Thomas H. Wright Lectures
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Item When All Else Fails, We Must Protect Childhood(2017-07-10) Jones, DenishaDenisha Jones, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. from Indiana University and, as a former early childhood teacher and preschool director, has spent her career as an advocate for teachers and has been active in keeping corporations outside of public education. She is a founding board member for the Badass Teachers Association, Inc. She is also a board member of United Opt Out National and is a member of the Advisory Board of Defending the Early Years. Her research interests include the de-professionalization of teaching, improving assessment and evaluation of early childhood teachers, culturally relevant teaching, and youth civic engagement. She is the recipient of the 2015 Bammy Award for College Professor of the Year from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. She has drafted an appendix on special education litigation and has provided legal research to the Schoolhouse-to-Jailhouse team of the Advancement Project. She is currently a Juris Doctor Candidate at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.Item Gender and the Gender Spectrum in the Early Childhood Classroom(2021-11-18) Garcia, Laleña; Santos, Cassandra; Brickley, Marjorie; Cheney, Brendan; Drucker, JanFour panelists offer insights into supporting young children’s explorations of concepts of gender, their own gender identity, and the gender spectrum. The panelists represent a variety of backgrounds and expertise. Laleña Garcia is a kindergarten teacher and Gender and Sexuality trainer. She helps early childhood professionals and families create expansive and supportive understandings of gender, sexuality, relationships, and family structure. Her first children’s book, What We Believe, was published in 2020. Cassandra Santos is the lead teacher for the 5/6s class at the Early Childhood Center at Sarah Lawrence College. She has a passion for literature and has curated a gender inclusive collection of children’s literature for her classroom. She supports all of her students and their families to embrace an expansive view of gender. Marjorie Brickley is Faculty and Coordinator of the Infancy Institute at Bank Street Graduate School of Education. She is the Program Director of the Infant and Family Development and Early Intervention program, teaches courses in development and assessment, and is an advisor to fieldwork students. Margie also presents workshops to teachers, clinicians, and family child care providers. Margie’s current research projects focus on learning about the many ways to conceptualize child development; providing emotional support and resiliency training for teachers; applying recent research about gender to measuring Adverse Childhood Experiences in professionals working with young children; and applying recent research about gender. Brendan Cheney is a parent to two children, ages 10 and 7. Professionally, he works on housing and homelessness policy in New York City and has experience with the policy needs of homeless transgender youth. The panel is moderated by Jan Drucker, PhD, a Clinical Psychologist and SLC Psychology Faculty Emerita, co-founder of the Child Development Institute and longtime Director of the Empowering Teachers Program.Item Mothering, Reimagining & Starfishing: A Radical Way Forward(2020-10-15) Patterson, JodieActivist Jodie Patterson introduces the concept of front-loading Mothering as a proactive strategy for building better, stronger, more cohesive communities. Jodie Patterson is a mother of 5, author and a globally recognized LGBTQIA activist. As a public speaker, Ms. Patterson uses her platform to discuss topics of radical parenting, identity, and gender. When her son announced at the age of 3 “Mama, I’m not a girl. I am a boy” she set out to inform herself, shift her own bias and change the way her community understood gender. Patterson chronicles this journey in her memoir, The Bold World: A Memoir of Family and Transformation. Ms. Patterson was elected Chair of the Board of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and works closely with the organization’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council. She sits on Mount Sinai’s Institute for Health Equity Research Task Force, is on the Advisory Board of the Ackerman Institute’s Gender & Family Project, and serves as a key advisor to Mount Sinai’s pioneering Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. In 2012, Ms. Patterson was chosen as one of Dell Computers’ “Dell Inspire 100”—a select group of world changers in the fields of entrepreneurship, philanthropy, education, and media. In 2017, she was appointed by the United Nations as a Champion of Change for her advocacy work. And in 2019, she was awarded Most Influential Mother of the year by Family Circle Magazine. Jodie Patterson lives in Brooklyn where she co-raises her children with love, education and family solidarity.Item Small Actions for Big Justice(2018-07-09) Sykes, AlbertAlbert Sykes is the Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA). This native son of Mississippi has been an IDEA organizer and fellow for three years. Albert has a powerful personal story, one that is rooted in the struggles and search for quality education through community organizing and youth advocacy. In Mississippi, Albert has also helped lead the growth and development of a new statewide cadre of math literacy workers and young political organizers. He works on both the local and national level around critical issues such as education reform, zero-tolerance policies, and the school-to-prison pipeline. He advocates for policies such as Quality Education as a Constitutional Right and works in conjunction with many organizations, including the NAACP, where he serves on the Statewide Education Committee. Sykes previously served as the Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Young People’s Project. He has helped to organize the National Youth Congress’ 50th Anniversary of Freedom Summer, the “Finding Our Folk Tour” in response to Hurricane Katrina, and the Take Back America Conference. Through his many experiences, this Mississippian has gained firsthand knowledge and understanding of Black Mississippi’s struggle for justice, equity, and full citizenship.