Final Reflection on Contexts of Schooling

School is often described as a place of opportunity, but these readings and film invite a more complicated question: opportunity for whom, and on whose terms? Through Shalaby’s Troublemakers, the documentary Precious Knowledge, and Delpit’s work on power and pedagogy, I began to see how schooling can both constrain and liberate students depending on how educators interpret behavior, identity, and language. Together, they challenge the idea that there is a single “right” way to learn or behave in school, and instead push us to think about how schools can become more responsive to students’ lived experiences while still preparing them to navigate systems of power.

The three resources that will stick out to me are the following:

Shalaby – Troublemakers
Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School made me rethink how quickly schools label students instead of listening to what their behavior is communicating. The book suggests that “troublemaking” can actually be a form of engagement, agency, or unmet need rather than simple defiance. It raises questions about whether schools are built for compliance or for understanding young people as full human beings with valid perspectives.

Precious Knowledge
Precious Knowledge highlights how deeply students can connect to learning when they see their histories and identities reflected in the curriculum. It also made me think about how education is never neutral—what gets taught (and what is removed) reflects power and politics. The film shows that when students are given culturally relevant learning, school becomes not just academic but personally transformative.

Delpit
Lisa Delpit challenges the idea that being “fair” means treating all students the same, emphasizing instead that equity requires explicitly teaching access to dominant cultural codes while still valuing students’ own languages and identities. Her argument sits in a productive tension between access and affirmation, which made me think about how often schools unintentionally privilege one over the other. It also raises the question of how teachers can make power structures visible without reinforcing them.

Taken together, Shalaby, Precious Knowledge, and Delpit all push me to rethink what school is actually for and who it is designed to serve. Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School and Precious Knowledge both show that students’ voices, identities, and ways of engaging are often misread or constrained by systems that prioritize control and standardization over meaning and belonging. At the same time, Lisa Delpit complicates this by reminding us that access to dominant academic “codes” is also necessary for students to navigate and transform those same systems. What connects all three is the tension between empowerment and access: schools must both affirm who students are and equip them with the tools to move through a world shaped by unequal power.

Pronouns, Teacher Names, Student Names: Reflections on Being Inclusive in Classrooms

 

While subbing at The Gordon School and Wheeler, I was happy to see that there was real consideration and sensitivity around gender identity. It was the norm for teachers to introduce themselves with their pronouns, and middle school students would often share theirs as well. For younger students, parents could note pronouns on forms, and students were also free to share if they wanted. Teachers who didn’t identify with Ms., Mrs., Miss, or Mr. were able to create their own titles, which led to names like Teacher Sam, Captain Lana, and Mx. Walsh.

There were also many discussions about gender identity at the middle school level, and several students asked to be called by their preferred names. I do think there could be more structured support and more intentional conversations about gender identity and sexuality, especially for middle schoolers who are actively figuring these things out. At one school, there was a nursery-aged boy who would share clothes with his sister and often wore dresses. What stood out most was that no one commented on it—it was simply accepted that Theo wore dresses sometimes. Another thing that I liked was that all the student bathrooms were mixed gender, though there were single stall bathrooms for students that felt uncomfortable. For the changing rooms at the gym, they designated the changing rooms for those that identified as each gender, again with a private stall for anyone to use. 

At my current school, teachers do include their pronouns in introductions, and we have names like Teacher S and Mx. L. Students are generally very accepting, though they sometimes slip up and default to “Miss” when addressing Teacher S.

For students, I think we are open in theory to them sharing their pronouns, but it’s not something that is proactively encouraged or normalized. I’ve had one student ask me to use “they,” but I’ve noticed they haven’t asked others, which makes me wonder if they don’t feel fully supported in doing so. 

Overall, I hope to be a teacher that always accepts my students and is open to how they want to express themselves. I believe that we are all performing our gender one way or another and that it can only be understood in terms of culture and society. I read Judith Butler in college and think about her work on a weekly basis. There are definitely other theories of gender, but this is one that I enjoy thinking and analyzing. 

https://www.thecut.com/2016/06/judith-butler-c-v-r.html

I hope that my students remember me as accepting and supportive. 

Reflections on Teaching Neurodivergent Students in Middle School

My first day of teaching at my current school (starting mid-year), one of my 7th graders came up to me and said: I have ADHD and I don't always take my meds so sometimes I get a little antsy, but you should know that I am trying.

At the time, not having much context, I just said, “Thanks for letting me know!”

The next two weeks I realized that antsy was a huge understatement.

At one point, this student (who is also a great actor and starred in many of the school musicals) “tripped” and very elaborately fell into the garbage can causing trash to go everywhere and the entire class to erupt into screaming, laughing, jumping chaos. The next day he was pulled from my class because he and another student were rubbing Clorox wipes in each other’s mouths. Another teacher later told me that the year before, he had sprayed her with a fire extinguisher.

Everyone kept telling me, “He’s actually much easier this year.”
Not having the comparison, I wasn’t exactly comforted.

It was challenging to work with him and not just because of his behavior, but because of how much it dysregulated everyone else. Other students would get visibly frustrated and sometimes just say what they were thinking: “Can you just get him out?”

But then there were these two weeks where he was taking his meds consistently. He moved himself to the front of the room. He was ready. Focused. Participating. He is also deeply empathetic. Kind in these quiet, almost unexpected ways. The kind of kid who will notice if someone is having a bad day and try to make them laugh or feel included. 

At the same time, I have another student in my class who is autistic and has ADHD. Her mom really wants her to be with kids her age, which I understand and respect. She’s not reading at grade level—but honestly, she’s not the only one. The bigger challenge is social. The other kids don’t always understand her, and instead of trying to, they poke at her triggers. They say things just to get a reaction. And sometimes she gets so overwhelmed and frustrated that she lashes out, 

Because so much of teaching isn’t just about content. It’s about managing a room full of very different needs, very different brains, very different emotional realities, all happening at the same time. I found these resources to be very helpful and hope others will too!

https://impact.ed.ac.uk/research/future-health-and-care/rewiring-how-neurodiversity-is-taught-in-the-classroom/

https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-strategies-help-neurodiverse-students-fully-engage-class/

https://childmind.org/article/how-schools-can-support-neurodiverse-students/