Teacher Researchers/Teacher Activists
Last summer, a small group of Teacher Consultants (TCs) spent Teacher Research week thinking and writing together about how we can bring more social justice approaches and activist stances to our work. Our week focused on several guiding questions:
What is activism?
What does it look like?
Who is an activist?
How are you an activist?
Who benefits from activism?
Who speaks?
Who is silenced?
How do we demonstrate/maintain our activist stances?
Our week together included discussions of current events, teaching demonstrations, time for research and reading, development of personal projects related to social justice/activist teaching, and time to collaborate. What I love about TR weeks are the rich conversations we have; I learn so much from my colleagues who teach other age groups and subject areas than I do. The ideas and resources I learn about from other TCs I have adapted to my college writing classroom with great success.
This year, we had the opportunity to spend third day of TR week at the UNC Charlotte Center City campus, completing a writing marathon in Uptown and visiting the Levine Museum of the New South’s exhibit entitled “Know Justice, Know Peace.”
This powerful and moving exhibit focused on the Charlotte protests following the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, and also explored the systemic inequality in Charlotte’s housing and education systems over time. The interactive nature of the exhibit afforded us the opportunity to see how other visitors felt about the exhibit and the larger issues it addressed.
As I was heading out of the exhibit to join our group, one sticky note caught my eye. Its message was simple — and it represents what I believe to be at the heart of social justice teaching.
Without a doubt, I have benefitted from having the space and time to work with other TCs, and I encourage you to join us for this year’s Teacher Research week June 25th-28th to work on a project you have at any stage of development. You’ll have support and space to write amongst a supportive group of colleagues and friends. Write on!
