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Resistance & Change-Making within K-12 Schools 

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Resistance & Change-Making within K-12 Schools 

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Introductory Statement:

As a K-12 teacher-leader and social justice educator coming from a transformative justice approach, one of my biggest passions is creating "mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors" (Bishop, 1990) for my students as a path of resistance and empowerment. A huge part of creating paths of resistance for an educator-activist like myself is to create access points through curriculum, culturally responsive literature, and through sharing resources that come from culturally responsive and equity-centered spaces. We know from Emergent Strategy that it is critical to "move at the speed of trust...[and] focus on critical connections more than critical mass--building the resilience by building the relationships" (Brown, 2017), which applies to having a relational approach to social justice education that centers the identities, background knowledge, cultures and experiences of the students in front of us. I chose my themes of resistance & change-making from our course, and shared several resources that I have come to rely on as a classroom teacher, as well as classroom practices & strategies we use, and even a few read-alouds, and pictures from units & weekly focuses and monthly cultural celebrations. Each thing we learn as classroom teachers reflects that every mistake, new piece of learning or realization is "never a failure always a lesson" (brown, 2017), including the humility required to examine one's own unconscious biases, and weak points to be open and willing to learn new things from other sources and incredible educators, activists and community organizers who've gone before us. What you'll see here is an eclectic collection of resources, strategies, student-work, and more. My action-research in particular has centered the question, "what holds educators back from doing the anti-bias anti-racist work in their classrooms?" and "what do educators need to be successful within this work?", and some of my early findings indicate: time, energy, trainings, resources, community support and collaboration as preventative measures, and the barriers are clear and point back to systemic racism, oppressive systems, and capitalistic ways of being that actively cause harm. I hope you enjoy your visit at the Resistance & Change-Making in K-12 Schools exhibit! P.S. All of the classroom work you'll see was completed between 2021 and 2024 by 2nd graders and myself their classroom teacher.

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This comes from Learning for Justice, and outlines a bit more about what Social Justice Education can look like in K-12 spaces.

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Justice requires the resources needed for all people to lead secure and fulfilling lives, along with respect for the histories, cultures and experiences of diverse groups, especially those who have been historically marginalized and oppressed.

In Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, now in its fourth edition, my coauthors and I offer our goals for social justice: creating a society where everyone has fair access to the resources and opportunities to develop their full capacities, and everyone is welcome to participate democratically with others to mutually shape social policies and institutions that govern civic life.

The process for attaining social justice we view as necessarily inclusive, respectful of human diversity and affirming of the capacity of all people to join with others to create change for our collective well-being. Social justice requires engaging everyone in democratic and collaborative processes grounded on the premise that there is enough to meet the needs of all.

Social justice, then, works against greed, selfishness and hatred and toward generosity, mutuality and love.

Appreciation for diversity -differences such as race, ethnic heritage, class, age, gender, sexuality, ability, religion and nationality-is a central feature of social justice. Without recognizing and valuing diversity, we cannot effectively address issues of injustice.

Concrete knowledge of different groups' histories, experiences, ways of making meaning and values is important to the social justice goal of recognition and respect.

Understanding and eliminating oppression is an equal feature of social justice. Without addressing injustice in all its forms, we cannot truly value diversity. Oppression is created and kept alive through hierarchies that rank groups in ways that give power, social and economic advantages, and institutional and cultural validity to some groups over others.

Challenging hierarchy requires confronting the ideological frameworks, historical legacies, and institutional patterns and practices that unequally structure social relations.

Social justice education, therefore, provides tools to examine the structural features of oppression and our own socialization within unjust systems. It helps us develop awareness of injustice in our personal lives, communities, institutions and the broader society. Such an education enables us to develop empathy and commitment, as well as skills and tools for acting with others to interrupt and change oppressive patterns and behaviors in ourselves and the institutions and communities of which we are a part.

Understanding the dynamics of oppression is important for developing effective strategies to counteract it.

As noted above, one of the central features of oppression is sorting social groups into hierarchies by race, class, gender, sexuality, age, religion and other markers. A group's position in the hierarchy regulates access to resources, participation, social respect and self-actualization.

Like a computer operating system, categorization and hierarchy run invisibly in the background to make oppressive outcomes seem logical and inevitable.

Furthermore, the effects of oppression accumulate to lock in advantage for some and disadvantage for others across time and institutions. For example, sorting people into racial categories with those labeled white as dominant initially justified both taking land from Indigenous people and coercing labor from enslaved Africans at the nation's founding.

