The possibilities of teaching for, with, and about social justice in a public middle school

Abstract

Rolling Hills Middle School has begun the implementation of a personalized learning model with one house of 50 8th grade students. This personalized learning (PL) model promotes collaborative work among groups of students and supports student choice and agency as it fosters learner independence. This qualitative, interpretive case study used student and teacher to focus group data, interviews, classroom observations, and artifacts to document the implementation of PL in its first year. The purpose of this paper is to consider how a personalized, learner-centered environment has authentically led to teaching for, with, and about social justice (Wager, 2008) within the classroom.

Keywords:

• collaborative learning
• personalized learning
• social justice
• middle school

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dana Hagerman

Dana Hagerman, Ph.D., is an associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the School of Education at Edgewood College in Madison, WI. Email: [email protected]

Suzanne Porath

Suzanne Porath, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. Email: [email protected]