The Critical Teaching and Learning Forum

This episode of the podcast features a conversation about the history and future of WE LEARN – the Women Expanding Literacy Education Action Resource Network. WE LEARN is an organization that promotes women’s literacy as a means of fostering empowerment and equity for women. In the conversation I am joined by three leaders of WE LEARN. The first is Mev Miller, the original founder of WE LEARN and veteran community educator and activist. The second is Stacie Evans, a long-time WE LEARN board member and adult educator. The third is Jaye Jones, director of WE LEARN’s advisory committee and higher education administrator. The conversation begins with Mev explaining how WE LEARN began and then covers what it has accomplished over the last two decades. A key point is how work related women’s literacy has played out differently in community-based projects and academia. WE LEARN has always kept the focus on women’s experiences as learners and amplifying student voices, and the three guests share insights about what that has meant to them, and what the implications might be for the field of adult education.

This episode of the podcast features a conversation with Paul Jurmo about ways to rethink adult education. Paul has spent his career in the United States and internationally working in a variety of contexts, with a concern for social justice being a consistent element of his practice. He prioritizes a participatory approach, and has brought this commitment to his projects with unions and developing countries in Africa and the South Pacific. During our discussion, we strive to push back against historical amnesia and to identify existing models of adult education that are grounded in social justice. These models have already proven to be effective and demonstrate that it is possible to work outside of a limited and limiting workforce development model, given the pedagogical and political will.

WE LEARN is an adult education organization that in their own words focuses on the issues, needs, concerns, viewpoints, strengths, and wisdom of women. The latest issue of Women’s Perspectives, their annual collection of writing by adult learners, is out now and some of the writers graciously agreed to read and talk about their work. This includes writers Marcia Costa, Norby Vilario and Jessica Ramos, who is also a WE LEARN Advisory Committee member. Stacie Evans and Shellie Walters, WE LEARN Board members, are also on hand to talk about WE LEARN’s work and the Women’s Perspectives publication.

The theme for the issue is: "We Are Still Here: Women and Resistance."

Today’s guest on the Podcast is Ira Yankwitt, a long-time adult educator. Over the years, Ira has been as a teacher, the director of a community based program and an administrator working within the New York City adult education system. He is currently Executive Director of the Literacy Assistance Center in New York City.

Throughout his time in adult education, Ira has grounded his work in a commitment to social justice. This has often time put him at odds with approaches that speak in terms of human capital development, and during the conversation he notes how this tension has shaped the field. Ira highlights current openings for social justice work and he shares what he thinks the field needs to learn from its history in order to move forward.

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Today’s guests on the Podcast are Saul Fussiner and David Senderoff, two high school teachers from New Haven, Connecticut. Saul and David have extensive experience with Facing History and Ourselves and the discussion focuses on how they refined their own approach to the material. A pivotal moment in their experience was when an African American student challenged them to move beyond units of study that all involved the oppression of Black people. In response, Saul and David were part of a team that developed a curriculum for teaching the Troubles in Northern Ireland as means of exploring issues of political violence and reconciliation. During the episode they talk about creating lesson plans, what they learned on a research trip to Northern Ireland and what student response has been.

In previous episodes of the podcast, I have had conversations with one or two people about their work. This episode is slightly different, as I am joined by four other teachers for a group discussion about teaching Palestine. Two of the teachers work in high schools, with one being an art teacher and the other being a language arts teacher. Another guest teaches social studies at the middle school level, and the last teaches at the college level. None of the participants claims to be an expert on Palestine or the Middle East, but we all have an interest in helping our students move beyond narratives that marginalize and silence Palestinian voices. Rather than providing clear answers, the conversation captures the work we are all doing to improve our own practice when it comes to teaching Palestine. We believe that there are many other teachers out there who are in the same position, and we hope that our conversation can contribute to the ongoing struggle. 

Today’s guest on the Podcast is Kevin Pyle, a comic artist and working teacher. He is the author of a number of books, including Bad for You, Take What You Can Carry and Blindspot. He has also helped create comics that focus on the issues of wage theft, migration and the prison industrial complex. His non-fiction graphic work has also appeared in the LA Times. In the conversation, he discusses how he connects political commitments to comic art, and what that looks like in the classroom.

Today’s guest on the Podcast is Bill Muth, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Bill spent many years as an educator working in correctional institutions and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Hope House, a non-profit organization that helps families separated by prison to remain connected through literacy projects, video conferencing, summer camps and other activities. He is a founding co-editor of The Journal of Prison Education and Reentry and the author of the recent Fathers, Prisons, and Family Reentry: Presencing as a Framework and Method.