Irish, Italian and Jewish immigrants who at first were not considered white were gradually incorporated into this racial hierarchy that positioned white people above other racial groups.

Advantage and disadvantage compound and become baked into social institutions. This can be seen in the compounding effects of segregating people by race and class. Persons who live in poor, rural or predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods today will likely attend under-resourced schools; have less access to opportunities for advancement, reliable transportation, good food and health care; and be exposed to more environmental toxins. In corollary fashion, persons who live in middle or upper-middle class neighborhoods will likely have access to well-resourced schools and opportunities along with a cleaner environment.

Accumulated advantage and disadvantage consolidate in institutional policies and practices to entrench privilege and disadvantage.

Oppressive conditions become normalized through the actions of people going about their daily lives and often can't be isolated to individual or institutional agents. For example, marginalization and exclusion of people with disabilities does not require overt discrimination against them-although this also happens.

Business as usual that does not consider ways to include people with disabilities is sufficient to prevent change.

Barriers to access go unnoticed by those who can climb stairs, reach elevator buttons and telephones, use furniture and tools that fit their bodies and functional needs, are able to speak and use all their senses, and generally move in a world that is designed to facilitate their passage. Without challenge to this status quo, it seems perfectly natural to those whose access is unaffected. That is until they discover these privileges are fleeting once they experience pregnancy, accident, illness, aging or future disability.

Dehumanization is another feature of oppression. Language and images that deny the full humanness of people from different groups play a critical role in justifying mistreatment, brutality and violence that would otherwise not be tolerated.

This is one reason why words, beliefs and symbols matter, not merely for the purpose of civility, but because of the potential they hold for leading down the path to atrocity.

For example, referring to Mexican and Central American people as "animals" or an "infestation" led to policies that separated children from their parents and put them in cages. And even though police brutality is excused through more "benign" terms as well, describing Black men as "superpredators" rationalized police brutality against them.

Remaining silent in the face of mistreatment and violence toward others is also dehumanizing and ultimately leads to the degradation of society as a whole. The dehumanization of systemic police violence and brutality against Black people was largely accepted by white society until shockingly confronted by the murder by police of George Floyd on video.

Oppression is not inevitable or natural. It is learned through socialization. We internalize social norms to make meaning of our experiences, as well as to fit in and survive. Through socialization, an unjust status quo comes to be generally accepted and replicated both by those who benefit and those who suffer from oppressive systems.

To varying degrees, for example, poor people and affluent people alike internalize the stereotype that people who are poor are responsible for their poverty, and that those who accumulate riches deserve their wealth. Assumptions that youth are irresponsible and incapable of serious commitments, or that elders are slow and less vital than middle-aged people in their "prime," are taken as true by people of all ages.

Pressure against rocking the boat keeps most people from challenging inequality and discrimination so that by simply going along with business as usual, we help to perpetuate injustice.

Oppression persists and sometimes shifts into new forms to endure and override challenges against it. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overcome legal barriers at state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Section II was the enforcement mechanism to ensure the protection of this right.

In 2021, the Supreme Court weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act by eliminating Section II, and state laws are now making it much more difficult for Black and Brown people to vote (and many people of all races who are young, disabled or elderly) through restrictive voter ID requirements, purging registered voters from voting rolls, shutting early voting sites in Black and Indigenous communities, and removing drop off boxes for mail-in ballots, to name a few.

Social justice will always require equally persistent effort to maintain fair and just laws and practices.

Though the consequences of oppression fall unevenly on Black and Brown communities, there are consequences for everyone. Heather McGhee in her book The Sum of Us traces the legacies of racism and white supremacy through zero-sum policies that ultimately harmed white people themselves.

Physician Jonathan Metzl in his book Dying of Whiteness shows how the racial resentment that fueled white support of pro-gun laws, resistance to the Affordable Care Act, and cuts to schools and social services has resulted in increasing deaths by gun suicide, falling life expectancies, and rising school dropout rates for white people as well.

A goal of social justice education is to help us recognize the terrible social, political and moral costs of maintaining systems of oppression.

When millions of Americans are homeless and hungry, we all pay a social and moral price. The cost of enjoying plenty while others starve makes it ever more difficult to claim that our society is fair and that we are decent people.

Just as important, it also prevents us from developing a clear view of underlying structural problems in political and economic systems that ultimately make all of us vulnerable to a changing international economy that disregards national boundaries or allegiances.

The productive and creative contributions of people who are shut out of the system are lost to everyone.

Rising violence and division make it increasingly difficult for anyone to feel safe. Reduced social supports, limited affordable housing, and scarcities of food and potable water loom as a possible future for all who are not independently wealthy, particularly as we reach old age.

