Teaching as activism?

[maymalone]

Hey all! This is May, I went to the University of Chicago for undergrad. UChicago has a teacher education program called UTEP that’s been a lot more overt in its commitment to equity and anti-racist practices than most teacher education programs right now, I think. One of their alums also just published an op-ed about how her UTEP coach helped her stopped being the teacher she never swore she’d be — but ended up becoming once she was in the classroom. Does anyone else have experiences like this as a teacher? (She wrote: “It is a very different question to ask, ‘Does every student derserve patience and equity?’ when sitting with peers in a master’s program versus standing in front of a ten-year-old who has just rolled their eyes or a twelve-year-old who just cursed you out. I found myself resorting to poor practices—mirroring the teacher I had sworn against becoming instead of the one I envisioned being.”)

She said her UTEP coach helped her a lot in getting back on track to being the teacher she always hoped to be, and actually advancing equity in the classroom. I know that UTEP briefly reopened its application window for fall 2020 enrollment until Aug. 1 because they explicitly want people who’ve been inspired by recent events to be able to make the change they want to see — they’re encouraging activists to become teachers. Anyone else view teaching as potential activism?

Edited July 2, 2020 by maymalone

[EvolvedGradBlog]

On 7/1/2020 at 7:22 PM, maymalone said:

Hey all! This is May, I went to the University of Chicago for undergrad. UChicago has a teacher education program called UTEP that’s been a lot more overt in its commitment to equity and anti-racist practices than most teacher education programs right now, I think. One of their alums also just published an op-ed about how her UTEP coach helped her stopped being the teacher she never swore she’d be — but ended up becoming once she was in the classroom. Does anyone else have experiences like this as a teacher? (She wrote: “It is a very different question to ask, ‘Does every student derserve patience and equity?’ when sitting with peers in a master’s program versus standing in front of a ten-year-old who has just rolled their eyes or a twelve-year-old who just cursed you out. I found myself resorting to poor practices—mirroring the teacher I had sworn against becoming instead of the one I envisioned being.”)

She said her UTEP coach helped her a lot in getting back on track to being the teacher she always hoped to be, and actually advancing equity in the classroom. I know that UTEP briefly reopened its application window for fall 2020 enrollment until Aug. 1 because they explicitly want people who’ve been inspired by recent events to be able to make the change they want to see — they’re encouraging activists to become teachers. Anyone else view teaching as potential activism?

I'd say activism is a part of it, but you're really there to teach children. The activism might live in how you teach them, what you teach them, and how you advocate for them and their families with other stakeholders. I've seen teachers erode any standing they had in their school community by conflating advocacy and education, but I've also seen teachers propel themselves more quickly toward better pedagogy because of their activist ambitions.