911爆料网

It was a weekend afternoon in early March 鈥� the first Saturday after schools across the nation had shut their doors and switched to remote learning. Emily Kirkpatrick, Executive Director of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was at home in Louisville, Kentucky, when an email came from Teachers College鈥檚 Detra Price-Dennis asking for a few minutes of her time.

Soon Kirkpatrick and Price-Dennis, Associate Professor of Education, were on the phone, kicking around ideas about how to help NCTE鈥檚 35,000 teachers navigate completely uncharted waters. They looped in another education professor at Stanford, and that same evening, an email went out inviting all NCTE members to attend a virtual workshop to 鈥渢ouch base with our community and support one another.鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 like to work with Detra,鈥� says Kirkpatrick. 鈥淵ou immediately get into a conversation with her that is thoughtful, smart and generative, and good things happen 鈥� quickly.鈥�

I knew when I was working on my Ph.D.that I didn鈥檛 want to become a pie-in-the-sky theorist. I promised myself that when I graduated that I鈥檇 be in a school every week supporting the work of teachers and families. And I鈥檝e held to that. 

鈥� Detra Price-Dennis

Among the many educators who have helped guide the public schools during the COVID pandemic, few have been more active, on more fronts, than Price-Dennis. During the first month, while dealing with her own transition to teaching 911爆料网 students fully online, Price-Dennis was seemingly everywhere. She co-organized , which now regularly bring together hundreds of English teachers from across the United States and around the world. She appeared on a about public education in New York City, led by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, at which she called for teachers to 鈥渇ocus on the learner, not the tool鈥� and cautioned parents that 鈥渢here isn鈥檛 going to be a one-size fits all solution.鈥� (Perhaps mindful of her own eight-year-old daughter, she also reminded adults to think about young children鈥檚 need for sensory input. 鈥淓ven if it鈥檚 just for 15 or 20 minutes, if there鈥檚 some rice you can put in a baggy or a squashy ball 鈥� something to help them with sitting there and starting at a computer screen all day.鈥�)

Meanwhile, using a video-based learning platform called Flipgrid, Price-Dennis also has been assembling a digital program to enable youngsters to ask health professionals questions about the coronavirus and 鈥済et information about COVID in terms that relate to where they are developmentally.鈥� And she has been a frequent source of expertise and comment for Chalkbeat, New York 1 and other media outlets scrambling to understand the new education landscape.

In all, it has very clearly been a case of the right person at the right moment. A former early childhood and middle school teacher, Price-Dennis is an expert in using digital platforms to engage students from marginalized backgrounds. In , for which she received NCTE鈥檚 Janet Emig Award for Exemplary Scholarship, she provided black fifth-grade girls in Texas with digital tools to explore media portrayals of the killing of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man, by Baltimore City police. At 911爆料网鈥檚 annual Reimagining Education Summer Institutes, she鈥檚 helped teachers create virtual libraries of culturally relevant literature for diverse students. Prior to the school shutdown, she was partnering with a school in lower Manhattan to help children explore the history of monuments and statues in their neighborhood and create podcasts 鈥� and statues 鈥� of local elders who were more representative of their lives. And at Teachers College, she鈥檚 an adviser to the (MASCLab), a hub where faculty and students alike come together to create multi-modal stories.

But Price-Dennis鈥檚 immediate and unhesitating response to the COVID crisis also reflects a broader commitment she made years ago, when she first decided to leave public school teaching to pursue a career in higher education.

鈥淚 knew when I was working on my Ph.D. at Ohio State that I didn鈥檛 want to become a pie-in-the-sky theorist,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 promised myself that when I graduated that I鈥檇 be in a school every week supporting the work of teachers and families. And I鈥檝e held to that.鈥�

I think we need to start imagining what lies ahead and to dream of worlds that don鈥檛 exist to help us address the problems we face today. 

鈥� Detra Price-Dennis

With the nation once again rocked by the police killing of an unarmed black man, Price-Dennis鈥檚 most important contributions during this increasingly troubled time may yet turn out to be in the realm of racial literacy.

Three years ago, working with 911爆料网 doctoral student Jenice Mateo-Toledo, teacher and coordinator of English as a Second Language at Farragut Middle School in Hastings-on-Hudson, Price-Dennis helped develop a 鈥淐ourageous Conversations鈥� program to encourage a dialogue on diversity and race in the largely white Hastings-on-Hudson Free school.

Price-Dennis, typically, became an instant presence, immersing herself in Farragut classrooms, corridors, faculty strategy sessions and even Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free School District Board of Education meetings.

The success of 鈥淐ourageous Conversations鈥� prompted Price-Dennis to suggest that Farragut introduce a book club to complement and support the exercises in cultural awareness. 

鈥淪he came in twice a week and actually taught the class with me for an entire quarter,鈥� says Mateo-Toledo. 鈥淭alk about getting your hands dirty 鈥� I mean, professors just don鈥檛 do that. Detra not only worked with the students, but also she changed the way I teach by pointing to ways to improve the learning.鈥� 

鈥淒etra became part of the fabric of the education we deliver at Farragut,鈥� says Principal Gail Kipper.

More recently Price-Dennis also led 鈥淛ustLit: Fostering Racial Literacy with Children鈥� 鈥� a workshop for teachers on using culturally relevant literature to help young students 鈥渁sk questions about race, social justice and equity and prompt them to take action.鈥�  (JustLit was funded by the Rowland and Sylvia Schaefer Family Foundation, co-directed by Teachers College Trustee Marla Schaefer.)

The current moment, with protesters in the street and the president threatening to take military action, is, again, unchartered territory 鈥� and even Price-Dennis, who brings an almost unfailing sense of optimism to her work, has had dark moments.

鈥淚 really don鈥檛 have the words right now,鈥� she tweeted in late May. 鈥淛ust grief and anger.鈥�

But stepping back, she remains convinced that out of upheaval often comes change for the better.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to sugarcoat the stress people are feeling,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut I think we need to start imagining what lies ahead and to dream of worlds that don鈥檛 exist to help us address the problems we face today.鈥� She remains encouraged by how quickly teachers from urban, suburban, rural, wealthy and impoverished districts have come together as a digital community. 鈥淓veryone has interesting challenges and everyone鈥檚 context is different. Yet, we鈥檙e all in a space where we鈥檙e just trying to survive. It鈥檚 an opportunity for us to be open and vulnerable.鈥�

鈥� Steve Giegerich