Our Classroom

In this episode of Our Classroom, Dr. Towanda Harris, author of The Right Tools: A Guide for Selecting, Evaluating and Implementing Classroom Resources and Practices, joins me to discuss the idea of Collaborating to Learn.

Classroom Notes

Welcome to Our Classroom!

Dr. Towanda Harris has been a teacher, staff developer, literacy content specialist, instructional leadership coordinator, and instructional coach. Currently an adjunct professor of reading and writing at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, she brings over twenty years of experience to the education world. Towanda is the author of The Right Tools: A Guide to Selecting, Evaluating, and Implementing Classroom Resources and Practices. Educators rely on her wisdom about finding resources that meet their teaching goals and match their understanding of their students’ needs. Dr. Harris’ workshops have been featured at the Wisconsin State Reading Association Conference, National Reading Recovery Conference, Indiana State Reading Conference, and National Council of Teachers of English. Teachers turn to her to learn how to employ those resources, blend them with best practices, and help all students reach their full potential.

Her passion for elevating teachers’ voices through her podcast, “My Two Cents,” provides a space for a community of educators to share their personal stories with each other. In addition, Towanda is a board member of Elevate Atlanta, a member of The Educator Collaborative, and an advisor for the #G2Great Twitter chat.

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In this episode of Our Classroom, author and professor Steven Alvarez joins to discuss Taco Literacy.

Classroom Notes:

Steven Alvarez is an Associate Professor of English at St. John’s University. He specializes in literacy studies and bilingual education with a focus on Mexican immigrant communities. Dr. Alvarez teaches courses ranging from autobiographical writing, ethnographic methods, creative writing, and “taco literacy,” a course exploring the foodways of Mexican immigrants in the United States. Dr. Alvarez is the author of Brokering Tareas: Mexican Immigrant Families Translanguaging Homework Literacies (State University of New York Press) and Community Literacies en Confianza: Learning from Bilingual After-School Programs (National Council of Teachers of English). Dr. Alvarez is also the author of three books of poetry. His book The Codex Mojaodicus was the winner of the 2016 Fence Modern Poets Prize.

Follow: IG/Twitter - @stevenpaulalvarez @tacoliteracy / @Chastitellez

In this episode of Our Classroom, Dr. Jamila Dugan, Co-Author of Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation, gives us a deep dive into chapter two of her book - No Shortcuts: Avoiding Equity Traps and Troupes.

Classroom Notes:

Dr. Jamila Dugan (she/her/hers) is an author, leadership coach and researcher. 

Jamila has dedicated her career to making “equity” more than just a buzzword. She works with individuals and organizations across the nation to develop and support transformational leaders who care deeply about advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Jamila is the co-author of Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation, focusing on culturally-rich education environments and anti-racist approaches to reimagine learning. She has also co-hosted the Brave Spaces Institute that brings together hundreds of participants to learn how to lead inclusively. 

Follow: IG/Twitter - @jamiladugan

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In this episode of Our Classroom, author and professor Shane Safir joins to discuss Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation.

Classroom Notes:

Shane Safir has worked at every level of the education system, from the classroom to the boardroom, for 25 years. Since 2008, Safir has provided equity-centered leadership coaching, strategic planning, and professional learning support for schools, districts, and organizations across the U.S., Canada, and beyond. She facilitates workshops on creating brave spaces for equity, listening leadership, becoming a warm demander, and Street Data among other content. She is the author of The Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation (Jossey-Bass: 2017) and her most recent book, coauthored with Dr. Jamila Dugan, is titled Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation (Corwin, 2021).

Follow: IG/Twitter - @shanesafir / @shanesafir_author

In this episode of Our Classroom, Dr. Kimberly N. Parker, author of Literacy Is Liberation: Working Toward Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching, discusses one of the CRTs that are driving some folks crazy. 

Classroom notes:

Kimberly N. Parker, PhD, has been working in literacy communities with young people for more than 20 years. She has always believed in the power of literacy to normalize the high achievement of all students, especially Black, Latinx, and other students of color. Her career has included public school teaching, preparing preservice teachers, conducting research about how to support the success of Black boy readers, and delivering professional development across the country.

She is currently the director of the Crimson Summer Academy at Harvard University, the 2020 recipient of the NCTE Outstanding Elementary Educator Award, a cofounder of #DisruptTexts and #31DaysIBPOC, and the current president of the Black Educators' Alliance of MA (BEAM).

Welcome to Our Classroom!

Follow: IG - @drkimparker / Twitter - @TchKimPossible

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In this episode of Our Classroom, Sheldon L. Eakins, Ph.D, author of Leading Equity: Becoming an Advocate for All Students, joins to discuss Modeling Vulnerability & Humility.

Classroom notes:

Check out this powerful conversation in which two Black men get vulnerable. It’s not something you see everyday in our society. 

Welcome to Our Classroom!

Follow: IG/Twitter - @sheldoneakins

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In this episode of Our Classroom, Roberto wraps up 2022 by engaging in a vulnerable moment and apologizing to any students that he may have caused harm to, even if he did so unknowingly.

In this episode of Our Classroom, author and professor David Bowles joins to discuss Border Stories.

Classroom Notes:

David Bowles is an associate professor and coordinator of the English education program at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. He is the award-winning Chicano author and translator of some thirty books, among them They Call Me Güero and My Two Border Towns. David's academic work and activism seeks to empower Latinx educators and their allies in the fight for children's literary dignity. He presently serves as vice president of the Texas Institute of Letters. 

Follow: IG/Twitter - @davidobowles

Author of They Call Me Güero; They Call Her Fregona

In this episode of Our Classroom, author Afrika Afeni Mills, shares insight about her book Open Windows, Open Minds: Developing Antiracist, Pro-Human Students. 

Classroom Notes:

Afrika Afeni Mills is an Education Consultant, Adjunct Instructor, and the author of Open Windows, Open Minds: Developing Antiracist, Pro-Human Students. She works with teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators to develop and sustain student-centered learning experiences that are diverse, inclusive, and equitable. Afrika believes that all educators can be motivated, engaged, dynamic practitioners and leaders when provided with the support needed to create student-centered, anti-bias, anti-racist, culturally responsive learning environments that inspire wonder and creativity and nurture diversity, belonging, equity, and inclusion.

Follow Afrika Afeni Mills - IG: @open_windows_open_minds / Twitter: @AfeniMills

Purchase Open Windows, Open Minds: Developing Antiracist, Pro-Human Students via Afrika Afeni Mills website, Corwin Publishing, or Amazon.

In this episode of Our Classroom, Roberto shares an excerpt from the article To Build a Pipeline of Black Teachers, This Program Starts Recruiting in High School by Emily Tate Sullivan.

The article examines the Genius, Joy and Love initiative led by Dr. Valerie Kinloch, dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education.

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