The current global pandemic and climate crisis highlight the inequalities and injustices in systems of health care, housing, labor and other areas, and reveal our linked fates in the face of challenges that cannot be overcome without addressing inequality.

Social justice requires a commitment toward equality and possibility, and a belief in the capacity of people to transform our world.

Oppression is never complete; it is always open to challenge, as is evident in past and ongoing movements for justice that have made inroads against it. Just as we are socialized into oppression, we can consciously unlearn its habits and proactively work with others to imagine, practice and enact more just and equitable possibilities for living together on this planet.

Since social injustice is based on historical, institutional and systemic patterns-and not simply a matter of individual bias or misunderstanding-education alone cannot dismantle it.

However, the consciousness, knowledge, skills and commitments developed through social justice education can lay a foundation for working effectively, even joyfully, with others in democratic, organized action directed at institutional and societal change aimed at creating a world better for us all.

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A renowned scholar and educator explains social justice education and highlights its role in actively countering injustice and helping to build an inclusive democracy for the benefit of all.

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Much of my curriculum, planning and work as a classroom teacher is integrated within the social justice standards, and I'm so thankful to work within a school district that allows me the autonomy, freedom and instructional trust/judgment to do so.

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Kind Cotton: A Community Partner I work with, support and am inspired by! 

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Kind Cotton: A Community Partner I work with, support and am inspired by! 

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Kaitlin and her husband were one of my action-research interview participants, and Kaitlin is a former educator. I wear many of their sweatshirts, display their stickers and buy books that support K-12 classroom spaces across the country in culturally responsive teaching and social justice education.

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“At Kind Cotton, our mission is to spread a little kindness while improving the lives of children... ...with every purchase, we are personally putting a book in the hands of a child” - Founder, Kaitlin Johnstone WHY KIND COTTON? Some of my fondest memories as a child revolved around bed time stories. My parents would

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Another amazing resource and community leader I partner with and take inspiration from!

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Talking about social justice issues can be hard. We want to make it easier.

With conversation starters, activities, and other goodies, you can make these tough conversations fun and interesting for your young learners.

When you purchase a box, a donation is made to a non-profit or another social impact project that relates to the monthly theme!

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Talking about social justice issues can be hard. We want to make it easier. With conversation starters, activities, and other goodies, you can make these tough conversations fun and interesting for your young learners. When you purchase a box, a donation is made to a non-profit or another social impact project that relates to the monthly theme!

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This is an incredible organization that provides free artwork to educators that center themes of equity, inclusion, social justice and provide deep and powerful representation of communities of color and most marginalized populations.

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Welcome to Education Amplifier, a network of tens of thousands of educators reaching 1 million+ students nationwide - we're so glad you're here! At Amplifier, we believe that art and design can be...

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A resource, inspiration for the week of the year, but a great organization to support and partner with all year long!

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We lead with the heart and courageously work to address racial injustice in education, embodying Black joy, confronting anti-Blackness, and building authentic partnerships with all who support creating equitable school communities across the nation.

​In September 2016, DeShawn Jackson, along with Black Men Uniting to Change The Narrative, planned a day of encouragement. The previous school year, another local elementary school had more than 200 Black men show up to greet students as they arrived at school. The men wore their uniforms, regalia, and Sunday best in hopes of disrupting the inaccurate imagery students have of Black men. Black men make up only 3% of teachers in k-12 education.​

DeShawn had taught at the school for six years and even attended the elementary school as a child. He wanted students to see Black men in a positive light, not like they often are portrayed in media. A bomb threat was called into the school on the day of the event, so school leadership officially canceled it. Yet, after the threat was investigated, nothing was found, and the school remained open. So, DeShawn personally greeted students and about fifty others joined him.

When students arrived at John Muir Elementary School, they were greeted with cheers and high-fives while drums played in the background. Black men showed up because they wanted to counter the perception students have about education and race. Inside the school, staff wore shirts that said "Black Lives Matter We Stand Together."Julie Trout, the art teacher, designed the shirts. Teachers' lessons for the day were focused on racial justice.

​Social Equality Educators (SEE), a group within the Seattle teachers union, decided October 19th would be "Black Lives Matter At School Day." They'd wear Black Lives Matter shirts to school, created a second design with "#Say Her Name," and educators picked from several options. Parent Teacher Associations made buttons and stickers for teachers and students to wear. This attracted national news, which spread to Philadelphia, where the Racial Justice & Organizing Committee of the Caucus of Working Educators was inspired to plan a similar action.

