About the Editors
Dr. Brian Charest
is an assistant professor at the University of Redlands. He is a former public high school teacher who has taught in both Chicago and Seattle. He’s worked in a variety of educational settings with students of diverse backgrounds and identities. Much of Brian’s university teaching has involved community-based work of some kind, where students in his courses work closely with local community-based organizations, schools, practicing teachers, and residents in "real world" settings. Brian draws on the traditions of community organizers and activist to help teachers learn the skills and strategies to be strong advocates for themselves, their students, and the communities in which they live and work.
Dr. Kate Sjostrom
is a lecturer and assistant director of English Education at University of Illinois at Chicago. A former high school English teacher, her research focuses on writing teacher identity development in the context of recent education reforms, as well as on the potential for teacher-writing to build teachers’ professional advocacy. She is especially interested in the power of narrative—as both critical thinking tool and mode of expression in K-College classrooms, and as both method and product of academic research.