Exhibit Description: View a collection of literary and arts integration projects led by Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver. This bright display draws the viewer right into stories about youth participatory action research (YPAR), global education studies, and experiences teaching women’s and gender studies in schools. From murals created with kindergarten scholars to a bubblegum pink model of the human brain (3D printed at 300% size), this exhibit is a must-see for anyone interested in teaching and learning.  Fishman-Weaver also includes copies of her six recent books, a peek inside a new poetry project, and bold posters celebrating co-authors, educational collaborators, advisory editors, and student researchers. 

Exhibit Dates: March 3 – April 28, 2023

The brightly colored exhibit has been on display for more than a month. In that time, Fishman-Weaver has received a number of messages from faculty, staff, and students, including those she’s never met in-person.

“Everyone has been so supportive,” she says. “Most people have just reached out to say congratulations, and a few have wanted to really connect on the work.”

Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver began her teaching career in a public K-8 school in Oakland, CA. Since then, she has taught and led programs in special education services (including gifted education services), English language arts, and teacher preparation. Fishman-Weaver currently serves as the executive director of Mizzou Academy and as an associate teaching professor in Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum. 

Dr. Fishman-Weaver is the author or coauthor of six books in education: Wholehearted Teaching of Gifted Young Women (2018), When Your Child Learns Differently (2019), Brain-Based Learning with Gifted Students (2020), Connected Classrooms (2022) coauthored with Stephanie Walter, Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies Grades 6-8 (2023) co-authored with Jill Clingan, and Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies Grades 9-12 (2023) also co-authored with Jill Clingan. 

Collaborative Works: Mizzou Academy Connections

Fishman-Weaver says that she is grateful to Ellis Library and Marie Concannon for the opportunity to showcase her work in this exhibit. Her favorite aspect about the exhibit is that it “gave me the opportunity to publicly appreciate 30+ collaborators and advisors with whom I have learned, written, and created over the years. Looking at this exhibit, I am struck especially by how many Mizzou Academy faculty, staff, and students are featured here and the many more educators and projects that they represent.” 

Among the Mizzou Academy faculty and staff featured, the exhibit includes posters on Jill Clingan, co-author of the Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies series, Stephanie Walter, co-author of Connected Classrooms, an essay by Lisa DeCastro on diversity, inclusion, and equity in the classroom, and an essay by Dr. Adrian Clifton on intersectionality. 

Radical Hope in Schools

The exhibit is called “Radical Hope in Schools.” Dr. Fishman-Weaver first wrote about radical hope in a 2017 article for the Journal of Organizational Theory in Education. She says she has been writing and thinking about this concept ever since. In fact, it is a core theme in her latest books on teaching women’s and gender studies. 

Fishman-Weaver says, “As I think about what radical hope can look like in schools, I think of my early experiences teaching in Oakland Unified School District and Columbia Public Schools. I think about the power and possibility of student leadership.”

The library display features several images of student art projects including large scale murals with early elementary students in Oakland, CA, and a self-portrait project organized with high school students from São Paulo, SP (Brazil).