Hip hop can be used as a tool to promote social justice and youth activism in the classroom in multiple ways. I feel like in our society the topic of diversity and hip hop can get lost in our teaching. Sometimes it may be swept under the rug because we want to teach what we think is helpful for our students. However, this is something that should not be kept under the rug. This topic is just as important as any other math, science or history class that teachers teach. Promoting hip hop in the classroom can help students learn about diversity in our world, develop awareness, and help them…

From my K-12 schooling examples of citizenship included personally responsible citizen majority of the time. Looking back on my elementary/high school days, I can remember teachers and other authority figures teach us the importance of responsibility within our community. We were always encouraged to be the best person we could be and have respect towards everyone. Taking part in volunteer experiences was also encouraged, especially in all of high school where it was required for a class. This approach allowed students to learn responsibility and become respectful towards the community. With this being taught, we learned how to take part in our community and to be involved whenever we can.…

As I read the first reading I had very little knowledge as to how curriculum was made. However, I never knew how much politics were involved in the decision making. “This chapter examines the political dynamicsaround the construction of official school curriculum—that is, curriculum developed by governments or other sanctioned authorities for standard use in schools across a state, province, or country” (Levin, p 7). I always thought that the curriculum was developed by teachers/ministry of education and not the government. This makes me think about how there are conflicts with the decision making of what should be taught in schools. We would think that the people who do the…

Ways in which we can begin to address the systems in which we teach our curriculum in is by making the appropriate changes. Teachers should be well educated on gender and sexual diversity, trans and queer’s challenges they face in life. We could bring discussions into the classroom to better educate those who may be struggling with their identity, because the classroom should be a safe place for students to talk about anything. Books, articles and YouTube videos can also be a huge help in the classroom to further your knowledge on topics such as these. It is also important to refer to a student by their gender identity rather…

When we are in school we are all told to be a “good” student, but what does that really mean? We need to listen, be respectful, finish assignments, be nice to others, be quiet and the list goes on. The way a “good” student is defined in commonsense is one who can sit and listen quietly in class, and not interrupt the teacher. Now, there are students who cannot sit still for a long period of time and do disrupt the class. According to Kumashiro, this particular behaviour can start to create problems in the child’s life and make them feel at fault for not portraying what societies expectations of…