Teaching, learning, curriculum and assessment are essential topics in education that require ongoing conversations and reflective analysis. It is important to acknowledge that there is no final conversation as new issues will emerge from our interactions, needs and desires as well as from changes in the socio-political context. I started the class with very specific ideas about the type of education I envision for minority students living in oppressive environments. My work with Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP), critical theory and social justice, influenced how I approach each topic of discussion in the class. The reading from Nieto (2012) and Oakes et al (2015), as well as other authors, allowed me to clarify my understanding of social justice, equity and democratic education in relation to teaching, learning, curriculum and assessment. These authors provided a bridge between theory and practice, which was very useful in grounding my work with CRP as well as my daily practices as a school administrator in an “urban” setting. This was particularly important to me as I started the class in search for practices that align with the theories and academic discussions related to issues of social justice. My Tumblr postings reflect an ongoing quest to understand what social justice, equity and democratic education mean in specific settings and through the experiences of students, teachers, parents, policy makers and other stakeholders. The experiences and voice of each of these individuals are essential in understanding how education is conceptualized by different interest groups, including my own. I utilized specific postings to reflect upon my evolving understanding of teaching and learning with a new approach. This approach focuses on listening to multiple voices and a greater willingness to engage in critical analysis of the conditions that support or constrain equity and justice in education and society. These issues include the school culture, classroom environment, teaching styles, curricular resources, parental involvement and the types of assessments value by the school. The search to understand my positionality, desires and practices are evident in my first postings. One of my first positing addressed my complicity in a system that perpetuates inequity and oppression. I started with a quote from Applebaum (2009) which states “to work toward challenging systemic injustice, according to those who advocate social justice education, requires that we recognize not only the system but also our complicity in it” (p. 380). This quote truly conveys my sentiments and guilt as a member of oppressed group who actively participated in the oppression of others. This is the painful knowledge that is required to move towards a greater understanding of how the oppressive conditions are institutionalized and systemic. In addition, ideologies and hegemony play an active role in maintaining the status quote and marginalization of specific groups. It is critical to have this acknowledgement in order to understand specific conditions that marginalize students. Through hegemony, these conditions are perceived as normal and natural. I posted two videos “No Way But Through” and “The Reality of Race in Everyday Life” which address this issue and force us to analyze our own biases, stereotypes and prejudice that are often the outcome of the dominant ideologies and hegemony in our society. The next serious of postings show my transition in developing a perspective that consider the voices of students, teachers, and parents. I was particularly interested in how students’ experiences, goals and desires were included in conversations about equity and justice in educations. Postings such “Youth Voice,” “What Every Student Want their Teachers to Know,” “Lafayette Mural,” “ABC’s of Parent Involvement” and “Increasing Parent Engagement Through Absent Narratives” among others show my desire to understand what the idea of social justice and equity mean to students, teachers and parents. It was clear that various issues that can be associated with justice and equity are being discussed by each of these groups. I was particularly interested in issues that pertain to how schools support and are aligned with the experiences of minority students. The postings presented by the class allow the consideration of multiple perspectives and how the setting influences the students’ goals and desires. One important discussion was the lack of alignment between what students’ desire from schools and what educators and policy makers considered to be the goal of a good education. These impacted curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning. The lack of alignment between the students’ and the other stakeholders allowed me to question how my own understanding and desires may contradict or ignore the voices of those that I wish to empower. This opened a door in which the voices of students and their community have a greater value and importance. In fact, these voices are essential in framing what the goal of education should be if we are to create conditions that would support fairness in access to resources, opportunities and the different types of wealth valued by the individuals in this society.
