Abby Sears

AE3220 Teaching in a Multicultural Environment

Social Justice Classroom Outline Assignment

*Classroom Expectations Narrative Explanation

On the first day of class my new students will have to work together with each other and
myself in order to create a set of agreements and expectations, which they will abide by
for the entirety of the year/ semester/ class. An example of an agreement is that
everyone will work together to clean at the end of every class. An agreement could be
that everyone agrees to behave with respect towards everyone, for example, if everyone
agrees to be respectful, we should not have anyone interrupting each other when they
are speaking. Students will be held accountable for their agreements by a contract they
will take home to sign with their parents. They will also be reminded of these “rules”
every time they step foot into the classroom, because the list of agreements will be
posted outside of my door, as well as in plain sight in the classroom (most likely on the
side of the white board).
The three words: rules, expectations and agreements, have different meaning so I will
go with agreements because it is a mutual decision made by both myself and my
students and if they are accepting of the agreements it should be a lot harder for them to
break them. The students will brainstorm different actions that would help the class run
smoothly and we will convert those actions into our agreements and then I will write the
contract for them to sign with their parents.
Positive reinforcement will be a great way to keep the agreements from falling through
the cracks.
If these positive reinforcements are not successful I can go over the agreements again
and remind students they did sign a contract.
(Raffle tickets and prize buckets for good behavior on Fridays)
(Refocus cards)

Advocacy Policy/Classroom Equity Commitment

Brainstorm 2 ideas for advocacy and equity in your classroom
 As a safe space and as a classroom it
is our responsibility to treat everyone
with respect and dignity regardless of
their ethnicity, religion, sexual
orientation/ preference or any other
part of one’s identity. It is our goal as
a class to make sure every student
feels safe and welcomed into this art
classroom.
We invite everyone with open arms into
this classroom. No discrimination of
any kind will be tolerated. No racism,
no heterosexism, no ableism, no
transphobia, no misogyny, no classism
or other bias will occur in this
classroom without severe
consequences.

Activity: Have students brainstorm
about people they think are not treated
equally and why that is and how we
can prevent that from happening
Activity: to help students engrain our
policies we will be creating super hero
characters that fight against different
forms of discrimination.
Before going through the policy I will
talk about the isms that are mentioned
and clarify and educate the students on
the meanings so that everyone
understands what we are talking about.
Perhaps there are better words to
describe these isms for the class.

Classroom Routines/Procedures
*Walk us through a typical day in your classroom

Students come by…….. Students must be in class prior to bell which indicates the start
of class
and they are greeted (how)……If I am not setting something up for class I will be
seated at my desk, greeting everyone that walks in, while simultaneously taking
attendance.

The first thing students do is ………The first thing I will expect students to do, is to put
down their bags and supplies at their assigned seats then start their artist prompt for the
day. Each students will have individual sketchbooks that will be placed in their specific
spots. The first student to enter class gets the responsibility of placing the sketchbooks
out for each student (that will be written on the white board and will take up the first 5
minutes of class).

Students begin the seminar/discussion by doing……. Students will give their

attention to me after I clap two times (they’ll clap once back) and if that doesn’t work I
will turn off the lights and request eyes on me. Students must listen to my questions
about the discussion prompts so I will expect everyone to be paying attention.
Afterwards I will initiate the discussion by calling on a student I believed was paying
attention. Students will be introduced to the fishbowl discussion technique so a group of
students will be surrounding another group of students and the outside group can initiate
questions for the inside group.

When it is time to start creating students get supplies by….. Students will receive
supplies when it is time to start working through me handing them the supplies. The
students will then be responsible for the supplies (like cleaning and making sure they are
returned). They will have each individual work buckets for the class day and each table
will line up one at a time
Perhaps I can have designated students to help me each day (special responsibility)
each kids will be responsible for their tables

During the artmaking process students should be…….Actively trying to create and
understand the meaning behind different art practices.

Set of 5 connecting questions for deepening an understanding

How did you come up with the idea for your artwork?
What inspired you in this piece?
Can you connect this artwork to anything we have been talking about in class?
Does this artwork reflect anything personal?
Do the color choices have any special meaning to you?

To conclude the class we……… will quickly debrief by going over what we are learning
in class and how that relates to our own artistic practice and how we can better
ourselves and our learning environment. Followed by the designated cleanup crew
helping to ensure all of the art supplies are placed back where they belong.

Students will be dismissed by……… the first group cleaned up is the first group to go,
if there is one student holding up the rest, they will be required to stay until they are
cleaned up. If they prove they were not wasting time, I will write them a pass for their
next class.

And/Or

*List your procedures for the following

I will greet them from my desk while they set up for their
Entering Class daily artist prompt

Set-up for I will prompt the students with a statement or question

Seminar/Discussion then call on a student who I believe was paying attention,
to start off the discussion.
 I will hand them supplies when it is time to start working.
Getting Supplies They then will be responsible for the cleanliness of the
supplies and the safe return of the supplies

Students should be trying to create and understand

Artmaking meaning behind the artistic process
Expectations

We will wrap up class with a quick debriefing of the day’s

work and ideations. I want them to be able to connect
Exiting Class what they learn in my class with their world outside of
school, and hopefully help them to better all-around
learning environment

Discussion Formats
*3 Reading resources

1. Social Justice Art Book

Everyone starts with a piece of paper. They will fold the paper into thirds. The
first person will be responsible for the head,
The second person will be responsible for the chest
The third person will be responsible for the feet
All together the three people create an image of their ideas which can help
them discuss their ideas with others and gain a deeper understanding of both
their own and their classmate’s ideas.

2. Gallery Walks
The students will display their artworks around the classroom, just as one
would see in a gallery, and the students get to venture around the classroom in
order to see everyone’s work. This discussion technique is fun and productive
because it gets the kids moving and gives them the freedom to walk around the
classroom. The students will have to pick three artworks from the gallery walk
to talk about, both positive and negative comments (constructive criticism)

3. Think Pair Share

Students think about a discussion question on their own for a certain time, then
they are paired with one of their classmates. Then the two students share their
thoughts and have a personal discussion for an allotted time. Afterwards the
class regroups and each student has to share their partner’s point of view. To
show that they were listening and understood their partner.
Physical Classroom Setup
*Sketch a potential classroom set-up

114