Meanwhile, Nepantla Teachers, a group of math educators focused on social justice in their work, asked several educators to contribute a resolution for the new year. Here’s mine:
I'm resolving to spend as much time next year thinking about student lives outside of school as I do their lives inside of school. Teaching and curriculum have enormous influence on student learning but the influence of those in-school factors is dwarfed by out-of-school factors like housing and food security. So I'm resolving to practice humanizing pedagogies and to protest school closures in my city, to create interesting mathematical activities and to urge my representatives to protect and expand social programs. I'm resolving to ignore the distinction between educator and citizen.
Click through to read resolutions from thoughtful people like Carl Oliver, Hema Khodai, Idil Abdulkadir, Marian Dingle, Makeda Brome, and Tyrone Martinez-Black.
1 Comment
Chester Draws
January 16, 2020 - 1:05 am -Teachers have to be careful here. We are not paid to be crusaders. We are paid to teach.
If we do political stuff in our own time, no problem. If we let it distract us from our job we are just making the situation worse. We are failing our students directly, in an effort to show how wonderful *we* are.
Countries with highly politicised teacher bodies tend to have poor education systems. Because capable but non-political people are scared off. If going all political makes good teachers leave, then it is a self-inflicted injury.
Personally, I think teachers need to be political. But keep it to themselves. Resist the temptation to show off how awesome they are because they *really* care.