EPISODE ONE: Dr. Tamara Wells - "Developing C.H.A.T. Academy: Children Having Academic Talks about languages, dialect, identity and culture" - 7th/8th Grade ELA Teacher, Hazelwood School District

1/15/2018

ESJ podcast host, Sherita Love, interviews Hazelwood 8th grade ELA teacher, Dr. Tamara Wells, about her successes and challenges teaching for social justice in her classroom and school. The two educators discuss Dr. Wells' efforts to implement a program she founded at her school entitled "C.H.A.T. Academy". C.H.A.T. stands for “Children Having Academic Talks About languages, dialect and identity.” This program provides an academic space for students to exchange organic dialogue about how they formed agency around their language ideologies and identified themselves as speakers in academic settings. Her daily practice is focused on raising the voices of African American youth in the St. Louis region.