Standard 1 - Advocacy for Social Justice

Standard 1 Advocacy for Social Justice

Educators who embrace a social justice perspective are attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories. They consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside of the dominant culture.They employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement among all of the nation’s children.

  Advocacy for social justice could arguably be one of the most challenging, but one of the most essential aspects of teaching. Being an advocate for social justice means working hard every moment to make sure that every student is being supported and all needs are being addressed. There is a saying that “Fair isn’t everyone getting the same thing, but rather, “Fair is everyone getting what they need in order to be successful.”. I think that this quote sums up a teacher’s role as an advocate for the students in his or her classroom. 

Recognizing that classrooms are full of students with different race, social class, gender, languages, and other social categories is the first step in creating a safe community that embraces diversity. It is important for teachers to be mindful of their students’ backgrounds when they prepare their lessons. In October, my students were learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin and I found out that some of my students had never carved a pumpkin or had the experience of reaching their hand inside and scooping out the pumpkin flesh. That weekend, I went to a local farm and purchased thirty small pumpkins (“jacks”) for the students to decorate. We also bought a large pumpkin that we carved together. On the day that we were decorating our jacks, students were so excited! (Artifact 1A: Pictures of Decorated Jacks). In this example, I tried to equalize the experiences of my students.. Attending to small inequalities, such as never having had the opportunity to decorate a pumpkin, is a small step to creating a fair environment for everyone. 

     Educational practices must be flexible in order to accommodate those needs of the children we serve. It is important to recognize what children need in order to be successful and work to meet those needs. Many times, children often get grouped together without much thought about the individual child. An example of this is when one of my students was getting pulled out of class to meet with a resource teacher during math. She struggled with math, but was pulled out for reading support. This seemed counterproductive to me. We met as a third grade team and created a new student support services schedule (Artifact 1B: Student Support Schedule) to better accommodate this student’s needs. The Occupational Therapist (OT), Speech Therapist, and resource room teacher had to work around our set schedule to meet the children they needed to meet with. As a teacher, it is crucial to be aware of the needs that your students have even if that means balancing when he or she receives outside support. In this example, we had to refocus our attention on the student rather than accommodate the specialists’ schedules. While no one teacher intentionally prevented her from advancing in math, the structure of her day prohibited her from receiving the services she needed. The use of multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices is an important aspect of being an advocate for social justice. In our classroom, we regularly supplement existing literature with children’ literature that reflects the students and their families.  This allows for  deeper engagement with reading and a higher academic achievement among students. It is important to recognize when a book does not represent all students and the diversity they bring. My practicum teachers did an excellent job of supplementing the Reading Street text with books focused on the positive aspects of difference.  These include:  Elmer (David McKee), Giant Steps to Change the World (Spike Lee), Chocolate Me (Taye Diggs), and Wonder  (R. J. Palacio). We used these books to complement the Reading Street curriculum’s main theme in their “All About Me” unit of study. 

  Beverly Tatum (1997) in Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, says that teachers must “continually break the silence about racism whenever [they] can.” (p.193)  She encourages teachers to participate in “meaningful productive dialogue to raise consciousness and lead to effective action and social change.” (p.167) It is important to create an environment where these conversations can occur. Creating an environment to have conversations about multiculturalism and anti-racist behavior is important because students need to know how to be respectful of everyone’s differences and to accept others as they are. It is also important to recognize the amount of power a teacher has over a student. The teacher should be away of how much potential power a single teacher has over a student, especially students of color. A teacher is an automatic position of power and dictates the environment the classroom can become, a safe environment or hostile environment. This can be difficult for a child to manage.  

Being an advocate for social justice, among the other responsibilities as a teacher, can be a difficult task, but it is a necessary one. Students who are from the non- dominant social group categories are most vulnerable for being mistreated and discriminated against . As a teacher who is Safe Space trained, I try to maintain a safe environment for all my students so they can learn to the best of their ability and keep the focus on academic achievement. 

 References

Diggs, T. (2011). Chocolate Me. Feiwel & Friends. 

Lee, S. & Lee, T.L. (2011).  Giant Steps to Change the World. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 

McKee, D. (1989). Elmer. HarperCollins. 

Palacio, R.J. (2012) Wonder. Knopf. 

Tatum, B. (1997). Why are the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? And other conversations about race. New York, NY: Basic Books.