5 | | Transgressing Boundaries for Socially Just Teaching ‘As a student teacher in 1972, I remember hearing about time i when teachers were all expected to be on the same page of the same t time. 1 was aghast! How stifling that would be! But these days when I go into Schools, I feel as if | am in a time warp as I see teachers expected to march theit about the power of connecting academics with real issues of con- am to young people. When done well, such connection not only prompts acad- emic growth, but also enables young people to see themselves a active agents who ‘ean appropriate academics for their own purposes. Teaching Boldly: My Roots Many of my childhood teachers used creat which they embedded {saw my taskas stud rer in the early 1970s a figuring our how to i ered teaching in an inner-city high sch the textbook. As I helped students, ident-centered approaches in where I found68 | Power, Teaching, and Teacher Education could sce that textbook-driven teaching bored them. So, when it came time for me to take the class, I rather spontancously invited the students to help me organize unit around a topic of interest to them (they chose “Women! collaborate with me in planning their learning activites for that unit. Students who rough class came alive. cademic skills in such teaching, and i took me a couple of years to shed what ‘ations for students from low-income homes. | saw clearly the power of engaging students questi guided my teaching ever since. During the late 1990s, I began to document what aca- demically strong multiculeural teaching looks like in practice by following teachers who had completed my multicultural curriculum design course into the classroom. By 2001, this documentation had shifted to focus on how teachers who are commie- candards-based and test- ven contexts (Slectcr, 2005). Below, I will describe two of the teachers I became acquainted with in California, then a project with Kathy: Teaching Boldly in First Grade! ‘efse to takes postion on something I consider to be harmful to children, Iam con- cributing co cha hare.” (Kay, in Sleter, 2005, p. 111) had been teaching for over twenty years in California when I cexplicily taughe students English. Kathy is Whie and had grown up mainly on a farm in Ohio, but had lived several years in Mexico where she became fluent in Spanish. Her current residence was near the school in which she taught. involved with the community her students came from and welcomed par dents’ parents, who strongly desired 1¢ “hungry for books. sding as using the...text and workbooks. I want ‘to analyze, to question, to figure out mean- cure and their lives, and ‘Transgressing Boundaries for Socially Just Teaching | 69 academic learning on students’ everyday knowledge, and her interest in raising their political awareness about social issues. Class meetings regularly provided a space in ‘which student concerns led the agenda, and students took charge of problem-soly- ing. Kathy explained, “I figure if kids lean to resolve problem: and their compassion” (Sleeer, 2005, p. 112). Many problems students were interpersonal, but some were political. Kathy explained that chil- dren regularly hear adults discuss political issues at home and want to know more: Last all when om the ball there was the tax toe (the county hospital} open, one of in children brought thar up in ass and we talked aboutit... This one littl gil said, Yea, everybody has to go vote or they’ Jefe to go, We talked about thar it. The war in lag. A year ago one Salinas chat had appeared in the paper, so soe talked about it: (Sleeter, 2005, p. 1 brought in a picture of the soldiers from fiom Salinas tha were ervingin lag, And (Class meetings served as a basis for student-centered tcaching Kathy used during the rest of the day, and as a venue for getting to know her students’ interests and concerns. Kathy designed and raught an interdisciplinary thematic unit on Monterey County agriculrure, which she mapped carefully against the first-grade curriculum , and her English Language ipal for giving her freedom to construct tandards. She showed me a copy of the first grade standards on which she annotated how various portions of the unit . She credited her py a thematic curriculum as long as it me addressed specific standards, so that she would be able to explain the relationship if called om to do so. Kathy developed this unit because “agriculture directly affect the lives of my stu- dents, Out of my twenty students, most have at least one parent who is employed in agriculeure or an agriculture-related industry such as vegetable packing. The parents) income and work schedules are determined by the crops and the large companies which grow them” (Sleeer, 2005, ‘She wanted the children to learn more about their parents’ work, not to become agricultural workers themselves, but to respect the work their parents do. Having grown up on a farm herself, she believed that every- fone should know where food comes from, and situate that knowledge within a Vision of environmentally sustainable farms that ordinary people can afford. She was deeply concemed about “the conflict between what agriculture has become in this country and what it can be.” Increasingly, large corporations control agriculture, and70 | Power Teaching, and Teacher Education thereby also dominate “land use, water use and availabili ‘nomic and political power” She commented, “So many of my in agriculture, yet so few can be farmers” (Sleeter, 2005, ‘Kathy creatively connected grade-level academic ski edge. For example, the unit addressed several math concept um standards: num the concept more tha tens, and graphing, To te resenting how many parents worked with various crops. Across the bottom af the graph were the names and drawings of vegetables indicating crops in which par- cents worked. Students placed 3 x3” cards above the vegetable oftheir parents’ work site which, when arranged ve ‘After the graph was made, yuestions such as: Cudneas aja més first-grade cur- than, units and abar graph rep- became ‘personas trabajar en la lechuga? (How many peoy igente en la casa 0 en un empague? (Do more peoy ‘As she helped scudents use the graph to reason numeri ., Kathy prompted students to think in terms of not just iso- lated numbers, but aso what the numbers mean, such as how many students are in the dass, and how many of their parents do what kind of work. Linking the abstract concept ro what student knew already helped chem “get it.” , Kathy caught critical analysis ofthe politcal context in which families lived and worked, and a vision anchored in memories and pos- of the children’s parents worked in agriculeure, and sincs Kathy od firmly that agribusiness is not the only (or best) way to construct farm- ‘ystems, she wanted students to explore agricultural economic systems and worker politics. To compare large-scale corporate farms and small family farms, she invited a parent with experience working in agriculture in both the U.S. and Mexico to come and describe the nature of work in both places. Using slides she had taken in sural Mexico, Kathy had students compare the small farm system there with agribusiness students see locally. The class also studied the history and serug- gles of the United Farm Workers, particularly the work of local organizers, and immigration issues connected with agriculeure To teach boldly, Kathy theme that was significant ro the lives of her students and their fami Jhich subjece matter content could be anchored, and then carefully wove the required curriculum standards around this theme. When I asked how her students were doing on the distri , Kathy explained that while first do not participate in the mandated testing pro- gram, they were doing well on benchmark assessments. As long as they did s0, 1 to support her. Transgressing Boundaries for Socially Just Teaching | 71 Chri ‘eaching Boldly in High School {seudents) developing in thet ‘edge? Do they have insights?” (Ch blond with blue eyes, had been teaching high school English for seven years. She grew up in a working-class, racially diverse community where she community. “What caught my attention was Chi a diverse class of students in probing iss mn in the context of standards-based the racism” she found in the Whi its impact on young people. Since California is experiencing large waves of 1m, Christi cared passionately that her students develop empathy rather than hostility toward newcomers as well as people who are already here, comment- ing that her ‘Pasion contagious” (Slecter, 2005, p. 146). designed and taught a unit on West Coast immigration. desc the nie main themes inladds ftom Aes respect for other cultures, understanding of our muliculeual region, historical perspec ‘As Kathy had done, Christi figured out how to connect the unit with the stares English Language Arts curriculum standards, which focused largely on reading com- prehension of grade-level text, and skill in writing in various genres, using English language conventions appropriately. She was equally interested in both devel ing and the substance of what they wrote about. She explaines icluded three major writing assignments: of a fictitious adolescent immigrant, 2 about four days of school, and a poem72 | Power, Teaching, and Teacher Education inwhich the fictitious immigrant expresses feelings. Cl tunit aso included a research projecc in which small groups of students collabora- tively wrote short research papers about West Coast immigrant groups vo provide the other writing assignments. As a culminating project, students icon the for each day that included handouts, few from her textbook to the extent that it she found her rich pool of resources, good at scavenging file cabinets Fl of things. (Slee 1 visited one day when the class was readi by Elizabeth Gordon and an Anglo American the 3 story that focused on both the authors experi= how she constructed the narrative and used seemed very engrossed. able ro discuss the video that. and particularly film, drew in students who were strugelit hd ge” efor, Transgressing Boundaries for Socially Just Teaching | 73 “To teach boldly, Christi structured a unit around experiences of ethnically and culturally diverse adolescents, then designed various writing and discussion activ- ities to engage students with ideas related to immigration, race, and et She carefully connected the entire unit to the grade-level English Language Arts st dards to make sure it was as academically sound as it was intellectually itsort of grabs him once in a while” (Sleeter, 2005, p 77). ly Compassionate Intellectualism’: Teaching Boldly for Social Justice “icin ou bes