Tuesday, September 25, 2012

What does teaching for Social Justice mean? (RT)

Teaching social justice to me means teaching students the values they have and the rights they have in life. Teachers should let students know that many things in life are socially constructed, but that doesn't mean you have to abide by those theories or settle to what society says. For example, for teaching social justice in a Math class, here is something for one to think about how society generates an image about Math. In society, someone who takes a music theory class and knows how to write, read and compose music is considered a musician. Someone who takes the same music theory class and just can't comprehend how to read or write music, but knows how to compose a song and can play really well by ear is still considered a musician. However, when it comes to society and Math, a student who is good at learning formulas and following directions and rules is considered a mathematician, but someone who has a hard time remembering them and just needs that extra help or accommodation for them to learn better is not considered a mathematician. Something is wrong with this concept. As teachers, we need to encourage students that it's not all about knowing the formulas by heart or simply just learning textbook ideas for any subject. Whatever you teach should pertain to life inside and outside of school. Any student can achieve high as long as you bring out their highest potentiality. That is how their own social justice can be discovered.

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