The JJSE Pedagogy Project
As a school for social justice serving a largely working-class, Latino and African-American student population, the mission of June Jordan School for Equity is not just to prepare students for college, but also to prepare our graduates to be agents of positive change in the world.
Consequently, our pedagogy (a fancy way of saying “the way we teach”) is expressly designed to help our students understand the forces of marginalization they have experienced growing up, and thus to begin the process of freeing themselves from oppression, including especially the internalized oppression (or self-imposed limits) which we see preventing so many students from meeting their potential.
We are in the process of clearly defining the JJSE pedagogy, in order to support JJSE teachers on their path to becoming masters at the art of teaching for social justice, which in turn will provide all JJSE students the opportunity to develop the self-confidence and self-discipline they need to become not just authentic intellectuals, but also leaders who will work on behalf of their communities and create a more just and humane world.
We believe that this project represents real accountability, in contrast to the test-based accountability that is so popular in education today.
The current version of the JJSE pedagogy is available by clicking on this link:
The pedagogy consists of four categories, each of which includes several specific techniques:
Engagement, Practice, & Support
Teachers in training have started using these video clips as a resource. Many thanks to Tracy Burt, professor at City College of San Francisco, who developed this Safe Classroom Community graphic organizer which may be useful in viewing the Safe Classroom Community videos.
For more current information on teaching at JJSE, you can also read our Teach for Equity blog.
