I found this article very interesting and hopeful as on one hand it clarified the concept of pedagogy of social justice education and on the other it validated my favourite part of teaching, which is sharing my own experiences.

Although I have never been formally taught how to teach, I have taught in different institutions for quite sometime now and the best part has been that I have been practicing for a few years, then land a job at a university teaching, than I would go back to the industry to practice some more and then back in education. This helped me collect a well of experience that I could draw upon when teaching the subject. Giving practical examples allowed me to bring the subject to life, to show the students how the theory that we learn is applied and has a practical implication once we apply it to real life situations. Theory is useful, it has a purpose, it is not just dry and difficult material we ought to learn, but it helps us be better practitioners. I believe in this so much that when I studied sound engineering and I was asked to teach it immediately after graduating, although I took the job and taught for a while, I soon realised I was an impostor and quit to go and gain some experience before going back to teach it!

The paper also introduced me to the concept of ‘contact hypothesis, which I didn’t know anything about. I find this very exciting: the idea of deconstructing conflict by creating an environment where apparently incompatible students can meet and tackle differences to find a common ground sounds incredibly positive and effective. But my question is: how do we create such a ‘positive constructed environment’? How much conflict will there be between the students before they can find the common ground? Is this a potentially dangerous territory? How do we make it safe enough to provide reconciliation opportunities?