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Equity & Excellence in Education, 40: 156–165, 2007 c University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Education Copyright  ISSN 1066-5684 print /1547-3457 online DOI: 10.1080/10665680701221313 Service-Learning for Social Justice in the Elementary Classroom: Can We Get There from Here? Rahima C. Wade This article focuses on 40 elementary school teachers’ efforts to involve their students in social justice-oriented servicelearning experiences and the struggles and support they encounter in doing so. The service-learning activities described here begin with student interest and initiative and focus on advocacy and concerted efforts to right unjust situations. With teacher support and guidance, students consider multiple perspectives and challenge the status quo. At times they accomplish their aims; in other cases, success is found in students learning valuable life lessons about the skills and long-term effort needed to effect change. Struggles with state mandates, required curriculum, colleagues, and parents are discussed, as well as the creative and subversive measures teachers use to address these challenges. C ommunity service-learning—the integration of school or community-based service activities with academic skills and structured reflection— is a growing movement nationally in the field of education. With funding and initiatives at the federal, state, and private levels, service-learning programs have proliferated in the nation’s K-12 classrooms as well as in colleges and universities. The popularity of service-learning among the nation’s K-12 educators rests primarily on its ability to promote students’self-esteem and civic responsibility. Critics of service-learning, however, point to its limitations in helping students develop a commitment to social justice by working for long-term systemic change through both social and political channels (Boyle-Baise, 2002; Kahne & Westheimer, 1996; Wade, 2000, 2001). Too often, service-learning projects neglect to include a focus on the root causes of the problem at hand; nor are students often encouraged to question why the need for service exists in the first place. This article focuses on elementary school teachers’ efforts to involve their students in social justice-oriented service learning experiences and the struggles and support they encounter in doing so. In order to make a case for the value and practicality of elementary level social-justice-oriented service-learning experiences, several tasks are in order. First, I discuss the defining features of service-learning aimed at social justice goals. Next, I argue that this work holds distinct advantages Address correspondence to Rahima C. Wade, University of Iowa, College of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Lindquist Center N 291, Iowa City, IA 52242. E-mail: rahima-wade@uiowa.edu 156 over traditional approaches to service-learning and that it is a valuable pursuit for the elementary school. Finally, I present examples from elementary teachers’ practice that illustrate both the strengths and limitations of their social justice work. WHAT IS SERVICE-LEARNING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE? Describing service-learning for social justice first necessitates a definition of social justice. While individual understandings of social justice will necessarily be influenced by culture, historical context, and personal life experience, a definition of social justice will serve to ground the following discussion of community service-learning for social justice. Adams, Bell, and Griffin (1997), define a socially just society as one in which all members have their basic needs met. In addition, they note that in a just society all individuals are physically and psychologically safe and secure and able to develop to their full capacities and capable of interacting democratically with others. If a socially just society is one in which all people are accorded equal worth and opportunity, it follows that social justice is incompatible with any form of prejudice or discrimination based on race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, or any other factor. To be authentic and relevant for elementary students, social justice education needs to begin with children’s lived experiences—their concerns, hopes, and dreams— and then move toward multiple perspectives and action directed toward social change (Adams et al., 1997; Bigelow, Christensen, Karp, Miner, & Peterson, 1994). ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM SOCIAL JUSTICE SERVICE-LEARNING Quality social justice education is: student-centered, collaborative, experiential, intellectual, analytical, multicultural, value-based and activist (Bigelow et al., 1994; Wade, 2001, 2004). Social justice-oriented educators ask their students “to develop their democratic capacities: to question, to challenge, to make real decisions, to collectively solve problems’’ (Bigelow et al., 1994, p. 4). High quality community service-learning activities share many of the same characteristics as social justice education. Both are aimed at ameliorating societal problems and both involve students working collectively with others to effect change (Wade, 2000). In fact, educators and policymakers can use the characteristics of social justice education listed above as a template for developing service-learning projects aimed at social justice goals. Table 1 illustrates what each of the characteristics might look like in service-learning practice. While few projects are likely to embody all of these characteristics, these characteristics do provide a model for projects that address social justice goals from planning to completion. An example will illustrate how a traditional servicelearning project can be transformed into a social justiceoriented one. A service-learning project on the topic of homelessness might typically involve collecting clothing and blankets for a shelter or serving meals at the local soup kitchen. With a few additions, this project could incorporate a social justice emphasis. First, teacher and students could discuss the different reasons that people become homeless and the needs homeless people have beyond food and clothing. Students could explore the range of services provided to homeless people in their community (such as housing offices and job