5 Ways to Implement Abolitionist Teaching in Your Classroom

EDUC 575 | By: Emily Banks

Hello Teachers!

Educators have such a powerful role in society. It is a position that allows you to help shape the lives of young people, supporting them in their dreams, helping them create and pursue their goals. The education system isn’t as equitable as one would hope. Although we’ve reached several Civil Rights milestones within U.S. History, there still lingers inequitable institutions, even within schools. While overt attitudes regarding race, gender, religion, and sexuality may appear more tolerant than in previous years, institutional discrimination works on a more internal, subtle level, and it can be much harder to change.

Institutional discrimination is embedded in our laws and policies; it’s the messages we hear at church, in schools, in the workplace; and it influences the way we think and behave. Many of these thoughts develop through the unspoken attitudes and beliefs of the people around you. Bobbie Harro states that members of groups that benefit from inequitable rules may not notice the discrepancies in the treatment of marginalized groups (p. 48). If you fall into one of the more privileged groups, it may feel like you can’t do anything to change these inequalities, but that’s not true! Today I am going to share a pedagogy with you called: Abolitionist Teaching.

While the term “abolitionist” might sound like advocacy for anarchy, you shouldn’t fear the terminology. Let’s unpack abolitionism in teaching together! Abolitionist teaching, as defined by University of Georgia professor Dr. Bettina Love is: “the practice of working in solidarity with communities of color while drawing on the imagination, creativity, refusal, (re)membering, visionary thinking, healing, rebellious spirit, boldness, determination, and subversiveness of abolitionists to eradicate injustice in and outside of schools.” (p.2).

In other words, abolition is not the destruction of the education system, rather it’s recognizing, dismantling, and replacing practices and systems that continue to disproportionately disadvantage marginalized youth. Abolitionist teaching includes intersectionality, meaning all of a child’s identities (race, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, language) should be considered because they create a more holistic picture of each individual student and their experiences. Abolitionist teaching seeks to create truly equitable opportunities for students. Interested in adopting abolitionist teaching in your classroom? Here are 5 ways to get started!

1. Learn

The first step to becoming an abolitionist teacher is to educate yourself on what abolitionist teaching means. Read literature, such as Dr. Love’s book: “We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom.” Be comfortable and open, even if the content is hard to process at first. Lean into your discomfort and challenge the dominant narratives we’ve been exposed to throughout our own lives. It’s never too late to change your mindset based on new information.

2. Transition to restorative justice.

Restorative justice is an alternative to punitive discipline policies, such as zero tolerance. Zero-tolerance policies are not only inequitably distributed, but they remove students from the learning environment. Restorative justice aims to heal the community, encourage communication, promote accountability, and reintegrate students into the classroom. Dr. Love believes restorative justice is focused on “restoring humanity, not just rules” (p.7) and helps us make students feel like they matter (because they do!).

3. Participate in civic engagement.

Civic engagement is taking an active role in your community. Voting is a common form of civic engagement, but there are so many avenues of engagement to explore! Other examples of civic engagement can include: attending demonstrations for immigrant rights, advocating for the abolition of zero-tolerance policies in schools, volunteering with or donating to grassroots organizations helping marginalized communities, educating students on current events, and more! Encourage your students to get involved in civic engagement as well, potentially creating assignments that incorporate community involvement!

4. Adjust your curriculum.

Although most teachers have to follow a specific curriculum mandated by the state, I encourage you to get creative in how you deliver information or teach necessary skills. This could include introducing new books that are more representative of different identities into the classroom library or lesson plan, teaching lessons in the context of the students’ local and cultural backgrounds, or designing assignments that develop student agency. Classroom discussions, primary source reading, and encouraging students to develop and utilize knowledge across disciplines are all great ways to help with fostering critical thinking and agency in students.

5. Speak up!

One of the hardest parts about advocacy is calling out family and peers for using hurtful language or expressing bias against a specific group of people. However uncomfortable or intimidating these conversations may be, they are necessary in order to encourage a shift in mindset. Dialogue is such a powerful tool to share ideas or raise awareness. Remember to take a deep breath, collect your thoughts (and facts!), and open dialogue by respectfully calling out the behavior. It may take a few tries, but don’t give up!

Abolitionist teaching is love, it is inclusivity, it is empowerment. It will take work, but don’t let the challenges deter you from making a positive difference in your classroom. Lean into the challenge, dedicate yourself to creating an equitable future for your students, and always be willing to learn more! Additional resources are provided below.

— -

Emily Banks

Additional Resources

• Article highlighting Dr. Bettina Love

Book ideas to include in your classroom library:

• 6 Books To Read To Talk About Race in the Classroom: For Middle and High School Students
• 9 Books I’m Using In My Future Elementary School Classroom
• Celebrating Latinx Heritage Month
• Why You Should Use Dual-Language Books In The Classroom

School-to-Prison Pipeline/School Discipline/Restorative Justice

• Understanding the School-To-Prison Pipeline
• Why We Should Implement Restorative Justice in Our Schools

Talking about race in the classroom

• BLM in the Classroom

References

Harro, B. (n.d.). The Cycle of Socialization (pp. 45–52).

Love, B. (2019). In We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom (pp. 1–15).