“If I'm a Good Citizen of My Classroom, I Get a Reward for It”

• In Event: Restorative Justice, Black Geographies, and Voice: Reframing School Discipline as a Fight for Human Rights

Abstract

In this paper, I examine how classroom management strategies in elementary settings function as implicit and liminal curricula that shape students’ understandings of citizenship. Specifically, I investigate how student teachers’ use of reward systems, shared language, and behavioral expectations promote a narrow vision of personally responsible citizenship centered on compliance, kindness, and helpfulness. Through classroom observations and interviews, the study uncovers how civic norms are communicated outside explicit social studies instruction and challenges dominant narratives of “good” behavior. Ultimately, it highlights classroom management as a site for justice-oriented civic learning and urges educators to recognize the pedagogical potential of everyday routines as opportunities for meaningful, democratic engagement.

Author

• Abigail Stebbins, The Ohio State University