I think that we as teachers need to expose our students to issues happening in their school, their…

Mar 1, 2016

To promote equal access and status equalization in the learning process, what we should incorporate into the curriculum in terms of social justice issues, community inclusion and multiculturalism are texts that talk about these topics. Teachers could use these texts connecting them with literacy instruction or even embed them in other contents like Social Studies.

Creating an Organized, Just, and Supportive Multicultural Learning Environment

Ana Sofia de la Garza

I think that we as teachers need to expose our students to issues happening in their school, their community, and the world around them. However, we shouldn’t just be exposing these issues to them, within our curriculum, we should help them develop their understanding as to why these issues are important to them and why they need to be conscious about what is happening in the world around them.

The other day, I had a student tell me that it didn’t matter who our next president was. Given, they are in 5th grade, but at this moment, I took it as an opportunity to explain to them that the next president is very important to them. I related it back to the school. I asked him to visualize having a principal with beliefs like Trump, who wouldn’t allow a certain type of people (which would include his friends) into the school, and asked him how he would feel about that. He hesitated for a moment, but I got him to think about how important it is to be educated about choosing the next president of the US. I also mentioned to him that when he turns 18, he will have the opportunity to vote, and if he doesn’t, but complains about how they country is being run, then it’s his responsibility for not being an active participant in our democratic society. (It may have been a bit much for him to take in at the time, but at least I got him thinking.)