Teachers For Social Justice

On Saturday, October 9, several TBS teachers attended the Teachers for Social Justice conference at Mission High in San Francisco. Two of them wrote brief reflections on their experiences, which we're happy to present here.

"Hearing about the 2010 Teachers for Social Justice Conference

from both my colleagues at the Berkeley School and via an email

from a respected local book publisher boded well for the T4SJ.

I remained skeptical, however, at this conference's ability to

offer tangible strategies towards social change through education

and the organization of schools – I feared more rallying cries

than information and more talk of standardized testing than 

discussion of the teacher's roll in school and society. My

skepticism was proven unfounded multiple times over. The

conference was fantastic. Along with two of my friends and

fellow educators I attended a morning workshop on the roll

of the teacher as an authoritarian and how breaking down 

that tradition can lead to stronger relationships with students,

stronger community-mindedness, and greater confidence amongst

learners young and old. Elizabeth Simms, an art teacher in San

Francisco and a member of the Bound Together Bookstore Collective,

did a wonderful job of facilitating. My time at the conference was

capped off with a presentation by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond on the

 state of organized education in the United States that was both

depressing and positively motivating and a spirited discussion

amongst my group of friends and TBS colleagues. A well-spent

Saturday indeed."

-Stephen Cahill, Temescal Creek aide

"During the morning session, I attended a workshop called "Making Change vs. 
Making Due" in which we were presented with practical lesson plans and ideas 
of ways that other teachers have incorporated social justice themes in their 
elementary classrooms.  The workshop provided a framework for thinking  about 
and formulating lessons and units using six elements: (1) self-love and knowledge; 
(2) respect for  others; (3) exploring issues of social injustice; (4) social movements
and social change; (5) raising awareness; (6) taking social action.  Each element
is meant to build upon the prior elements, and the presenter, Bree Picower, 
emphasized the importance of establishing a strong sense of community through the
first two elements before broaching such hefty elements as taking social action.  She
also made a strong distinction between charity and social justice action, which was 
particularly striking to me.  She highlighted the popular activity of having students 
collect coins for a penny drive or donate canned goods for those in need as teaching
kids to be more comfortable with the injustice around them rather than empowering
them to take real action to make change.  She proposed that instead of asking, "How
can we help the homeless?" for example, we can ask, "Why do some people not have
homes?" in order to get to the systemic injustices that exist in the hopes of inspiring
new ideas for change.  This workshop was inspiring and effective, and I left with 
many valuable resources to use in my teaching practice."
-- Kyla O'Neill, Blackberry Creek teacher