centers) and, in concert with interviewing agency workers and homeless individuals, if possible, determine what resources and services are still needed to enable people to move toward the goal of working and living on their own. Students could write to or speak with public officials and assist with fundraising to establish additional services, such as setting up a mail service, health clinic, job training class, or a telephone message system at the shelter through which employers and job seekers can contact each other. With teacher guidance, students could also learn about state and national organizations working to solve the problem of homelessness and assist with fundraising or advocacy to further their work. 157 Table 1 Principles of Social Justice-Oriented Service-Learning Social Justice Education Student-centered Collaborative Experiential Intellectual Analytical Multicultural Value-based Activist Examples in Service-Learning Practice Students are involved in choosing the issue of concern for their service-learning project. Students are asked to explain how this issue connects with their own lives. Students collaborate with their classmates, others in the school, and most importantly, the recipients of the service, in the design and conduct of the service-learning project. Students are actively engaged in community needs assessment, research, and project development as well as service activities in the school and/or community. Students seek out a variety of sources with multiple perspectives as they study and analyze the issue they have chosen. They also use subject matter skills and knowledge to plan and carry out their service-learning project. Students examine the root causes of the problem they are addressing. They consider whose voices have been excluded and what their own role is in relation to the problem. Students adopt an inclusive approach to the problem they are addressing, in terms of understanding the issue from diverse perspectives and also in terms of whom they involve and how they work together on the problem. Students acknowledge the controversial nature of aspects of the problem they are addressing. They examine and discuss the values involved. Students engage in direct and/or indirect service as well as advocacy aimed at creating a more socially just society. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF SERVICE-LEARNING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE? From Wade, 2001. The social justice-oriented homelessness project described above differs in several significant ways from traditional types of service-learning. Customarily, students serve the school or community by addressing a problem or need in the environment or within a given population (e.g., senior citizens, people with disabilities, those who are hungry or poor). Typically such projects are carried out through collaboration with a community agency as a partner. Projects are most often aimed at meeting the needs of individuals as defined by the agency, using strategies that do not question prevailing societal norms and practices. 158 RAHIMA C. WADE The concept of service-learning that I propose here goes beyond meeting individual needs and maintaining the status quo. Social justice-oriented service-learning involves inquiring about the root causes of societal problems and, in addition to serving individuals, attempting to influence those causes at a structural level. Traditional service-learning programs’ typically discrete focus on meeting individual needs limits the power of service-learning to effect broad-based changes in both students and the communities in which they serve. Too often, program leaders are more concerned with students’ personal, social, and academic development from a charitable orientation than they are with working to question prevailing practice and to create meaningful change in society (Wade, 2000). Rarely do students in service-learning programs consider the root causes of the structural inequities that have led to the need for service (Wade, 2000). Nor do service-learning students often taken action to address injustice through advocacy or political action (Kahne & Westheimer, 1996). While traditional forms of service-learning have many benefits for both students and communities, my point is this: If, as educators, we want to work toward lessening oppression and inequity in significant ways, we would be wise to consider issues beyond immediate individual needs. Further, in order to effectively address social justice issues, we must be dedicated over the long term, as oppression and inequity in our society are persistent problems. Even if we are primarily concerned with what our students learn from their service-learning involvement, social justice service-learning may prove more instrumental. Paulo Freire, and a number of authors influenced by his work, cautioned about the potential dangers of charitable work that did not include a critical examination of the social and political forces that created the need for charity in the first place (Maybach, 1996). Without a critical analysis of the conditions that promote poverty, for example, it is too easy for the provider of help to blame the recipient for his or her condition, a dynamic that may be present in certain types of charitable community service (Maybach, 1996). While meeting individual needs in the community is an important aspect of effective citizenship, our democracy depends on its citizens’ willingness and ability to examine current social problems, to evaluate how they have developed over time, and to consider new directions in creating a better society for us all. An important part of the civic mission of schooling is helping students understand and work toward our societal creed of “justice for all.’’ Service-learning for social justice is service to a cause, an ideal—indeed—to the vision of a wholly just society. It does not ignore individual needs, but neither does it neglect to consider the long-term structural issues behind the problems at hand. DOES SERVICE-LEARNING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE EDUCATION BELONG IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? The complexity of social justice issues might lead one to think that such topics should be relegated to higher education or political “think tanks.’’ Yet it is precisely because these problems are so pervasive and persistent that service-learning for social justice should begin in the earliest years of schooling. If students are to develop a commitment to social justice ideals, this work should begin in the elementary years when children are concerned with “fairness’’ and when their empathy and perspective taking abilities are developing. While elementary school efforts will, of necessity, be simpler than those at the high school or college level, it is important that teachers at this level lay the ground work for students to question and pursue justice issues of interest and relevance to their young lives. This is not to say that the work is easy. Several aspects of service-learning for social justice prove especially challenging at the elementary level. Discussing social justice issues in the classroom can be difficult, given their complexity and controversial nature. Some equate “social justice’’ with left wing politics, which could be problematic in many communities. Social justice efforts do tend to focus on questioning the power structures in our society and thus often have a political dimension. And working for social justice usually involves activities focused on long-term change, rather than on immediate observable benefits. Yet if educators are to give students the skills and knowledge needed to address the increasing poverty, discrimination, and other inequities in our society, approaches beyond meeting individual needs are critical. And there are many benefits for students in this work as well. Pelo and Davidson (2000), anti-bias early childhood educators, asserted: Activism is an empowering process for young children; it calls on them to flex their social, emotional, intellectual and sometimes even their physical muscles. They work together to solve complex problems, make forays out into the adult community, ask questions, and declare their feelings. (p. 9) But can we “get there from here’’? Can we transform service-learning practice from its current state to fulfill social justice goals? What are the challenges in elementary level social justice teaching and how successful are teachers in addressing them? These questions prompted my efforts to learn from elementary teachers across the country who involve their students in service-learning aimed at social justice goals. The findings focus on stories of promising practice and unmet possibilities as well as on teachers’ struggles and sources of support as they ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM SOCIAL JUSTICE SERVICE-LEARNING attempt to teach for social justice in an often restrictive educational system. TALKING TO SOCIAL JUSTICE TEACHERS: AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH All of the teachers I interviewed self-selected for this study by responding to an e-mail invitation sent out through social justice education organizations and teacher educators I know who teach about social justice. The e-mail message included the following brief description to help teachers self-identify in a way that would be consistent with the current literature on social justice education. “Social justice education empowers students to analyze the root causes of injustice, promote equal opportunity for all people, and learn from multiple perspectives on an issue or topic within a collaborative, experiential approach to teaching and learning.’’ METHODS Participants Many teachers responded with enthusiasm to the invitation to talk about their social justice work in the classroom. The 40 teacher participants in this study range in age from 24 to 63, with a mean age of 43.8 years. Years of teaching range from 2 to 35 years, with a mean of 13.3 years taught. Almost half of the teachers (n = 18) have taught 10 years or less; 9 of the teachers have been teaching for more than 20 years. Most teachers have had a broad range of experience within the elementary grades, and several have taught preschool, middle, or high school as well. Looking at the most recent elementary grade level taught at the time of the study for each teacher, 20 taught at the primary (K-3) level, 16 at the intermediate (4-6) level, and 4 identified their teaching positions as K-6. The teacher participants represent a more diverse sample than one would find in the population of elementary teachers in the United States as a whole.1 There are 34 women and 6 men; almost a quarter identified their ethnicity as other than white (n = 9; 2 Puerto Rican, 2 Mexican American, 4 African American, and 1 Arab American). Several teachers also identified themselves as being from other targeted/oppressed groups in society (gay, lesbian, Jewish, poor). Twenty-three of the teachers taught in urban settings, 13 in suburban towns, and 4 in rural communities. All of the urban teachers and many of those teaching in rural and suburban settings indicated they taught ethnically diverse student populations. Data Collection Each teacher participated in a one to two hour interview, either individually or in a small focus group. 159 Following a semi-structured format, I used a set of specific questions to frame the interviews (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). I asked teachers to reflect on how, why, and with what resources they teach for and/or about social justice. I also asked them to define what “social justice’’ and “teaching for social justice’’ meant to them. Teachers described both the teaching strategies and social studies topics they focus on when teaching about social justice. Several questions addressed what motivates and sustains these teachers in their efforts to teach for social justice as well as the challenges they experience and how they overcome them. Each teacher also completed an information sheet that asked for the teacher’s name, age, gender, ethnicity, number of years teaching, past teaching positions, present teaching position, and relevant life experiences and interests in regard to teaching for social justice. When possible, I interviewed teachers in person at their school sites; this was the case for 13 of the teachers. I interviewed five other teachers face to face in their homes or at professional conferences. Due to limitations with time and funding to travel, I conducted the remainder of the interviews over the phone. I taperecorded all interviews and I, along with a graduate student and professional staff in the University of Iowa College of Education, transcribed