In our closing blog on Teaching for Social Justice this semester, we have put together some thoughts as a class.

We will discuss our thoughts on the following essential questions:

1. What does it mean to teach for social justice?

2. What does teaching for social justice look like as a teacher?

3. What does teaching for social justice mean for students?

From a teacher’s perspective, we need to strive for equity in the classroom. Teachers should always approach their teaching and their dealings with students in an equitable manner by not making assumptions about students’ backgrounds despite demographic knowledge of the particular district/ school they are teaching in.  Teaching for social justice takes critical literacy a step further in the classroom and asks students to consider action steps towards a more just society.  Students must be taught to question the status quo and think critically. They must become aware of acts of injustice and ask themselves how they can address and confront some of these issues.  A social justice classroom asks: What can we do to pursue equitable endeavors in the classroom and in the community?  Social justice isn’t just about awareness; it is also about activism.  It’s about putting hopes for a more just society into action.  Teachers can identify what causes are important to them but also recognize that the causes of their students may differ from the issues that affect the teacher.

Each content area teacher needs to incorporate social justice topics into his/her discussions.  Teachers must decide how they will use the content of their disciplines to address social justice issues throughout the year, not just on one special day set aside to celebrate diversity and difference.  Social justice teaching is not just for English and social studies teachers; math, science, and foreign language teachers must engage in social justice teaching practices as well.   To look at social justice in a mandatory way, teachers could imagine a common core standard that would require them to include social justice topics in lessons, much like the reading of nonfiction texts is required. 

In a social justice classroom, the teacher has to serve as an agent of change and as a role model for students to emulate.  Teachers must create a class atmosphere where students’ prejudices can be identified, evaluated, and deconstructed in a respectful manner.  Teachers can have an open forum in the classroom but must define dialogue ground rules at the start of a class/course to make sure that everyone’s dignity is maintained and respected while at the same time allowing students to talk about their beliefs and preconceived notions about subjective ideas.  It is also important as a teacher to know your own biases so that you may confront them before entering the classroom. Teaching acceptance and appreciation for one another is above all most important and preserves the moral, ethical codes inside and outside of the classroom. 

Using Biology to teach Social justice

Hi Guys....Like Jennifer, my video is a few weeks late, no thanks to hurricane Sandy. enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MujRjegW7uk&feature=youtu.be

Social Justice Practices in the English Classroom

Hey Guys!  I'm sorry that this is several weeks late...no power, technology problems (I'm not that great at it), and then the transcript notes of the video not posting so you at least could read what I was recording through video...(deep sigh).....

Well, here FINALLY is my video blog!  Uploaded and everything (I hope it works!).  I have the video and the link included here in case one thing or another doesn't work.

Check it out when you have the time! (JS)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxvxTi1kJ1g&feature=plcp

The Daily fight for Social Justice Video Blog (RT)

To what extent will the use of technology in the classroom influence student achievement?

Topic: To what extent will the use of technology in the classroom influence student achievement?

Research Survey: Interview (Questionnaire) Literature Review

Technology is considered to be the driving force of the 21^st century. It has played and continues to play a major role in human development and existence. From hi-tech gadgets, the internet, smart phones and tablets, technology is basically part of our lives.

In schools, technology has helped both teachers and students to discover a part of them that was hidden, it has helped to change the way we teach and learn. Technology has influenced schools in ways that have created a domino effect on the society. The advent of the internet, smart boards, virtual manipulative, simulations and models has created a vast array of choices and opportunities for both teachers and students to choose and work with.

Technology is only effective when it achieves its specific goal. In other words, all the technology in the world may not produce any positive change if it is not used effectively to solve the required problem. That is where the human factor comes in. In this research, I have tried to ask the questions, find the facts and dissect in a analytic way the way technology would work effectively for our schools. There is an ongoing argument by stake holders and United states, congress on why there has not been a drastic improvement in education despite all the billion of dollars that was invested in technology since the 1990’s. It is a question worth asking and which requires an answer.

Contrary to the notion that pumping money into technology is the way to compete with other countries in Asia and Europe, who already have a well organized system of education that partners well with technology to yield maximum results. The reality is that, irrespective of the funds that have been pumped into developing technological applications for student learning, the factors that will ultimately result in the partnership between Education and technology to create a functional system for the future have not been identified or dealt with.  This is the purpose of this research: To identify how, why, if and which factors have or will influence student achievement provided there is better strategic solutions that will enhance good technology/education partnership.

