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Monday, December 26, 2011

Being a Student Ally: Teachers as Necessary Voices of Protest « Cooperative Catalyst

Being a Student Ally: Teachers as Necessary Voices of Protest « Cooperative Catalyst:

Being a Student Ally: Teachers as Necessary Voices of Protest

Standing up to authority is about standing up for our students, our communities and ourselves.

A few months ago I was teaching a somewhat uninspiring writing curriculum to a group of sixth graders as part of teacher training program. As young educators, participants in the training were expected to prepare original lessons from a pre-written curriculum and teach them to classes of about twenty students on a daily basis. We were observed by mentor teachers several times a week, and met with those mentors about once a week to receive feedback on our growth as aspiring teachers. Even with many great supports in place, my colleagues and I were struggling to make the curriculum our own, as well as making it engaging for our students. The program, which was private and in league with many of the standard “reform” movements of the day, put a great