Implementing a Social Justice
Curriculum in an Inner City School

Story & photos by

Laurence Tan

Laurence Tan discusses how he created a social justice curriculum by using everyday practice and pedagogy.

One way teachers have been able to tread the line between a school board subordinate and social justice educator is by infusing elements of social justice in the mandates. They take their Open Court manuals or state standards and see where they can “fit in” social justice. In many of these cases, educators are successful and rest easily knowing that they have implemented social justice for the day, week, or month into their instruction. However, I would argue that teachers who hope to attain the liberatory, critical, and transformative pedagogy that social justice educators strive for must go beyond just talking about heroes and holidays.

In my approach to teaching, I strive (which I am not always successful in) to look to social justice to drive my instruction and manipulate mandates and standards towards social justice. Although it seems like it is not much different than the aforementioned, it makes a lot of difference. By looking at history, current events, math, writing, and literacy through a social justice/critical/transformative lens, I can create the necessary curriculum that embodies social justice. I never feel that I can’t do social justice because of Open Court. Rather, I employ social justice as the vehicle to drive my instruction everyday and use Open Court as a tool to supplement the learning.

I believe a social justice education cannot be shrink-wrapped and packaged to be marketed for anyone to purchase and implement right out of the box. Creating transformative pedagogy and implementing it successfully is a process that takes time, continuity, and consistency.

The following examples highlights a year’s worth of infusing mandates like Open Court into a social justice framework. All examples of curriculum may be attainable (lesson plans, rubrics, criteria charts, student samples, etc) by e-mailing me at LesuireSL@aol.com.

I believe a social justice education cannot be shrink-wrapped and packaged to be marketed for anyone to purchase and implement right out of the box. Creating transformative pedagogy and implementing it successfully is a process that takes time, continuity, and consistency. When I started the year out with my fifth grade students, I challenged them to embrace ideas and concepts that were new to them. I challenged the students to think and be critical of the things around them and the ideologies that they were already used to learning. I encouraged them to question me and to make me earn their respect and trust. I told them that they would embark on a journey which would last not one day, unit, or quarter, but the entire year. Because of the tone that I set at the beginning, I have complete student buy-in of not only in me as their teacher, but in themselves as agents of change.

The first part of the journey started with my students. By accessing their funds of knowledge, I was able to determine where they were at and where they wanted to go. We worked a lot on getting them to find their voice and then on how to express it in ways that would get others to listen. What I had learned was that many of my students were not used to having a voice. They were punished (benching, writing standards, sent to other classrooms, segregated, etc.) when they tried to speak up and were inaccurately labeled “bad kids.” For many of the students, they equated talking and questioning as “inappropriate” behavior. The challenge for me at the beginning was to break that misconception. Once my class was more comfortable finding their voice and challenging the world, school, and myself, the next step was to fine tune that voice into methods for change. Writing became the first vehicle for my students to effectively communicate their thoughts.

What I had found out was that many of my students were not used to having a voice. They were punished (benching, writing standards, sent to other classrooms, segregated, etc.) when they tried to speak up and were incorrectly labeled as “bad kids.” For many of the students, they equated talking and questioning as “inappropriate” behavior.

What started out as daily reflection on topics like equity, community, respect, and fairness soon became letters to the principal with suggestions on what my students deemed necessary for quality education. One of the reflection topics included, “What do you feel you need as a student in order to be successful in school? In life?” The follow-up reflection topic was, “What obstacles do you think you have that prevent you from being successful in school?” It was amazing to hear the responses and have dialogue on these topics with my students. Some of my students’ comments were as follows:

• “We need more better food because the food tastes nasty and it is unhealthy for us.”
• “I wish we had better seats because my butt gets sore from sitting in the chair too long.”
• “We don’t have enough school supplies and it’s not fair that you (referring to me as their teacher) have to go out and buy stuff for us.”
• “We need more space and bigger classrooms to move around and be comfortable. I always feel cramped”
  
• “The water at school is nasty and it smells bad.”
  

The obstacles my students expressed were:

• “Does the test we take count? I hate how we always have to take tests and sometimes I don’t understand them.”
• “Those tests make me feel dumb like I didn’t learn nothing.”
• “Does language count? Like some people come in from another country and they don’t know no English.”
• “Open Court, I don’t like that program because it’s so boring”
• “I feel nervous when we have to do the fluency tests. Sometimes I can’t think straight.”
• “Mr. Tan how come it seems like the white people, you know the ones that live in the rich areas are seen as smart? And why is it that they look at our school and at us as bad or dumb?”

As you can see, all it took was an opportunity for my students to generate their ideas and voice their thoughts. From there, it was easy to embed social justice because my students already possessed knowledge and experiences that were conducive for critical and transformative thinking.

