Blog 12: Theory into Practice- Intersectionality in the Classroom

Theory into Practice: Intersectionality in the Classroom 

Teaching at the Intersections by Monita K. Bell 

5 Tips for Being an Ally, by Franchesca (chescaleigh)

This week’s reading and video bring all of the topics from our class together into one. Race, culture, power, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, ableism, access, and opportunity are just a few of the themes that we have explored as a class this summer through readings, videos, and class discussions. Teaching at the Intersections by Monita K. Bell focuses on the essential  work of honoring the multiple identities and intersectionalities of students in the classroom. According to the article, “Intersectionality refers to the social, economic and political ways in which identity-based systems of oppression and privilege connect, overlap and influence one another.”This definition of intersectionality aligns with Allan Johnson’s Privilege, Power and Difference. The existence of privilege leads to an unjust and uneven distribution of power which creates oppression and marginalization of social groups. Intersectionality seeks to understand how these factors interact with one another and ultimately manifest in all people across society. 

The article begins with a case study on a student named Nicole who is not meeting academic expectations in the traditional American classroom. Nicole’s teachers, who know little about her life, could treat her as a student with a single story: a young, African-American female with poor grades, a bad family life, and truancy issues. Little do her teachers know that Nicole is the oldest child of a low-income family who is responsible for taking care of her younger siblings. To support this student, educators should view Nicole through an intersectional lens which would acknowledge that her gender and socioeconomic status are strong contributors to her academic performance in school. Nicole’s problems are not solely a result of her multiple identities, but of several oppressions that exist due to her combined identities. This case study reminded me of Armstrong and Wildman’s Colorblindness is the New Racism. To deny the reality that race has a large impact on socialization and education due to the systems of oppression that exist is in itself a racist and oppressive act. In this student Nicole’s case, her race, gender, and socioeconomic status all create barriers for her as a learner. Students are beyond what teachers see in front of them in the classroom. They are human beings with  familial, cultural, social, and linguistic histories that impact their learning in every single way. We cannot treat students as if they hold a single story.

Oppression, power and privilege are constantly at play in the classroom. Helping children understand the relationship between power and privilege in school curriculums and empowering them with the tools to think critically about it is a fundamental responsibility of an educator. We simply cannot deny the role that power and privilege play in American schools. Power and privilege exist in every aspect of schooling for children grades K-12. We must make students aware of the systemic problems that have existed for decades and help them to navigate the world with powerful literacy. My favorite part of this article was reading about the perspective of English teacher Cristina Torres on power imbalance in the classroom. She states, “Every day kids enter our class, there’s an opportunity for them to be empowered or oppressed. When I don’t consider intersectionality and what they might need, I run the risk of oppressing my kids. ... When we stop seeing our kids as whole people—as whole, nuanced people, with context to gender and race and class—we stop seeing them as real people.” To teach authentically and effectively, I believe that all educators must do what Torres is encouraging us  to do, which is to see students as human beings with layers of context, history, experience, personality, and circumstance in order to treat and teach all children equitably. 

In the video 5 Tips for Being an Ally from Youtube, Franchesca offers five important tips for being a good ally for marginalized groups in society. She outlines the following five tips in her video which I believe are highly useful for educators: 

1. Understand your privilege 

2. Listen and do your homework

3. Speak up-not over

4. You will make mistakes! Apologize when you do

5. Ally is a verb- do the work

My favorite tip is tip #5: Ally is a verb- do the work! Oftentimes, a person will claim to be a strong ally who supports various causes and initiatives of marginalized groups. However, a person stating that he or she is an ally is simply not enough. Taking action and doing transformational work is necessary to being a good ally and standing for a cause. Great work can include joining an organization, taking political action, advocating at events, or working alongside leaders to implement true social change. Being an ally requires looking inward at ourselves to analyze our privilege and role in the social issue, as well as looking outward to contribute to solutions through real-life work in order to make real change to create a greater and more just society. As educators, it is our role to support our students in being their ally by doing the work.