Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-10-2024
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Education
First Advisor
Joel Amidon
Second Advisor
Ann Monroe
Third Advisor
Beth Spencer
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Social justice education can be defined in part as the equitable treatment and care of all students, as all have the right to education. It requires that we examine oppression and unjust systems to develop awareness of injustice in our lives, institutions, and overall society. Social justice education aims to develop empathy and tools for activism in order to teach students (and teachers) how to radically and positively interrupt oppressive patterns and behaviors in the world around us. Social justice education must work co-curricularly with statewide standards. Furthermore, it must also be rooted in the personal reflection of educators as we examine our own oppressive behaviors, biases, and opinions. Social justice education requires that we teach for, with, and about social justice. For social justice, because teaching is an act of social justice itself- as it can provide freedom from oppression and is a human right. With social justice, because teaching requires that the needs and backgrounds of individual students are taken into meaningful consideration while finding methods to teach and present material. Lastly, about social justice, because English education requires that teachers choose content that is both relevant to the identities, cultures, and lives of students, and also reflective of history both present and past.
The project (original unit plan) created in this study will investigate the idea of teaching with, for, and about social justice in the English classroom at Oxford Middle School. The written unit plan was built and taught over the course of three weeks to seventh grade students. Classes consisted of English language learners and inclusion students. The results of the project are rooted in personal reflection of the execution of the unit plan. Teaching itself is a difficult task; teaching for, with, and about social justice adds an extra layer of difficulty. While this difficulty remains, social justice education is immensely rewarding.
Recommended Citation
Curry, Azurrea, "Social Justice Education and the ELA Classroom: A Love Letter to my Future Teaching" (2024). Honors Theses. 3131.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3131