Social Justice in the Classroom: Not Always the Easiest Lesson
Social Justice in the Classroom:
Not Always the Easiest Lesson
by Holly Spinelli
On March 4, I became a fellow of The Academy for Teachers, an organization that honors teachers who, despite everything, make their classrooms havens for passion and creativity. The Academy organizes “master classes” led by prominent experts in all subject areas, but mine was led by the incredible Gloria Steinem. The assembled English and social studies teachers all shared a passion for feminism and social activism.
The Academy’s master classes are intimate. There were just 16 of us and we came from a real cross-section of New York City schools. Three worked in private schools and the rest were from a variety of public schools. Our students are among the poorest and the richest children in New York City and all of the teachers had different experiences with teaching the day’s topic.
Linda Weissman, for example, teaches at Stuyvesant High School, one of New York City’s top public schools. She works with 150 motivated, hyper grade-conscious, predominantly middle- to upper-middle-class children. Weissman was bothered that most of her students had never heard of Steinem, but she wasn’t really surprised. (Feminism isn’t a significant area of focus in most classrooms.) And she worried her attempts to generate an
Not Always the Easiest Lesson
by Holly Spinelli
On March 4, I became a fellow of The Academy for Teachers, an organization that honors teachers who, despite everything, make their classrooms havens for passion and creativity. The Academy organizes “master classes” led by prominent experts in all subject areas, but mine was led by the incredible Gloria Steinem. The assembled English and social studies teachers all shared a passion for feminism and social activism.The Academy’s master classes are intimate. There were just 16 of us and we came from a real cross-section of New York City schools. Three worked in private schools and the rest were from a variety of public schools. Our students are among the poorest and the richest children in New York City and all of the teachers had different experiences with teaching the day’s topic.
Linda Weissman, for example, teaches at Stuyvesant High School, one of New York City’s top public schools. She works with 150 motivated, hyper grade-conscious, predominantly middle- to upper-middle-class children. Weissman was bothered that most of her students had never heard of Steinem, but she wasn’t really surprised. (Feminism isn’t a significant area of focus in most classrooms.) And she worried her attempts to generate an