I read the chapters of Toni Billingsley and Nancy Serrano. The theme throughout the book is identity, but it wasn’t apparent in these two chapters. These two educator’s stories reflected their expectation of students and the impact of the community. Ms. Billingsley is an African American middle school Spanish teacher at a charter school. Billingsley’s chapter talks about her expectations for her students and her impact on the school’s community. “The problem hadn’t been simply a difference in skin color, Toni explained, but rather a clash of expectations” (p 129). She goes on to say that, “you bring something different into the classroom as a teacher than I bring into the classroom”, however, emphasizes the point of being there for the students. Ms. Serrano is a Hispanic/Latina middle school language arts teacher at an inner-city school. Ms. Serrano’s story does reflect on her identity, but it’s mostly on her expectations and goals for her students. She wants students to take ownership of their learning and to be critical, thoughtful learners. “You know what you want to get across, but you don’t want to force it on them, she said. ‘You want them to bring things up themselves so that they could take ownership.” (p. 161) ![]() These educators are all women of color. Thus, they can relate or reflect with their students about their identities. These educators inspire their students to learn more about themselves through their eight identities. The eight identities being age, ability, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion. The first issue of equity is race. These women are all educators of color. They use their identities to create a driven curriculum for students to make meaningful connections. Ms. Kirby uses The Autobiography of Malcolm X to empower students and their communities. Ms. Nambo decided to participate in this book to continue the conversation of the negotiating relationships imbalanced by race and power dynamics. Ms. Lin made antiracist teaching a priority in her class and took steps to make it more than a black and white issue. She believes Asians get left out of the conversation. Ms. Billingsley is trying to help students see their world with new eyes and look out for worlds previously unknown to them. Ms. Serrano provides lessons on race and power in school because racism and societal manifestations are rarely talked about explicitly. One issue of equity is socioeconomic status. All of these women have experienced socioeconomic status equity themselves or in their workplace. Ms. Kirby discusses the importance of credit with her students because she experienced the “trap” of credit. Ms. Nambo witnessing her students’ status and coming to terms with her newfound status. Ms. Lin’s school supplies for teaching come out of the teacher’s pocket rather than having a budget for these items due to poor leadership and test accountability. Ms. Billingsley’s school budgets scramble for money and her fundraising for a class trip to Mexico due to test accountability. Ms. Serrano’s experience from childhood to adulthood, plus her discussion with the students about the graduation ceremony. These educators are combating it by using their own experiences and expectations of their students to drive social justice learning. These educators inspire their students to take their own identities to fuel change in their communities.
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AuthorHello, I'm a senior at St. Edward's University. This blog is dedicated to Teachers College Press teaching social justice series. Archives
November 2020
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