interest to transform the edeaton of ou people so that our blood is no longer used to grease the whecs of global capitalise greed.” (Cammarom & Romero, 2006, p. 23) In 1996 in Tucsos petitioned the dist lum. Two years later, the board approved funding for it, and Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Mexican American/Raza Studies was launched. I became acquainted with the work of the department in 2005, when I was invited to address the annual Raza Studies Summer Institute. What continued to catch my attention has been its unwavering vision of education reform, and its powerful impact on students. Readers may be aware that the state of Arizona’ ban on cth- nic studies was directed specifically at this program. As ofthis writing, the program hasbeen disbanded and its teachers and students distributed among other programs; for this reason, I describe it here in the past tense. But the legitimacy of the state law banning ethnic studies, as well as of the district's decision to dismantle the pro- gram, is still being Since 1998 when it was first created, the Mexican American/Raza Studies 1, Arizona, a group of concerned Mexican American citizens Department worked with schools to strengthen teaching and learning, using Chicano studies’ intellectual frameworks. Over time, the department developed a rich array of curriculum resources for classroom use from kindergarten through high school, which align wit curriculum standards. In 2003, a Social J ion Project (SJEP) was begun in one of the Raza Seudies high schools. ino educators (a high school reacher, the director of the TUSD American/Raza Studies Department, and an assis- tant professor from the University of Arizona) collaborated to develop a four-semes- ter social studies curriculum that met the state's eleventh- and twelfth-grade social74 | Power, Teaching, and Teacher Education studies standards (see Cammarora, 2007; Cammarota & Romero, 2009; Romero, is based on a mode! of “critically con- Jing and learning of Chicano students dents leave school during the ‘ual and full human beings. -conomic issues, immersing stu- deep respect for students asi iculum teaches about racial readings. It includes a community-based data about manifestations of ial science theory to analyze why patterns and how they can be challenged. Students give formal presenta tions of results of their research to the community, as well as o academic and youth conferences. Cammarota and Romero (2006) noted thas, “the standard educational system treats them as empty slates ready to be carved and erched on by teachers” ‘but this project had offered students “an opportunity to sec themselves as know!- cedgeable Subjects” (p. 20). Seadents were able to learn to do advanced level acad- cemic work whi dy addressed realities of thei lives. As Carmmarota (2007) pointed out, remedial work does not engage students because it changing their lives; a challenging, socially relevant curriculum like the o project helps students see how to use academics asa tool for changing their ‘Acconsiderable amount of data has been compiled on the academic impact of the Mexican American/Raza Studies Department's courses on those data are presented in Chapter Six ofthis volume. Consist ‘Cammarota and Romero (2009) report that Chicano outscored Anglo students in the same school on the state's exams: 34 out of 36 passed the reading exam, 35 out of 36 passed the writing exam, and 27 out of 35 passed the math exam, which was a considerably higher pass rate than the Importantly, in interviews SJEP students consistently cr array of Mexi demonstrate remarkable achievement gains on Arizona’s high stakes high school graduation exam. Transgrssing Boundaries for Socially Just Teaching | 75 Teaching Boldly in Real Classrooms In over 30 years in which T have been an educator, I do not recall meeting a stu- dent who truly does not want to learn anything. However, I have met many, many students who find textbook-driven teaching incredibly boring and irrelevant; when that is all they are offered, they often appear disinterested in and incapable of learn- ing, Ihave also met many teachers who can think creatively about students’ inter- ests and important social issues, but have litle idea how to embed demanding intellectual work in a relevant thematic curriculum. As a result, a good number of school administrators these days are highly suspicious of attempts to be “relevant” and “student centered.” Add to this the number of educators who fear opening up examination of racial, ethnic, and social clas inequalities—or anything remotely political—and the result is systemic exclusion from academics of that which is meaningful to the lives of many young people. Ironically, when we use student-centered rather than textbook-centered teach- ing, embed preparation for college in rich thematic units that have meaning to one’ ‘own students, and engage students in critically questioning society and learning to then students from communities that had not been achieving well in school blossom in ways that show up even on standardized tests. Docsnt this ‘make more sense than the current approach that consists of marching everyone lock-step through the same pre-packaged curriculum materials? Note 1. Kathy ha writen about the unc desrbed here in more dtl in Sketer and Commbleth (2011)