Five Sources

1. Critical Issue: Technology: A catalyst for teaching and learning in the classroom. Gilbert Valdez, Ph D., director of North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium. www.ncrel.org

2. Critical Issue: Using technology to improve student achievement

  Katherine McMillan Culp, Education Development Center. Inc, 2005. Www. ncrel.org  

3. Technology in Education: Apple Education, Engines for Education,  Cornell theory center, www. ncrel.org.

4. 8 ways technology is improving Education: Sarah Kessler, 2010, Mashable. www.mashable.com

5.  The case for social media in schools: www.Mashable.com

Teaching English as a Second Language and Social Justice

I find teaching English to speakers of other languages exciting because I understand the importance of what I am introuducing to these students. It is not only just a superficial language that is being taught to these young students, but the culture that comes along with it. Every word in every language, and especially every phrase in every language carries with it a special, cultural meaning that can only be fully 100% understood when it is placed within a context of that culture, or learned from within that culture. For example, "raining cats and dogs" is a phrase that would hardly be understood by people learning English as a second language. Of course, other languages have phrases that mean the same thing, which is something along the lines of "It's raining really hard.", and they too may or may not be idiomatic in nature. Often times these idiomatic phrases are anecdotal phrases that are funny, or rhyme, or are simply a metaphor that became permanent. The thing about them is, that they must be taught as a whole idea, within a context, much like individual words.
In relating these ideas to promoting Social Justice, I find it to be very easy to introduce topics which are relevant to Social Justice while teaching English as a Second Language. The field offers an unlimited number of topics. As long as it contains the target language than it is relevant to the subject. As a teacher of ESL, I must always include literacy and content area standards simulatenously, given that I am teaching a lesson in something other than English. For example, a history lesson taught to English Language Learners must contain Social Studies and Literacy standards. This I believe, provides me with an excellent opportunity to greatly vary my approach to these students, so that they may learn a new language while being taught content and culture.
The article that I am handing out on the Novemeber 7th class is a great example of this. The article itself is derived from a ESL lesson, but it contains interesting information on cultural understanding and geopolitics. Promoting cultural understanding, which is key to understanding a foreign language, is just one of many ways to promote social justice within an ESL classroom. (AI)

Student Motivation

My social justice research goal is to qualitatively measure what factors into students’ motivation to perform well academically in disadvantaged or impoverished neighborhoods.  My rationale behind this is thinking about all of the factors that economically disadvantaged students must think about in a given day as compared to their peers in affluent school districts, there may be different motivating factors for these students that are not being addressed by all of their teachers.  When a teenager must consider whether he/she will have a bed to sleep in or a stairwell at night, or if his/her family will have enough food to eat that week, or safety concerns in a neighborhood plagued with gang violence, that adolescent may not see the relevance in scoring highly on a biology exam.  For the student whose largest stressor is whether he/she will be awarded a new iphone from their parents for earning a good report card, that student’s biology exam is more significant to his/her life.  My goal is to discover specific aspects of a course/teacher that will motivate a student in a high needs district that may be different than factors for students with higher socioeconomic statuses. (CC)

Teaching Biology AND Social Justice?

 

Biology is a content area that may not generally come to mind when one thinks of teaching for social justice, however I see many options to teach content in Biology as an indirect social justice issue.  During the study of human genetics, gender issues can be addressed by talking about how there are more options than just male XY and female XX chromosomes.  Students’ eyes can be opened by discussing various genetic disorders and the learning disabilities or physical disabilities that these genetic defects can cause.  Through learning about genetics students can learn that it is not a choice to appear or behave a certain way but that traits are often in a person’s genes. 

Genetically modified food and cell research poses a controversy and bringing these new discoveries and research into the classroom can be teaching to social justice.  Since it may not be addressed in all areas, just having the facts and both sides of an argument on an issue that could impact every adolescent in the classroom is teaching with critical literacy and social justice issues in mind. (CC)

How can physics contribute to social justice? (gh)

            Physics can be incorporated into social justice in a variety of ways.  The fundamental concepts taught at the high school level can shed light on new technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the way we approach energy policy.  The cost of energy is a concern of every nation on earth.  What is the cost?  Do we have the supply to power a productive society and economy?  What non-traditional ways can you think of to produce enough energy to accomplish these goals?  These are all questions that can be posed to students learning basics both to help generate a more broad way of thinking and also to show them that if these models are extrapolated one can solve an assortment of different problems.  As one can see this works both ways.  Physics can be used to promote social justice issues but these same issues can be used to demonstrate that physics plays a role in our society.  By doing this you are encouraging those interested in physics to view the field in a different context while showing those interested in government and policy that physics and science education must be addressed and understood to make informed decisions. (gh)

How can math contribute to social justice work?

