Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education

by Jessica Lander

A landmark work that weaves captivating stories about the past, present, and personal into an inspiring vision for how America can educate immigrant students

Setting out from her classroom, Jessica Lander takes the reader on a powerful and urgent journey to understand what it takes for immigrant students to become Americans. A compelling read for everyone who cares about America’s future, Making Americans brims with innovative ideas for educators and policy makers across the country.

Lander brings to life the history of America’s efforts to educate immigrants through rich stories, including
-The Nebraska teacher arrested for teaching an eleven-year-old boy in German who took his case to the Supreme Court
-The California families who overturned school segregation for Mexican American children
-The Texas families who risked deportation to establish the right for undocumented children to attend public schools

She visits innovative classrooms across the country that work with immigrant-origin students, such as
-A school in Georgia for refugee girls who have been kept from school by violence, poverty, and natural disaster
-Five schools in Aurora, Colorado, that came together to collaborate with community groups, businesses, a hospital, and families to support newcomer children.
-A North Carolina school district of more than 100 schools who rethought how they teach their immigrant-origin students

She shares inspiring stories of how seven of her own immigrant students created new homes in America, including the
-The boy who escaped Baghdad and found a home in his school’s ROTC program
-The daughter of Cambodian genocide survivors who dreamed of becoming a computer scientist
-The orphaned boy who escaped violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and created a new community here

Making Americans is an exploration of immigrant education across the country told through key historical moments, current experiments to improve immigrant education, and profiles of immigrant students. Making Americans is a remarkable book that will reshape how we all think about nurturing one of America’s greatest the newcomers who enrich this country with their energy, talents, and drive.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

371 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2022

About the author

Jessica Lander is an award-winning teacher, writer and author. She teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students in a Massachusetts public high school and has won numerous awards for her teaching, including being named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2021, presented by the Varkey Foundation and being named a MA Teacher of the Year Finalist in 2022, presented by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Jessica writes frequently about education policy and teaching. She is the author of Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education, a coauthor of Powerful Partnerships: A Teacher’s Guide to Engaging Families for Student Success and the author of Driving Backwards.

Reviews

[Shari Suarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica Lander is a teacher of immigrant origin children in Lowell, Massachusetts. In this book, she has woven her students' own experiences with programs around the country that are doing a fantastic job of teaching and welcoming students from other countries. She also weaves in history about the topics she's discussing some of which was never taught to me in high school. It's geared towards educators but I found it highly fascinating and would recommend it to anyone who loves inspiring feel-good stories or is interested in the education of immigrants.

[Lena Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and emotional! Moved me to tears many times. I love the framework of looking at the past, present and personal of the education of immigrant origin students. Bought this as a holiday gift for all my friend. Could not recommend it more highly!

[Danny Sass · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the information you’d expect from a professionally researched and sourced deep-dive into immigrant education, but with the humanity and storytelling of a NYT best-selling page-turner. Ms. Lander’s students are lucky to have her!

While this book is most suitable for educators and would be comfortably at home on a university syllabus, its relevance in a post-Trump America, one in which seemingly everybody has an “opinion” about immigration, simply cannot be overstated. Ms. Lander has done an incredible job here, and I greatly enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover.

[Priya Tahiliani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The brilliance of Making Americans is its structure. The engrossing combination of historical perspective and personal experience provides clear insight into how we should approach EL education in our rapidly-changing nation.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing work!

[Marta Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

While immigrant students might have a variety of feelings about becoming American, this book offers insights into how school systems can help support these students and their families as they grapple with challenges that children born in the United States might never face.
Making Americans takes a closer look at high school immigrant students and their stories in the US school system. Lander’s narrative includes a comprehensive approach to all aspects that affect immigrant students, their struggles, their hopes, and their successes from a profoundly human point of view. Lander’s expertise of the immigrant journey through the eyes of her students, her travels to schools across the United States, her own experience in a foreign country, and her erudition on immigration history and policy constitute a unique and much needed perspective on this issue.
Making Americans is a flawless balance between immigration and education policy, programmatic initiatives, and human narratives of the immigrant journey. It is also an honest reflection on how global relations have affected and continue to affect the most vulnerable of our citizens across the globe: war, and colonialism play a decisive role in the lives of our immigrant and refugee children. Furthermore, Lander’s approach to the topic of immigrant children is a dignifying view of families making decisions to relocate across national boundaries, and how those decisions impact not only immigrants’ identities in their new communities, but also re-shape the receiving communities themselves.
Lander skillfully analyzes the interaction between immigration and education policies and community initiatives to support immigrant students and their families. Making Americans takes a closer look at how the lives of people in the diaspora are transformed by the new country, language, and culture, while maintaining the flavors, smells, sounds, and traditions of the countries of origin. All of this is masterfully embroidered in a narrative that shows the beauty and also the melancholy of the immigration experience.
This book is as much about recognizing immigrant students’ unique identities and strengths as it is about Lander’s inclusive view of America, and her belief, in her words, that “my students don’t need to imagine, they are the experts.”

