Jaydra Johnson
I entered PSU at 17 years old in the fall of 2005. I had been living on my own since the beginning of the year, having left a home in Springfield, OR that wasn’t feeling safe and nourishing. I applied to schools and scholarships on my own and chose PSU because it was inexpensive and located in Portland, where I was already living. PSU also accepted almost all my AP credits from high school, so I entered as a Sophomore. As a first-generation college student, I had no idea how school worked, so I signed up for random courses that sounded interesting.
I stayed on that path for the next few years, taking time off for personal reasons here and there. I declared at least 3 majors while at PSU, but didn’t pay much attention to it until my senior year when I was approaching 180 credits. At that point I asked the advisors what I should declare on my transcript, based on my mish mash of sociology, education, Spanish, ethnic studies, and Literature courses. By that time I knew I was heading in the direction of education in English Language Arts/GED and that I would have to get a Master’s anyway. Because of this hodgepodge approach, I now hold a BA in Arts & Letters and Liberal Studies with minors in English and Spanish.
My Capstone course, Enhancing Youth Literacy, helped solidify my decision to work in schools and led me to pursue further coursework in teaching and education during my last couple of terms at PSU. The practicum component helped me see how education policy was playing out in classrooms and served as a litmus test: Did I like serving in schools or not? Did I have a passion for this deeply challenging work? I learned that yes I did, but not with such small children. The course helped me discover how deeply I cared about and valued education, how radical my politics were around the emancipatory power of education, and who should be in charge of this powerful institution!
Post-Capstone, I continued to volunteer at alternative schools in the community and landed my first job after college as a GED teacher and social worker at local nonprofit SE Works. After a few years doing similar work, I am now licensed to teach English Language Arts and English for Speakers for Other Languages and work at Wilson High. I am also a founding member of the Critical Educators Collective, a local grassroots group of public school teachers who organize for social justice in our classrooms, schools, and communities. We recently hosted the Teaching in a Time of Trump Teach-In at Lincoln High, where over 450 educators gathered to hear from community leaders and develop networks and action plans to resist the hateful policies of the current administration.
UNST Courses Taken
No FRINQ -- transfer student
- UNST 421 Cap: Enhancing Youth Literacy – Fall 2009
- BST 412U: Oregon Afr-Amer Hst – Fall 2010
- BST 351U: African/Amer Lit – Spring 2010
- CHLA 301U: Chicano/Latino Comm – Fall 2006
- UNST 228U: Family Studies – Winter 2009
- UNST 224G: Environmental Sustainability – Fall 2008
- UNST 212I: American Studies – Fall 2006