Today during class I discussed this article with my group. I meant to bring it up to the whole class, but we never got to this article. I was hoping someone might help clarify things for me.
The teacher explains how she taught a unit on the civil rights movement and her students wrote and prepared a class play. The class presented it at the school's February assembly, which was a "black history" theme. Isn't that a little contradictory to teach about such an important topic, expecially for blacks, during black history month? Doesn't that send students the wrong message? I remember talking about in class how in February schools might teach about important African American figures, but only during that time. We discussed how we should be teaching these things throughout the year, because otherwise we are showing our students we only care about blacks during February. I was just wondering what other people thought about this.
I was also wondering about something she said at the end of the article. I asked as teachers, should we expect ourselves to integrate social justice perspective in every thing we teach and teach about specific issues of justice within everything as much as possible? Is this the same as having a multicultural classroom? Is it either all there, or it doesn't exist? We were talking about integrating it within everything and how teachers are expected to do this with their math and science curriculum. We felt Social Studies, Literature, art, and music were all great opportunities for this but we weren't sure how to do it all the time.
Thanks for your opinions!
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6 comments:
In terms of teaching with social justice perspective in mind, I don't think that it is an all-or-nothing deal. Teaching for justice should be an ongoing theme and goal in our classrooms, but obviously some lessons (and even units) lend themselves to it better than others. I do think it should be a constant presence and a consistent topic of discussion. However, the problem lies in the fact that there are various other topics that one could argue should also be consistently integrated. Respect (along with various other character traits), multiculturalism, prejudice, etc. While most of these topics are intertwined and overlap, I think each deserves its fair share of independent focus and discussion. As the year progresses, students should be able to make more connections between them and see the relationships that do exist between, for example, prejudice, respect, and social justice. I cannot stress how important those topics are in the classroom, but I have a hard time saying that they are all-or-nothing issues, especially as a (hopefully) soon-to-be first year teacher. Pulling from these crucial issues and educating my students is something that I intend to do as much as possible, but if it's not an everyday area of focus, I can't say that I have failed in getting the message across. That's discouraging. Obviously, as I become more experienced, I will be able to do it more consistently and easily. I'm just not there yet - though the intentions are right.
I, too, have a hard time teaching about African Americans ONLY during February. I think we as teachers become so concerned about following a schedule and a textbook and "covering the material" that February is like a reminder to step back and look at prominent African American figures and issues. After typing that sentence, I realize how sad and lacking our curriculums must be that we have to step outside them to focus on such issues. What an eye opener! It's a shame that February comes so late in the school year, rather than the first or second month we have students. We should teach about African American people, issues, and controversies all year, then maybe use February as a "So What?" month. They would have all the background knowledge from the Fall, and teachers could spend some time analyzing it. What implications have these events had on our society? How were those people influential? This is not to say that we shouldn't ask such questions throughout our teaching. I'm just saying that it should be more of a time for reflection and connection building, than knowledge building.
In such a melting pot of a country, where are the Hispanic Awareness or Asian Awareness months in our schools???
After reading the original posting I had thoughts and ideas or even suggestions that I wanted to give on this subject. Yet, after reading the first comment most of my ideas have already been elaborated on. So I’ll work a little more backwards….
In your comment you suggested have a reform to say the least from our tradition black history month to a “So what” culminating month of reflection. Is that right? That’s how I approached your comment on the subject…. I have to agree with you on some degree that the content that is taught and emphasized during the month of February should be done throughout the entire year. This would not only address the importance of the affects that the black community has done for our country but also that they are just important as every other scientist, author and inventor that is brought up to our students yearly. I feel as though simply integrated “black history” into the curriculum where it properly “fits” will do the students and the content with the most fairness.
When addressing the issue of social justice in the classroom I will first react by saying that I personally do not completely agree that having a multi cultural classroom covers enough social justice. Yet, I also don’t believe that we can overstress social justice in every lesson, everyday. As mentioned in the previous comment I believe we as future teachers will learn as we go. Once we are in the classroom working with our students, curriculums and communities we will be better prepared to answer such questions. Do I believe that social justice along with prejudice and multiculturalism are topics that are mandatory in our school and classroom but maybe not necessary for our actual lessons. Ultimately I believe that it is not what we are teaching on a daily bases but rather how we are teaching it and how we hold ourselves as role models in our community.