Marta García - Witchcraft Heights Elementary School - Salem
ESL Teacher - Massachusetts Teacher of the Year 2022

[Bertis Downs · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great stories included here-- every chapter gets better. I also love the way the history of these struggles are addressed before the examples of successful programs happening all over today, and then the personal accounts of recent students and how they navigated and succeeded in their new home country. Many tearjerking moments for me as I read these poignant personal stories. I am giving Making Americans to many friends who deal with these kinds of issues every day, and others who don't but think about them. It always comes back to a sense of belonging and what can be done to establish and nurture that ineffable quality in school cultures for these newcomers.

[Sarahi Monterrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making Americans is an invaluable resource for ALL educators. Teachers are often eager to learn effective ways to ensure immigrant students feel welcomed, safe, supported, and valued. What is unique about Making Americans is that Lander highlights inspiring and innovative approaches educators use across the country! Reading this book is a fantastic way to develop professionally and gain new insight into essential elements for supporting immigrant-origin youth. The stories are uplifting and serve as a reminder of educators' critical role in empowering immigrant students and communities.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making Americans is a beautifully written account of the history and practice of immigrant education in America. With masterful interweaving of legal history, classroom case examples, and powerful student stories, what emerges is a compelling and timely work that informs as much as it inspires.

[Cynthia Levinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite kind of book—deeply researched yet personal, revelatory, and inspiring. And it's about kids!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring, enlightening view into the lives of immigrant-origin students and families and the teachers who teach them. A must read. Wonderfully written!

[Rachel Kramer Theodorou]

Jessica does an amazing job educating her readers on the overlapping influences on education of immigrant-origin children and youth in America. These influences include: history, politics, social trends, and psychology as well as the role that schools themselves play in shaping the national dialogue around education for newcomers to the US. This is the only book I've found about this topic where the author spends significant time interviewing descendants of key players in legal rulings that have shaped schooling for immigrant students and for those learning English in public schools throughout the country. My Education Studies students love her approachable style of writing and I love the modeling Jessica conveys of herself as an intellectual and practical educator who strives not just to be successful as a classroom teacher, but to perpetually educate herself on the many topics in her book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I initially checked out the book from the library and enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy. I was inspired by the stories of individual students, the innovative educators who have found effective ways to support and educate the children of immigrant families, and those from history who have fought for the right to education despite great personal risk. The way the book interweaves American history with the personal stories of those involved in legal cases as well as those from the author's own classroom was engaging and informative. The book was hard to put down!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book of the summer. Exceptional composition in that in each chapter, the author provided an in-depth explanation of an aspect of immigration in U.S. history, then a description of a successful program somewhere in the U.S. providing services for immigrant students, and finished each chapter with an incredibly compelling story of one of her own students from Lowell High School. I learned so much and feel so motivated. The only problem for me is that she concentrates on high school. I need her to write about elementary too!

[Janice Munemitsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was inspired by Jessica's book as I learned so much about the past and present struggles and triumphs of educating children who have come to the US from all over the world. I think this is a must read for all Americans to understand and support change in our educational system to support these young immigrants toward the future all American children aspire to! I've recommended Making Americans to many friends who are interested in bridging the gaps we have in our multi-cultural communities and looking to learn and support our new neighbors from many lands! Congratulations Jessica on this wonderful work!

[Jeanine Waldron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. I love the ideas. The storytelling structure was a bit confusing.

