Writing

Writing is Social Justice!


Words are a person’s tool to state their opinion/beliefs, express their views on world issues, and advocate for change. With writing being such a powerful tool, teachers need to help students learn to love writing, as well as see how it can create change. I want to examine two lesson plans that demonstrate teaching writing from a social justice perspective, as well as go over the 6 elements of Social Justice Education. Thus, this blog can become a resource to understand how you can include social justice in your writing lessons.

The 6 Elements of Social Justice Education 

This section is paraphrased from http://www.usingtheirwords.org/6elements/.

1)    Self-love and knowledge ® students learn about who they are and where they are from

 ® example writing activities: name poems, where are you from poems

2)    Respect for others ® students share about their own culture with the class to teach respect for diversity

    ® example writing activity: interview with a family member

3)    Issues of social justice ® students learn about how diversity impacted/impacts different groups

® example writing activities: written reports on topics such as the      Holocaust, Slavery, Indigenous genocide, etc.

4)    Social Movements and Social Change ® examples of movements that connect to social justice

         ® examples of writing activities: write a news article about abolitionism, civil rights movement, labour movements, etc.

5)    Awareness-raising ® students can teach others about social justice

® examples of writing activities: newsletters, public service announcements, blogging

6)    Social Action ® students can take action for issues that affect them

® examples of writing activities: letter-writing campaigns, writing petitions and getting signatures 

The Social Justice Toolbox - http://www.socialjusticetoolbox.com/
- a resource with social justice lesson plans

Challenging Sexism - https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922#Three

This lesson plan from the National Writing Project (2005) uses shared journaling to help female and male students to improve the relationship between the two genders, in an environment where the females feel their voices are dominated over by males. Through sharing their journaling on their gender experience, as well as reading books with marriage, love, and romance, both the male and female students could see ways that they similar (National Writing Project, 2005).

Connections to Curriculum

The Language Curriculum (2006) states that students “must also keep in mind the purpose for which they are writing and the audience they are addressing,” (p. 12). In this activity, students identify the purpose of writing to recognize ways they can improve the relations between boys and girls in the class. They are writing to the audience of their peers and teacher, which must be considered when deciding what to share in terms of their beliefs on gender relations.

Critique of Lesson

® assumes heteronormative relationships

® as journals are shared with names this could make students uncomfortable

® addressed finding similarities between genders and male/female relationships but does not address the underlying issue of sexism

® assumes women want to get married

® doesn’t consider gender beyond the binary

How I would rework this lesson to implement in my class

I think journaling could be useful, but I would make it anonymous, and share as you wish basis. I would include books that look at women in positions of power such as CEO’s, books with women in jobs in the science/math fields, and books with homosexual relationships. Teachers need to show that this diversity is normal, not the rarity. I would have students respond to these books, and how it challenges their preconceived notions about gender in their journals.



Teaching Tolerance - https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/anonymous-writing-partners

Noah discusses how she used anonymous journaling partners to help students see how bullying affected students, and how these were real people with feelings. Through this activity, Noah stated, that students were also able to see that people were more than what they appeared, and that differences should be accepted. Students would write on prompts but exclude any information that would identify them.

Connections to Curriculum

The Language Curriculum (2006) states that students “Writing activities that students see as meaningful and that challenge them to think creatively about topics and concerns of interest to them will lead to a fuller and more lasting command of the essential skills of writing,” (p. 12). In this assignment, students found the writing meaningful, as the topic of bullying was a concern to them and was an important part of their lived experience.

How I would implement this lesson in my class

This kind of anonymous journaling could be used to discuss a variety of equity issues, such as racism, sexism, or homophobia. You could also extend the activity globally, with students having a pen pal in another country so they could understand someone else’s cultural background. I would remember to explicitly discuss with students that they choose what they share, and they can keep any information private.

Resources

National Writing Project (2005). 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing. Retrieved on November 10, 2019, from https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922#Three.

Noah, H. (Teaching Tolerance). Anonymous Writing Partners: Anonymous journaling helps portray the reality of bullying. Retrieved on November 10, 2019, from https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/anonymous-writing-partners.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario curriculum grades 1‐8: Language [Writing]. (p. 12). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

6 Elements of SJE. (2010, October 8). Retrieved on November 10, 2019, from http://www.usingtheirwords.org/6elements/.