Math can contribute to social justice work in many ways. Math can be used to figure out statistics about important social justice issues in the community or broader areas. We can introduce our students in a statistics course to how to gather the data and be able to graphically or verbally convey what is happening. Also, math gives us a way to quantify the injustices occurring. When people see statistics it is usually the most eye-opening for them. It can be a catalyst for change and cause people to want to do more to help their community, their peers, or their families. Many people do not connect math with social justice, but I believe it is extremely important to do so. As a future math teacher, I would like to teach my students ways that math can display social justice topics and issues and hopefully cause them to continue it in the future. I think social justice is something that can be intertwined into every subject, and has a different impact in each one. Math teachers need to make themselves familiar with the social injustices in their community and can use it  to collect data, make hypotheses, and hopefully collaborate with other clubs or departments to do a community project or start a new club at the school. The whole school should work together in order to promote justice, equality, and equity. (AM)

What factors contribute to the underrepresentation of women and minorities in physics?(GH)

In the limited research I have done on this topic so far I have come across some interesting yet troubling statistics.  In a paper published by the American Physical Society in May 2012 they state that 50% of women take some type of high school physics class.  But, at the university level only 20% of undergraduate bachelor degrees are received by women.  This is also the same rate at which women take an AP physics course in high school.  What can account for this gender gap?  Are women encouraged to engage in other sciences other than physics or do they actively seek out sciences were women are more evenly represented?  Take biology for example, women are over represented in the amount of undergraduate degrees awarded.  This could be that science technology and math are often looked at as one discipline where women are more evenly represented covering up the shortage of women in physics. 

For minorities the situation is similar, while 50% of white and Asian students take at least one physics class in high school only about 25% of African Americans take a physics class in high school.  Hispanic students have been awarded degrees at an increasingly higher rate but they are still under represented when compared to Asian and white students.  While a larger number of degrees of Hispanic students has gone up it has not kept pace with the rate at which the Hispanic population has increased.

For African American women the issue is compounded.  On average only 6 PhD’s in physics are awarded each year to women of color in the United States.  Although they are hired at the same rate as other graduates I can imagine them feeling some degree of isolation in the field.  How can they influence a younger generation to reach the same amount of success if they are so few and far between? 

Although I need to narrow this topic I want to know why this is the case and what can we do to get the percentage of undergraduate physics degrees given each year to more evenly represent the overall population. (gh)

Standardized Testing…?

Research Question:

To what extent is increased standardized testing and standardized assessments affecting how education (particularly the curriculum) in the middle schools and high schools is being structured? (How is standardized testing altering the face of education in America?)

With New York State joining the ranks of other states who, at the start of this academic year, initiated a new schedule for the quantity and quality of standardized testing as well as an increased amount of attention being dedicated to such an issue in several of my education seminars, I could not help but wonder what such a mindset was really doing to America’s educational system.  I have always found the struggle between whether to “teach to the test” or to teach content freely without any restrictions or necessary requirements an interesting topic.  How are educators structuring their lessons if they feel limited in what they can and cannot teach?  How are lessons and topics interdisciplinary or multidimensional if standardized examinations are looming overhead?  Since I began my observations in the schools, I have been listening to the various reactions that students and educators have to increased testing, and I am curious to conduct more thorough research from outside sources and within the schools themselves.  I believe it is important for future educators to learn more about this issue, its strengths and drawbacks to education, what individuals across the board think about it, and what kind of future we are creating for education if we continue along the path we as educators are on now.

To properly collect data from within the schools, it is my intention at this time to conduct surveys that will not only ask for the honest opinions of teachers, but will consider the perspectives of students, administrators, and possibly college professors as well (and if I am ambitious, maybe even some parents if at all possible to obtain their opinions).  Depending upon the responses, I may even consider interviewing several of the people who partake in the survey (a survey that will be conducted anonymously).  I would also be interested in looking at the collective results from the earliest assessments conducted this year to see if this new method of increased testing is harming or benefiting students and their teachers.  It is fascinating to also compare this country’s stance on standardized testing compared to other nations who lead in educational practices.  In an English classroom, there is a broad range of literary material and foundational information that must be taught to students and I am curious as to how increased standardized testing may or may not be altering curriculums.

