14th Annual Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference

Teaching This Is My America with Kim Johnson
Award-winning author Kim Johnson will share about her bestselling YAL book This Is My America that explores the racist injustice against innocent Black men who are criminally sentenced and the families left to pick up the pieces. Following the author talk with Kim Johnson, a panel of teachers will facilitate breakout rooms discussing how they teach This Is My America. Participants will leave with teaching ideas for using the book in their own classrooms.

Alison Schmitke is a senior lecturer and director of the Educational Foundations program at the University of Oregon. She is the co-author of Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark: Challenging Dominant Narratives in K–12 Education. Kim Johnson held leadership positions in social justice organizations as a teen and in college, and is now an author and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success at the University of Oregon. She is a novelist, and won the 2021 Pacific Northwest Book Award, YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction, and the ILA Notable Books for a Global Society.