Semester 4 Reflection: Democracy, Diversity, and Social Justice in Education
Throughout the semester I have become more aware incidents that fit into the Danger of a Single Story category. I try to stay more open minded and not jump to quick conclusions about students. I watched the Changing Education Paradigms on youtube, and joined the conversation about how much schools are changing and need to change to meet the needs of today's students. I have taken the opportunity to share children's literature with my advisory students. I read the book Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco that focused on the theme of bullying. I shared some personal information about the author, and the students reflected on the story. I hope to make time to include more of these powerful books with my students.
Reflection: From reading the book Teaching With Poverty in Mind, I have learned the importance of helping students develop a "champion's mindset and confidence." I have taken time within advisory to set goals, to establish the steps or must do's to accomplish the goal, the hurdles that could interfere, and the possible payoffs if attained. I meet with each individual to reflect on their progress and celebrate their accomplishments. I see the critical and urgent need to really catch students up and help them grow academically during an intervention time. This semester my advisory has participated in activities that help others in need. For "Put a Cap on Hunger" students could wear a hat at school if they brought in a canned food item to donate to the Food Shelf. We collected spare change to donate to the Food Shelf, and we are currently hosting a clothing drive. I have also made an effort to have all the supplies needed for class projects. In the past I used to award or subtract points based on creativity or materials used. I have become more aware that not all students have equal access to materials. I still provide students with options or choices, but I make all necessary materials available to all my students. I am also making an effort to avoid the Danger of a Single Story in my professional and personal life.
Personal Baseline:
My classroom has more characteristics of a democracy than a dictatorship or laissez-faire style. I value my students' opinions, interests, and questions. I like to give them choices and ownership when I can. While I like to think we honor and respect diversity, I think this is an area to improve. Our school is not diverse culturally or racially. There is more diversity within the socioeconomic status. Middle school students can always use reminders to appreciate differences than to point them out and make fun of them. This year our students had the opportunity to see a presentation called Rachel's Challenge where students are reminded that kindness and treating others with respect can create a chain reaction of positive events. I like that we are working on addressing positives and ways we can prevent bullying instead of just reacting to it.
Questions:
How can we keep the important messages we heard during Rachel's Challenge alive all year, and not forget about them?
How can I improve the democracy within my classroom?
