Drafting a Social Justice Narrative to Explore and Interrogate Identity

Lara Searcy, Brogan Spears, and Kyle E. Foster

Drafting a Social Justice Narrative to Explore and Interrogate Identity

When educators understand who they are, specifically through the mode of narrative writing, they are able to remember that writing has the ability to change, to transform, and to move students toward justice, awareness, and empowerment (Fredericksen et al., 2012). In order to understand social justice as it exists in a classroom setting, it is important to define it by the key concepts of awareness and power. Social justice is the knowledge of students, community, and cultural diversity in order understand how to teach all students more fairly and equitably (National Council of Teachers of English, 2010). Educators in public schools support students when they acknowledge that schools’ growing diversity of backgrounds and perspectives help students “develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills” to become better “engaged in their own communities” (National Education Association, 2018, p. 1). This article details two recursive actions for educators to explore and interrogate their own identities so they may, in turn, help their students explore the identities they are developmentally just beginning to create. This article specifically focuses on how literacy (through the act of writing a social justice narrative) has the potential to impact how we come to understand and ultimately share our experiences with the world, through reading/speaking our own narrative and/or reading/listening to others’ narratives. As article authors on this topic, we affirm what Borsheim-Black and Sarigianides (2019) state in their text, Letting go of literary whiteness: Antiracist literature instruction for white students, by also acknowledging that as White English teachers, we “were not doing a good enough job addressing [topics of social justice]” (p. 1) with our own students. This understanding of ourselves (as article authors and educators) is important because educators must first engage in and model the process of “locating and implicating themselves in [this] work” (Cherry-Paul, 2020, p. 1). A resource we used in this work is Learning for Justice’s guide, Let’s Talk! Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students (2020), which asks educators to consider potential vulnerabilities, strengths, needs, and possible exposure (p. 11). There may be initial hesitation or discomfort in approaching these questions in general, but “students want to talk about these issues because they recognize the injustice inherent in racism, gender bias, ableism, anti-immigrant sentiment, religious and anti-LGBTQ bias and more—and they see these prejudices at work in the world every day” (Learning for Justice, 2020, p. 2). Therefore, to prepare students for these conversations, educators should:

send a letter home to parents/guardians alerting them to the kinds of conversations that may occur. . . [B]ecause the United States has not provided in-depth teaching and learning opportunities on [topics such as] race and racism in K-12 schooling, family members may be learning alongside students and educators as they engage in these [conversations]. (Cherry-Paul, 2020, p. 1)

Since “every critical conversation has its own context and content, but almost all touch on identity and injustice” (Learning for Justice, 2020, p. 5), these conversations may be uncomfortable; thus, educators should seek “brave spaces” grounded in mutual respect, with

established community agreements and protocols (Cherry-Paul, 2020, p. 1). In order to lay the groundwork for working toward social justice awareness, educators, first with themselves and then alongside their students, can use literacy strategies, such as class readings, discussions, and especially writing.

Using Narrative Writing

Narrative writing engages students in “experimentation with different approaches in a text, with deep revision, and a commitment to precise expression that [is] critical to learning writing” (Juzwik et al., 2014, p. 27). As a literacy strategy, narrative writing allows us to engage in meaning-making, giving students a place to process their own understandings and experiences about the text and their world (Baikie &Wilhelm, 2005; Yageleski, 2009). The power of narrative writing is showcased in Dr. Sanford’s book, From Thought to Action: Developing a Social Justice Orientation (2020), when Sanford models the importance of embracing her own personal history, specifically through narrative writing. This process allows her to “experience an awakening . . . through reflection and sympathy for all people’s lived experiences” (Sanford, 2020, p. 12). Our experiences allow us to see that “the complexity . . . of the world is fixed into a sense of coherence and causality in terms of what caused the events and the experience and why” (Holmegaard et al., 2015, p. 4). This understanding of complexity is imperative in our educational worlds, because the spaces in which we teach “are not free from bias or inequity,” and thus we are called “interrogate the forces” that contribute to our ideas and biases (Ebarvia et al., 2020, p. 100).

