教师 Spotlight: 教育 and 非洲研究 Professor Chanelle Wilson

Chanelle Wilson is an assistant professor of education in the Bi-Co教育计划, and the director of 非洲研究 at 推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜. 在下面的Q中&A Wilson talks about her research interests, love of teaching, and her burgeoning wine business.

Can you start by telling us a little about yourself? 

I went through a bit of an educational journey to get to Bryn Mawr. 我以前是K-12的班主任, 所以我教初中和高中, 我真的很喜欢. But when it was time for me to work on my dissertation, I knew that I probably wouldn’t finish it if I were still teaching because I’m the type of person who does too much, and my students were always going to win every time. So, I left K-12 and worked as an adjunct for a little while, 然后我在2017年来到了布林莫尔. I was only supposed to teach one class as a visiting lecturer while I was finishing up my doctoral degree, 幸运的是，我喜欢它, 从那以后我就一直在这里. 

我被教育要让世界变得更美好, and I think what better way to change the world than through education. A lot of students actually spend most of their life in public schools. 所以, if I am training future teachers to be critical, 有建设性的, 有爱心的, 种类, 善解人意, and operating at all costs with humanity in mind, then I think that will make the world a better place.  

What is your area of focus for teaching and research? 

I remember in 2018 I was teaching one of our intro level education courses where students create a lesson, 实现它, and share their reflections in a group presentation. One presentation that stood out to me and changed the trajectory of my research was called “Fighting Hegemony,” where the students talked about de-colonization and alternative, 非传统的教学方法. I wasn’t just observing and taking notes, I was also participating as if I were a student. So, 因为他们有不同的提示, I was responding and thinking about fighting hegemony and colonialism in my own practice. 在这次演讲中, 我意识到, 当我尝试做一些进步的事情时, there were still ways that I had been participating in that system of oppression and participating in harm that comes from classrooms because I didn’t have all the information. I hadn’t gone deep enough with it, and I had a lot more work to do. So, I spent that summer afterward reconceptualizing my practice and doing a lot of work to better understand what I was actually doing rather than what I was telling myself.  

So that led me to my focus now, which is anti-colonization in education. 我写了很多关于这个话题的文章, and I also do a lot of professional development around the world to open up this conversation. I don’t just work with people who are in education, but people who are in other fields as well because we’re all educators, 不管人们是否意识到, 我们都是这个体系的一部分.

How would you describe your experience teaching here so far? 

我做了很多关于课堂社区的工作, and I love that my students are willing to lean into that and participate in it. 我可以 想要 建立我想要的课堂社区, 但如果学生对此有抵触, 这是不会发生的. So, I love that they’re willing to go on the journey with me. My new-ish journey within education was completely transformed because of students, and so I get to teach them but also learn a lot from them. 我的学生不仅尊敬我, but I respect them because of what they bring into that space, 我很重视这点. 所以我爱，爱，爱这里的学生们. 但我也喜欢这种自由, 的机会, and the support that I’ve gotten within the education program specifically to experiment and try new things, which has been nourishing in a really necessary way that keeps me here.  

今年360的教学情况如何°集群, “Paradigms of Revival Black Liberatory 教育, Embodiment & 艺术”? 

It’s been so fun; this whole journey for me came out of students’ work and has been motivated and encouraged by students, 这样就好多了.  

I'm leading the current cluster with Lela Aisha Jones from Dance and Monique Scott from Museum Studies. 360年° focuses on anti-racism and colonialism and the ways they have impacted learning, 身体, 心灵, 还有人工制品和物品.  

Just being able to work with other Black women professors has been an amazing experience, and our students recognize as well that this is a cluster that has three Black women teaching it. 所以 it’s a really exciting time for us to be able to work together. 因为我们能够为我们的学生树立榜样, the experiences that we’re able to create for them, and then literally just representation in general. 

How do you like to spend your time outside of work?  

Last year I actually started a wine business called 酒倒了. I was excited to plan and present five pop-ups, and a few people from campus attended my events, 这真的很棒. We primarily offer wines from Black and Black woman-owned brands. 就像其他地方一样, there’s room for more Black people and for women to push in and create space for themselves in the wine industry. So, 对此我很兴奋, and I have been studying toward different wine certifications from the Wine Spirit and 教育 Trust to eventually become a sommelier.

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