Social Justice

I read several articles on social justice in the classroom. I found some interesting ideas in two in particular. In one of my articles, it mentioned how it's so good to know something about each of your students' backgrounds. Even if it's just a little tidbit of information that a student told you once, use that. Incorporate that into your classroom somehow and into your lessons. This article really hit on positive change and what we as teachers can do to promote social justice in our classrooms. It means to create a fair and safe learning environment where students and teachers can make that positive change. This article also talked about how to make our curriculum connect to the outside world. This article had a really good line in it that said: "The classroom walls aren't magical barriers to the realities outside of them. If there's something happening in the news that you can link to your content, do it. Choose something controversial, or ask your students if they have questions regarding anything they have been hearing about" (Edutopia). I completely and wholeheartedly agree with this. I always thought it was somewhat silly when teachers would try to hide or ignore what was going on in the world around us. Just because we're in a classroom, doesn't mean the world around us has suddenly just gone up in flames. This article also mentions how students can be leaders and how being good role models can affect the people around them. I think it's vital to let students take lead at some point in the year. This is so because those students will be able to physically see what they've done and will continue to do. 
Another article I read mentioned that teachers who teach social justice are looking to end the cycle of oppression. Teachers are very aware that oppression exists in the world, but they are looking for ways to lessen this oppression or completely end it in their classroom. This article said it like it is. There is injustice in this world. Some people are more privileged than others and some are completely at a disadvantage. I think if we as teachers recognize this and take this to heart, we will be able to end this cycle of oppression starting in our classrooms. 
I really enjoyed reading both of these articles and they both gave me new perspectives on how to approach social justice in the classroom. 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/creating-classrooms-for-social-justice-tabitha-dellangelo
https://www.oswego.edu/~prusso1/Russos_what_does_it_mean_to_teach_for_s.htm