Domain I

The Learner and Learning

On Humanity

by Dishelesh Josey

On Humanity

(all about contradictions)

The choices of few: broken, docile, complicit, or intellectual.

Who decides who lives—or who dies?

Who decides who has intellect—or who has knowledge?

Does the sun ask permission to glow?

A bird flew over the moon.

The moon jumped on the cow’s back.

A woman sat next to a woman—on a train to Atlanta.

A man swam upstream—to avoid fish.

Vote your conscience… or eat apple pie with a spoon.

Oppress the tree.

Darkness lifts Earth’s problems—upon the shoulders of Jupiter.

Our hip bone is connected to our eyes.

Our lips are connected to our hands.

Possibility is responsibility.

This phrase from my poem “On Humanity” reminds me why I teach. The phrase is “Possibility is responsibility.” Education is not just about facts; it is about communities, their stories, their dreams, and their dignity. “The pursuit of full humanity, however, cannot be carried out in isolation or individualism, but only in fellowship and solidarity; therefore, it cannot unfold in the antagonistic relations between the oppressors and oppressed” (Freire, 2018, p. 89). This statement is synonymous with my belief that teaching is the pursuit of humanity. The poem “On Humanity” introduces and grounds my teaching philosophy, which I explicitly articulate through the narrative that follows Artifact 1 (Domain I): Teaching Philosophy. This artifact articulates my belief that learning must center humanity, dignity and cultural identity, and it grounds my instructional decisions in culturally and historically responsive education. My goal is to create classroom spaces that function as homeplaces, resisting in a safe space. “At is core, a homeplace builds intergenerational community that centers “dignity, integrity of being” resistance, and a space to enact new features in the present (hooks, 2015, as cited in Abad & Conchas, 2023, p. 81). My progression of learning draws from the five key pursuits—identity, intellect, skill, criticality, and joy—that I learned through Gholdy Muhammad’s framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Education (CHRE). Her model taught me that teaching extends beyond technical skill depositing; it is a holistic process that nurtures both cognitive development and emotional well-being (Muhammad & Williams, 2023). Learning does not occur in isolation; it is shaped by culture, history, identity, power, and the environments in which students are asked to make meaning. In this narrative, I examine how learners develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally when education affirms their humanity rather than demands assimilation. Grounded in the social and cultural foundations of education, this domain addresses how culture and cognition are inseparable, how learning differences are produced and interpreted through social systems, and how classroom environments can either reproduce harm or nurture dignity and belonging.

Guided by anti-racist, abolitionist, and justice-oriented perspectives, I frame learning as a relational and humanizing process rather than a technical transaction. To support these beliefs in practice, Artifact 2 (Domain I): Classroom Community & Safety Plan (PBIS‑Aligned) is represented through clear routines, a behavior response flowchart, and a positive reinforcement system that emphasize predictability, instructional responses to behavior, and student dignity rather than punishment. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s conception of education as the practice of freedom, bell hooks’ notion of homeplace, and Gholdy Muhammad’s Culturally and Historically Responsive Education (CHRE) framework, I argue that students’ cultural resources and lived experiences are not peripheral to learning but foundational to how understanding is constructed. Identity, intellect, skill, criticality, joy, and emotional safety are essential conditions for cognitive growth. This section also examines the role of social and emotional development in creating learning environments where students feel seen, protected, and empowered. Opportunities for students to develop positive identities are explored through representation, counter-narratives, and the intentional disruption of deficit-based assumptions—particularly those imposed on Black and Brown youth. To contextualize these commitments, I include an equity audit that analyzes how historical, sociological, anthropological, and philosophical forces have shaped schooling in the United States as a mechanism of cultural domination and deculturalization, with lasting consequences for marginalized learners. Through reflection, research, and artifacts—including a Classroom Community and Safety Plan, an Equity Audit, and a participatory action research project—I demonstrate how I have worked to improve my teaching practice to meet the diverse needs of learners. Together, these experiences define my teaching philosophy: learning must center humanity, classrooms must function as sites of belonging and resistance, and educators bear responsibility for dismantling systems that deny students their full intellectual and emotional presence in the world.

The Individual Freedom Act states: “A person, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex” (Spring, 2025, p. 52). Since the passage of the 2023 Florida law titled Individual Freedom, equity has been politicized to undermine humanity to strip truth and dignity from educational spaces. This is not accidental; it is a deliberate attempt to maintain systems of exclusion. Hiding equity behind policing is complicit in erasing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) humanness. My Classroom Community and Safety Plan reflect a deliberate shift from a dehumanizing, punitive mindset toward an instructive mindset. Drawing on Cornelius Minor’s assertion that educators often assume students already know and possess what it takes to succeed in classrooms (Minor, 2018, p. 92), I no longer equate safety with compliance or well‑mannered behavior. Instead, I approach learning behaviors and inclusion as skills to be taught, practiced, and supported, rather than problems to be punished through centuries‑old systems of isolation and inherited exclusion. This shift reframes classroom safety as an instructional responsibility, recognizing that historically marginalized students have often been removed, silenced, or criminalized rather than taught the social, emotional, and academic skills schools demand. By centering instruction over punishment, my classroom becomes a space where belonging replaces isolation and growth replaces inherited harm. To understand why this matters, I researched Rockdale County’s history and created a Participatory Action Research Plan titled “Challenge, Reshape Narratives Around Black Middle School Boys in Rockdale County.” This artifact examines historical inequities, implicit bias, and exclusionary discipline practices. Abolitionist authors such as Freire (2018), Tuck and Yang (2012), Love (2019), and Fine and Torre (2021) emphasize that culturally responsive and justice-centered education starts with acknowledging lived experiences and historical realities of the Black and Brown communities. Teaching Black and Brown boys’ and girls’ start with learning their history. In Rockdale County, Georgia, the story of schooling reflects both progress and paradox. According to Black Heritage of Rockdale County (n.d.), in 1950, Conyers Colored School opened as the first formal school for Black students. This was a stark reminder that access to education was shaped by segregation and systemic inequities. By 1963, Interstate 20 had transformed Conyers into a growing suburb, bringing affluence and demographic shifts. According to the National Research Council (2003), Heritage High School became a symbol of academic excellence, yet the 1999 school shooting revealed a troubling truth: even in spaces celebrated for safety and privilege, violence can erupt. This made me question how society frames violence in affluent schools as an anomaly, while similar behaviors in marginalized communities are criminalized.

