Chapter 9: Beyond the Common Core: Teaching Social Studies and Literacy for Social Justice

I sat with Tanisha during her first week of school to learn how she enacted social justice-oriented lessons in the classroom. Tanisha was then a second year, fifth grade teacher in Harlem, New York. In describing her vision for social justice teaching, she shared a hope for her students to “not accept everything.” She explained, “I want them [my students] to feel it [social justice] in their heart. I want them to question things. I want them to know they have a voice and to use it. I want them to know that they come from a long history of people that stood up and did something and they could be part of that.” As a social justice educator, Tanisha hoped to prepare her students to question and think about the world around them and be inspired to make change in their community.