Dance Curriculum Toolkit

Title of Resource: Introduction: Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice

 

Target Audience: Educators, Administrators, Parents

 

Description of Resource: This resource proposes strategies for bringing to the surface the reality of social injustices in our educational system.  The authors argue, "that curriculum and classroom practice must be:"

1. "Grounded in the lives of our students. All good teaching begins with a respect for children, their innate curiosity and their capacity to learn. (Pg 1)

2. "Critical. The curriculum should equip students to “talk back” to the world. Students must learn to pose essential critical questions" (Pg 1)

3. "Multicultural, anti-racist, pro-justice." (Pg 1) 

4. "Participatory, experiential. Traditional classrooms often leave little room for student involvement and initiative. In a “rethought” classroom, concepts need to be experienced firsthand, not just read about or heard about." (Pg 1)

5. "Hopeful, joyful, kind, visionary. The ways we organize classroom life should seek to make children feel significant and cared about—by the teacher and by each other." (Pg 1)

6. "Activist. We want students to come to see themselves as truth-tellers and change-makers. If we ask children to critique the world but then fail to encourage them to act, our classrooms can degenerate into factories for cynicism." (Pg 2)

7. "Academically rigorous. A social justice classroom equips children not only to change the world but also to maneuver in the one that exists." (Pg 2)

8. "Culturally sensitive. Critical teaching requires that we admit we don’t know it all. Each class presents new challenges to learn from our students and demands that we be good researchers, and good listeners." (Pg 2) 

All of these topics that the author mentions, have a place in the classroom.

 

Appropriateness for High School Students: I think that this article is appropriate for high school students as well as all K-12 students and families.  Schools are supposed to be safe-zones where children are able to thrive however, often time, social injustices follow students into the classroom negatively effecting their ability to succeed.  High school students have to capacity to address these social injustices head-on in order to build a better future for themselves as well as future generations.

 

Use of Resource in Classroom/Ways to Implement this Resource in my Classroom: I would use this resource as a basis structure for class discussion about social injustice as well as a valuable resource should I encounter issues of resources.

 

Strengths of Resource as a Teaching Tool (Purpose, Value, Uniqueness, Positive Aspects): The purpose of this article to focus attention on the current social injustice and lack of equity in our school system today.  The first step toward making a difference is by educating students as well as the community about the reality of these social injustices and strike-up conversation about how to effect change so that every child has an equal opportunity of a proper education.

 

Possible Modifications to Resource (Weaknesses, Limitations, Supplemental Resources):  This article addresses a lot of concrete evidence and reasoning regarding social injustices in school, however, I feel that it lacks resources and suggestions of ways to effect change.  The information is vital to understanding the reality of such injustices, however, it leaves the reader responsible for solving the problem.  I would supplement this article with a post-reading discussion where I would facilitate the conversation but would allow students, administrators, parents, and community members etc. to pose suggestions of how to impose change in our educational system.

 

Resource Citation: Frederiksen, J. A. G. (2013). Pedagogical practices in dance education addressing motor, aesthetic, social, emotional, and cognitive development for pre-kindergarten through post-secondary students.