Week 3: Urban Education

I chose this topic because I wanted to know what the actual definition or classification of an education that is urban urban. My personal understanding, or common sense knowledge, surround the idea the word urban is city life. But, I do know that a lot of people have a different understanding that urban is seen as communities that are less fortunate or lower economic status.

Through reading What is Urban Education? by Richard Milner, he simply states that urban education refers to connections and correlations to the surrounding community that may influence and impact the students that attend the specific school. Milner goes on to discuss how lots of people categorize urban to only schools that are located in lower economic areas and allow the location of the school to stereotype students. Even though the community the school is located does has an impact on the students, it does not define the students or their potential outcomes. Unpacking the “Urban” in Urban Teacher Education shares that the actual definition of an urban school or education is very rarely discussed, but the term is widely used. This makes me believe that most people do not know the actual definition and have biases towards this term. Matsko and Hammerness state that urban is usually referred to as, “the conditions of cultural conflict grounded in racism and economic oppression”.

Both articles discuss curriculum and the idea that when teaching in a school it is important to incorporate students cultures, race, religion, interests, values and community while teaching. This where and when students will become invested in the curriculum and the outcomes. This is urban education, utilizing the surrounding community and people to enrich the learning. Understanding our students needs and what works for them personally and locationally is important when we are trying to create curriculums and lessons for our students.

Next steps for me in this assignment are to dig deeper. I only had the chance to look up two articles and there were so many more available from the library. For me, it is also important for me to connect this Saskatchewan. What does urban education look like here? How can this impact my future teaching? How can this assignment help me grow as an educator? How will this impact my curriculum?