Hello Future/Current Teachers

EDUC 575 | By: Isabella Lima

Teaching is can be hard, and teachers are underpaid, undervalued, and underappreciated. We often talk about how terrible teachers can be or all of their mistakes, yet we fail to recognize all of the hard work and effort they put into planning lessons. But what we’re going to talk about today is how to engage in abolitionist teaching. For those of you that have never heard of abolitionist teaching before it means “choosing to engage in the struggle for educational justice knowing that you have the ability and human right to refuse oppression and refuse to oppress others, mainly your students” (Love, pg.11). This type of teaching means throwing everything out of the window and starting from scratch. It includes engaging with your students creatively and encouraging them to think critically. Talking about subjects that aren’t included in the State’s plan for education, or even reading books by authors that identify as BIPOC. It means encouraging diversity and empowering students by including their different identities in the classroom. It is a way of teaching that goes against what we are used to seeing in classrooms. But that’s the whole point because the current system we have in place is oppressing BIPOC children and instead of thriving, they are merely surviving.

Now, I’m not saying this is an easy change because it’s not. You will definitely face whiplash from parents, school administrators, and even government officials; however, any small change that you make would be beneficial to your students. Creating a curriculum that is based on abolitionist teaching can be hard but there are excellent resources by Dr. Bettina Love that promote abolitionist teaching. This can be done in different ways that we will talk about later in this post. I personally have worked with organizations that try to bring abolitionist teaching to life with tutoring. The current non-profit I work for has a program that incorporates racial equity and resiliency in after school tutoring opportunities for youth from elementary to middle school students. These sorts of opportunities are a great alternative for youth to participate in after school, especially for BIPOC students who don’t feel supported in the current school system. Since I am a tutor I have first-hand experience of how hard lesson planning is, and I can’t even imagine planning an entire day of teaching. However, it is possible to include it in lessons in all subjects.

Here are some examples of ways that you can include abolitionist teaching into your lesson planning:

• Including BIPOC folx into examples in different subjects such as science. This is one of the easiest ways to promote inclusivity and teach the students about people of color who are often forgotten about in their fields.
• Encouraging different cultures that are in the classroom and allowing students to share their culture in a creative way. Promoting the intersectionality that many students are trying to figure out how to manage.
• Encouraging the language diversity and not reprimanding students for speaking a different language.
• Introducing students to different topics that are currently in the news because a lot of these students are experiencing the consequences of racism and discrimination. A good example of this would be the Radical Brownies video where these young girls were actively talking about subjects such as Transphobia and engaging in marches and protests towards equity and inclusion.
• Having books/art/posters from BIPOC individuals, especially for young children including children books that are representative of racial/ethnic populations and not just during the dedicated months of heritage that is supposed to honor them.
• Asking for training that actually helps teachers in encouraging diversity within classrooms to the school administrators, or organizing events/after school opportunities that are can be safe spaces for students to talk about their experiences such as a healing time or community circles.

These are just a few ideas that can be implemented in schools, but there are many more that I haven’t listed here. Reach out to others, talk to teachers in different schools, attend talks and conferences that focus on abolitionist teachings. Actively create open and honest communication with your students and the teachers in your school. This won’t solve the problems within the public education system but it will help students of color learn better and feel more included in the classroom. I hope this blog provided you with some ideas or even resources on what abolitionist teaching is and how to incorporate it in your lessons.

References

Love, Bettina L. 2019. We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Pgs 1–15.