the tapes verbatim. With funding from the National Council for the Social Studies, I was able to convene a three-day meeting bringing together 10 of the 40 teachers to engage in focus group dialogues about their work, the strategies they find most useful, the topics most compelling, the challenges they face, and the ways in which they create support for their work. I also observed two of the ten teachers for two days each to get a more in-depth look at their classroom practice.2 Data Analysis I analyzed all interview and focus group transcripts and observation notes using the grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Patton, 1980), reading and re-reading the data while searching for salient themes. I used several of Krueger’s (1994) systematic steps to organize both the data gathering and subsequent analysis: (1) sequencing questions to allow for maximum insight, (2) tape-recording the data, (3) coding data for emergent themes, and (4) participant verification of the written report. Each teacher was mailed a copy of his or her transcript and invited to send additional comments, additions, or deletions as they desired. The coding process involved data reduction and categorization for the purpose of gaining new insights about the phenomena under study (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996). While the focus of this analysis was primarily on those findings that pervaded many teachers’ experiences, I was also attendant 160 RAHIMA C. WADE to participants’ divergent views and discrepant experiences (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The teachers’ stories of their daily efforts to promote social justice in their students’ lives and in the world provide an array of possibilities for how kindergarten through sixth grade students can engage in social action for worthy causes. The experiences recounted also point to the many challenges and limitations teachers encounter as they attempt to integrate social justiceoriented service-learning in their classrooms, schools, and communities. TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES OF SERVICE-LEARNING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE As I listened to teachers describe the varied social justice service-learning projects in their classrooms and communities, one fact was immediately evident. There is no blueprint for this work; the teacher, the students, the curriculum, the classroom, school climate, community values, and a host of other factors uniquely shape each project. Despite the differences, there are several elements of high quality social justice teaching that featured prominently in many teachers’ practice. This discussion begins with three strengths of teachers’ practice— encouraging students’ questions, introducing multiple perspectives for letter writing, and modeling activism— and then moves to important elements that are more often omitted. Encouraging Students’ Questions Beginning with students’ interests and concerns and encouraging them to ask questions about the injustice they observe in their daily lives or communities provided a starting point for many projects. For example, Laurie, a fourth-grade teacher in inner city Philadelphia, shared the following story: One year I had a group of girls who desperately wanted to play ball in the schoolyard. There actually was this rule (I can’t even believe it—this is the 21st century) a rule that said that there was a separation on the fields. Boys and girls, they were not allowed to play together. The girls had jump ropes and jacks and whatever, and the boys had the ball equipment, baseball and stuff. . . . Anyway, I had girls in my room who knew that they could bring this up in the classroom and it could be discussed, and we could figure out ways. They wrote a petition and sent it around (These are nine-year-old girls.) . . . to the whole school and had it signed by, I don’t know, 150 people, and that rule got changed. They did that; I didn’t do that. While Laurie emphasized her students’ empowerment in taking action, it is clear that her support was critical. The fact that the girls “knew they could bring this up in the classroom’’ was instrumental in their working for social change on the playground. Laurie’s students are not unusual in encountering school rules or student behaviors they find unjust. What makes this classroom experience somewhat unusual is Laurie’s encouragement of her students taking action. Teachers for social justice support students’ initiative to identify and work on solving social problems. The first and second graders in Molly’s class provide another example of student-led social action. Her students were concerned about the wastefulness of the Styrofoam trays used and thrown away each day in the lunchroom. After students worked with parents and school employees to collect a variety of data about the problem, they arranged to have a meeting with the director of food services for the district. This little girl, Cheryl, the one who was really big on “Where’s the evidence?’’ . . . gathered the evidence together. (These are first and second graders). She said, “Now listen, when this man comes in here, it’s really important that you don’t scare him. We know that we’re right, and we have all these good reasons and stuff, but we should be respectful, and we shouldn’t yell at him, and we shouldn’t try to scare him.’’ Then a minute later this guy walked into the room . . . this huge guy with this really deep booming voice. These little kids were not daunted at all. They invited him to sit down in one of these pint size chairs in front of an easel. It just struck me. I mean, when I was 6 or 7 years old, I would have been terrified. The idea of talking with a grown-up about changing something about how they work, I would have been shaking in my boots. These kids were confident and poised. [The director of food services told the students], “We already bought 200,000 of these Styrofoam in bulk so we’re going to use them until they’re used up.’’ But the kids had responses. They said, “You could just use the plastic ones and they could be washed.’’ [He said], “Washing costs money too.’’ They said, “That’s a job for someone that lives in our community.’’ There was a real back and forth . . . They had a lot of comebacks for his different responses. In the end he said, “I’ll consider it.’’ It turned out that he was actually leaving his job a couple of weeks later. It was interesting to see the kids’ response. After he left, this one little girl said, “You know, Mrs. Kelly, the next time that students do a meeting like this you should have them think of more ‘what if’ questions before the person comes.’’ They didn’t feel defeated at all. They felt like even though they had done this very rigorous preparation they recognized that they could have prepared even more. (Molly) Both Laurie’s and Molly’s students chose issues that affected them but also had consequences for others. Are these service-learning projects or self-serving acts? Perhaps they are both. Recess play and lunch tray use are issues that affect students, yet they also reflect larger issues of injustice in regard to gender equity and the environment. ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM SOCIAL JUSTICE SERVICE-LEARNING Again, it is important to note that teachers’ support for and dedication to student empowerment was critical to their students asking questions and taking action. With social action projects, I don’t say, “Well, this is the project, we’re gonna do this,’’ but the students, often when we’re dealing with an issue, they will want to do something and then I’ll say, “Well, what do you think you can do?’’ and they will start brainstorming different possibilities. Some of them would be completely impossible to carry out, but at least they are coming up with ideas and usually from those ideas we can sort out what they could actually do. So I guess it’s real important to listen to the students’ voices, listen to their ideas. (Kara, an ESL teacher) Multiple Perspectives for Letter Writing Many of the teachers I interviewed provided opportunities for students to consider multiple perspectives on an issue and then to engage in advocacy through writing letters. In both the playground and lunchroom stories, students wrote letters to people in positions of power. Many teachers recounted stories of their students writing to the school principal, the mayor, the Governor, the President of the United States, members of Congress, or the CEOs of businesses. Jeffrey, a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher, assisted his students in taking action with regard to a situation that dealt with issues of power and class in their rural Colorado town. “The recreation center of the town I live in was being put aside . . . being kind of bumped out of the way by a golf course project from the local city council, which was going to be a much more lucrative effort,’’ shared Jeffrey. Welcoming multiple perspectives, Jeffrey brought in a variety of speakers including the mayor, council members, and people from various recreation centers and golf courses. After the students learned about the different positions on the issue, they wrote letters to the local paper advocating for the recreation center. Jeffrey noted, “I think we were helpful in getting the rec center built first. The golf course came along afterwards.’’Thoughtful preparation was important to the success of this project, again in regard to encouraging students’ questions. Jeffrey noted: I have students generate questions beforehand that are relevant to them, and then I send those questions ahead of time to the guest speaker. That really helps get speakers a little bit focused on kids ‘cause a lot of times they’re not used to kids and so that helps. Seren’s second graders were on a field trip and noticed that the lights were out in the entrance to the subway station underpass. After the students considered several possible ways to make a difference in their urban community, they took a vote to address the hazard. They 161 wrote to the commissioner of the Bronx Department of Transportation and produced a play for the school titled “Darkness and Danger.’’ Toward the end of the school year, Sam took his students on another field trip. As they approached the subway entrance, the children in the front of the line started screaming and yelling with happiness, leaving the students at the back of the line wondering what all the commotion was about. The lights had been fixed! One of the employees in the Department of Transportation had a second grade daughter herself and was impressed enough by the plea from Seren’s students to order the repair. Thus a shining light in the tunnel became a seemingly small yet powerful result of the concerns expressed by a group of eight- and nine-year-olds. Modeling Activism A third powerful strategy used by many of the teachers is engaging in and then talking about their own activism with students. Often student enthusiasm is a reflection of the teacher’s passion for and involvement with an issue. Kit is a fourth-grade teacher in Toledo, Ohio who is deeply invested in the Underground Railroad in her state. Kit shared, “We have a bicentennial this year and I’m on the Commission . . . I’m also writing curriculum for our state.’’ When the basement of a house owned by the Catholic Church down the road from Kit’s school was discovered to be a former stop on the Underground Railroad, Kit and her students went into action. “We had a lock-in with the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders and they raised money, $1400. I thought it would be four or five hundred dollars. They got pledges, they raised money by walking around the gym at night. We stayed all night at the school,’’shared Kit. Her students attended meetings about the house, talked at City Council meetings, involved their parents, and eventually garnered media recognition in the newspaper and on the Internet. While their efforts were not wholly successful (The basement bricks were numbered and moved to a new location when the house was dismantled), Kit believes the effort was valuable. “I feel that somewhere down the line they’ll be able to say that we did something to try to save this house. At least they can educate their own children about it.’’ Many other teachers noted how their own activism inspired their students to get involved. Seren frequently attends community rallies and marches and tells his students about them. His second graders pleaded to attend a rally so Seren took them to an event on school funding at City Hall. For several years, Molly has been working on inviting parents and students from her school to attend the annual Gay Pride March in her community. She has watched the numbers increase, albeit less quickly than she desires. Lindsey, a sixth-grade special needs teacher, noted: 162 RAHIMA C. WADE I think I need to model it for the students by living a life that is actively involved and I do that and tell the stories and share some of the experiences. . . . [It’s] a lot about modeling our responsibility as citizens of this planet to make a difference, to do something to make the world a better place. As the stories above indicate, elementary teachers can effectively inspire their students to engage in social justice-oriented service-learning through encouraging students to ask questions about issues of concern to them, considering multiple perspectives, and engaging in advocacy through letter writing. And when teachers model activism, students often are inspired and want to get involve themselves. Pelo and Davidsonm (2000), early childhood anti-bias educators, noted, “Children do indeed want to be change-makers. As children go about their work of noticing differences, they also recognize the inequity inherent in some of those differences and want to do something about it. They want to be activists!’’(p. 1). Missing Elements These teachers’social justice-oriented service-learning experiences have many strengths, but there are some missing elements as well. First, it is common for projects to “fail,’’ at least in the sense of leading to greater social justice. Elementary students do not always have the ability, influence, or persistence to really make a difference. But many elementary teachers measure “success’’ differently; they recognize that regardless of the outcome, their students are learning valuable skills in community activism. Teachers assert that the end result is not as important as the fact that students are caring, getting involved, and developing a set of strategies they can use in future social action projects. Still, one would hope that servicelearning for social justice would actually contribute to greater social justice in the school or community, and clearly that is not always the case. A second concern is related to both multiple perspectives and the value-based nature of service-learning for social justice. As I listened to teachers’ stories, it seemed that on some occasions teachers were indoctrinating their students to adopt a particular viewpoint on a controversial topic. While students were usually (though not always) introduced to multiple perspectives, it appeared that often students were persuaded to adopt the teacher’s perspective on the issue at hand. However, these teachers did not express any discomfort about indoctrinating their students toward a particular point of view or civic action (and when asked directly, denied that they were doing so). It is important that teachers do not completely plan or guide students’activism work in the direction that the teacher thinks is appropriate. “The children have the right to muddle around in the issues they encounter, to grow as critical thinkers and active learners’’ (Pelo & Davidson, 2000, p. 69). Best practice according to the model of social justice-oriented service-learning at the beginning of this article would necessitate both acknowledging the controversial and value-based aspects of the issue being addressed and encouraging students to take different paths if they wish to make a difference. Perhaps the most troubling “missing element’’ of teachers’ practice from a social justice perspective is addressing the root causes of the issues under study. Rarely did a teacher talk about involving students in exploring and understanding the larger issues of class, gender, power, environmental neglect, or other forms of oppression and inequity connected with their students’ servicelearning projects. This finding points to several key questions. Are such larger issues beyond the scope of young children’s interest or understanding? Do teachers face limitations or challenges that impede their efforts to engage in greater depth with their students? These are questions that merit further investigation in follow-up studies. We turn now to examining how teachers’ struggles and support impact their social justice teaching. STRUGGLES AND SUPPORT Social justice teachers talk with great enthusiasm about their efforts to help children make a difference in their schools and communities. Yet these efforts are not without considerable challenges. The ten teachers who participated in the focus groups spoke frankly about the many struggles they face day to day in teaching for social justice. They also shared their creative and sometimes subversive strategies for dealing with their struggles and finding support. Standards and Tests Teachers talked at length about their frustrations with district or state mandated standards and tests. This preoccupation with state curriculum frameworks, it’s all about testing. It’s not about learning. When I look at social studies, science, math, I’m really trying to help kids see the world and make sense of this place where we are and find a place in it and know who they are and learn how to be a change agent in their world. And that’s not what the state curriculum frameworks are about. (Molly) Laurie was even more exasperated: I think about leaving teaching all the time now. . . . I don’t actually want to do it, I love teaching and being with the kids. But I am also miserable. . . . I have to believe the tide will change back. I don’t think we’re going to stay in this big business place forever. Amy asked: Where’s the balance between mandating stuff that you know is good practice and giving opportunities for ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM SOCIAL JUSTICE SERVICE-LEARNING child-centered learning and for the kinds of things that come out of the needs of the community and the school and the parents working together? In response to their frustration, teachers have found ways to find time for social justice teaching and still fulfill their obligations to district mandates. Laurie is one of several of the teachers who will not teach to the test but does teach her students test-taking skills because she believes that “to not prepare them for it is wrong, whether I believe in it or not, because they have to take them.’’ Rebecca chooses broad themes, such as civil rights, and then fits her social justice activities under the social studies standards. She also meets other standards in reading and writing at the same time because she uses an integrated approach to instruction. Kara develops her curriculum and then looks for support in the state standards. For the past 12 years, Kit has been involved in helping to write the standards in her state. Several teachers emphasized that teaching for social justice is important to them and they are not being scrutinized by the administration so, as Molly put it, “I can teach pretty much the way I want.’’ Required Curricula Several teachers were very frustrated with some of the curricula they are required to teach. Complaints ranged from developmentally inappropriate topics, such as Explorers in first grade, to scripted teachers’ guides and unethical science activities. Kara was outraged that one of the science kits required an experiment with taping weights to snails for them to pull. It’s just the opposite of what I want to teach kids about living organisms, that we respect them, that if we borrow them we put them back into the environment where we got them. We don’t hurt them, we don’t use them for our own little games. (Kara) When Saphira moved to a new school, the other primary grade teachers expected her to teach the same curriculum that they had planned. She was not interested in “the cute little bears’’ unit, but she did agree “to let the nature lady come in January.’’ “She came and did her thing but it didn’t fit what I was doing,’’ Saphira noted. “I tried to do some things their way, because I didn’t want to make too many waves. I’m already making big waves anyway.’’ Again, teachers employed a variety of creative and subversive approaches to their dilemmas with required curricula. Molly developed her own way of teaching about explorers to her first graders. “I know that they know the difference between visit, explore, conquer, invade, occupy. They understand those things and I think that’s more important than what year did Balboa set foot on this little peak in the Pacific,’’ asserted Molly. With regard to science kits, Gaia noted that her school district 163 adopted them and then added, “Do I use them? That’s another question.’’ Kara quipped, “ If you don’t learn the three kinds of rocks in third grade, I’m sure you’ll have another opportunity at another point in your life where it might be easier to remember those long words.’’ Colleagues Not all of the teachers struggled with being accepted by their colleagues, but for those who did, this was often a painful aspect of their work lives. Laurie asserted, “Finding an ally is really kind of like finding a pea under the mattress.’’ Molly spoke about being seen as “elitist’’ and “feeling like an outsider’’because she had not gone to the same local high school and college as many of her colleagues. Several teachers emphasized that they felt pressured to prove themselves as “good teachers’’ (translated as having students achieve academically) because they were teaching differently than their colleagues. Molly admitted, “I don’t want to give people room to criticize me or how I teach, to say that this stuff that I’m doing is off the wall and besides the kids aren’t learning.’’ Amy and Molly both shared stories of innovative teaching practices that were criticized by their colleagues. In response to making home visits to her students’ families (a practice of several social justice teachers), Amy said, “I do get things like, that I shouldn’t do certain things because I make them look bad.’’ Molly countered, “Or they say, if you do that, the parents will expect us to do that.’’ In Molly’s school, several teachers went to the principal to complain about Molly offering a family math night at the school. They asked the principal to “make her stop.’’ Molly concluded, I feel as though there’s a lot of stuff that you have to do in the closet or do quietly. And it was funny that something like family math, which would seem like, how political is family math? It’s very political because it’s really about empowering parents to come into the classroom and have a say about math and that was something that was terribly threatening. Molly eventually resolved the problem with her colleagues by teaching parents how to lead the family math nights. On the positive side, several teachers spoke highly of their colleagues and how wonderful it was to work with a group of like-minded people. This was true for Seren, who works in a small school established with the support of parents and Gaia, who teaches kindergarten in an alternative public school in Seattle. Several of the teachers spoke about creative and assertive ways to reach out to their colleagues and develop a more supportive work environment. The strategies included posting student work in the hallway to initiate discussion and setting up book clubs or teacher autobiography sharing in the evening at each other’s homes. Rebecca found that “the best thing 164 RAHIMA C. WADE to do was to talk to the people who were against it and to seek to understand them’’ though she quickly added, “I also do believe that life is short and to surround yourself by positive people.’’ With regard to finding allies among her colleagues, Millicent asserted, “You have to be the one who creates them. They’re not going to find you. . . . You have to be the one who seeks them out.’’ Parents Teachers emphasized the importance of parents as supporters of their work. Molly stated, “I’ve really got nothing but support from the parents. I don’t have parents come up to me saying, ‘Oh, but hatching chickens isn’t in the state curriculum framework, why are you doing that?’’’ And Amy, in explaining why she has been able to teach for social justice, asserted: Parents have infinitely more power than teachers do when it comes to what we do in our classrooms. . . . They can just complain about one little thing, and it gets blown out of proportion. If they support you, you can get away with all kinds of subversive activity. Many of the teachers talked about building support among parents even before the beginning of the school year with home visits or letters. Molly shared about the many valuable aspects of doing home visits. The first step [is] going to the family’s home and getting to know them and being willing to listen to whoever they are and then being more comfortable that they can come and if they’re concerned about something. I’m very confident that if parents are concerned about something, they’ll come talk to me about it first before they go to the principal. . . . You won’t always agree 100%, but you’ll have trust and the honesty to be able to always have a dialogue, and that’s what you need . . . because a lot of times, I need a reality check. Am I going too far? And I need people to be honest with me and let me know. Teachers did mention a few experiences with parents that were difficult. Kara had a parent who did not want her child to participate in some of the activities on civil rights, because she worried that her daughter would be too upset. Saphira, an African American kindergarten teacher, asserted that because white parents sometimes mistrusted her, and she felt she had to prove herself as a good teacher. In general, however, parents were extremely supportive of the social justice teachers and their work. Seren stated, “I feel really fortunate . . . to have my strongest connections to be as much with families as with colleagues.’’ justice. State tests and required curricula do not support elementary teachers involving their students in servicelearning or examining the root causes of inequity in our society. While parents are usually supportive and colleagues are often but not always so, social justiceoriented service-learning is sustained more by individual teachers’ convictions, creativity, and subversion than anything else. Teachers for social justice have a passion for changing the world that carries them beyond their fears and hesitations. And part of this passion is a commitment to giving their students the activist skills necessary to work for a socially just world (Bigelow, 2004). The service-learning projects described here are “getting there,’’ but they are not “there’’ yet. These teachers inspire students to ask questions and take action on issues of interest to young minds, but in-depth consideration of the values, controversial nature, and root causes of the issues under study is lacking. Projects at the elementary level appear to be limited in scope and may not incorporate social justice in every aspect. It may be that elementary age children have limited interest and ability to examine the root causes of complex social issues. And students are often more successful at developing the skills of activism than they are in bringing about changes in the status quo. Yet each of these projects contributes in some way to enhancing young children’s commitment to and learning about social justice. Whether promoting gender equity, animal rights, or historical preservation, social justice teachers use the following strategies to foster servicelearning experiences: r r r honoring students’ concerns and supporting their questions and initiative including multiple perspectives and advocacy through letter writing modeling activism and concern for social justice issues While not easy, and certainly time-consuming, service-learning for social justice is not merely a theoretical possibility. In small and large schools, in urban and rural settings, with diverse groups of students, elementary teachers and students have taken the first steps to “get there from here,’’ creating new directions for service-learning and new possibilities for creating meaningful social change in our schools and communities. NOTES CONCLUSION Teachers in the present standards-based educational environment fight an uphill battle to teach for social 1. About 90% of the U.S. teaching force is white (LadsonBillings, 2001). 2. For the complete results of this research study, see Wade (2007). ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM SOCIAL JUSTICE SERVICE-LEARNING REFERENCES Adams, M., Bell, L. A., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1997). Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge. Bigelow, B. (2004). The desecration of Studs Terkel: Fighting censorship and self-censorship. In K. Dawson Salas, R. Tenorio, S. Walters, & D. Weiss (Eds.), The new teacher book: Finding purpose, balance, and hope during your first years in the classroom (pp. 123–126). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools. Bigelow, B., Christiansen, L., Karp, S., Miner, B., & Peterson, B. (Eds.). (1994). Rethinking our classrooms: Teaching for equity and justice. Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools. Boyle-Baise, M. (2002). Multicultural service learning: Educating teachers in diverse communities. New York: Teachers College Press. Coffey, A., & Atkinson, P. (1996). Making sense of qualitative data: Complimentary research strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. Kahne, J., & Westheimer, J. (1996). In the service of what? The politics of service learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 77(9), 592–599. Krueger, R. A. (1994). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Ladson-Billings, G. (2001). Crossing over to Canaan: The journey of new teachers in diverse classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 165 Maybach, C. W. (1996) Investigating urban community needs: Service learning from a social justice perspective. Education and Urban Society, 28(2), 224–236. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Patton, M. Q. (1980). Qualitative evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Pelo, A., & Davidson, F. (2000). That’s not fair! A teacher’s guide to activism with young children. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press. Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (1995). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Wade, R. C. (2000). Beyond charity: Service learning for social justice. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 12(4), 6–9. Wade, R. C. (2001). . . . And justice for all: Community servicelearning for social justice. Issue paper. Denver: Education Commission of the States. Wade, R. C. (2004). Citizenship for social justice. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 40(2), 64–68. Wade, R. C. (2007). Social studies for social justice: Teaching strategies for the elementary classroom. New York: Teachers College Press. Rahima C. Wade is a professor of elementary social studies in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Iowa, as well as the author or editor of three books and over 40 journal articles and book chapters on service-learning, social justice, and civic education.
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