Drafting a Social Justice Orientation Narrative

In Dr. Searcy’s Social Justice Literacies course, undergraduate and graduate students are given the assignment to draft a Social Justice Narrative, using Dr. Sanford’s “My Journey to Social Justice Orientation” section (Sanford, 2020) as an exemplar (as well as additional course readings and reflections). Starting in the first week, they begin to consider their own identities and their membership in different identity groups (ability, age, body type, ethnicity, gender identity, home language, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc.). They consider these identities and how the messages associated with them affect their daily lives, especially growing up (Learning for Justice, 2020, p. 6). These answers naturally lend themselves to the narrative mode of writing, which becomes the final assignment, with the purpose to help writers identify, critique, and ultimately change the world (Fredricksen et al., 2012). When students are asked to reflect and apply their knowledge on course topics (identity, social justice, diversity, young adult literature, literary theory, and anti-racism instruction) they can see their social justice growth extend from their first week responses of social justice consciousness (“awareness about oneself in relation to personal surroundings;” Sanford, 2020, p.3) into a more finalized draft that details their journey toward social justice orientation (“a desire to end oppression of the marginalized;” Sanford, 2020, p.3). The following are two recursive actions educators need to engage in to move from social justice consciousness to social justice orientation.

Action 1: Explore

First, educators need to explore the “central question to describing [their own] personal identity” by asking themselves “ who” they are (Jensen & McConchie, 2020, p. 153). By

establishing a classroom where students know who they are and feel like they belong, they are “more likely to engage in positive academic behaviors that produce higher levels of engagement and performance” (Jensen & McConchie, 2020, p. 152). Students’ sense of belonging is categorized by cataloging whether or not they feel their identity (alone and in relation to others) is “seen and valued,” whether they “fit in,” and whether or not they feel “good enough,” cared about, or belong to their environment (Jensen & McConchie, 2020). The answers to these questions help us understand who we are as individuals (Kedley, 2015), so we can then explore how our identities unite and fit into the larger classroom community. When students feel like they are a part of the classroom community, students feel a sense of belonging. The question, then, becomes how educators can help students build the “basic values of empathy and tolerance that education among diverse students brings” (National Education Association, 2018, p. 1). In an English language arts classroom, literacy helps “[students] [be]come active subjects combing the texts for connections to their daily lives and experiences in order to forge individual and collective self-determination” (Mirra, 2018, p. 8). This act of collectivism and critical perspective gives students context that we are complex individuals who must negotiate and reconsider our positions within society to “truly seek to ‘feel into’ someone else’s experience” (Mirra, 2018, p. 8) and build empathy for those around us. Inclusive practices help teachers and students alike build empathy and foster a community within the learning community. By affirming the identities and learning differences of all peoples in a classroom, we can teach students how to, as Deborah Appleman cites Paolo Freire, “read the word and the world” (2015, p. 2).

Action 2: Interrogate

Next, educators must introspectively investigate the intersectionality of their identities by metacognitively analyzing behavior and acknowledging biases in their journey to “social justice orientation” (Kedley, 2015; Sanford, 2020, p. 3). Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality is “a means to name overlapping forms of discrimination otherwise overlooked when only accounting for one vector of identity” (Fenner, 2020, p.1). When investigating identity, it is imperative for educators to root themselves in the understanding and exploration of intersectionality so that they may create a more rounded understanding of themselves and how their viewpoints and biases may impact their students. This investigation of all aspects of self—even the parts that are intentionally concealed—helps educators bring an awareness to the complexities of how identity is defined. This, in turn, helps educators understand how their students may define themselves. When fashioning one’s own identity, it is necessary to recognize that “it’s not enough to simply belong; [we] want to feel special and uniquely valued” (Jensen & McConchie, 2020, p. 153). That recognition and vulnerability provides a space for understanding that identity is not a monolithic phenomenon. To see students for who they are is to create what bell hooks describes as an “exciting” classroom, that sees students “in their particularity as individuals . . . and interact[s] with [them] according to their needs” (hooks, 1994, p. 16). Boyd affirms that “social justice . . . is first and foremost sudent-centered” (2017, p. 11), and when we center students’ identities and experiences in the classroom, they can begin to interrogate the intersections of their identities. The teacher’s understanding of self through narrative introspection is similar to applying their own oxygen masks first before they may assist those around them.

