This webinar touched on many things that I have discussed in my classes this semester. It focuses on how teachers need to decentralize their perspectives as well as acknowledge their own privilege and biases. It touches on 3 different motivations allies have: self-interest, altruism, and social justice. These motivations have not been discussed in my classes, but they are important for educators to be aware of and to self-reflect on what their current motivation is as well as where they want to be. It seems like many teachers have well-intentions for their students, but many like to celebrate working with students different from them and don’t self-reflect on their practices. As a future educator, my hope is to be an ally for social justice and I know that all the discussions I have had in my classes will help me towards this. The webinar did give strategies in order to be an ally for social justice. What stood out to me was the building relationships and examining your role (as a teacher) as a gatekeeper. Many teachers see themself as the one who holds all knowledge and the students have to learn from them. However, by building relationships with the students, educators can create a classroom environment in which their is a distributive power or a collaborative environment. The teacher knows their students and when to allow the students to have the power in the classroom. This creates an environment where all students feel comfortable and feel like their perspectives should be involved in the conversation.
