Integrating social justice into middle grades teacher education

Abstract

In middle grades teacher education, the literature regarding issues of diversity, equity, and social justice practices is exceptionally sparse. In keeping with recent arguments about the state of middle grades education, we contend that middle grades teacher education programs, including ours, are not where they need to be in preparing teachers to meet the needs of every young adolescent learner. In this paper, we explore our ongoing adventures reconceptualizing a middle grades teacher education program at a comprehensive, research-intensive public university in the southeast. We describe how our commitment to critical pedagogies, one of the signature commitments of our middle grades program, appeared within our teacher candidates’ first course in the program. More specifically, the course we highlight introduces justice-oriented ways of knowing and being that we continue to reinforce throughout the two-year initial certification program. We conclude the article by describing our plans to strengthen the program’s focus on the role of middle grades educators as change agents prepared and willing to push back against oppressive systems and practices to support social justice and equity for every young adolescent in their homes, schools, and communities.

Keywords:

• equity
• middle grades
• middle level
• social justice
• teacher education

Notes

¹ Middle Level Curriculum Project members: Jerry Adrian, John Arnold, James A. Beane, David Brauny, Edward Brazee, Judith Brough, Gail Burnaford, John Daly, Janet Hagen, Richard Halle, Jane Howell, Kathy Jochman, Sandra Johannsen, David Larkin, B. J. Lavrakas, Brenda Leake, Thomas Lo Guidice, Lee McDonough, Thomas Morris, Mary Lochner-Olson, Gary Peal, Judy Peppard, Ellen Shiflet, Preston Smeltzer, Robert Skaife, James Stoltenberg, Robert Stone, Marianne Strozewski, Martin Tadlock, Gordon Vars, and Lynn Wallich.

² Given that this class is about community contexts, we embrace the use of social media, such as the hashtag, because of its prevalence in all facets of life. The use of hashtags may not exist forever, but in our current contexts they find meaning in all parts of speech.

³ In keeping with an overall effort to use gender-neutral language, we are choosing to use “themselves” as a gender- neutral pronoun rather than “himself or herself.” See Andrews (2017), for more information on the Associated Press decision to include gender-neutral pronouns in their Stylebook.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

P. Gayle Andrews

P. Gayle Andrews, Ph.D., is professor of middle grades education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Email: [email protected]

Matthew J. Moulton

Matthew J. Moulton, Ph.D., is assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the Bayh College of Education at Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN. Email: [email protected]

Hilary E. Hughes

Hilary E. Hughes, Ph.D., is associate professor of middle grades education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Email: [email protected]