Activists, Advocates, and Agitators: Teacher Unions and Grassroots Organizations as Remedies and Repair

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium provides perspectives of teachers’ unions and grassroots activists as they organize for justice in the 21st Century. In today’s sustained attacks from neoliberal and right-wing individuals and organizations, it is necessary for educators to organize as a remedy to fight against the injustices happening at the state, local, and institutional levels. Through activism, educators have made both small and large gains and have learned lessons from taking part in many actions like the 2018 #RedForEd wildcat strikes that have worked to better prepare them for work to begin to repair the wounds these current attacks have created in public education.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Teachers Work/Teacher Unions

Chair

• Brianne Kramer, Southern Utah University

Papers

• The Changing Needs of Teacher Activism and Organizing - Brianne Kramer, Southern Utah University

• Why Do Teachers Engage in Justice-Oriented Activism? Reflections from Philadelphia’s Teacher-Activists - Dana Morrison, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

• Radical Imagination, Prefigurative Politics and Emergent Strategies in Contemporary Educator Movements - Lauren Ware Stark, Université de Sherbrooke

• Organizing Insights from the 2018 “Red State” Education Strikes Can Deepen Resistance to Educational Censorship - Erin Lee Dyke, Oklahoma State University

• Black Lives Matter at School and the Ongoing Pursuit of Educational Justice for Black Lives - Denisha Jones, Defending the Early Years

Discussant

• John Meisner, Southern Utah University