Towards a Jazz Pedagogy: Learning with and from Jazz Greats and Great Educators

ABSTRACT

Throughout this article we argue that collectivity and soul inform the work of the expert teachers who we refer to as Jazz Pedagogues. Jazz’s complicated history, like teaching, calls for a consideration of the painful, the messy, the beautiful, and the healing. We, a team of university researchers and classroom teachers, examine the ways jazz can serve as one way to understand how Black-centric, anti-racist English teachers draw on their pedagogical prowess to skillfully engage with students with love, care, and a clear focus on justice. Informed by Black Feminist and Black Studies theories, we analyze a jam session/kitchen table talk between Jazz Pedagogues and theorize towards a framework for Jazz Pedagogy.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funding from the James S. McDonnell Foundation (Grant ID: 220020588). The authors acknowledge the collective efforts of all members of the Digital Discourse Project team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the James S. McDonnell Foundation [10075176].

Notes on contributors

Autumn A. Griffin

Autumn A. Griffin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Georgia State University's College of Education and Human Development in the Middle and Secondary Education department. Her research explores Black Girlhoods, Digital and Multimodal Literacies, and Children’s and Young Adult Literature [email protected].

Angela Crawford, PhilWP Teacher Consultant, Teacher-Researcher with Digital Discourse, Assistant Principal at Wagner Middle School; and Doctoral Candidate with Grand Canyon University. Angela’s pedagogical philosophy is built around engagement, empowerment, and liberation to uplift the voices of the silent and unseen. She provides professional learning opportunities for educators and school leaders in culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy through this pedagogical lens. Angela guides on ways to teach marginalized students through humanizing practices, processes, and structures to aid in their navigation of the world [email protected].

Angela Crawford

Angela Crawford, PhilWP Teacher Consultant, Teacher-Researcher with Digital Discourse, Assistant Principal at Wagner Middle School; and Doctoral Candidate with Grand Canyon University. Angela’s pedagogical philosophy is built around engagement, empowerment, and liberation to uplift the voices of the silent and unseen. She provides professional learning opportunities for educators and school leaders in culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy through this pedagogical lens. Angela guides on ways to teach marginalized students through humanizing practices, processes, and structures to aid in their navigation of the world [email protected].

Bonnee Breese Bentum

Bonnee Breese Bentum currently teaches students at Science Leadership Academy at Beeber (SLA@Beeber) in Philadelphia. Bentum earned degrees at Wilkes University (B.A.), Chestnut Hill College (M.Ed.), and Fort Hays State University (M.S.). She is currently writing her dissertation toward earning her Ph.D. in Global Education at Northcentral University. Bonnee serves public school staff and faculty as a Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) Executive Board member-at-large. She has been an active member of the Philadelphia Writing Project, Teachers Institute of Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, and formerly served as a National Steering Committee member for Yale University National Initiative Teacher’s Institute [email protected].

Samuel Aka Reed

Samuel aka Reed, III, (MBA M.ED) is an accomplished Educator and Thought Leader with more than 20 years of success across education, innovation, and workforce development. His broad areas of expertise include digital literacy, workforce training/education, program development, community engagement, and advocacy. Reed has held leadership positions with Sriii Consulting, The U School, the National Writing Project, and Logical Solution. Reed’s work has been published at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education Perspective of Urban Education, Heinemann Digital Campus, The English Journal, and Research in the Teaching of English [email protected].

Geoffrey Winikur

Geoffrey Winikur has been teaching in the School District of Philadelphia since 1993. He has been a teaching consultant with the Philadelphia Writing Project since 1995. He is particularly interested in teaching postcolonial African literature and film, as well as Black Art of all kinds [email protected].

Amy Stornaiuolo

Amy Stornaiuolo is an associate professor of literacy education at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines people’s digital literacy practices, especially new forms of networked writing and cross-cultural collaboration. Her work involves developing collaborative, long-term partnerships to study how digital technologies are shaping teaching and learning and can be leveraged for educational justice [email protected].

Barrett Rosser

Barrett Rosser is a dreamer, lover, poet, and servant of her community. After graduating with her doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Barrett dreams of creating a physical space in West Philadelphia for Black girls to cultivate self-love practices through literacy. A high school English teacher at heart, Barrett has spent over a decade facilitating student, teacher, and adult learning in a variety of both formal and informal educational spaces.

Bethany Monea

Bethany Monea is a Ph.D. candidate in Reading, Writing, and Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on youth writing and media-making practices, students’ transitions from secondary to postsecondary education, and participatory, multimodal methodologies. She has taught courses on digital literacies, academic writing and research, and multimodal methodologies. Her work has been published in Computers and Composition, English Journal, Qualitative Research, and English Teaching: Practice & Critique [email protected].

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Joint Program in English and Education at the University of Michigan’s School of Education. A former Detroit Public Schools teacher and National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, she serves as co-editor of Research in the Teaching of English. She is the author of The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games (NYU Press, 2019), which won the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Children’s Literature Association Book Award, among other accolades. Her most recent book is Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World (University Press of Mississippi, 2022) co-edited with Sarah Park Dahlen [email protected].