For this Week’s journal I want to offer a practical way to help teachers and teacher educators implement a justice grounded teacher education curriculum. To do this I offer a learning experience which is a part of a larger transformative curriculum that I am currently developing. This experience, and the larger curriculum, includes the following articles as a part of the theoretical framework.

• Transforming Our Mission: Animating Teacher Education through Intersectional Justice by Subini Ancy Annamma & Maisha Winn

• Whiteness Is a White Problem: Whiteness in English Education A White Problem by Samuel Jaye Tanner

The learning experience I have created attempts to reinforce Annamma & Winn’s idea  that intersectional language matters. Educational scholars Annamma & Winn (2019) reminded us that “In education, students often become labels rather than youth with authentic identities, agency, and thoughts”. I have seen this in my own practice. For example, one of my Black girl students was continually called “sassy” by a white teacher.  I found myself often (re) framing the annotation that my co-worker was attempting to ascribe to my student. Black studies scholar Christiana Sharpe (2019) describes annotation  in the following way:

Annotation  appears like the asterisk, which is itself an annotation mark, that marks the trans*formation into ontological  blackness. As photographs of Black people circulate as portraits in a variety of publics, they are often accompanied by some sort of note or other metadata, whether that notation is in the photograph itself or as a response to a dehumaning photograph, in order that the image might travel with supplemental information that marks injury and, then more than injury

Sharpe, 2016, pg.116

This quote reminds us that the language we use to annotate a being has both immediate and far-reaching consequences.  It is important that teacher educators and teachers consider the discourse and language they use when they are engaging with students. We must also consider how the student identifies, their thoughts,  experiences, and agency, separate from exterior annotations. We must ask who are our students, and who do they wish to become.  I also believe that it is important for individuals who engage in equity and social justice work to reflect on their own racial experiences. Educational scholar Samuel Tanning(2019) explores his own racial experiences using racial storytelling. He is very reflective of his experiences and positionality as a white male. He also employs racial storytelling with care. He explains:

“I explore the utility of using racial storytelling as a white person here, albeit with some hesitation. Certainly, as a white person I’m mindful of the potential for me to exploit a methodology designed by people of color to disrupt white supremacy”

Tanner, 2019, pgs. 4-5

This quote is important because it reminds us that we need to be aware of our own positionality.  It also serves as an example how a white person can engage in  equity work. This quote asks us to consider who should be responsible for unpacking and teaching about whiteness. We should also consider how this work should be carried out. I believe that because the majority of teachers are white female teachers, it is important that this type of reflection is included in teacher education programs and in the schools they will work in.

I hope encouraging teacher and teacher educators to consider the intersections of language, discourse, identity, annotation, and redaction will catalyze them to transform how they position their students. I also hope that reflecting on their own racial storytelling will influence any redactive actions that they implement.