Josh Coleman

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

So honored to be a part of the 2023 cohort of NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral fellows and pursue my project alongside such accomplished scholars.

Project: Banned Childhoods: Storying Book Banning practices and LGBTQ+ Educational Activism in the Conservative Midwest.

[NAEd @NAEduc]

Congratulations to the 2023 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation & Postdoctoral Fellows & Research Development Awardees! We look forward to working with and supporting you as you conduct incredibly vital research. For the full list: https://t.co/SbbIJ3Q11a. @Spencer_Fdn

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU @AutumnAdia @MLAoffice @ncte I also want to highlight Iowa WTF, and incredible youth lead organization in Iowa that has been organizing against book banning and censorship.

https://t.co/FFGRrJezim

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU @AutumnAdia @MLAoffice @ncte Yes, the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Center.
https://t.co/I2RIjG8XOP

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU Ohhh, it's gold! Get to it :)

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU @AutumnAdia @MLAoffice @ncte ALA's work on Intellectual Freedom has been a cornerstone for me this year.

https://t.co/lFyY1B6qRz

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU I'll say in my study. Supportive Admin was the number 1 thing that cut through to ensure inclusive curriculum. No one deserves to have their personhood and humanity questioned.

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU Totally. I think about Sara Ahmed's brilliant chapter on fear. Either in Living a Feminist Life or The Cultural Politics of Emotion. It made me really rethink what fear and love can do in the world

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

A6: This is an easy answer. The teachers who get up every day and, in the face of book bans, ensure the queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and other kids of Color see themselves in their classroom curricula. These are the champions of intellectual freedom to me. #literacies

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@NicoleMisra I feel that. I think about digital networks like this but also in person ones. How do we find and make time for them in the constant push and pull of daily teaching?

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

A2: Last year, Iowa teachers located agency in overt and covert ways to ensure students saw themselves represented in classrooms. By engaging local resistance and working in community, these educators fought for intellectual freedom and to honor every child’s #literacies.

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@justmaybechris Sure can. I know teachers who had students close reading the legislation to clarify what they could not say and what students could. At least one teacher was doxed for this. What one can do and the ramifications of it are very context dependent.

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@carolinebeding Yes!And the students can say things that we as teachers are forbidden to say. How can we harness our own curricular agency to design instruction that invites students to question their own rights to representation and intellectual freedom?

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU I wonder if we might thing of this moment as a shift, rather than a disruption. Perhaps we are redirect to cover more or different ground. I agree students are key. They can say things teachers can't in these moments with draconian legislation.

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

A5: Teachers can turn to local organizations to challenge classroom censorship. In Iowa, Annie’s Foundation, Iowa WTF, the ACLU of Iowa, One Iowa, and more are fighting for intellectual freedom. Sign up for newsletters in your local context for community support. #literaces

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU It is. ALA's top 10 most challenged books often have queerness and transness in common. And the modality matters greatly too. One year, it was mostly graphic novels. What does the visual add in to moments of censorship. SF 496 names visual depictions explicitly

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@justmaybechris They will and are. This was a playbook that had great traction and in many places it is waining. However, the afterlives of it continue to touch in certain strongholds. I think about how to ensure access to information in those spaces too

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU Yes, we need to show up at school board meetings as K12 teachers and University instructors. Our voices matter in those spaces, and they touch our local, lived experiences in ways that are often overlooked

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@justmaybechris Couldn't agree more. I saw this everyday working with you and in Iowa over the last year. Agency is in my opinion always present. It just may look like something we aren't familiar with

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@NicoleMisra Truly. It isn't happenstance that the books most removed center on communities historically absented or misrepresented in curricula

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@KPSinEDU I feel this. I also think our fears tell us something so important about ourselves, our histories, our communities. I wonder how we embrace the fear for what it has to teach us

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

@justmaybechris Appreciate that, Chris. Living with these realities takes process time, grieving time... sometimes before, during, and after we need to take action

[Josh Coleman @JoshEducating]

A4: Teachers are part of an ecosystem, and librarians are trained to combat sudden censorship. I’ve witnessed teachers work with librarians, community organizations, and administrators to change their curricula and pedagogy to challenge classroom censorship #literacies