Ariana Vega

Malt 609

CRP Week 9

In this week’s reading, we take a look at social justice and its importance in education.

We also looked at Culturally Relevant Pedegogy. Both of these often intersect In order to app[ly

Culturally revent pedagogy social justice must be part of the agenda. These two tools can help

create a sense of autonomy for students as they will be seen as individuals and as active members

of their community.

As teachers, we often have to find a way to create true engagement from our students. In

order to do so, we have to create Authentic assignments that target the students’ interests.

“However, it takes teachers who are willing to engage in these sometimes uncomfortable

conversations to open these interpretive spaces for students” (Mackey & de Vocht-van Alphen,

2016). Teachers have to be willing to to bering real world problems and connect them to the

lessons. This will create a space for students to create a connection between text and real world .

In the reading “ What Is Justice? Gifted Students’ Meaning Making” we see how we

often instill children with the thought that justice is between good or bad. However it is

important for students to being to critically analyze what justice is and what justice should be.

Many times in society we are forced to view the world through a black or white lens, however it

is often filled with grey areas that need deeper analyzing. If we look at what Abigal response was

in the article we see an contradicting example of how justice is very complicated. “It does not

matter if you are Black or White or if you have a lot of power. To me, it means that you are

treated fair and equal. But there could be bad justice and that was a long time ago when there

was slavery” But we can also see how the student is reflectingh on this complex idea of justice
and how it changes its meaning over time. Students are very much aware of the on going

situations that are happening around them. Though it can be a very imimidating subject to talk

about it is essential as a teacher to include real life situations and allow students to realize they

are active social members of society. This will create a sense of Autonomy for the studentsas

they begin to analyze the world around them.

When integrating Culturally Relevant Pedegogy this tool needs to meet three pillars :

“(a) high levels of academic achievement, for in culturally relevant classrooms, students choose

to achieve academic excellence; (b) cultural competence, wherein students maintain their cultural

integrity; and (c) critical consciousness, a student’s ability to understand and critique the existing

social order” (Ladson-Billings, 1995a). However these three thing must be achieved together.

The relavance comes from understanding the classroom and their background as individuals.

This is importance to the academic success of the students . They need to be understood as an a

whole looking at both their needs and abilities individually. The second part of this pedagogy can

be interpreted by looking at oneself as the educator and individual and analyzing the self basis

one may have for other cultures. As a teacher we have to be part of this process in order to

affectively communicate with the students and create a strong relationship with them. This

relationship can help the students feel moree comfortable participating in class discussions. The

last part of the this pedagogy the critical consciousness. This might be the toughest part because

this will be an on going learning experience that can not be mastered only expanded.

Culturally relevant pedagogy works in a way to connect both the educator and students to

the real world. It also for reflection of ones basis and acceptance for other cultures. Which is why

apply social justice into the curriculum goes hand and hand with culturally relevant pedagogy .

With CRP students are able to connect with the material allowing for empathy to take place
when learning about social justice. They will being to have complex conversations about the

world as they analyze problems and even try to create a solution.

 Reference Page

Allen, A., & Hancock, S. D. (2017). Mapping culturally relevant pedagogy into teacher

education programs: A critical framework. Teachers College Record, 119(1), n1.

Barone, D., & Barone, R. (2019). What is justice? Gifted students’ meaning making. The

Reading Teacher, 72(5), 579-588.