My section of Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice was “Section V: Confronting Race in the Classroom.” This part of the book consists of series of anecdotes from different instructors who have come across the topic of race in various different situations. The main goal of this section is to educate teachers on how to promote necessary discourses for dialogue around the topic of race. Some of the most noteworthy chapters in this section are “Presidents and Slaves,” which follows a teacher on a historically-driven inquiry project and “Race: Some Teachable--and Uncomfortable--Moments,” an in-depth look at the steps needed to be an effective anti-racist teacher.
Each chapter in my section of the textbook is taken from the perspective of an American educator/education-ally giving a unique look into their experience on the topic of race in the classroom. Every teacher deals with the situation different and as such provides various approaches on how to engage students on the social issue. For example, Alejandro Segura-Mora, founder of Mind Growers, talks about his experience talking to students about “What Color is Beautiful?” Testimonies from the educators are passionate and well-articulated; full of detail and introspective reflection on what they did right as well as what they could have improved on. This is highly relevant to new teachers, as well as seasoned veterans of education, giving each necessary examples, scenarios and discussion questions capable of accomplishing success on the topic of race in classrooms.
Students in this section take the role of truth seekers and critics, actively searching for answers. Throughout the chapters, we are given examples of what optimum engagement can lead students to accomplish. One example of this is when the students in Milwaukee started an inquiry project on what American Presidents owned slaves. During the course of the assignment, students began to learn that seeking out some facts can prove to be difficult and require search for various literature to corroborate facts. Through various different discourses among peers and educators, students were able to illicit engaging and critical discussion.
We resonated a lot with this chapter in particular because it gave us a lot of examples of not just how to handle the always difficult topic of race in the classroom but how to do it in a way that is more likely to grab the interest of students. One of the most notable examples of this is when Brian C. Gibbs, a Los Angeles-based teacher turned his “...school into a full-fledged text” so that his students could engage with. Gibbs took his students to stairwell in the school where students had once did a peaceful sit-in to protest before being attacked by police with batons. Gibbs told the story to his students as they sat on the very same steps helping to ground students in the story and make it emotionally resonating.
This section of the textbook teaches educators that the most difficult dialogues are the most important. That opportunities for social justice and critical thinking can enrich students with the literacy necessary to enact meaningful change in the world. Through the sharing of literacy as it pertains to race in the classroom, students heighten their secondary discourses and open themselves up to seeing the world from angles. Furthermore the book reinforces that inquiry on questions that matter most to students.
-Justin S.
Reference: Au, W. (Ed.). (2014). Rethinking multicultural education: Teaching for racial and cultural justice. Rethinking Schools.
Each chapter in my section of the textbook is taken from the perspective of an American educator/education-ally giving a unique look into their experience on the topic of race in the classroom. Every teacher deals with the situation different and as such provides various approaches on how to engage students on the social issue. For example, Alejandro Segura-Mora, founder of Mind Growers, talks about his experience talking to students about “What Color is Beautiful?” Testimonies from the educators are passionate and well-articulated; full of detail and introspective reflection on what they did right as well as what they could have improved on. This is highly relevant to new teachers, as well as seasoned veterans of education, giving each necessary examples, scenarios and discussion questions capable of accomplishing success on the topic of race in classrooms.
Students in this section take the role of truth seekers and critics, actively searching for answers. Throughout the chapters, we are given examples of what optimum engagement can lead students to accomplish. One example of this is when the students in Milwaukee started an inquiry project on what American Presidents owned slaves. During the course of the assignment, students began to learn that seeking out some facts can prove to be difficult and require search for various literature to corroborate facts. Through various different discourses among peers and educators, students were able to illicit engaging and critical discussion.
We resonated a lot with this chapter in particular because it gave us a lot of examples of not just how to handle the always difficult topic of race in the classroom but how to do it in a way that is more likely to grab the interest of students. One of the most notable examples of this is when Brian C. Gibbs, a Los Angeles-based teacher turned his “...school into a full-fledged text” so that his students could engage with. Gibbs took his students to stairwell in the school where students had once did a peaceful sit-in to protest before being attacked by police with batons. Gibbs told the story to his students as they sat on the very same steps helping to ground students in the story and make it emotionally resonating.
This section of the textbook teaches educators that the most difficult dialogues are the most important. That opportunities for social justice and critical thinking can enrich students with the literacy necessary to enact meaningful change in the world. Through the sharing of literacy as it pertains to race in the classroom, students heighten their secondary discourses and open themselves up to seeing the world from angles. Furthermore the book reinforces that inquiry on questions that matter most to students.
-Justin S.
Reference: Au, W. (Ed.). (2014). Rethinking multicultural education: Teaching for racial and cultural justice. Rethinking Schools.
Comments
Post a Comment