My teaching practices thus far contribute to education for social and ecological justice through giving students the opportunity to have a voice. I believe all students deserve a voice in the classroom and giving opportunities for them to speak and share their ideas is crucial. I think having a variety of viewpoints in the classroom decreases normative biases among staff and students; voicing varieties of cultural views, practices, and beliefs normalizes diversity. Putting this practice into action looks like students writing in journals answering a given prompt or free writing, students answering questions out loud during class lessons, actively brainstorming topics as a class, sharing circles, and whole class discussions. I realize this teaching practice does not teach directly about a social or ecological justice issue in society, however, it indirectly teaches students about equality and diversity. Human actions and practices send out messages about either positive or negative social and ecological justice issues. Indirect teachings can be just as impactful as direct teachings for students. Teaching students in an inclusive and diverse environment indirectly teaches them how to embrace diversity as apart of their identity and a way of thinking.
My pedagogy embraces difference through giving students a voice in the classroom. When students have a voice, their race, culture, and beliefs are represented. The more representation of student’s differences, the more normalized these differences are. As a teacher, I will embrace difference as a classroom practice. Having students share their ideas in writing and oral speaking in the classroom supports difference and normalizes diversity because there are a variety of ideas presented in the classroom.
I understand education for equity, diversity, and inclusion as the need for change in the education system for these realities to be understood and practiced; become apart of society. In the reading, “Detour-Spotting” by Jona Olsson, they described how the education system has engraved beliefs about people of colour into students. Jona quotes, “We internalized our beliefs about people of colour, ourselves, other white people and about being white. Those internalized attitudes became actualized into racist behaviour” (Olsson, 2011). This quote explains the experiences many students have gone through, including myself as a student. I was taught that people of colour are less than white people, being the superior race. Unfortunately, teachers have a large influence on students and students will begin internalizing the ideas they are being taught. Teachers need to remove the negative beliefs about people of colour and instead celebrate people of colour and diversity. As mentioned before, including student’s voice in the classroom is a way to embrace difference and push for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the classroom. I hope eventually, all students will have equal opportunities, each culture and identity will be represented in the classroom, and each student will feel included in all environments.
Works Cited
Jona Olsson. Detour-Spotting. (2011). Retrieved from https://culturalbridgestojustice.org/detour-spotting/