Empowering WL Educators to Teach for Justice in Polarized Contexts

655 

Session 

Non-language specific 

English 

Cassandra Glynn  
Concordia College

Cassandra Glynn  
Concordia College

Pamela Wesely  
University of Iowa

Beth Wassell  
Rowan University

Since January 2021, legislative restrictions in the US on what can and cannot be taught have increased sharply. Forty-four state legislatures have introduced over 300 bills designed to limit the ways that K-16 teachers can teach topics like race and racism, gender, American history, and LGBTQ+ issues (American Council on Education, 2023). Simultaneously, interest in teaching for social justice and teaching with anti-bias, anti-racism, liberationist, and decolonial perspectives has increased exponentially in the field of language education, as evidenced by many publications, presentations, and interest groups devoted to the topic.
This session will focus on ways that K-16 world language teachers can feel empowered to teach for social justice even when the climate around them is inhospitable or hostile to their efforts. Information about the proposed and enacted legislation will be reviewed, in addition to techniques and ideas from the presenters' experiences and research.

Participants will be able to describe how current legislation in polarized contexts is impacting the work of world language teachers as they strive toward justice-oriented teaching.


Participants will be able to explain successful strategies they currently use to overcome or work within legislative restrictions and will identify new strategies they can use in their classroom.


Participants will be able to analyze teaching scenarios in their own contexts using strategies discussed in the session to navigate barriers to or restrictions on justice-oriented teaching.

The session will begin with an overview of legislation that has impacted world language education across the United States, followed by a Mentimeter that provides an opportunity for participants to share about their own contexts and challenges they may face. The presenters will share some effective strategies for navigating restrictions, particularly in inhospitable states with legislation that negatively impacts learners' diverse identities. Using a shared Google document, participants will engage in a turn-and-talk and co-construct a list of additional strategies that have been or could be successful based on their own experiences. In the last part of the session, the presenters will provide the participants with several scenarios. Working in small groups, participants will use their co-constructed list of strategies to analyze the scenarios and discuss possible ways to teach for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the face of complex barriers and legislation.

In the past three years, 44 state legislatures have introduced over 300 bills limiting justice and equity instruction in K-16 classrooms. How can we continue to teach WL for social justice in this environment? This session will provide strategies to help participants navigate legislative boundaries and an opportunity to collaborate on next steps.

All Audiences

Equitable and Inclusive Practices