Although I am still trying to piece together the exact means by which I hope to conduct my research, I do hope that my research into this topic will help me to answer several other questions included here and some I have yet to consider.  What are we as educators hoping to accomplish from an increased regiment of testing?  What are these assessments actually measuring in our students, our teachers, and our educational curriculums?  What should they be testing?  Are these assessments worth the time and energy it takes to administer them?  What is the “teaching to the test” mentality doing to American education?  How are students, educators, and administrators reacting to an increase in standardized testing?  How is standardized testing ensuring accountability in education and those involved in the experience?  Is there perhaps an alternative method of evaluating student/teacher achievement and/or progress? (JS)

Research topic information (RT)

Question: To what extent is the arrangements of classroom desks more effective?


A classroom desk arrangement gives students clues about how the instructor wishes for them to contribute, and the teaching style of the instructor. The ideal class design is the one which contributes to the instructor’s style of teaching and guides the class in the direction the teacher wishes. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each can help one set up their classroom to inspire students to react best to their lesson. 


I have been thinking about researching this topic because when I have observed a lot of times in many different classrooms, some rooms would have their desks in rows or in groups. The desks arrangements would also depend on what type of class it was. For example, Math classes that I observed had a mixture of desks in rows and in groups, but Science classes that I have seen seemed to always be in groups. So what factor or factors depend on the arrangement of classroom desks? I also need to know the advantages and disadvantages of classroom desk arrangements. There are various types of desks arrangements that I plan on focusing such as traditional row seating, U- shaped seating, clustered desks, and sectioned classroom. This is a study I plan to do research on and collect data from interviewing different teachers in the Hempstead school district because I am currently observing there.

How can educators promote LGBT acceptance in schools? SL

While this is still a working idea that I am playing around with, I am interested to know how as educators we would be able to promote more LGBT tolerance within schools. Knowing various people who have identified as LGBT, I realized that as these people went through school, no one ever really addressed LGBT issues, causing these students to feel somewhat isolated and confused. I am still working on how I would survey this issue. I feel that due to the amount of time we spend in the education system while we grow up, this is a crucial place for issues like these to be learned. I think that regardless of the content area, while it still may be slightly (but not impossible!) more difficult for those in the math and sciences to bring up these issues, they can be addressed in different ways and through different methods.

Math and Social Justice Research Question (AM)

How can math teachers incorporate social justice topics into their high school math curriculum?

For this research topic I would do research by looking for resources such as books or websites that have ideas about the topic. Another form of research I will do is survey teachers at the school I am observing at. I will ask the teachers if they incorporate social justice into the lessons. If they do, I will ask them how they do so and if they find it difficult. If not, I will ask (1) If they would like to? (2) Why they don't? (time, standardized tests, etc.). I would like to see how many high school math teachers actually find the time and the methods in order to incorporate social justice issues into their lessons.

I find this topic extremely interesting. I am going to be a high school math teacher and would love to know ways to involve social justice in my teaching. It seems pretty hard to find a connection between math and social justice, but I know that through the small amount of research I have done personally throughout this class, it is possible. After making my lesson plan, I realized how easy it really is, we just aren't aware. So, my goal of this research project is not only to get ideas for myself, but to also be able to educate other math teachers about the ability and ways to incorporate social justice into their lessons.

Bilingualism in America

To what extent should bilingualism be a part of American society?

This questions implicitly asks what the current state of bilingualism is in the United States while also implicitly asking what it should be in the future. My research will revolve around this question. I am mostly curious to investigate and understand the public perception of bilingualiam. And by bilingualism, this is absolutely not limited to just bilingual education,  though, it is an inherent part of it. Through surveys and interviews I intend on hearing what average, uninvolved citizens think about bilingualism, and how that compares to what people in the field already know or believe about this topic. Through carefully worded questioning, and using control groups, I intend to incorporate a slight aspect of psychological analysis to this study, all anonymously of course.

