Raise or Raze?

Teachers just aren’t prepared adequately to work in every type of school. As much as I want to create a positive and safe learning environment, there may be obstacles to prevent that. Perhaps the students are not used to showing respect in a classroom; perhaps the students are not accustomed to the idea of having a white teacher in a position of authority that they even want to respect. I have been in every kind of situation like this. It isn’t that I have felt threatened (I have been!) enough to want to quit and walk away. It is more that I have not been adequately trained in social justice to do my job due diligence. We are taught one way to teach, and then here is this whole other world out there that we may not be prepared for. There are even movies about such situations J Some students’ realities are harsh, ugly, unsafe. They are hungry, and the only reason they go to school is because it is the law. They don’t see any point to learning from a system that is only there to push them down.

These students have been taught that they are too stupid to learn, and so they have not learned. They have not read because their teachers never gave them a book in fear that they would just destroy it. How do you make these wonderful students understand that they are worth it, that their backgrounds and family situations are part of who they are and that they are valuable for them? How do we incorporate aspects of social justice along with learning to write well? Along with the writing process and promote a safe learning environment that values the whole student. Affective dimensions to our character is so important and needs just as much valuing and attention in the classroom as the writing and academics. I’m not saying not to teach academic discourse, but I am saying that in order to get to that point, it is important to understand that some of our students may need a bit more nurturing…