Social Justice Orientation Narrative Exemplar

As authors on this topic, we utilize a critically conscious reader response approach established in #DisruptTexts (Ebarvia et al., 2020) to recognize that our views on social justice topics are limited because of certain identity privileges we have in learning/reading about topics instead of experiencing certain intersections of identity-based injustices. In order to deepen our understanding of critical issues, we (the article authors) seek to write about our own experiences so that we may recognize our narrational similarities with those who are alike or unlike ourselves (Ebarvia et al., 2020). We offer the following exemplar of the process. As I (Brogan) wrote my own social justice narrative, I came to understand the care afforded to me through therapeutic, narrative introspection into how I came to exist in the world. Writing about my accomplishments and future commitments forced me to tend to the peaks and valleys of what shaped “who” (Jensen & McConchie, 2020, p. 153) I am:

The visibility and presence of my non-herteronormative family at school events taught me who I could trust, and it also made me somewhat of a magnet for kids who knew I would accept them . . . this gave me my first real taste of the strength and power of feminism.

Therein, I also recognized my own identity whilst “recogniz[ing] who is privileged and who is marginalized by language use” (Baker-Bell, 2013, p.360):

I found myself asking “so, what?” a lot, and I found myself asking it louder and louder. I always knew that I would yell and scream for the rights and acceptance of [others], but I never expected to find a way to yell and scream for the rights of myself in the process. I ended my high school career as a known debater for the reproductive rights of women and the acceptance of my LGBTQIA+ friends. I was fired up. I was angry. But, I was also very, very scared.

As I wrote, I realized I was a “teacher-text” in the classroom as I practiced this interrogation by “reading” (Kedley, 2015, p.366) my own messages—the ones I sent both overtly and subversively—which allowed me to engage in risk-taking, as demonstrated in my own writing:

It was time for me to take my love of righting wrongs and turn back to face my lingering notion that there was something my teachers weren’t telling me. I knew that my classes, up to that point, had been extra-accommodating to white, wealthy students, particularly young men. I knew that it was time for me to change universities, declare myself an English education major, and embrace that my future would be in a classroom that was a safe community for all, regardless of sex, gender, gender expression, race, ethnicity, culture, age, ability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, weight, body type, socioeconomic status, or religious affiliation.

It's a (Writing) Process!

Just like the writing process includes multiple rounds of revision, educators will come to realize that “social justice orientation is a gradual, ongoing process of learning, experiencing, and evolving” (Sanford, 2020, p. 9). This journey is never ending. Drafting a soial justice narrative

helps one to complete a critical first step in their journey: “(a) embracing personal history” (Sanford, 2020, p. 3). From there, one begins: “(b) sympathizing with other people’s histories” and finally arrives at “(c) a desire to end oppression of the marginalized,” (Sanford, 2020, p. 3) with “equality and equity for all” (Sanford, p. 5). By writing a social justice narrative, educators and students can “see themselves anew” and “envision themselves for their futures” (Boyd, 2017, p. 16). As with any other aspect of teaching, educators must have experience with Who and What they are teaching. The process of leading students to draft a social justice narrative gives educators a critical chance to learn with and from their students. Ultimately, the students benefit from having educators who practice the processes they teach in their classrooms to become living exemplars for their students.

Dr. Lara Searcy (she/her) is an Associate Professor, English Education Specialist at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK where she teaches and advises English teacher candidates. She is a former high school English teacher and middle school Literacy Resource Specialist and is Nationally Board Certified in AYA-ELA. Her research interests include teacher efficacy, standards-based reforms, social justice literacies, and teacher professional development. She can be reached at SearcyL@nsuok.edu.

