Becoming a Social Justice Educator: A Guide With Practice

The curiosity-stirring, can-do handbook for building inclusive cultures

With one click we can make our camera lens switch from portrait to landscape, so why can’t we find a simple way to broaden our perspectives on equity? Because human beings are wildly complex, for one thing. But this potent guide simplifies, providing concrete techniques for becoming expansive educators capable of engaging every student. Chapter assets include:

• Compelling research to support why it’s urgent we embrace foundational fairness—and why even subtle words can have massive effects on students’ sense of potential
• Questions and prompts that help you build inclusive thinking into your expectations of students, your feedback, grading, and approaches to discipline
• Activities, discussion frames, and debate structures that support students’ exploration of complex topics
• Ideas for engaging staff, leadership, family, and the community in ways that reveal strength

Social justice work is not “other;” it’s not extra. It’s student agency work. It’s what keeps so many of us educators up at night, worried about why some of our learners aren’t engaged. With this book, they will be engaged, because they will know you believe in their abilities, and now know how to show that every day.

The curiosity-stirring, can-do handbook for building inclusive cultures

With one click we can make our camera lens switch from portrait to landscape, so why can’t we find a simple way to broaden our perspectives on equity? Because human beings are wildly complex, for one thing. But this potent guide simplifies, providing concrete techniques for becoming expansive educators capable of engaging every student. Chapter assets include:

• Compelling research to support why it’s urgent we embrace foundational fairness—and why even subtle words can have massive effects on students’ sense of potential
• Questions and prompts that help you build inclusive thinking into your expectations of students, your feedback, grading, and approaches to discipline
• Activities, discussion frames, and debate structures that support students’ exploration of complex topics
• Ideas for engaging staff, leadership, family, and the community in ways that reveal strength

Social justice work is not “other;” it’s not extra. It’s student agency work. It’s what keeps so many of us educators up at night, worried about why some of our learners aren’t engaged. With this book, they will be engaged, because they will know you believe in their abilities, and now know how to show that every day.