1,720,964 research outputs found
The Unexamined Whiteness of Teaching: How White Teachers Maintain and Enact Dominant Racial Ideologies
No full textWhile much research that explores the role of race in education focuses on children of color, this article explores an aspect of the predominately White teaching force that educates them. This article explores findings from a qualitative study that posed questions about the ways in which White pre-service teachers\u27 life-experiences influenced understandings of race and difference, and how these pre-service teachers negotiated the challenges a critical multicultural education course offered those beliefs. In keeping with the tenet of critical race theory that racism is an inherent and normalized aspect of American society, the author found that through previous life-experiences, the participants gained hegemonic understandings about race and difference. Participants responded to challenges to these understandings by relying on a set of \u27tools of Whiteness\u27 designed to protect and maintain dominant and stereotypical understandings of race - tools that were emotional, ideological, and performative. This phenomenon is typically referred to as resistance in the literature on White teachers and multicultural education. The author contends, however, that these tools are not simply a passive resistance to but much more of an active protection of the incoming hegemonic stories and White supremacy and therefore require analysis to better understand when and how these tools are strategically used. Understanding how these tools of Whiteness protect dominant and stereotypical understandings of race can advise teacher education programs how to better organize to transform the ideologies of White teachers
Resisting Compliance: Learning to Teach for Social Justice in a Neoliberal Context
No full textBackground/Context- This study examines education in the context of neoliberalism and how current educational policies such as high-stakes testing and mandated curriculum create schooling environments hostile to social justice education. Relying on education for liberation literature, teacher education for social justice scholarship, and work on critical pedagogy, this study explores how new teachers who teach from a social justice perspective navigate the challenges of their first year in teaching. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study asks, What strategies do new teachers use to stay true to their vision of teaching for social justice despite the challenges they face in their school environments? Population/Participants/Subjects: During the course of the study, 4 of the 6 participants were full-time classroom teachers. The 2 other participants were still taking education classes while student- and assistant teaching. All worked in a variety of urban elementary schools. Intervention/Program/Practice: The participants were all members of a social justice critical inquiry project (CIP) group that met at the university from which they graduated. Research Design: This was a qualitative study that used design-based research. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected from three sources: transcripts from audio and videotaped CIP sessions, ethnographic interviews with participants, and participants\u27 written reflections. Data were analyzed using grounded theory method. Findings/Results: The teachers developed four strategies for teaching for social justice. First, by participating in a critical inquiry project, the teachers supported each other by building a safe haven that protected their vision. Second, the participants camouflaged their critical pedagogy by integrating it with the mandated curriculum, which allowed them to teach from a social justice perspective without rousing the concerns of their administration. The third strategy was to develop their students as agents of change. Finally, in a few instances, the teachers went public with their work by rejecting or speaking against policies that they felt were not in the best interests of their students. Conclusions/Recommendations: Although these four strategies allowed participants to successfully create critical classrooms, they did not impact the larger neoliberal forces that maintain unjust schooling experiences. This has implications for teacher education, and the author suggests recommendations for schools of education. Copyright by Teachers College, Columbia University
Practice what you teach : social justice education in the classroom and the streets
No full textAbout the BookMany teachers enter the profession with a desire to "make a difference." But given who most teachers are, where they come from, and what pressure they feel to comply with existing school policies, how can they take up this charge? Practice What You Teach follows three different groups of educators to explore the challenges of developing and supporting teachers’ sense of social justice and activism at various stages of their careers: White pre-service teachers typically enrolled in most teacher education programs, a group of new teachers attempting to integrate social justice into their teaching, and experienced educators who see their teaching and activism as inextricably linked. Teacher educator Bree Picower delves into each of these group’s triumphs and challenges, providing strategies and suggestions for all teachers along with her in-depth analysis.By understanding all these challenges, pre-service and in-service teachers, along with teacher educators, will be in a better position to develop the kind of political analysis that lays the foundation for teacher activism. This timely resource helps prepare and support all educators to stand up for equity and justice both inside and outside of the classroom and offers a more nuanced portrait of what the struggle to truly "make a difference" looks like.Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Teacher Activism: Social Justice Education as a Strategy for Change Chapter 2: "Why Do We Have to Talk About Race Again?": Oppositional Stances and Tools of Whiteness Chapter 3: Teaching for Justice: Developing Strategies for Integrating SJE in the Classroom Chapter 4: Stuck at the Classroom Door: Falling Back on Tools of Inaction Chapter 5: Reconciling the Vision: Taking Action for Educational Justice Chapter 6: "Making a Difference": Teaching in the Classroom and Organizing in the StreetsFor more information:https://goo.gl/fy1IM