Brogan Spears (she/her) is a fifth-year high school English teacher and graduate of Northeastern State University. She will begin pursuing a PhD in Social Foundations of Education at Oklahoma State University in the fall. Her research interests include curricular inclusivity; social justice education; the exploration of student identity to foster safe learning spaces; anti-racist teaching; gender, race, and sexuality studies; inclusive curriculum; literary theory; disrupting the literary canon; and gender theory in education. She can be reached at Spears11@nsuok.edu.

Kyle E. Foster (he/him) is a third-year English teacher and graduate of Northeastern State University. He is pursuing a M.Ed. in Instructional Leadership, English. His research interests include using narrative to explore self, social justice education, and helping students develop a social justice orientation. He plans to earn a PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture. He can be reached at Fosterk@nsuok.edu.

References

Appleman, D. (2015). Critical encounters in high school English: Teaching literary theory to adolescents (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Baikie, K.A., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11, 338-346. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.11.5.338 Baker-Bell, A. (2013). “I never really knew the history behind African American Language”: Critical language pedagogy in an advanced placement English language arts class. Equity & Excellence in Education, 46(3), 355-370. Borsheim-Black, C., & Sarigianides, S. T. (2019). Letting go of literary whiteness: Antiracist literature instruction for white students. Teachers College Press. Boyd, A. (2017). Social justice literacies in the English classroom: Teaching practice in action. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Cherry-Paul, S. (2020, February 25). An educator's guide to Stamped: Racism, antiracism, and you. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=an-educators-guide-tostamped-racism-antiracism-and-you-Jason-Reynolds-Ibram-Kendi-lesson-plancurriculum Ebarvia, T., German, L., Parker, K. N., & Torres, J. (2020). #DisruptTexts: An Introduction. English Journal, 110(1), 100–102. https://library.ncte.org/journals/ej/issues/v1101/30854 Fredricksen, J. E., Wilhelm, J. D., & Smith, M. W. (2012). So, what’s the story?: Teaching narrative to understand ourselves, others, and the world. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Fenner, A. (2020). “Reach everyone on the planet . . .”: Kimberlé Crenshaw and intersectionality. Feminist German Studies, 36(2), 115–117. hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge. Holmegaard, H. T., Ulriksen, L., & Madsen, L. M. (2015). A narrative approach to understand students’ identities and choices. In E. Henriksen, J. Dillon, & J. Ryder (Eds.), Understanding Student Participation and Choice in Science and Technology Education. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7793-4_3 Jensen, E., & McConchie, L. (2020). Brain-based learning: Teaching the way students really learn (3rd ed.). Corwin Press, Inc. Juzwik, M. M., Whitley, A., Baker Bell, A., & Smith, A. (2014). Re-thinking personal narrative in the pedagogy of writing teacher preparation. Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education, 3(1), 27–35. http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/wte/vol3/iss1/4 Kedley, K. E. (2015). Queering the teacher as a text in the English language arts classroom: Beyond books, identity work and teacher preparation. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 15(4), 364–377. Learning for Justice. (2020, January). Let's Talk! Facilitating critical conversations with students. Learning for Justice. https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/publications/lets-talk Mirra, N. (2018). Educating for empathy: Literacy learning and civic engagement. Teachers College Press. National Council of Teachers of English. (2010, November 20). Resolution on social justice in literacy education. NCTE. https://ncte.org/statement/socialjustice/ National Education Association. (2018). Legal guidance on students’ rights: Discrimination and

harassment based on race, religion, national origin, and immigration status. https://neaedjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/NEA-Legal-Guidance-on-StudentsRights-2018.03.13.pdf Sanford, A. A. (2020). From thought to action: Developing a social justice orientation. Cognella. Yagelski, R. P. (2009, October). A thousand writers writing: Seeking change through the radical practice of writing as a way of being. National Council of Teachers of English: English Education, 42(1), 6-28.

Just like the writing process includes

multiple rounds of revision, educators will

come to realize that “social justice

orientation is a gradual, ongoing process

of learning, experiencing, and evolving”

(Sanford, 2020, p. 9). This journey is never

ending.