Critical Practices:
• Critical Engagement with Materials
• Supporting All Learners Through Differentiation
• Supporting Student Action
• Cooperative and Collaborative Learning
• Social Justice-Based Assessment, Evaluation and Grading
Educator and author Lee Anne Bell, Ed.D., provides an excellent analysis of social justice in the Learning for Justice article “What Is Social Justice Education?” Bell defines the critical role of social justice education as: “[providing] tools to examine the structural features of oppression and our own socialization within unjust systems. It helps us develop awareness of injustice in our personal lives, communities, institutions and the broader society. Such an education enables us to develop empathy and commitment, as well as skills and tools for acting with others to interrupt and change oppressive patterns and behaviors in ourselves and the institutions and communities of which we are a part. Understanding the dynamics of oppression is important for developing effective strategies to counteract it.”
That understanding of social justice can inform the selection or development of curriculum (what is taught) and the practice of instruction (how the content is taught). The topics and strategies in this section provide educators with tools to build students’ understanding of justice and help them develop skills to take action and participate in a diverse democracy.
