What is Social Justice? Response

I found this article through a series of Google searches and found it to be informative for giving me ideas about what exactly social justice is and how it can be used in the classroom. While there are probably dozens of different definitions for the term "social justice", the article defines it as "recognizing and acting upon the power that we have for making positive change". I find social justice is an important aspect to be considered when teaching any subject. I believe that the issues of social justice taught in classes give a deeper meaning to what the students are learning. They are no longer learning something just for the sake of knowledge but rather are learning something that may motivate them to change our society for the better. The article suggests that we as teachers can "give students opportunities for seeing how positive change happens and how they can be both actors and leaders in creating change". However, with such topics being brought up in a classroom, the conversations may turn to heated debates between students. As the article states "it is important to choose topics about which you feel you can be pedagogically neutral as you support students' own journey of learning how to be critical thinkers and forming their own opinions". The last thing I would want to happen is to have a student get into a pissing match with me over a topic they are motivated about. However, this also may be a golden opportunity for another teacher to join the class in a team teaching method to display to students how to conduct an informed well mannered discussion about issues with someone who has a differing opinion. I also enjoyed the section about creating authentic assessments. I think especially if we are incorporating social justice in our teaching, why not have the students actually get involved? For example, if there is a social justice issue in the school, make it an assignment to have the students write a letter to the principal. I think this shows students that they have a voice in their world and they may be more motivated in doing the work because they are invested in the work.

Here is a link to the article I found:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/creating-classrooms-for-social-justice-tabitha-dellangelo