We envision a nation in which we live in authentic and conscious relationship with ourselves, each other, and the lands we occupy with the least amount of harm and violence, in which we are unapologetically Black and collectively love and care for one another as extended intergenerational families. To achieve safety, equity, and liberation for all Black lives, we attend to systems and networks of care to make the domination, erasure, and dehumanization of Black life obsolete. ​

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National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

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do the best you can until you know better

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Another incredible resource!

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Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism.

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

-Howard Zinn

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Social Justice Morning Meeting Questions

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Learning for Justice is a community education program of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that centers civic and political action education for everyone.

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Civil Rights Unit: Lunch-Counter Sit-Ins Week

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Civil Rights Unit: Lunch-Counter Sit-Ins Week

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2nd Graders' Cognitive Content Dictionary (GLAD): non-violence

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2nd Graders' Cognitive Content Dictionary (GLAD): non-violence

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A 2nd grade student's diorama project: Sit-Ins, behind it: more glossary of civil rights unit words, example: segregation, non-violence, beloved community

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A 2nd grade student's diorama project: Sit-Ins, behind it: more glossary of civil rights unit words, example: segregation, non-violence, beloved community

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Planning to Change the World teacher planner 

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Planning to Change the World teacher planner 

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Black History Month Classroom Library Display (shelf 1)

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Black History Month Classroom Library Display (shelf 1)

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Thanksgiving KWL Chart 2024 (last week!) 

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Thanksgiving KWL Chart 2024 (last week!) 

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2nd graders' filling out observation charts and learning from our co-created Civil Rights timeline! (over the course of 6-8 week literacy/SS integrated unit, 2022)

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2nd graders' filling out observation charts and learning from our co-created Civil Rights timeline! (over the course of 6-8 week literacy/SS integrated unit, 2022)

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2nd graders' filling out observation charts, also sentence patterning chart for Civil Rights Leaders

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2nd graders' filling out observation charts, also sentence patterning chart for Civil Rights Leaders

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Civil Rights Cooperative Sentence Strip Paragraph (2022)

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Civil Rights Cooperative Sentence Strip Paragraph (2022)

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Back to School Read-Alouds: Mini Identity Unit

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Back to School Read-Alouds: Mini Identity Unit

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Back to School Read Alouds: Mini Identity Unit

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Back to School Read Alouds: Mini Identity Unit

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Resistance & Change-Making within K-12 Schools

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Resistance & Change-Making within K-12 Schools

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Audience Closing Statement:

As you leave this exhibit, my hope is that you take-away both tangible, real-life, in-the-field examples of student work and classroom change-making in action, and also examples of strategies, resources and inspiration for social justice centered educators. Another hope of mine is that you feel not only inspired, but hopeful, and excited about the future for our K-12 students, despite the very obvious and clear challenges and barriers that get in the way of this social justice teaching work, now more than ever. As the Everyday Practices for Transformative Justice video reminds us, "communities have been solving problems without the state for generations", and my hope is that these examples, inspirations and reflections truly display that this is possible and happening within K-12 classroom spaces. There are SO many educators out there doing this resistance work within classrooms, working with educators, students & families within their communities to do better and make our schools and communities more equitable, safer, more inclusive and more antiracist spaces. I tried to include as many examples from the classroom, my inspirations, and resources that you could draw from in the future as possible that would be encouraging and helpful in doing this critical work. Within the Cultural Strategy.space website (https://www.culturalstrategy.space/) which I included within the exhibit, it says that it is a critical piece "to have imagination as an element for cultural strategy...asking to keep boundaries fluid and make room for complexity and multiplicities". We see this all the time within K-12 spaces, particularly in response to community, policy and nationwide identity politics pushback from conservative extremist ideologies such as CRT, book bans, changing of curriculum, budget cuts, and more. Thank you so much for visiting and engaging with this space. I hope you took away at least 1 new element of a classroom space, 1 new inspiration, and 1 new strategy or resource took take and apply to your current site and role tomorrow if applicable.

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Mentoring Teachers for Anti-bias, Antiracist Work Presentation 

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Mentoring Teachers for Anti-bias, Antiracist Work Presentation 

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As a result of my action-research, one outcome has been creating a hypothetical (with the hope of launching!) program to mentor teachers in equity-focused school communities for ABAR work.

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UNM Mentoring Institute 2024 Bagley Pierce ABAR Work (1) (1) (1)

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Mentoring Teachers for ABAR Work, our published article! 

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Mentoring Teachers for ABAR Work, our published article! 

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Mentoring for ABAR Work Bagley Pierce (1) (1)