A Reflective Look Back: Considering the Integration of Extraordinary Literacies in Professional Learning Environments for In-service Secondary Science Educators

• In Event: Introducing Extraordinary Literacies and Empyreal Logics: Regarding the Thriving Praxes of Black Girls and Women in Schools and Society

Abstract

This paper serves as an extension to a previous study that examined how secondary science teachers negotiated issues of equity within a 2022 science professional learning workshop. Study participants included teachers from a variety of states across the country who attended a week-long professional learning workshop that was held at a predominately white institution (PWI) in the northeastern region of the United States. While the PD presented on geoscience content (e.g., rock genesis and formation), teacher participants were introduced to equity-oriented pedagogy and challenged to consider supportive methods for teaching marginalized students. Now more than ever, science teachers need to receive professional development on how to implement equity-oriented pedagogy (Bang et al., 2017; Gay, 2002; Tzou et al., 2021) in their classrooms. Additionally, these same teachers need to critically examine their own identities and engage with extraordinary literacies that highlight how Black girls and women have navigated whiteness within their own schools and classrooms. Therefore, as a critically conscious scholar, this work presents a new design for secondary learning spaces that includes extraordinary literacies and considers the preservation of Black girlhood within and outside the science classroom.

Author

• Jennifer Jackson, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education