Working Groups
Each line of inquiry is led by a working group of students and, as of 2019, partners from the broader Philadelphia activist community. This index introduces the working groups and their lines of inquiry. To learn more, click on the link and visit the pages they created to share the form, process, and findings of their inquiry.
— 2019 —
Teacher Organizing
This working group explored what it means to be active beyond the classroom for teacher and student organizers. Divided into two weeks, we provide our class with a brief history of labor unions in the United States followed by a micro-level look into the work of The Caucus of Working Educators (WE), a ground of rank and file members within The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT). We verse ourselves in labor organizing case studies, engage with a panel of organizers and prepare our skills in phone banking to aid WE in an upcoming election against PFT leadership.
Philadelphia Communities
This working group focused on the ways in which local communities of color are excluded from belonging in Philadelphia, and how those communities have pushed back. In doing so, the group brings attention to the genocide, land theft, deportations, and other forms of state-sanctioned violence that people of color have endured. The group aspires to disseminate strategies of resistance in solidarity with other communities who are engaging in their own processes of reclamation.
Student & Youth Organizing/Memorializing
Strapped for money and resources, in 2013, the Philadelphia school board decided to close 23 “underenrolled” and “underperforming” public schools. Focusing on two of the closed schools, the Student and Youth Organizing and Memorializing Working Group engaged notions of remembrance, memorialization, historic preservation, and youth activism with attention to processes of power, culture, and space. This work was inspired by a group of Masterman High School students presently working to commemorate the 1967 student walkouts.
— 2018 —
Critical Pedagogies
This working group has been exploring the theories and practices behind liberatory praxis (theory and action) in pedagogical approaches in classrooms and third spaces. In an attempt to resist oppressive teaching and learning practices that are commonly used in education, we enacted a vision of critical pedagogies by breaking down the teacher-student binary, providing opportunities for the class to reflect on their own lives, and cultivating space for mindfulness, art, and embodied movement.
Penn and Community partnerships
This group was comprised of four students, Connor Augustine, Betsy Boggs, Henry Munk, and Dorothy Villarreal who were interested in learning more about the ways in which the University of Pennsylvania interacts with the surrounding community. They conducted class for two weeks, with the first class including a walking tour and discussion of the readings. They invited community members representing different aspects of campus/community partnerships for the second class. Read on to hear our podcast and check out our class syllabus!
Queer Theories and Education
This group was comprised of four students, LaShawnda Brooks, Erin Waddles, Michaela Ward, and Amiri Banks, who were interested in applying queer theory to educational praxis, within and beyond the classroom. They conducted class for two weeks, with the first class including a reflection and discussion of readings. They invited community members representing different queer positionalities and praxes for the second class.
Black and Brown Activism in Education Spaces
This working group explores the critical student activist work by black and brown students. Separated into two weeks we explore both activism in K-12 spaces, as well as the work done by higher education students. Topic explored include the fight for cultural spaces, a recent controversy at Penn Law, and the role of youth organizing as a developmental context for black and latinx adolescents.