Framework and Problems

The remainder of my posts will fall within two main categories informed by a social justice, anti-racist, anti-bias, transformative multicultural stance on education: My practice as a teacher, and my advocacy as a member of a greater community/society.

Each post will outline where I am in my thinking currently as informed by my readings, research, and experiences in schools. As a testament to my commitment to put these thoughts to practice, I will include a rubric for use in assessing myself within each post. The following is a list of topics for posts and one oppression-related problem my social justice stance hopes to resolve (there are 14 total topics, but I group some). Every solution, after-all, must germinate within the soil of a problem.

My Practice as a Teacher: and problems to avoid
1: My relationship with my students: in a classroom where the teacher is the only source of knowledge (direct lecture from teacher to student), the prior knowledge of students from backgrounds unlike the teachers too often cannot act as a foundation on which the new information can connect.
2: My students' relationships with other students: without an active effort to reveal and value student difference, students may stay at arms length from others who are different and therefore encourage the maintanance of stereotypes and fear accross difference.
3/4: My lesson planning and Unit planning: Planning content to cover without consideration of students' diverse needs and starting points is like giving the same driving directions to someone no matter their place of origin.
5: Curriculum (content covered): White, male history of war and politics has turned countless students away from the true value of history as informing us of our present.
6: Teaching techniques/strategies: Pure lecture assumes that students are passive recievers of knowledge, blank slates with no prior knowledge. Using only one teaching method assumes all student learn effectively in one way.
7: My classroom management and discipline: Strategies based on white middle class norms of respect and manners result in racialized inequities in discipline.
8/10: How to help parents help their children and parent/community involvement in the classroom: parents get in the way/teachers know their job, parents interfere (classroom as a personal fiefdom).
9: My homework policy/practice: Homework is sent home with the expectation that there is someone at home who can help the students decifer it.
12: My professional disposition toward faculty and staff in my building: I teach my students, others should stay out of my business and I'll stay out of theirs.

My Advocacy and Activism: opposing perspective
11, 13, 14: My parent and community advocacy in the school, activism in school, activism outside the school: Teaching is an apolitical act and unbiased, as such there is no need for advocacy about it... just do your job.

As you can see, the problems are many. I hope to make clear my intentions regarding solutions in future posts.