How EDUCATORS can better serve DIVERSE students: Frameworks, Curriculum, Content-- We can do better!

Pre-Podcast Thoughts: 

"Some teachers go beyond the tested material, pushing students to think critically, exploring social emotional competencies, and designing opportunities for inquiry-based learning, but the standards themselves don’t require those things" (J. Gonzalez).

My question is: 

• What do you think of the standards set in place for all to follow? 
• ex. Common Core
• What do you think the standards should look like?
• Who wrote them?
• Who are they geared towards?
• What purpose do they serve?
• Are you willing to go beyond the standards?
• What might this look like? 
• What might this require you to do?

Something I am observing in the field education, through my career as a student and journey as an upcoming educator, is that there is a fine line between educators that are complacent and stick to their script of teaching students how to pass tests, and others that teach students how to think for themselves and apply knowledge in everyday lives. There is a trend in making the curriculum, something that should be tailored to student success, actually inaccessible to students; not relating it to them and their lives in any way. 

Click here to view the webinar, "Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of our Schools"-- A conversation between Gholdy Muhammad, Bettina Love, and Dena Simmons, facilitated by Brian Jones

** This webinar has given me perspective and is a good source for upcoming teachers to reflect on how to approach abolitionist teaching and what teaching for social justice looks like in the classroom. The panel gave listeners the blatant truth and experiences in regards to ways race and white supremacy are exercised in education, and explained how the institutionalized racist components of the education system have an affect on black students and their well being. They call for society to stop putting band-aids on dehumanizing structures against black people, and instead of band-aids for there actually to be human decency and action, because wanting to be anti-racist and being anti-racist are two different entities. They speak of standards, curriculum, and experience. 

Interview with Gholdy Muhammad:

"What we’ve been trying to do is cut the sleeves off and trying to fit students into this and refine what is already, what never designed for them, right? That’s been the problem. We’ve never had a reckoning in the United States when it comes to our education system. What I mean by this, we have never dismantled the system that was grounded in racism, that was grounded in whiteness, and we haven’t rebuilt. We have just been putting fresh coats of paint on the old structures with new labels and new titles and new initiatives and new mandates, like Common Core to make it sounds new need fresh, and it’s just not. So it’s very clear why some students may have more opportunity, more inclusiveness, and more opportunities to succeed and some students don’t, because the system was never designed for them to succeed" (Muhammad) 

Wow... talk about perspective! Time after time, we hear this call for a of more inclusive curriculum and we discuss how initiatives need to be
launched to battle the racism that persists in educational institutions. There are programs set in place to work with students who are facing the heavy hand of oppression. However, there are no direct threats posed against abolishing institutionalized racism. Instead of demolishing the system and rebuilding it in a more accessible way that acknowledges the lives and presence of marginalized students, especially black students, we are just trying to mold a system that won't budge. Back to the band-aids-- by trying to "make things better" in a deeply rooted system that has survived centuries of time, we are simultaneously agreeing to continue to function within these racist institutions. In other words, instead of acknowledging and taking on the problem straight on, we are dancing around it; we speak of "fixing" not "changing". 

This is eye-opening because we can actively be doing work towards integrating social justice principles into the classroom (exercising an anti-racist pedagogy), while continuing our journeys towards becoming anti-racist educators, however it does not change the fact that the racist system is still set in stone, remaining untouched and undisturbed. An example would be the standards. Lets talk about them-- They were tailored to suit white students, in privileged schools, who perform well on standardized testing. While we may be integrating social justice standpoints and a critical framework into lessons, we are still not changing the wording and motivations of the standards. 

Historically Responsive Literacy Framework: 

"My work is taking a more historic look back and making and putting a practical model to the theory" (Muhammad).

4 Layers or "pursuits of learning" to the framework: 

• Identity
• Skill development 
• Intellectualism
• Critically

Identity: Muhammad points out that students, no matter their race, look for themselves within the classroom setting and material. ELA teachers should attempt to have students find themselves within literature. (If they cannot find themselves, that itself should also be addressed and discussed. I feel as though what we see in literature is just as important as what we do not see. Authors make linguistic, rhetorical, and artistic choices for a reason within their compositions, and that is something that can get attention.) Intertwined in this search for identity in literature, should also be the celebration of other people and their lives. This way, students can have a better understanding of each other, and can build each other up instead of dwelling on their differences. 

Educators should additionally give students writing opportunities where they can explore and reflect on their identity. Literature and writing should be seen as a refuge for students to form thoughts and connections, this way they "come closer to selfhood" (Muhammad). Identity is a complex entity, and in order for students to become familiar with aspects of their individual identities, they should be given the opportunity to evaluate themselves and their t
houghts. Beautifully said by Muhammad, "So the classroom needs to be a space for students to affirm and celebrate and validate who they are, so that they know that they are enough, so that they know that they are brilliant and that they are excellent and beautiful. Because society doesn’t tell us that all the time" (Muhammad). 

Skill Development: According to Muhammad, skills are proficiencies and competencies in the different content areas.  Skills are important to have, but it is vital that skills are not the only thing worked on and glorified within a classroom. These skills in an ELA classroom take many forms, whether it be grammar skills, analytical skills, poetry skills, etc. It is important to develop an assortment of skills in order to "read the word and read the world" (Muhammad)

Intellectualism: This begs the question, "what do we want our students to become smarter about?" As said by Muhammad, First off, Muhammad broke down how intellect differs from skills. She claimed, "intellectualism is when you do something with that knowledge, where you apply it somehow, in your discussion, in your activism, in your actions, in your exercises, in learning. Intellectualism has been so diminished in education" (Muhammad). Therefore, intellectualism is the application. I would want to build that intellectual culture by creating a safe and supportive classroom environment, where students feel confident to take risks as they see fit. They may also feel comfortable to question things around them, and push discussions farther forward. As an educator, I can model for my students what I want from them. This would involve me being vulnerable and humble (professionally, with boundaries set of course), but in a way that invites students to partake in the thought and actions I am engaging in. 

Critically: Defined by Muhammad, "critical theory is really looking at power, liberation, freedom, representation, voice, exploitation, marginalization. Critical theory is going to critique whiteness and white supremacy and that sort of thing" (Muhammad). As an ELA teacher, I can have my student engage in critical thinking, and have them look at literature through a critical lens. Students can look into any piece of literature, and become aware of characteristics other than the setting and conflict, but also qualities such as the power dynamic presented. Thinking critically will help students not be passive, and will promote active learning. There are various projects where students can be asked to critically: analyze a piece of literature, to showcase how racism was woven throughout the story and was a underlying theme, or to explain a power dynamic that was manifested in the dialogue a movie.