Who We Are
Joan Bradbury is a recently retired elementary teacher with more than thirty years of experience teaching children and working with other teachers, reflecting together on teaching practice. She is always trying to deepen her understanding of children, teaching and learning, life in the classroom, and the larger educational and social surround they are a part of. She is currently a potter, at work learning a new craft, and an active member of the Chicago Teachers’ Group, a diverse group of teachers and other educators from around the Chicago area who meet monthly to think together about children, their work, and issues in education.
Shanti Elliott directs the Civic Engagement program at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. She also co-leads the Teachers’ Inquiry Project and teaches in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Previously, Shanti taught Russian and Arabic literatures at U.C. Berkeley. Her work focuses on education for social change, through community-school partnerships, cross-disciplinary anti-racism pedagogy, and deepening political awareness. Shanti is part of diverse collaborations, from the U.S.-Russia Social Expertise Exchange, to the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, to community groups focused on countering corporate influence in education. Shanti has written for a wide range of publications, from Folklore Forum to Dostoevsky Studies to Schools Journal, and her book, Teaching and learning on the verge: Democratic education in action will be published by Teachers College Press in 2015. Check out her blog here.
Joseph “Joby” Gardner is an Associate Professor in DePaul University’s School of Education, Department of Leadership, Language, and Curriculum, where his research and teaching interests include youth cultures, youth development, the institutional experiences of marginalized youth, and the preparation and support of teachers as change agents. Joby has worked as Director and Education Director at Howard Area Leadership Academy, a public charter school serving youth aged 16-20 who have dropped out of other Chicago Public Schools. Joby taught part-time for five years in juvenile detention facilities in San Mateo County, California while pursuing his PhD and served as Executive Director of the Peninsula Omega Youth Club (a non-profit providing services to adjudicated youth in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, CA) where he created a program that allows incarcerated youth to earn concurrent high school and college credit by completing community college distance-learning classes while incarcerated. Joby began his teaching career as a third grade teacher in Labadieville, Louisiana with Teach for America.
Jeanne Kim is an instructional designer, providing consultation to organizations and clients on the design, development, and implementation of innovative educational initiatives for teaching and learning. Currently, she works for Wiley Global Education. She started her education career as a third grader teacher and technology integration consultant.
Tina Nolan is Director of Teacher Engagement for New Voice Strategies and the VIVA Project. She has spent nearly 20 years working with teachers and teacher leaders in schools, cultural institutions and community-based organizations across the country. Tina has also served as Associate Director of Partnerships at National Louis University and Director of Education at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. She serves as Editor in Chief for the Journal of Museum Education.
Shanti Elliott directs the Civic Engagement program at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. She also co-leads the Teachers’ Inquiry Project and teaches in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Previously, Shanti taught Russian and Arabic literatures at U.C. Berkeley. Her work focuses on education for social change, through community-school partnerships, cross-disciplinary anti-racism pedagogy, and deepening political awareness. Shanti is part of diverse collaborations, from the U.S.-Russia Social Expertise Exchange, to the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, to community groups focused on countering corporate influence in education. Shanti has written for a wide range of publications, from Folklore Forum to Dostoevsky Studies to Schools Journal, and her book, Teaching and learning on the verge: Democratic education in action will be published by Teachers College Press in 2015. Check out her blog here.
Joseph “Joby” Gardner is an Associate Professor in DePaul University’s School of Education, Department of Leadership, Language, and Curriculum, where his research and teaching interests include youth cultures, youth development, the institutional experiences of marginalized youth, and the preparation and support of teachers as change agents. Joby has worked as Director and Education Director at Howard Area Leadership Academy, a public charter school serving youth aged 16-20 who have dropped out of other Chicago Public Schools. Joby taught part-time for five years in juvenile detention facilities in San Mateo County, California while pursuing his PhD and served as Executive Director of the Peninsula Omega Youth Club (a non-profit providing services to adjudicated youth in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, CA) where he created a program that allows incarcerated youth to earn concurrent high school and college credit by completing community college distance-learning classes while incarcerated. Joby began his teaching career as a third grade teacher in Labadieville, Louisiana with Teach for America.
Jeanne Kim is an instructional designer, providing consultation to organizations and clients on the design, development, and implementation of innovative educational initiatives for teaching and learning. Currently, she works for Wiley Global Education. She started her education career as a third grader teacher and technology integration consultant.
Tina Nolan is Director of Teacher Engagement for New Voice Strategies and the VIVA Project. She has spent nearly 20 years working with teachers and teacher leaders in schools, cultural institutions and community-based organizations across the country. Tina has also served as Associate Director of Partnerships at National Louis University and Director of Education at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. She serves as Editor in Chief for the Journal of Museum Education.