Developing Justice-Oriented Teachers: Reciprocal Mentoring in Marginalized Communities

Community contexts stimulate pre-service teachers’ cultural and environmental awareness of local injustices while building their knowledge and skills as future teachers of diverse students. In Study “Abroad” in the Neighborhood, pre-service teachers visit local families who teach our students the Spanish language and culture. A second initiative is Environmental Regeneration through Permaculture Food Gardens focused on pre-service teachers’ and children’s construction of school gardens linked to curriculum, food cultures, and health. Pre-service teachers who understand why and how to appropriate a justice-orientation to education may become teacher-activists who honor perspectives and assets of diverse people in classrooms, schoolyards, and communities