Blog Post 7: Prioritizing Anti-Oppression Pedagogy in the Classroom

 Hello all! I hope spring is treating everyone well so far and that everyone has been able to enjoy the wonderful weather as much as I have. 

This week I got to read about how to prioritize racial justice and bring anti-oppression pedagogy to the forefront of the classroom. These are huge issues that need to be addressed in every school, and this week's readings helped me find several ways to go about championing racial justice and fighting oppression. 

I read Amanda Lacy's "Starting with Students: A Framework for High School Reading" and Mario Worlds' and Cody Miller's "Miles Morales: Spider-man and Reimagining the Canon for Racial Justice." 

In Lacy's text, what stuck out most to me was her idea about how to create an interest inventory with students so that classes can explore what students are genuinely interested and invested in rather than in random topics that adults think adolescents should like. Lacy says that collecting student interests through asking them questions, recording the answers, and posting them for the class to see allows students to bond over and discuss interests while also allowing students to see their own and their peers' interests represented in the discussions and readings throughout the school year (Lacy 18). I love the idea of asking my future class of middle school students a bunch of questions about their favorite hobbies, what they want to learn about the world, how they see their community, and their specific areas of interest and then using these answers for students to form relationships with each other and for us to use in our instruction plans. 

In Worlds' and Miller's text, what stood out most to me was the exploration of white teachers as very real threats to students of color, and Black students in particular. As the authors point out, it is all too common for history teachers to make "jokes" about slavery that make students feel targeted and uncomfortable, or for English teachers to heavily insist on saying every slur in an old novel to supposedly "uphold the integrity of the book" when really all they're doing is harming their students of color. I think these issues are extremely important for white educators like myself to consider and constantly be interrogating ourselves about and reflecting upon in order to make sure we are prioritizing racial justice and anti-oppression pedagogy. 

When I was a student, I went to a predominantly white suburban school full of wealthy families. I saw several of the few students of color be antagonized and disrespected by white teachers and I saw the discomfort, anger, and terror on their faces as they cowered in classrooms and tried to blend in with white students to avoid ridicule from the teacher. In my future teaching, I never ever want to make a student feel the way I've seen students be made to feel. By constantly interrogating my role as a white educator and by prioritizing and truly listening to student experiences and interests, I can work on growing in being an anti-oppressive, anti-racist educator who serves as an ally for my students. 

In my future teaching, in addition to conducting interest inventories and checking my place as a white educator, I plan to have an incredibly diverse classroom library for students to use to find characters they relate to and to learn about the experiences of others. I also plan to represent each and every one of my students in my slideshows and instruction so that all identities are represented and respected. 

I plan to do more research on how to be an ally as a white educator in a position of privilege. I also plan to do research on how to incorporate more representation in more historical texts, for example looking for perspectives from Vietnamese families who lived through the Vietnam War in addition to reading American perspectives like those in books like "The Things They Carried." I think that this will champion representation and challenge the narrative students have always been taught about whiteness and discrimination. I think this will help me be an anti-oppressive and anti-racist educator. 


Lacy, Amanda. (2019). "Starting with Students: A Framework for High School Reading." pp. 17-20.

Miller, C. & Worlds, M. (2019). "Miles Morales: Spider-Man and Reimagining the Canon for Racial Justice." pp. 43-50. 

Comments

  1. Katie CramerApril 13, 2023 at 2:14 PM

    Thanks for this informed and convincing post, Ms. Winter. I can tell from your writing and from your contributions in our class dialogues that you will be a wise co-conspirator in the field of anti-oppression pedagogy, and your voice will be especially important in your new professional home. I foresee that you will continue to be a leader in the field and a trusted adult for all your students. Thank you.

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