Dr.

Julio
Cammarota
REFLECTIONS ON CAMMAROTA
September 23, 2018

The reading from Cammarota this week was an exciting one to process. I plan to focus on social justice
throughout my program and reading about the Social Justice Education Project (SJEP) fueled my
enthusiasm for making a difference. I was struck by the highlighted student, Yolo. It was incredible to see
how much he grew through the three phases of the program and learned more about who he was and the
change he was capable of making.

The three phases of awareness: self, community, and others, clearly help students to work through and
understand who they are (Cammarota, 2011). It is essential to build a strong sense of identity. The SJEP
helped those marginalized students who participated in the project, in Yolo’s case as a Mexican
immigrant, to understand the structure of oppression that exists throughout their educational experience
(Cammarota, 2011). Basing their understanding in the numerous factors that they were up against, it
becomes even more evident that a strong positive sense of self is crucial for the project to be a success.

I was impressed by how once Yolo had accomplished the strong sense of self he was able to advocate for
his classmates and the injustice they were experiencing as they were not being educated, because of
their limited English proficiency (Cammarota, 2011). Even more impressive, was the advocacy that grew
from Yolo’s sense of community and the empathy he felt for another marginalized group at the school:
those in Special Education. Though this is only one student’s story it is invigorating to think about the
possibilities of achievement and growth for students who are marginalized within our school settings.

In the recent reading by Cammarota (2016), I again was motivated to create action. Praxis, "critical
reflection and action" (Cammarota, 2016, p.60) is such an important part of creating lasting change to the
inequities that exist in the world. It is encouraging how the Social Justice Project was able to create
commitment to finding justice in youth.

I believe that the use of funds of knowledge through drawing from students lived experience is a powerful
way for students to approach praxis. It is so important, especially in environments that they feel
marginalized and are discriminated against, that the students experience and knowledge from their lived
experience is called upon and respected. The experiences that the students were living spoke directly to
the need for praxis to take place. The students were experiencing discrimination daily and they were
finally in a position to voice how they were impacted and how they were being silenced, literally and
figuratively.

The power that Youth hold, especially in projects like the Social Justice Education Project in Tucson,
shows the importance of their voice. The voice that they bring when talking about their experiences and
the injustices they face need to be heard, learned from, and most importantly changed.

Cammarota, J. (2016). The social justice education project in tucson, az. p.55-69.
REFERENCES

https://d2l.arizona.edu/d2l/le/content/699956/viewContent/6659207/View
Cammarota, J. (2011). From hopelessness to hope: Social justice pedagogy in urban education and youth development. Urban
Education 46(4), p. 828-844. https://d2l.arizona.edu/d2l/le/content/699956/viewContent/6614321/View