate to the project by visiting donorschoose.com and searching for “Hamlow.”
