When i first think of social justice and incorporating it into my teaching, i was not sure what to do.  I teach mathematics and it is difficult to incorporate social issues into the classroom because they do not coincide with most of the topics that are taught in mathematics.  When i thought about it, statistics and graphing can be taught hand in hand with topics of social justice.

     When reading the introduction to Wallowitz's book, i first disagreed with her when she stated that "the 'safer' our classroom spaces, the more we silence students for whom school seems foreign, hostile and irrelevant" because it did not make sense to me at first.  I always thought that making the classroom a safe place should be a goal of everyone so that the students feel as if they can express their views and feel safe.  She was talking about a different type of safe.  She was referencing that if the teacher tries to shield his or her students from discussing view because the teacher is afraid of a conflict, then we are really not keeping our children safe.  Wallowitz mentions that the teacher should allow for the students to get into a debate and discuss their views without the teacher saying that it not alright for that matter to be discussed in the classroom.

     She also mentions that it is important for the teacher to step in when needed and to not always keep her views separate.  For instance if a student uses a derogatory term such as "retarded", the teacher should step in and make sure that all of the students know that that type of language and thoughts are not acceptable in the classroom.  If the teacher makes sure that the students know at the beginning that those words are not acceptable, it will usually not blow up into a bigger issue. (SS)