I experienced the weight of these narratives firsthand when I began teaching the FAA Private Pilot curriculum to middle school students in Rockdale County. Narratives about school-to-prison behaviors and school violence surrounded these youth, casting them as problems rather than possibilities. Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, resonated deeply with me: narratives are lopsided; they are shaped by political and social discourses. When schools perpetuate deficit-based stories about Black boys, they strip away complexity and humanness. Adichie calls for a “balance of stories” and challenges me to rethink my classroom culture (Adichie, 2009). Teaching facts alone is not enough; these students needed someone who could see them beyond banks, a reality that aligns with Paulo Freire’s critique of the banking model of education (Freire, 2018). Reconnecting with students means dismantling harmful narratives and creating space for liberation and counter-stories. Together, these experiences and artifacts form the foundation of my belief that meaningful education demands humanness, cultural responsiveness, and radical imagination. To develop these ideas and to illustrate how five pursuits intersect to shape curriculum, engagement, and resistance, I shall reference artifacts that demonstrate my growth and commitment to humanness. AI technology is used to create aviation resources. Among these artifacts is a collection of aviatrix posters, which features Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart, showing how representation affirms identity. Under the umbrella of Fundamentals of Aerospace, aerospace, aviation, and STEM create interdisciplinary experiences, combining technical knowledge with historical and cultural relevance. One of the most important lessons I learned is that technology is never trustworthy; it reflects power and bias. This insight is reflected in my PowerPoint artifact, The Intersection of Pedagogical Dreaming and Technology, which I developed as part of a group project on Chapter 12 of Youth Resistance for Educational Justice: Pedagogical Dreaming from the Classroom to the Streets (Abad & Conchas, 2023). Teaching is about humanity and possibility. Teaching dignity is joy and is connected to identity. Technology can reinforce inequities or challenge them. For example, I created an AI-generated Thanksgiving Aviation Poster and an equity Learning Target Poster. These artifacts challenge dominant narratives by centering humanity and promoting equity in marginalized communities. My mission is to use technology for liberation and restoration, continuing to align with Bettina Love’s concept of mattering, carrying that sense of humanness beyond school and into their communities. Bettina Love (2019) argues that for people of color, simply existing in America becomes a civic project because their relationship to the nation is shaped by a constant struggle—to matter, to survive, and ultimately to thrive.

Although I am not a science teacher on record for the 2025–2026 school year, I designed a project to align with Georgia Standard S6E4.b and NGSS 3D learning principles. The artifact is a 5-Day Unit Plan titled “Greenhouse Innovation—Turning Waste into Growth with STEM and Drones.” It demonstrates my ability to design standards-aligned instruction that integrates crosscutting concepts, STEM tools, and sustainability despite administrative constraints. I believe in connecting learners through identity, skills, and intellect. This belief is shown in all my artifacts, such as the Autism Spectrum Disorder Case Study and the Solar Eclipse One-Pager. These works align with three of Gholdy Muhammad’s five pursuits and show my commitment to equity and holistic learning. Together, these experiences affirm that meaningful education demands humanness, cultural responsiveness, and radical imagination. Teaching is about humanity and possibility. Learning is liberation, joy, and identity. As a future superintendent, I will lead with humanness, dismantling harmful deficit narratives and creating new possibilities for equity and educational justice. This work demands continuous learning, struggle, and courage—because possibility is responsibility.

References:

Abad, M. N., & Conchas, G. (Eds.). (2023). Youth resistance for educational justice: Pedagogical dreaming from the classroom to the streets. Routledge.

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Black Heritage of Rockdale County. (n.d.). Education contributions. https://www.blackheritageofrockdalecountyga.org/contributions/education

Fine, M., & Torre, M. E. (2021). Essentials of critical participatory action research. American Psychological Association.

Freire, P., Ramos, M. B., Macedo, D. P., & Shor, I. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed (50th anniversary ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.

Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.

Minor, C. (2018). We got this. Equity, access, and the quest to be who our students need us to be. Heinemann.

Muhammad, G., & Williams, P. (2023). Unearthing joy: A guide to culturally and historically responsive teaching and learning. Scholastic.

National Research Council. (2003). The copycat factor: Mental illness, guns, and the shooting incident at Heritage High School, Rockdale County, Georgia. In Deadly lessons: Understanding lethal school violence (Chap. 2). National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10370

Spring, J. (2025). Deculturalization and the struggle for equality: A brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States (10th ed.). Routledge.

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des