Tamara Griffith
Advocacy
Students have knowledge of the injustice in the world, have informed opinions about it, and know that their voice and actions have value. They can advocate for themselves and others.
Introduction:
As a student, I was sheltered from the injustices from the world. Most, if not all, of my teachers simply ignored culturally responsive or relevant content in favor of the traditional canon, which lead me to a quick and overwhelming education when I got to college. Prior to attending college, I had never truly been exposed to diversity; everyone in my small town looked like me, which left me ignorant of many social justice issues related to ethnicity and race. I remember sitting in a linguistics class and having a classmate tell me how envious he was of my high school education that had better prepared me for that class while he was struggling to play catch up just to understand the basics. It was only later when I began researching Teach for America that this was evidence of another injustice: educational inequity. Had I been exposed to these types of injustice in the world and the role I could play in correcting them, I could have taken action sooner. Now that I have students of my own, I refuse to allow them to remain ignorant of the injustices around them and the roles they can take as advocates to better their communities and the world at large.
Simply stated, I don't want to merely teach my students -- I want to empower them to use their voices to correct the injustices of the world. Consequently, I seek to design units that will allow my students to not only develop informed opinions about the world around them but also allow them to recognize their own capacity and authority to initiate change.
One of these units centered around the topic of cyber-bullying. In order to develop student voice, I wanted my students to establish informed opinions about whether or not cyber-bullying should be prosecuted so that as they spoke out against this injustice and took actions to prevent it, they would be able to see some of the benefits and effects of their actions. When students were able to see some of the positive effects of their actions around campus, their advocacy was validated; their voices and actions were given value.
In addition, my students learned about injustices related to poverty and homelessness. Within this unit, students learned advocacy skills through both conversation-related and action-related opportunities. Perhaps for the first time, some of my students were able to think about privilege and the impact it could have on a person's life. Even my students whose currently reality is one of poverty were empowered to advocate for those who were even less fortunate. At the culmination of this unit, my students completed two action-related events: Socktober and Rummage for a Reason. Both of these events sought to extend students' impact beyond the school community to benefit the larger Fort Walton Beach community.
To explore more regarding how my students engaged in conversation-related and action-related learning in order to become advocates, click on the images below.
Conclusion:
Today's world presents an ocean of injustice; student advocacy creates ripples on that ocean's surface. When enough people are dedicated to advocating against injustice and taking targeted actions against it, waves are created, waves which can become a tsunami, altering the landscape for those affected by injustice. In order to effectively alter the landscape, or change outcomes for those affected by injustice, students need to recognize the value of their thoughts, their voices, and their actions.
Getting students to recognize the value of their advocacy requires time and thoughtful planning. In order for students to want to advocate for themselves and others, they need to care about the topic -- especially if the injustice does not directly impact them initially. As a result, students need to learn about their roles as global citizens to understand the roles they play in bettering our world. In my classroom, this was established through conversation-related and action-related advocacy learning opportunities related to cyber-bullying and poverty. Throughout these units, I was amazed by not only how articulate my students were about their opinions toward these injustices, but also how willing and devoted they were to improving our school climate and bettering the community at large.