Becoming a Brave Teacher

A three-day summer workshop (July 31 - August 2, 2024) for pre-K - 12th grade teachers, led by Dr. Todd S. Hawley and Dr. Sonya Wisdom

Brave teaching is about teaching the truth and allowing the whole truth to guide your teaching. Our vision of brave teaching runs across content areas and connects teaching and learning to a vision of teaching designed to prepare students to engage with and shape their world as engaged, active citizens. Brave teaching involves a willingness to be a risk taker, to be vulnerable, to give up old ways of thinking and understanding about teaching, to be curious about the world we are all living in and to find courage from within and with other teachers. Teaching bravely involves developing a comfort with the often-uncomfortable process of interrogating one’s teaching practice and an ability to see that as a positive way to improve as a teacher.

The journey of becoming a brave teacher is one that you do not have to take alone. We hope that brave teachers seek out other brave teachers as part of collaborative teaching communities.

In this workshop, you will:

• Develop a portrait of your own practice as a brave teacher that you will continue to expand during the workshop and as part of the Brave Teaching Collaborative monthly meetings during the 2024-2025 school year;
• Create individual, context-specific goals for how you plan to enact brave teaching throughout the school year in your classroom; and
• Leave with resources, examples of specific pedagogical approaches of how you can enact brave teaching in your classroom to engage all students across content areas, and a deeper understanding of the impact that brave teaching has on students, parents, and the community.

Following the three-day summer workshop, Dr. Hawley and Dr. Wisdom will lead monthly meetings with participants to help continue their learning and development. Teachers will journal at least once per month on an aspect of their journey and development as brave teachers and the ways they are enacting brave teaching in their classrooms throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. The monthly meetings are designed to provide community support as teachers continue their learning about brave teaching and focus on their journey of enacting brave teaching in their classrooms.

Space is limited. Please apply to participate by completing the Google form linked below.

Apply to participate in Becoming a Brave Teacher

Questions about this workshop? Please email brave_education@kent.edu, or call the School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies: 330-672-2580.