My personal answer to this question should be obvious, as a bilingual educator and as a bilingual human, so it will not be necessary to explain this further. I do think this is an important question to ask though, as it is an aspect of one of the most hotly debate topics in the United States for decades now: immigration. Much of what prompts discourse and sometimes rhetoric which adversely affects immigrant groups, stems from a linguistic xenophobia, or at least this is my hypothesis. I am interested in finding out if this really is so, and to what extent it may have an affect on the way immigrants are treated, both socially and politically. (AI)

Social Justice in Mathematics (MD)

What are some ways in which mathematics teachers
can incorporate social justice themes into their curricula?

There are many different topics in social justice which can be discussed in and experienced in many different situations.  Perhaps one of the hardest things for educators to do is to include these issues in their curricula and help shed some light on these topics to their students.  How can someone learn about acceptance of all different races in their math class? in their history class?  The latter seems much easier to answer because of the direct contact relating the two issues.  Advances in the field of civil rights and liberties is much easier seen in a history class but how can mathematics teachers include these powerful messages in their lessons and forms of assessment even?  Is it enough to simply make word problems phrased differently to point out social differences? Or is there something more effective which mathematics educators can do to help bring many of these social justice issues into their class room?

Bullying in our schools

The research question i am going to look at is How does the type of bullying change throughout the levels of schooling.

I have made up a survey asking the age and gender of the person.  Then i ask overall how often they have been bullied using a likert scale.  Next, i will ask which levels of schooling they were bullied in including elementary (grades K-5), middle (grades 6-8), high (grades 9-12) and college level ages 18 and up.  After i break it down into categories and i list a bunch of different types of bullying and ask if the surveyor had experienced any or all of them.  They will circle the type(s) of bullying they have experienced.  I will also ask in each level of schooling, which type of bullying they received if any at all.  They will also be asked if they ever did seek help and if that help actually did something about it.  Finally i ask for suggestions to help our schools with the bullying epidemic.

I believe that it would be interesting to examine how the level of schooling affects the type of bullying exhibited.  Even though it is not in the title, i would like to look at gender and they type of bullying.  Also it is interesting to look at the open ended responses and to see the percentage of people who actually received help and whether the surveyor thought it was affective.

In conclusion, the point of the survey is to help out our schools and help our students.  Bullying is getting worse every day and there are more types of bullying that are being added to the list.  With people's suggestions and the research, hopefully we can use these ideas to make our schools safer places.

~SS

Leap between research and findings

In Chapter 8 of Change Matters, we are presented with the question of "What happens within that quantum leap between research and findings?" I think this is a very good question to consider, since it not only seeks the knowledge of what takes place in that process, but also begs that we critically and almost metacognitively analyze what occurs psychologically and even subconsciously that allows us to draw conclusions from information gathered in either qualitative or quantitative research. It is also a perfectly relevant note to be brought up in this chapter, since we as a class are beginning to delve into what we will be doing and how, for our research papers.
Another piece of relevance I found within this question, is this interesting notion of considering what is taking place in our minds as we draw our conclusions. That is, what kind of presuppositions are we allowing to permeate into our findings. This connects seamlessly with what was discussed in class today, and ultimately ties into our paper, which is becoming more and more the focal point of the class. It will be interesting, and important, to metacognitively note what mechanisms are at work in reaching my final conclusions based off of the research that I will have gathered. (AI)

An effective plan of action for change (gh)

How does one create an effective plan of action in order to motivate a call to action?  First one must identify an issue or situation that needs to be addressed.  This issue must be specific and hold some direct significance to the person trying to enact change.  Think about the most successful movements and revolutions throughout history from America’s war for independence to the Civil Rights Movement.  A commonality that all successful movements share is that they were started by individuals or groups on a local scale that looked to change one specific injustice, weather it was the Boston Tea Party or diner sit-ins.  These actions protested one specific inequality but the values held by these individuals and the oppression they were fighting against could be extrapolated and embraced by others in different communities with similar grievances.  A movement must start small and then branch out, in other words it must start bottom-up instead of top-down.  Second the issue at hand must be evaluated objectively and arguments must be constructed in a way to persuade people who have been indoctrinated against the change a movement is trying to enact.  By starting from a universal premise, let us say equality for all for example, we can try to change one small injustice in a localized area.  Even though only one specific injustice was addressed the premise can be used to change situations across a broad spectrum of injustices.  Once this has occurred, a broad, objective, universal mission statement can be constructed that encompasses many injustices in that genre.  As a movement gains momentum and support the organization can become more centralized, tactically setting specific goals and objectives in the most efficient way to create change.  At this point the movement can still target certain inequalities in localized communities but possesses a network of support that can be used to propagate change.  (gh)