Is "teaching for social justice" dangerous?

I thought some of you might be interested in this article from the current issue of Education Week magazine. In it, several critics claim that "social justice teaching" -- an approach exemplified by many of the articles we've read, and one that I embrace -- is a harmful and even dangerous idea. The article mentions Bill Ayers, who has written a great deal about teaching for social justice, and quotes Bill Bigelow, one of the editors of Rethinking Schools (the source of several articles I've assigned). Give it a read and see what you think.

Phase 2

Now that we are all in middle school placements, I'm curious as to the new experiences everyone is having with social studies and social issues.  Many of us have very different diversities in the classroom, are now teaching social studies and/or are working with a very different age group.    What experiences would you like to share?  (I realize this is very broad, so maybe we can start some sort of focus or branch to more posts...?)

I was personally surprised by the excitement over Snowflake (drug awareness program).  It's not everyday you hear a 13 year-old excited for "warm fuzzies" or voluntarily making glitter posters for the hallway.

Another shock I had was seeing time-out rooms for in-school suspensions.  At my middle school, that would have been done in the principal's office on rare occasions.  Everyday I pass by these rooms and they are full.  Plus, they are at the front of the building.  What are the social implications of punishment on display for a middle schooler?

What Would You Do in This Situation????

As we all know, the election is getting closer and closer every day. In high anticipation for this election, my home school (Field) decided to show a video about the presidential candidates that was taped from a Nickelodeon program. After my fifth graders watched the video, my mentor teacher gave the directions of writing the prompt of "Who would you vote for and why? If you do not know who, why don't you know and what are some resources you could use in order to educate yourself further?"

After the students write, my mentor teacher and I were collecting the papers and a student of mine says loudly, "Hey Mrs. Clancy (my mentor), You know how I know who my dad is voting for?" My mentor teacher replies with, "How?" "Because my dad has this picture of Sarah Palin sitting in a chair while Barack Obama is shining her shoes." After I overheard this, I looked at her in astonishment, and I was interested in what her response was and she said, "Sit down____" She said the students name.

If you were in this situation what would you say? I had such a blank stare at the student because I did not how to handle this situation? Any ideas if this situation or something similar happens??

Education Debate

I watched the Education Debate tonight online and it was definitely interesting to hear each of the candidate's points of view. Like Greg said, we have not heard much about their stance on education in their debates, and this was a good way to hear more about what changes we could expect in our student's education. Tonight I learned Obama's and McCain's plans for the future and it was interesting. They discussed standards, assessments, community service, and research, among many other topics. One of the most interesting things I heard tonight was in regards to health care. I was shocked when Linda Darling-Hammond, Obama's education advisor, said that health care was important to our student's education. She said that because some students do not have health care, they miss school which can put them even farther behind. I had never really thought about health care playing an important role in our students' education. Did anyone else hear anything that stuck out to you during the education debate that was on www.edweek.org? I am curious to hear what you all thought about the debate and how that impacted your decision to vote. Did anything you hear make your decision easier or more difficult, and why? Thanks everyone!

The complexity of race

Here's a link to a website that you may find interesting, and that you may be able to incorporate into a lesson someday as well.

If we're honest, many of us will admit that we sort people into racial categories based on physical appearance. We think we know whether someone is "Black," "White," Asian," "Latino," or "Native American" just by looking at them. You may have heard people say things like, "Oh, he/she doesn't look Black (or Latino, or Asian, or whatever)."

We also often oversimplify race. Hardly a day goes by without Barack Obama being casually identified as "Black," but most of us know that he had one parent who identified as Black and one as White.

Race is more complex in a lot of ways than many of us think. In fact, "race" does not even exist as a biological concept. Scientifically, there are not identifiable "races" of people. Race is, however a social reality: because we all think it's real, it has real consequences on people's lives.

This activity on this website asks you to look at the faces of 20 people and to try to sort them by what "race" you think each person is. Then you can check to see how, in fact, each person self-identifies. See you you do -- then tell us what you think.

Should teachers be able to wear political buttons?

I think we talked in class a little bit last time about whether it's OK for teachers to openly express support for one political candidate or another. Read this short article about a current controversy surrounding this issue in NYC and see what you think. Is this a matter of freedom of speech? Should that freedom be curtailed in this case?

UFT Sues N.Y.C. Over Political Buttons
New York City teachers have taken to federal court their fight against a school district policy that bans teachers from wearing campaign pins in schools, saying it violates their rights to free speech and political expression.
The United Federation of Teachers today filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking a temporary restraining order against the policy, which, according to the UFT, has been on the books but has not been followed for decades. But on Oct. 1, city schools Chancellor Joel Klein asked principals in an e-mail to enforce it.
UFT President Randi Weingarten told reporters today that “it doesn’t matter whether you support Democratic Senator Barack Obama or Republican Senator John McCain. As voters, we all should have the right to express our views."
There have been similar incidents in other districts: Just last week, teachers in Soquel, Calif., were asked to leave their political buttons behind when entering classrooms. But the issue raises interesting questions about freedom of expression for teachers....
(taken from Education Week)

Does Zinn matter?

We've spent a good bit of time so far this semester with Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States (and the young people's version, which your Powerpoint presentations will be based on). So I'm wondering: Do you think Zinn is relevant for elementary teachers? Is there anything -- in terms of his approach to history, the content of the chapters you've read, the voices that are heard in his text -- that will be useful for you as a teacher of social studies in K-8 classrooms? Even if you wouldn't use A People's History with your students, has it taught you anything worthwhile? Or do you think the class time we've spent on Zinn would have been better utilized reading about/discussing methods or strategies that are specifically geared for elementary teachers?

Whatever your opinion, be honest. Don't just say what you think I want to hear.

Book share

Please post your book share here, including:
1) Title, author, year of publication
2) Appropriate grade level(s)
2) A brief summary of the book (you don't need to include your lesson ideas)