I am always trying to push the envelope with my students and my curriculum. In order to make it explicit that powerful words can be used in writing, I had them generate persuasive letters to our principal. The students brainstormed what changes they felt were necessary for a safe and active learning environment and went through the writing process not to produce a work for their portfolios (which was secondary), but to try and create change at our school and let their voices be heard. Yes, the curriculum followed state standards and fell in line with the Open Court writing goal of knowing how to write a persuasive essay, but that was not where the students bought into the lesson. They created those letters and went through revising, proofreading, and publishing phases not because they needed to fulfill certain criteria to get a “4” on their assignment, but because they knew that the more polished and written in Mainstream American English it was, the more apt our principal was to listen to their suggestions and take them seriously. Because of their suggestions, a YuGiOh after school club was formed, grass will be put in our school yard, a student store was opened, and a better variety of Physical Education equipment was purchased. For many of my students, their efforts produced a product that had tangible success, which had them craving for more. Every time there was a discussion about world and community issues, my students would immediately suggest that we write letters in order to change the situation.

Most recently, my students have had a string of “bad” subs. This has driven them to write letters to our principal on two issues: 1) Why he sent me out of the classroom so often (which they hated) and 2) Why a particular substitute was hired who should never come back to our class again. After much discussion about the issues, I asked my students if getting rid of that particular sub would solve the problem? Their replies were a resounding “no” because they recalled the numerous times that they had received inappropriate subs. Challenging my students to think beyond the school, I asked them, “Do you think our class is the only one to get bad subs? What about other schools in this neighborhood?” After some deliberation, the students agreed that the schools in this area probably have it just as bad as we do. Instead of leaving the dialogue at that, I pushed even further. I asked them, “So why is it that our schools and schools in our neighborhood get the worst subs and what can we do about it?” That question opened up ideas and discussion. The students quickly pointed out that there is a perception that this is a “bad” neighborhood and that the good subs don’t want to come here. Their suggestions to change the situation were to have a protest at the school against bad subs, demonstrate at the school board demanding better subs and a better way to screen subs, and writing letters to our principal and his boss. My students are currently writing letters to our local district superintendent, who happens to be an old professor of mine. I am inviting her to come into our class and have a forum where my students can give their input on this issue.

I asked them, “So why is it that our schools and schools in our neighborhood get the worst subs and what can we do about it?” That question opened up a Pandora’s Box full of ideas and discussion. The students quickly pointed out that there is a perception that this is a “bad” neighborhood and that the good subs don’t want to come here.

I did not have to stretch to find the connection between social justice and state standards. I did not spend my free time with my manuals and try to “fit” social justice in. Rather, I made the mandated curriculum “fit” into the social justice pedagogy and practice that I was using with my students on a daily basis. When we had to manipulate and compute very large (up to billions) and very small (decimals) numbers, we looked at census information, the number of Native Americans that were killed, infected with disease, or relocated to reservations, the amount of money corporations make as compared to the wages of the working class that those corporations employ and exploit.

Currently, my students have completed many social justice projects. They have done biographies on underrepresented community heroes of color and made presentations about them to other classrooms. They have written numerous letters to LAUSD and government officials voicing their concerns and offering suggestions for improvement. They have organized others and conducted demonstrations.

With such successful projects finished, was my social justice curriculum satisfied and over? It actually became the spring board for further curriculum and projects. I was able to organize the parents and students to participate in a few of the Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ) rallies against high stakes testing and unfair schooling conditions. It was the perfect way to bring to life the lessons we were learning about struggle, resistance, and community organizing. My students are not only eager to participate in further activities like this, but they realize their potential as change agents and now have access to varying ways to voice their opinions. Whenever they feel that they have been treated unfairly, they now have more avenues to create change rather than remaining silent.

My students have come a long way from having their voices silenced to not only speaking their mind, but going beyond and making changes. That journey took time and constant reexamination of ourselves and our schooling.

Currently, we have been discussing school issues of inequity and unfairness, as well as, connecting them to more global and societal problems. During Open Court, we have been covering issues of oppression, slavery, capitalism, and exploitation, framing and contextualizing topics through our Thematic Unit of the Civil War. It started out with a few simple questions like, “Were only Africans slaves during this time?” “When it all boils down to it, what was the cause of slavery?,” and “Does slavery still exist today?” The class has touched upon May Day/International Workers Day and are currently learning about globalization and sweatshops, which are modern day forms of slavery. The students are becoming more aware of things and are taking actions to help create change.

Social Justice education is not implemented very easily, especially in LAUSD’s mandated curriculum. That should not, however, discourage educators. It took time and consistency for my students to reach the point where they are now. In that time, we have discussed issues of race, class, identity, gender, equity, and culture under a critical lens. I used literature, my life story, current events, and, most importantly, the students’ experiences to implement this type of liberatory pedagogy.

Laurence Tan is a teacher at 99th Street Elementary in LAUSD and a member of CEJ and Youth Organizing Communities in San Diego (YOC), and co-founder of Bamboo Lane Arts and Community Action Project.

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In this issue, also check out "No More Guns: 99th Street Students Boycott the Ice Cream Truck" by Laurence Tan and Kim Min

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