Heart of the Harvest: GoPro POV Perspective of Migrant Harvesting

Immigration has been a touchstone of the American experience since the country’s founding. And the United States remains the world’s top destination for immigrants, accounting for about 20 percent of all international migrants.[2] There are ongoing debates regarding immigration, law, human rights, and the far reaching implications that immigration policy has on our culture and economy.  The debate has no clear end in sight. Yet, while the debate continues so does daily life from town to town, state to state and immigrants are part of this continuing story every day. A migrant worker is generally defined as 'a worker who moves from place to place to do seasonal work.' However, the connotation can vary from pace to place. This unit of study gives students the opportunity to have a brief window into the lives of real migrant workers. In this unit, the workers are in New Jersey, USA during the months of July and August 2014 at the peak of blueberry harvest. 

While no single unit of study can offer an authentically immersive experience of migrant work, these videos create an intimate perspective on work and agriculture that students rarely see. As students prepare for an increasingly unpredictable global future, it is important for then to develop their voice in regard to social justice and the human experience. This unit offers multiple opportunities for students to reflect and experiment with their emerging social voice.

This unit of learning is ripe with cross-curricular connections. There are opportunities for grades level collaboration or partnering between teachers of seemingly unrelated subjects that can bridge the gap with this human-centered approach to immigration. There are easy connections to debate, mathematics, and economics, but also possibilities to connect art, music, and more! 

The true purpose of this unit of learning is:

• To develop foundational knowledge on U.S. immigration 
• To gain an increased understanding of social, cultural, and human experiences
  
• To engage in data conversations through graphs & interactive population profiles
• To reflect from a variety of perspectives through writing and dialogue
• To learn about agriculture and seasonal harvesting
• To immerse themselves virtually in the job of a migrant harvester
• To be able to articulate their own ideas about work and labor

This section provides foundational knowledge on immigration and allows students to learn modern statistics and analyze them comparatively with historical U.S. immigration trends. This lesson is a jumping off point for the rest of this more intimate Unit of Study. It is important to establish the direction of this Unit by allowing students to gain confidence in their knowledge of the state of immigration in 2014 as well as the unique population profiles from state to state. There are two topics in this section: Today's Immigrants & Population Profiles.