[Corey Merrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a professional development book club within my school district (it's 14 hours on audiobook, good lord). I want to articulate why I didn't love this book without seeming like a jealous teacher with an inferiority complex or a cynic (neither of which I think I am). This book was just so...Kumbaya. So...saccharine. It was a little bit like the book version of the Hilary Swank movie, Freedom Writers. Like, this book was written by a REALLY GOOD TEACHER, who does the BEST JOB (BETTER THAN YOU!)! Like, did you know that the author has her students write op-eds in the actual newspaper? And did you know that her students win civics awards at the Massachusetts State House? And did you know that her students advocate for change with state representatives? And did you know that her students publish a book every year? And did you know that she hangs out with all her students' families and they just lovvvvvve her? And did you know that the author helps her students before school and after school so they can get full scholarships to amazing universities? And did you know that kids who come in with devastating personal traumas can just push their grief aside and totally flourish in her class? Well, after reading this 329-page resume for the author, you do now! (See? I *am* coming off as a jealous teacher with an inferiority complex).

I don't know, a lot of this book just kind of felt like oversimplified, feel-good fodder rather than writing about the challenges of educating immigrant students (or just *any* students...!) in a more honest, real way. Like, teacher to teacher, be straight with me. It is really, really hard to be a good teacher. It is demanding, and overwhelming, and no matter how much you do, you can ALWAYS do more and do better, and we mess up all the time. So I guess this book kind of just rubbed me the wrong way. She NEVER once mentions any struggles or regrets she has, or missteps she made. She only present her wins (win after win after win) and success stories (success story after success story). But I WANT to know what mistakes she's made. Times when she failed. Times when, despite her best efforts, it didn't work out. (And this applies to the programs she visited across the country too...they were all just slam dunks). To be clear, I'm not asking for a book entirely of mistakes and failures; that certainly wouldn't teach us what to DO. But being honest about the struggles of individual teachers and school districts across the country as they try to educate immigrant students WOULD be illuminating. And, it would make me, a fellow teacher, able to hear her better.

In sum, it doesn't feel like the author is in the trenches with us, but rather that she is preaching to us from above - and that just didn't resonate with me.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education by Jessica Lander is truly a remarkable book. I consider her one of our thought leaders. She is a humanitarian and a gifted teacher who strives to connect her students and guide them to discover their own special gifts.

This amazing book is multifaceted.

She brings us the history of immigration in the United States with riveting examples of teachers' activism across space and time.

She shares the program she created at a high school in Massachusetts to welcome and encourage a sense of belonging for students in the process of becoming American citizens.

With Jessica Lander as guide, we visit exemplary programs across the country.

This beautifully written book is mesmerizing. In the current moment in the United States, Making Americans resonates more than ever. I encourage you to read this book, to indulge in a joyful, hopeful vision of what making Americans can and should be.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

As my title states, I love this book. Full disclosure, I am biased as the author was in my seventh and eighth grade classes way back when. But that just makes the fact that she grew up and wrote this book even better. I bought a whole set and am now teaching to my current seventh and eighth grade classes and they love it too. The book is a combination of informative history, best practices on how to teach immigrant origin students, and poignant memoir-style stories of Landers’ students. I listened to the audio version as I walked home from work, and each day I found myself in tears due to the heartbreaking and inspiring stories. The book’s brilliance is it is accessible to middle schoolers and adults alike. It can be read in its entirety or in pieces. I highly recommend it to educators for its wisdom in best practices. I am a proud teacher whose student has become the master. ❤️

[Bradley Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be super inspiring and educational. As someone who works in service to immigrant families and who is engaged in immigrant education, I learned so much from the history and the importance of our legal system that now informs my perspective on the topic more fully. Jessica Lander has crafted what I consider a masterpiece that has the potential to inspire educators and administrators, as well as immigrant students and so many others to do better as a country when it comes to welcoming and embracing people from other parts of the world. Well done and thank you!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliantly designed and written! In each chapter Lander settles the reader into the history of education of immigrants in the US, an incredibly researched current-day innovation, and a personal narrative of one of her students who has taught her at Lowell High School. I found myself skipping ahead to read these stories! I cannot think of a better way of preparing to work with newcomer students than reading this book. Lander’s voice is realistic, generous and takes on the least cynical tone imaginable.

[Ryan Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times this read a little like a textbook, with all the court cases and history feeling repetitive in the later chapters. If you can make it through that, however, the emotional impact of “the personal” cuts deep. Amazing stories of struggle that to be told all by one author shows her ability to truly connect to these students.

[Heather Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring!

[Sarah Bigham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important and enlightening. Helpful blend of history + current stories/examples. (Very dense.)