Written by William Jones (He, Him, His)
8th Grade Math Teacher & Math Department Chair
When people think of Social Justice and Mathematics, their thoughts immediately jump to using a statistics approach, but we are going to dig deeper in this blog. Social justice is defined as justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. Real social justice and equity starts with you, the teacher, and how you run your classroom and treat your students. Are you modeling your classroom in a way that can be emulated by your students in their personal lives?
There must be a conscious effort in creating empathetic learners.
At BUGS we are committed to a sustainability education model that focuses on the intersection of “people, profit, and planet” in all of our classes. Let's speak today about how to care for the people in our equation.
Why should I care?
If you are reading this blog post, you’re definitely dedicated to growing your professional practice. That usually means you have one, or both, of these goals:
Closing the opportunity (achievement) gap
Increasing student engagement with your lessons
As any urban education literature will tell you, you cannot achieve either of these goals without building relationships with your students. I am going to assume you’ve already done this legwork and I want to share with you what I have learned about expanding the possibilities.
What to do:
Differentiate for the heart, not just the mind
We’re used to modifying our content to reach our students where they are academically, but what are we doing to reach our students emotionally? Make sure throughout your lessons you have built in spaces for students to check in on themselves and recenter if necessary. This can take the form of mindfulness breaks, or pre-planned questions where you are inquiring about your students after a particularly difficult concept. Some of my favorites are:
We just covered a lot, what are we thinking? Share your thoughts.
I know this all looks complex, so ask me a question.
Another structure that you can try is “reset stations,” an isolated space or desk where a student can complete mindfulness exercises to recenter.
2. Remain flexible with content/grading expectations and avoid “one size fits all” mentality
Mr. William and one of his algebra students at BUGS.
Our students come from all walks of life, and outside of the classroom, there are multiple influences affecting their ability to meet our demands. Unfortunately, some of these influences may be negative and may hold our students back from the greatness that you perceive in them.
All people want to be successful. Certain behaviors may lead you to believe otherwise, but all students crave success. There’s a student I think about often who would have benefited greatly from this approach. His homework average was 0% and I remember speaking to his mother during parent-teacher conferences. I gave the typical speech on how he needs to work harder and take his work seriously if he wants to be successful. While I was not wrong, my response did not address that he was dealing with multiple ACS cases and his home environment was full of domestic violence. When he was home, “Completing the Square” and “Slope-Intercept Form” was the last thing on his mind.
Being a stronger educator now than I was then, what I should have done is offer time during lunch and after school for him to complete his homework assignments with me. Often, while I worked after school, I would bump into this student since he was there for basketball practice. I should have used that time as an opportunity to connect and help him achieve the success that I knew was possible.
3. Prioritize the people over the content/avoid putting your students into boxes
When the George Floyd/Breonna Taylor Protests were at their peak, I was in the middle of teaching a geometry unit covering parallel lines. We were finishing up a unit ending project about parallel lines and I said, “It’s time to stop.” I put together a lesson regarding police brutality in our country and social media reaction to protests. I can never forget the amount of students who privately reached out to me saying, “Thank you for being one of the few teachers to talk about this and not ignore it.”
Lesson slides used in Mr. William Jones’ Algebra 1 Class, Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS) Spring 2020.
Everyone is affected by life as it happens around us and our students should be acknowledged as active agents of change.
Social justice is not restricted to a statistics unit. How you treat your students and the humanity you show them as a mentor will lead to long-term societal change. Yes, we have a responsibility to teach them content, but we also lead the charge in teaching them how to be people and active members of society.
Creating an equitable Algebra classroom is not easy, but it is rewarding. Building long term relationships and self-efficacy in your students will be more impactful than any individual lesson you could do. As you review your lessons, look for areas where you can teach them how to be.
©2020 Marvel
Tim Smith 3, Marvel artist and father of a BUGS alumni, created this tribute to William Jones as part of the Marvel Make Me A Hero series. Smith describes the qualities that make William Jones a real hero whose special powers are the ability to "shape the next word leaders with courage, wisdom, and confidence."