A Soul-Centered Approach to Educating Teachers

“Most people would agree that these are troubling times for Black people worldwide. Fortunately, A Soul-Centered Approach to Educating Teachers: A Black Education Network (ABEN) provides our communities a framework and praxis for those who educate across geographical and cultural locations. This book, steeped in the Pan-African and Black liberation tradition, introduces spirituality, culture, and healing into our daily ponderings and practices of education reform. The editors brought together some of the most prolific thinkers interested in education for liberation. They've made the case that ABEN is a hidden gem in liberation work!”

Venus E. Evans-Winters, Professor, Founder of Planet Venus Institute

“The work of ABEN and its founder, Mama Debra Watkins, is sacred work in the best tradition of the Ancestors. This volume is a much-needed and necessary documentation of insights, methods and outcomes that bear witness to effective African-centered leadership, instruction, engagement and achievement.”

Chike Akua, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Clark Atlanta University

“Simply put, re-building the Black Teacher Pipeline necessitates revitalizing the soul of Black teachers. In A Soul-Centered Approach to Educating Teachers: A Black Education Network (ABEN), we receive an effective blueprint to unite Black teachers, but we are also reminded of how critical Afro-centrism is to pedagogy, generational knowledge, and our pursuit of justice. The best teachers of my life were situated at Nidhamu Sasa and they embodied their souls in their collective practices. Their influence has impressed upon me that to re-build the Black Teacher Pipeline, we must prioritize fueling the soul of Black teachers and paving the way to allow them to integrate themselves in impactful Black teacher pedagogies and Black historical lenses. The triumph of A Soul-Centered Approach to Educating Teachers: A Black Education Network (ABEN) is demonstrating how impactful this vision is when fully realized and giving a powerful example for us all to model.

I’m humbled to be a part of this movement towards “retrieving our…human heart.”

S. El-Mekki, CEO, Center for Black Educator Development

Foreword: "Ubuntu! Who We Are and Why"
Joyce King

Founder’s Introduction: Debra Watkins

Editors’ Introduction: Rona Frederick and Kmt Shockley

Part I: ABEN - The Foundation

Chapter 1: The Making of the Vision
Rona Frederick

Chapter 2: ABEN – Reimagining Black Education
Rona Frederick

Part II: Soul-Centered Programming

Chapter 3: The Cultural Imperative Initiative
Anthony Browder

Chapter 4: A Youth Perspective on ABEN: A Greene Scholar’s Experience
Ayinde Olokotin

Chapter 5: Two Minds and One Vision: Reflections from Mama Rosaline Preudhomme the Keeper of Wisdom
Rona Frederick

Chapter 6: The Power of the ABEN Summer Institutes: The Village Method
Rona Frederick

Chapter 7: From National to International Reach: The Sankofa Homeschool Collective
Monica Z. Utsey-Okpoti

Part III: Personal Narratives of Soul-Centered Healing

Chapter 8: Leading outside of the White Gaze: Debra Watkins, Founder of ABEN
Rona Frederick

Chapter 9: ABEN: A Lighthouse
Akosua Lesesne

Chapter 10: Full Circle: A Tribute to Debra Watkins and ABEN
Bobbie Brooks

Afterword: What Traditional Teacher Education can Learn From A Black Education Network
Marvin Lynn

About the Contributors

Index


NOTE: Table of contents subject to change up until publication date.

A Black Education Network (ABEN)

ABEN combines and disseminates evidence-based research findings, education strategies, and culture through offering professional development opportunities, student-focused programming, and curricula designed to empower the educators of Black students and Black students themselves. Specifically, ABEN supports and partners with educational institutions - schools, churches, non-profit organizations, educators, researchers, parents, corporations, foundations, especially those who focus on African-centered education - that work to ensure Black students reach their full potential.

Rona M. Frederick

Dr. Rona Frederick serves as a coordinator of Education Studies at the Catholic University of America. She has written more than a dozen research articles on culturally responsive teaching of children of African ancestry. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Hampton University, a Master’s Degree in Professional Studies with a focus on Africana studies from Cornell University, and a Doctoral Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on teacher education, evaluation, and equity from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Kmt Shockley

Kmt G. Shockley is professor of educational leadership at the University of Houston. His interests include research on African-centered education and maroonage.