Lisa,
In regard to the class play, I completely agree with you UNLESS the teacher does work blacks into her classroom on a regular basis. I can't remember how often she was teaching about them, or if she just taught about them in February. I think that if a teacher was working multicultural education into her everyday instruction then presenting the play during Black History Month would be a nice gesture. I think, however, that before the play even begins, the teacher should say something about learning about this culture all year long, but since it is Black History Month we thought you might like to see this.. or something... that way you are addressing the fact that this should NOT just be addressed at 1 point in the year.
I also had questions about the social justice perspective. I, too, wondered if this was the same idea as a multicultural classroom.
That being said, I do NOT agree with the "all or nothing" idea. I think that if you can come up with a real, authentic tie to a math or science lesson then that's great, but working on my unit has made me realize how silly it is to insist on integrating with every subject.
I think it is a great thing to strive for, but I also think that by forcing yourself to integrate with a subject that does not have authentic ties then that isn't really helping students much.
After reading what everyone has posted in response to the original posting, part of me does not know where to start in answering myself. Teaching for justice and multiculturalism I think are two different things, however, they are highly interconnected. If you are teaching for justice and social issues you most likely are addressing multiculturalism and hopefully celebrating multiculturalism in your classroom. If you are teaching for justice you hopefully teaching it in a way that shows respect to other cultures.
I agree with what everyone has said about the notion of talking about African Americans only during black history month and the play that was done in February. If you are teaching the content and teaching social justice a teaching should be teaching about those that were involved (especially in social studies) and then different cultures would consistently be addressed in your classroom throughout the year. Someone commented on where is the Hispanic Awareness month and I can't remember if i found out through our school calendar or from one I bought at the store but there are other months that celebrate other cultures. However, how much attention do teachers give to those cultures if they don't even know they exist. All cultures should be covered throughout the year but in the busy lives of planning, curriculum and tests teachers should at least try to expose children to other cultures, even if it is only for a month. That is better than nothing I suppose.
Rachael,
You talked about how hard it is to integrate social issues into every subject area and I have to agree with you. The unit also showed me how difficult and sometimes irrelevant the lesson turns out if it is not an authentic integration. I think that as long as a teacher is addressing social issues and teaching justice in the classroom throughout the year, that teacher is preparing students for what is really out there. There are so many things all of us would like to do but within the restraints of all the standards and regulations much of what we think is most important has unfortunately been cut out.
I would like to share just because I am really exited about it, that in my unit on the civil war I have a modern day connection with slavery and current child labor around the world. My unit showed me that teaching social issues is a great way to connect what students often think as boring history lessons to current events.
Wow, it's hard to comment on such a debated topic. However, I agree with you Kimberly. I think justice and multiculturalism are different but connected in many ways. This is a controversial topic and it's hard to decide what you think because there are so many factors. I think that there are a lot of different things that make up each of those topics and that each of the sub-topics should be discussed as well. For example, justice is about being treated fairly but a person's actions/reactions depend heavily on their morals and values. I know I am talking in circles but all of these words combine and I do think it is necessary to teach different topics individually. Teaching these kinds of topics is when teachers really get to see who their students are as individuals and I find that to be more interesting than just about anything. My blog was a little crazed but it's hard to pin point certain things I wanted to say.
This is a much debated topic. I think this issue can go in many directions. As a student teacher, I have learned that there is so much that needs to be taught within the curriculum and for different tests, that it is sometimes impossible to get to the things you want to teach or feel you should teach. For example, justice within everything. However, I do believe you can have a multicultural classroom, without teaching about justice every time. I do also believe that in order to have a multicultural background that some teaching has to go behind it, so that all students are accepting. If you are going to incorporate different cultures than there has to be discussion on it, but where do you draw the line? One does not want to incorporate something just because it is the right thing to do. It is important to make all students feel welcome within the classroom or the school, but it is also important that the ideas are welcomed as well.
I guess what I am trying to say is that teaching with a social justice perspective is a continuing idea. It should not be something that you teach one day and then never teach again. However, it will not be in every lesson. It is something that should be continuosly discussed. This is one of those topics that can be argued, along with other topics that people should be integrated more often too.
I liked what Jamie said about February being Black History Month and how sad it is that we have to take a step back and acknowledge key figures because it is a certain month. These figures should be talked about more often, as well as other issues, all year long. We do not see other months titled Native American Awareness or Hispanic Awareness month. If we are to integrate, then we should integrate all not just one.
As for myself as a future teacher, I think all of these topics are important issues. Educating my students about such issues is something that I intend to do, but it will not be a failed attempt if it is not an every day topic. It is something taht I am very much aware of and as I become a more experienced teacher, it will be easier and more consistent.
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