Beyond Silos: Justice-Minded Conversations and Collaborations Across Contexts and Spaces - 4

• In Event: Beyond Silos: Justice-Minded Conversations and Collaborations Across Contexts and Spaces

Abstract

Panelist4 is a K-8 teacher and ELA reading specialist in the independent parochial school system in Philadelphia, PA. Panelist4 has over ten years of teaching experience as a K-8 parochial school teacher. She possesses a master’s of science degree in Elementary Education with a reading specialist concentration.

Currently, Panelist4 serves as the Reading Support Teacher for Middle School students at a renowned independent K-8 parochial school in North Philadelphia. Panelist4 is not just a teacher but a trusted resource for future Black educators, offering her expertise and guidance. Panelist4 is excited to participate in this panel and looks forward to being a reliable source of knowledge and support for future educators.

As an ELA teacher, Panelist4 taught phonics, reading comprehension, and writing skills as a core subject for grades 6-8. To move beyond silos, Panelist4 has worked collaboratively with grade-level colleagues to develop a new system-wide curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelist4’s ELA teaching was justice-oriented because she taught from a culturally responsive pedagogical and constructivist lens (Ladson-Billings, 2014; Ladson-Billings, 2023). From this lens, Panelist4 understands that students come to school with their own set of knowledge and skills. She leverages those funds of knowledge as a countermeasure for reparative justice while delivering the prescribed curriculum. Rudine Sims Bishop’s windows/sliding doors/mirrors framework (McNair & Edwards, 2021; Sims Bishop, 1990) helps Panelist4 to help students flesh out their literacy practices as readers. Through Panelist4’s pedagogy, students become mindful of how they interact with the text and what that means for them. Following Bishop’s model, Panelist4 walks her students through recognizing text as a window, looking out into another world, and stepping through the window via a sliding glass door when you step into that world as a reader. Students are taught that the mirror is when you see yourself reflected in the reading. This approach is essential for the students Panelist4 teaches, who are 95% Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Panelist4 teaches ELA to achieve a synthesis of Bishop’s concept to guide students to seek truth and justice in the learning experience. (343 words)

Author

• Jasmine Joseph Brown, Gesu School