Dr. Shamara Graham is an accomplished policy shaper, skilled educational leader, and influential advocate whose work has vastly improved the quality of education for thousands of students in urban settings around the U.S. For over 15 years, she has served as teacher, dean, assistant principal, principal and director of curriculum and instruction. Her strategic leadership has advanced policy, programmatic, organizing and advocacy efforts across diverse sectors that include education, criminal justice, juvenile justice reform, economic inequality/poverty, youth development, civic engagement, and children’s health. Shamara is a graduate of Hampton University, with two master’s degrees from University of Maryland, College Park and UCLA. Additionally, she earned her Doctorate from Pepperdine University. As a Senior Consultant, Shamara partners with educational leaders to enhance anti-racist environments that effect all stakeholders and supports re-imagining schools where children have personalized learning opportunities with joy-filled, hands-on experiences. When Shamara isn’t working she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, playing basketball, and reading. 

How do you foment change in schools?

James Baldwin once said “Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it”. Working together, educators can create democratic, community-centered, well-resourced, and publicly funded schools that fully prepare students emotionally, socially, and intellectually for success in our ever changing world. If CRT (Culturally Responsive Teaching) helps us to see and imagine, socio-cultural theory helps us to act. Socio-cultural theory rests upon the dual tenets of participation and transformation and the belief that “what is learned emerges from, but is not reducible to, interactions with others” (Raphael, et al., 2013). Socio-cultural learning theory is a dialogical approach that uses artifacts, opportunities for shifting expertise, multiple entry points, and apprenticeship to co-create learning in pursuit of individual and collective transformation. It “favors ownership over compliance, conversation over transmission, deep understanding over enacting rules and routines, and goal-directed activity over content coverage”. This provides us with the language and tools through which to challenge dominant culture; socio-cultural theory ensures that our challenge is emancipatory and democratic. Shifting culture reads easily, can be penned well, but takes time and strategy. That’s why I am honored to work with 2Rev to shift change in schools over time through ACTION. 

 
Why are you passionate about transforming schools?

As a child of two immigrants from Central America, an Afro-Latina, a first generation college student, I always take into consideration diverse backgrounds and varied lived experiences and perspectives. To gain a better understanding of the backgrounds of students, educators must invest time and energy into developing trusting relationships with both students and their families. This allows educators to better align their classroom instruction and expectations with those of the family and the relevant cultural backgrounds. With this knowledge, educators can also identify ways to include students’ identities in the curriculum. This can look like including literature about and by those who identify as the cultures in the class, scaffolding material so that it reflects the prior knowledge of students, or including references to things that the students can relate. Educators will need to learn about their individual students to make this happen. Educators across the nation are no longer using a one-size-fits-all model; they are transforming schools by continuously improving their approach to teaching and learning. As educators, we get to play a small but meaningful role in the future change agents’ lives by showing up as our authentic selves. As a Senior Consultant at 2Rev, I, you, WE, get to see, hear, and learn from our next generation each and every day!