- Some examples of guidelines: Speak for yourself (don’t generalize), Respect differences, Challenge ideas (not people), Stay open and engaged 

- Collaboration when creating guidelines 

- Guiding students in developing the skills to see, analyze and challenge relations of oppression and privilege

- Guidelines that build a supportive classroom climate must address deeply patterned social and structural dynamics that are brought into the classroom 

-Stay open and engaged – be responsible for your own learning.  

-Laugh with anyone, but laugh at no one".
I think these are important concepts that should be included in the classroom in order to ensure students are supportive and respectful towards everyone 

→ Meaning of Knowledge is constructed in the stories we share with our students. 

→ Dominant Knowledge 

→ Everyone's opinion matters carries with it, institutional weight, a history of violence and perhaps the denial of human rights.
→ The Discourse of Personal Experience 

·      In a social justice classroom giving equal time to dominant narratives reinforces problematic discursive effects.

·      Equal time cannot be given to dominant narratives in social justice classrooms. 

·      The goal is to correct existing power imbalances by turning down the volume on dominant narratives.

·      Restricting dominant narratives is more equalizing.

·      Students typically enter classrooms with dominant ideologies and preconceived notions, which then becomes difficult to dislodge.

·      Dominant narratives risk hijacking the discussion and can trigger other comments, both of support and rebuttal setting the agenda for the rest of the class discussion.

·      Discourses in social justice classroom is the language of experience. 

·      Personalizing knowledge, where students use their lived experiences to connect to the course content stops us from generalizing their perspective and from reinforcing dominant narratives. 

-Climate of safety that is created by guidelines. 

-Anti-oppressive social justice framework

-Cross-racial dialogues- the classroom is a hostile space virtually all of the time

-Definition of safety is contingent in different positions: social, cultural, historical and institutional power 

-To participate in healthy democracy= social justice activism
(think critically, multiple perspectives, challenge ideas, recognize power relations) 

-Social stratification in schools therefore must also be challenged

-“Silence Breakers”- intended to recognize and respond to unequal power relations and guide open conversation 

-Help students lean into rather than away from difficult content

-Intellectual humility 

-Interrupt dominant power moves

-“Efforts to make space for all views are often rooted in the desire for teachers to create an “open” dialogue that makes room for non dominant points of view” (3)

-the notion that everyone's opinion matters

- instructor positionality: dominant group identities (I.e. white, male), will be viewed as objective and legitimate

Instructor authority:

- rank (social membership, permanent, all aspects of someone’s life)

- status (temporary, connected to job/position)

Student Positionality

- majority of higher education students are White and middle class

- students in dominant positions may experience paradigm shifts when encountering concepts such as privilege and internalized dominance

- members of minorities groups may choose to remain silence in class discussion

- dominant group members may choose to speak first in some discussion, but may remain silent in other discussions

- “silence from minorities group members can function as a power move and needs to be interrogated”

·       “in practice the common guidelines purported to be important to building the kind of classroom climate that can support the commitments discussed above do not address the deeply patterned social and structural dynamics that are brought into the classroom itself”

·       Shows the importance of recognizing our privileges and evaluating our personal biases before expressing our thoughts. 

·       How does our position/experience influence and inform our thoughts and behaviour.  

·       Can and should we encourage and support a space to explore ourselves and our place in “the matrix” before moving outward? 

·       “Does everyone's opinion matter when people's opinion is that reverse racism is a valid concept?”

·       Raises a question about if all opinions are truly equal? Whose opinion is/should be valued more in a given situation? 

·       Dominant narratives/voices vs lived experiences. 

For students who are a part of the dominant race and social class they may be oblivious to their privilege and may choose to reinforce it while those who are a part of the minority may feel that they cannot fully express themselves and their lived experiences.

For instructors, specifically those who are female or people of color they have to work harder in order for their skills to be valued and recognized.  For example, the article states that female and people of color in professor positions often receive lower evaluations, which impact their access to job opportunities and wages.

-  Speak for yourself instead of generalizing

-  Challenge ideas not people

-  Stay open and engaged – be responsible for your own learning

-  Don’t attack people who disagree with you

Points from the article:

-  Common guidelines can also work against social justice education

From this article I learned that even some guidelines that sound ideal for discussing social justice can be problematic. There can be issues that come up and cause us to challenge our own guidelines, so we have to be willing to be flexible and adjust your guidelines.

· Knowledge is socially constructed and deeply rooted

· When we give equal time to dominant narratives, we reinforce problematic discursive effects by legitimising the idea that the conversation is equalising only when it also includes dominant voices

·  Deny equal time to all narratives in our classrooms to correct the existing power imbalances by turning down the volume on dominant narratives

Recognizing a need for social justice engagement, and overall awareness and activism. This will allow for a healthy democracy instead of it being dominant groups vs. minoritized groups.

To create a supportive, engaging, and transformative classroom, skills such as engaging in research, recognizing powers and oppression, intellectual humility are needed to allow students to participate in racial awakening - creating a safe environment. 

Key Quote: "Help students lean into rather than away from difficult content."