Educator Resources

Resources to teach your students about refugees and displacement

Educator Resources on Refugees and Migration

Equip your students to understand today’s displacement crisis with classroom-ready resources that spark empathy, critical thinking, and action. Whether you’re planning a single lesson, a school-wide event, or a co-curricular project, these materials help you teach core concepts, elevate refugee voices, and connect learning to meaningful advocacy. Explore fact sheets, interactive simulations, a reflective guidebook, faith-based resources, and step-by-step tools for student engagement.

Classroom-Ready Curricular Resources

JRS/USA 2025-2026 Outreach Calendar. Sign up to have it sent straight to your inbox.

Sign up to receive the JRS Outreach Calendar directly to your inbox.

Pilgrimage on Home: A Reflective Lesson — One-period lesson on the meaning of “home,” climate displacement stories, and Ignatian reflection; includes a COP30 postcard action. Access the lesson

Forced Displacement Factsheet

Forced Displacement Factsheet. Definitions, causes, stats, and challenges facing refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons.

Definitions, causes, stats, and challenges facing refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons.

Get ON THE MOVE

On The Move Guidebook- Download now. Get on the move with a new immersive activity for students, parishes, and communities looking to learn more about issues directly impacting refugees and immigrants.

Simulation Exercises, Walk a Mile in My Shoes and Journey into Exile, bring experiential learning to life.

To access the guidebook, please fill out this form.

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

Walk a Mile in My Shoes Toolkit. Download the toolkit for an immersive activity shedding light on the realities of being a refugee.

Learn how to host a Refugee Awareness Exercise on your campus or in your community.

Read about this example from Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon.

Multimedia for Discussion

Curated films, books, and podcasts that elevate refugee perspectives and deepen classroom conversations. Explore the list

Faith-based Education Resources

  • Catholic Social Teaching on Refugees — Five key themes relevant to migration and displacement.Download the one-pager
  • Lesson Plan: Human Dignity & Migration (ages 10–15) — Teach dignity and rights through the lens of forced displacement.Download the lesson
  • Truth or Myth? CST & Migration — Fast-paced group activity to separate fact from fiction on the Church’s teaching. Download the activity

Advocacy Engagement

  • Action Alerts — Ready-to-use tools and templates to contact elected officials.Take action
  • Advocacy Day Curriculum Guide — Plan a classroom or school-wide advocacy day.Download the guide
  • JRS/USA Action Team Network (High School) — Start an Action Team or connect an existing club for ongoing formation and action. Email Clara Sayans 

Extracurricular Activities

  • Benefit Concert — Invite local musicians or parish choirs to perform. Sell tickets or collect donations at the door.
  • International Food Festival — Celebrate the cultures of migrants and refugees with food booths, music, and storytelling
  • Cultural Night — Host an evening of dance, music, and art from different countries represented in your community.
  • Soup & Solidarity — Serve a simple meal and share stories of refugees to raise awareness and funds.
  • Cook2Connect Meal — Host a meal featuring recipes from refugee communities to foster connection and raise support, or invite a member of your parish who immigrated to the U.S. to lead a cooking class featuring their traditional cuisine.
  • Walk-/Read-/Dance-a-thon — Participants collect pledges for each mile walked, book read, or hour danced.
  • Family Fun Day — Include games, raffles, food, and crafts with a small entrance fee or donation stations.