Reading, Writing, and Racism : Disrupting Whiteness in Teacher Education and in the Classroom
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/all_books/1489/thumbnail.jp
Using Their Words: Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design for the Elementary Classroom
Get PDFThis article provides a framework of six elements of social justice curriculum design for elementary classrooms. The elements move from students learning self-love and knowledge about who they are and where they come from to learning respect for people different from themselves. Students explore social injustice, learn about social movements, raise awareness, and engage in activism. By addressing all six elements, students develop an analysis of oppression and tools to take action. The elements help teachers visualize social justice education by providing examples of projects, making social justice in K-6 settings accessible, practical, and achievable
Practice What You Teach : Social Justice Education in the Classroom and the Streets
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/all_books/1283/thumbnail.jp
Education Should Be Free! Occupy the DOE!: Teacher Activists Involved in the Occupy Wall Street Movement
No full textMass discontent erupted in 2011 through the Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS) when people took to the streets expressing frustration with growing economic disparities under neoliberal policies. In this article, I document how grassroots activists in New York City used OWS to galvanize energy for educational justice. Calling themselves Occupy the Department of Education, these teacher activists (TAs) critically analyzed wealth and power stratification as well as corporate-driven, market-based education reform. Through interviews, I explore TAs\u27 frustration with policies undermining the participation; voices; and power of parents, students, and educators and detail grassroots organizing strategies used to respond to neoliberal reform. These five strategies included unmasking the neoliberal narrative of meritocracy and choice; diverting discontent with the economic crisis toward educational justice; amplifying voices through tools that allowed for democratic participation of people silenced by current structures; claiming coalition among diverse groups rather than embracing competitive models; and generating power by organizing for change. Ultimately, I reveal that by using such strategies, TAs worked to build a movement to confront neoliberal school reforms that they saw undermining public education
You Can\u27t Change What You Don\u27t See: Developing New Teachers\u27 Political Understanding of Education
No full textMany teachers who enter the profession to make a difference do not realize education is a highly political field. This qualitative study examined how teacher education can support new teachers to develop a critical sociopolitical analysis of education. The findings indicate through a year-long course of study, teachers developed two new awarenesses about education. They (1) recognized that everything within education was political and because of this they (2) realized that they had more to learn. The overarching awareness about the political nature of education supported them to recognize four connected insights: (1) certain groups benefit from current structures while (2) others are oppressed, (3) parents and community members should have power in educational decisions that affect them, and (4) race plays a systemic role in all of the above. Within the awareness of realizing they had more to learn, three new stances emerged. Teachers started to (1) reexamine their prior knowledge, (2) realize they needed to hear multiple perspectives before forming opinions, and (3) analyze the political motivation of people providing information. By recognizing that everything is political and by taking a questioning stance, the findings indicate that the teachers reframed their analysis in five key ways. Teachers (1) moved from a focus on individual blame to a focus on systemic inequality; (2) from an ethnocentric perspective to culturally relevant pedagogy; (3) from viewing teachers as holders of power to facilitators who share power; (4) from seeing community deficits to seeing strengths; (5) and from feeling isolated to feeling connected
Tools of Inaction: The Impasse Between Teaching Social Issues and Creating Social Change
No full textWithin the field of teacher education, increased emphasis has been placed on social justice education (SJE). This qualitative study examined a group of beginning teachers who voluntarily participated in a social justice critical inquiry project (CIP). The findings indicate that while many of them were successful at teaching social issues, they provided few to no opportunities for their students to engage in social action and they themselves did not participate in activism. To explain this, the participants used the following four tools of inaction: tools of substitution, postponement, displacement, and dismissal. These tools relieved the tension of not taking action and allowed the participants to postpone, justify, or redirect the responsibility of becoming active in struggling for sustainable social change. Understanding the use of these tools can help teacher educators to understand the process of development of social justice educators
Confronting Racism in Teacher Education : Counternarratives of Critical Practice
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/all_books/1020/thumbnail.jp
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