shea wesley martin:
dreamer, educator, partner

A dynamic teacher-researcher dreaming and working their way toward liberation

shea martin is a lit teacher, researcher, and community organizer who dreams and works with teachers and students across the country. shea’s work is explicitly rooted in radical love, antiracist pedagogy, and seeking justice and liberation through intersectional coalition-building. Through research, facilitation, and organizing, shea partners with students, teachers, and systems-leaders working to disrupt systems of inequity and create schools that affirm the existence and brilliance of Black, indigenous, and students of color.

Let’s Build Together!

 

Workshop Facilitation

Looking for customized facilitation for your school or organization?

shea offers customized workshops, sessions, and keynotes tailored to the needs of students, teachers, and leaders. A freelance literacy educator, shea builds on their experiences in classrooms (both in-person and virtual) in their workshops. Examples of past workshops/talks include:

  • Theory to Practice: AntiRacism in Classrooms

  • Creating LGBTQ+ Inclusive Classrooms

  • Freedom-Dreaming as an Act of Radical Teaching

  • Unpacking Identity and Differences 

  • Disrupting White Supremacy in Schools

  • Centering Self and Community Care in Education

  • Supporting and Sustaining Black and Latinx Teachers

  • Creating and Sustaining Liberatory Literacy Spaces

Instructional Support

Interested in making anti-racist, abolitionist, and/or liberatory instructional shifts?

With many years of experience, a wealth of knowledge, and a commitment to centering the voices of traditionally minoritized groups, shea works with teachers, coaches, and systems-wide leaders to audit, shift, and improve curriculum and learning design. shea’s curricular expertise includes (but is not limited to):

  • Incorporating social-emotional learning

  • Exploring identity through curriculum and community

  • Rethinking grading and assessment practices

  • Radicalizing writing workshops

  • Teaching LGBTQ+ inclusive texts

  • Fostering classrooms that are intentionally joy-filled, student-centered, and dialogic

Long-Term Partnership

In search of a partnership and coaching that centers accountability, liberation, and care?

shea offers individualized long-term partnership opportunities for aspiring antiracist and abolitionist educators, students, schools, and organizations. Past partnerships with schools and organizations have leveraged shea’s expertise in curriculum audits, strategic planning, community development, and family engagement. Partnership models may also include facilitation, instructional support, and leadership development.

The Community Speaks

A Revolutionary Dreamer

shea asks the critical questions that teachers must wrestle with in order to change their practices to better serve all students, especially students of color. While shea offers practical wisdom that teachers can apply in the classroom immediately, more importantly, they inspire teachers to have the necessary courage to re-evaluate and transform their practices at a deeper, foundational level. Their relentless belief in the power of young people is exactly the type of “freedom-dreaming” our schools and teachers need to create learning experiences that are healing, powerful, and liberatory.

Tricia Ebarvia
Co-Founder of #DisruptTexts
Co-Director of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy

A Community Leader

Relationships, liberation, and joy are at the core of shea’s practice. Collaborating with shea is not only an educational experience from an intellectual standpoint, but I also learned so much from them about what it means to be a passionate community-based educator.

Liz Kleinrock
Educator and Consultant
Teach and Transform

A Thoughtful Collaborator

Partnering with shea martin is like a breath of fresh air. They are organized, efficient, imaginative, and fun in all elements of work. They hold me accountable while being utterly supportive.

Lizzie Fortin
Instructional Coach and Visual Artist
Worcester Public Schools

An Insightful Partner

As it is situated in schools, the work of justice is both personal and institutional. It is joyous and hard. It is about breaking with tired mindsets and traditions and it is forging new paths. It, ultimately, is beautiful. There is no one that navigates that tension and personifies that brilliance better than shea martin. As a thought partner, they are honest, insightful, and action-oriented -- exactly who we need in a time defined by our country’s collective inability to be honest with ourselves.

Cornelius Minor
Author, We Got This
Co-Founder of The Minor Collective

A Radical Force

I am consistently moved, inspired, and awed by shea martin, especially their contributions to Liberate and Chill* and the organization of Love and LiteraTea. Their work in anti-bias, anti-racist, and queer-affirming educational spaces is grounded in a deep commitment to community, accountability, freedom dreaming, and love. shea martin makes me a better educator.

Josh Thompson
English Teacher
Blacksburg Public Schools

A Dynamic Facilitator

I won’t lie - they were the presenter I was most excited for! shea modeled several best practices, including engaging their audience by asking them to reflect on and share their stories and modeling their own vulnerability by using storytelling and personal examples along their learning journey.

Conference Participant
Austin Independent School District (TX)