"Community Thinking Spaces": Exploring the Openings and Possibilities of a School-Based Intergenerational Community of Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 8:00 a.m. Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Toward Just Action Research Framework and Praxis (Table 13)

Abstract

This exploratory case study examines the creation of an intergenerational learning community in a public 6-12 school, as an antidote to adultism, systems of whiteness, and settler colonial logics embedded in school culture. During the spring of 2023, a group of twelve co-participants (six adults and six youth) met weekly to discuss their school community and imagine how it might be transformed. This paper explores what emerged from this group, through the lens of Black feminist theory and acompañamiento. In particular, it details how "defensive misunderstanding" disrupts the potential collaboration between adults and young people in schools, and lifts up the possibilities that emerge through epistemic curiosity and purposeful vulnerability as tools to disrupt adultism and create spaces of authentic listening.

Author

• Lucy A. Robins, Graduate Center - CUNY