Teaching for Social Justice in Christian Education: An English Language Arts Classroom Social Justice Approach

1 online resource (123 pages) : PDF

2022

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

ABSTRACTASHLEY WILSON. Teaching Social Justice in Christian Education: An English Language Arts Classroom Social Justice Approach. (Under the direction of DR. MEGHAN BARNES). Advocating for social justice within Christian Education proves to be an underrepresented area of research in the field of education. As an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher working in a private Christian school, I am particularly interested in the challenges ELA teachers working in private Christian schools may encounter when they try to incorporate social justice pedagogy into their teaching, as well as potential strategies to mitigate those challenges. My research will explore the challenges of teaching social justice within the realm of Christian education, specifically in ELA. I will begin by conducting a literature review of peer-reviewed empirical research aimed at (1) learning more about current research in the field of social justice and Christian education and (2) identifying pedagogical strategies that have been used to integrate social justice pedagogy in English curricula across public, private, and charter schools. I will incorporate the strategies I learn about through my academic research into lesson plans that I will then teach in the Spring of 2022. My research is informed by Miller et al. (2011), NCTE position statements (National Council, 2010), Boyd and Coffey (2021), Teaching for Social Justice and the Common Core: Justice-Oriented Curriculum for Language and Literacy (Dover, 2016), and "Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: A Needed Change in Stance, Methodology, Terminology, and Practice" (Paris, 2013). My research is guided by two research questions: What are the challenges and limitations for educators teaching literature from a social justice lens specifically within a private Christian school? How do students respond to an intentional social justice approach to literature in a private (Christian) English I classroom? Deeper still, my research questions will challenge my own teaching strategies and the religious and cultural implications of teaching in a private Christian school with limited cultural diversity. Through my research questions, I hope to use my position as a ninth-grade English teacher to incorporate social justice within my curriculum and foster an inclusive learning environment that will serve as an example for school-wide change.

masters theses

Education

M.A.

Advocacy
Education
Empathy
Pedagogy
Social Justice
Teaching

English

Barnes, Dr. Meghan

Roeder, Dr. Becky
Avila, Dr. JuliAnna

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2022.

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Wilson_uncc_0694N_13102

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2905