2017 | 2018 Innovative Teaching Showcase

SHOWCASE INDEX | CIIA | WWU ISSUE 20

Engaging Social Justice
“People who use social justice as a signal for what their work engages with understand that inequities are produced, inequities are structured, and that things have got to change in order to achieve different educational outcomes. Social justice education is a choice away from pathology and linearity. … There is no future in the field of education without the contributions of people who are doing their work under the rising sign of social justice.""

– Toward What Justice,
Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang, eds.

Ideas

Idea #2: Framing Spaces for Courageous Conversations

“We have to be brave because along the way we are going to be ‘vulnerable and exposed’; we are going to encounter images that are ‘alienating and shocking’. We are going to be very unsafe.”3

Learning Intention

“Learning does not take place when our firmly held beliefs are never challenged. It is the hallmark of a robust education that students graduate having been exposed to new ideas, differing perspectives, and challenging ways of thinking. This process can and should be difficult, messy, and certainly uncomfortable. In academic terms, it is when we are at the edge of discomfort that learning truly happens.”6

Overview

Brave spaces are those classroom environments “in which [students] felt courageous enough to risk, explore, experiment, assert, learn, and change, knowing that they would be supported in those necessarily destabilizing and unpredictable processes.”4

Characteristics

These five "common tiles" can help establish brave spaces in your classroom.1

  1. Controversy with Civility: Rather than simply “agreeing to disagree” welcome conflicting viewpoints and rigorous challenge and seek to understand divergent viewpoints while being respectful of strong emotions and differences in experience.
  2. Own Your Intentions and Impact: Instead of expecting peers to “avoid taking things personally,” acknowledge the emotional impact of what you share and take some responsibility for how your comments affect others.
  3. Challenge by Reflective Choice: While it is permissible to engage silently, it is important that participants are encouraged to reflect on the factors that affect their decision to participate or remain quiet. Point out which groups are contributing and which are not and ask students to consider why certain people are engaging actively and others are not.
  4. Regardful Respect: Demonstrating respect may look different to different people; encourage students to talk openly about ways to show respect (and things to avoid that show disrespect) and highlight challenges or differences in approach to negotiate agreements in class.
  5. Avoid Attacks: Discuss, and help students brainstorm specific arguments that demonstrate how to challenge ideas, beliefs or statements without attacking, insulting, or disrespecting people.

Considerations

  • Address issues of power and marginalization: Conversations and classroom activities are experienced differently by students in agent (dominant) groups versus those in target (marginalized) groups. Agent group students may feel persecuted or blamed, while target groups students are likely to feel frustrated by painful reminders of their oppression.1 Be sure to avoid expecting target group students to take on the role of educator, and support agent group students in leaning in to their discomfort.1,8
  • Principles rather than guidelines: “Class rules, or community agreements...even if they’re done in the best way, they can feel punitive for students” like a list of what they aren’t allowed to do. Instead, think and talk about them as “principles of practice” that can be enacted, including things like humor and joy, which can protect the environment for everyone in the conversation.7
  • Brainstorm principles collaboratively: Setting expectations yourself could “convey a message steeped in privilege and set up the belief that student voices don’t matter in your classroom.”5 Instead, invite students to participate in a conversation about how to engage bravely with one another. Common Guidelines for a Brave Space has several examples and issues to consider in creating a brave space in your classroom.2

References

  1. Arao, B. & Clemens, K. (2013). From safe spaces to brave spaces: A new way to frame dialogue around diversity and social justice. In Landerman, L. (2013). The art of effective facilitation: Reflections from social justice educators. Herndon, VA: Stylus Publishing. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/75c5/6a5dba81efd0954597ea39eb7d55acc7a202.pdf
  2. AWARE-LA (n.d.) Common guidelines for a brave space. Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere-L.A., www.awarela.org. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/581e9e06ff7c509a5ca2fe32/t/58f25fa937c58130853337df/1492279209799/04+AWARE-LA+Brave+Space+Guidelines+and+History.pdf
  3. BoostRom, R. (1998). ‘Safe Spaces’: Reflections on an educational metaphor. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 304, 397-408.
  4. Cook-Sather, A. (2016). Creating brave spaces within and through student faculty pedagogical partnerships. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 181.
  5. Halliburton, A. E. (2016, Oct 18). Turning a safe space into a brave space. Amanda Teaches, retrieved from https://blogs.lt.vt.edu/ahallibu/2016/10/18/turning-a-safe-space-into-a-brave-space/
  6. Monahan, N. (2016, July 6). Brave classrooms and courageous conversations. Faculty Focus: Higher Ed Teaching Strategies from Magna Publications. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/brave-classrooms-courageous-conversations/
  7. Vélez, V. & French, K. (2018). Personal interview, Western Washington University.
  8. Zheng, L. (2016, May 15). Why your brave space sucks. The Stanford Daily, Op-Ed. Retrieved from https://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/05/15/why-your-brave-space-sucks/