Building Collaborative and Equitable Classrooms with the "The Magnitude of Us" author Dr. Marlee Bunch

Phenomenal Teaching with PEBC

Listen in as Dr. Marlee Bunch and pre-service teacher Chrissy Kim join Michelle Morris Jones on the PEBC Phenomenal Teaching Podcast to discuss Dr. Marlee Bunch's book, The Magnitude of Us: An Educator's Guide to Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms. In her new book Marlee provides an accessible blueprint for utilizing histories, culturally responsive teaching, and community responsive pedagogy to build collaborative and equitable classrooms. Inspired by research steeped in oral histories, Marlee brings forth lessons from educators, merged with voices of students, to share impactful classroom practices. This text is intentionally crafted to resonate with our most seasoned colleagues and to support our pre-service teachers as it provides concrete instructional strategies and resources as well as opportunities for deeper reflection and revision.

A highlight of the conversation is a deep dive into Marlee's chapter on the importance of listening which she co-wrote with her undergraduate pre-service teachers. This chapter in the book elevates the ways a simple concept can have a huge impact on students. In addition, Chrissy Kim (pre-service teacher and contributor to the book) joins the conversation to share the ways in which this text has supported her during a time of uncertainty by serving as a touchstone and entry point into a community of creative and passionate educators.

Chrissy Kim is a rising senior at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She's double majoring in English and History with a minor in Spanish. After graduation, she plans on continuing her education with a Masters in Secondary Education.

Dr. Marlee Bunch Marlee is an educator with over 17 years of teaching experience. She holds two graduate degrees, and recently completed her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois. Her research illustrates the impact of the long history of segregation, Brown v. Board of Education, and desegregation efforts had on the teaching experiences of Black, female educators particularly between the years 1950-1970. She is the author of The Magnitude of Us: An Educator’s Guide to Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms and a forthcoming publication titled Un-Hushing Us: Unearthing and Celebrating Oral Histories of Black Female Educators.

The “Phenomenal Teaching Podcast” is brought to you by Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC) and is intended to elevate the strands of the PEBC Teaching Framework illustrated in Wendy Ward Hoffer’s book, Phenomenal Teaching. Those strands include community, planning, workshop, thinking strategies, discourse, and assessment. In addition we dive into the PEBC Leadership Framework and PEBC’s Equity at School booklet. Thank you for joining us this season as we strive to share the stories of educators and leaders who are dedicated to developing classrooms and schools where agency, equity and understanding can flourish.