Adair White-Johnson's whirlwind teaching experience

Adair White-Johnson confronted the challenge of trying to fit a semesters worth of material into a two-week intensive course. Having recently completed her Ph.D. in Sociology of Education, White-Johnson was enlisted by IUs Counseling and Educational Psychology Department to teach a course in research methodologies in their program for educational professionals. White-Johnsons students were, for the most part, high school teachers and principals who work full-time in schools and work on their degrees at night and over the summer. "This course was quite different from the course I usually teach, which is Social and Cultural Foundations of Education," says Johnson. In contrast to her usual course at Georgia State University, which looks at the schools of thought that govern why and how schools are set up, White-Johnsons IU course focused more on different research methods. Although faced with a course whose material and format was unfamiliar to her, White-Johnson was undaunted and welcomed the opportunity to try something different: "It is hard to move people out of their comfort zones and get them to think differently," she says, "I got into education to make a difference--to make people think." One benefit her intensive teaching load: her course was over in two weeks, allowing her to use the rest of her stay in Bloomington to do her own research.

White-Johnson is accustomed to having a great deal going on in her life. Simultaneously with working on her Ph.D., which she received last spring from the University of Buffalo, she worked full-time as a high school counselor in Marietta, Georgia. Her work in the school system is very important to White-Johnson, and she plans to continue her close contact with that system even as she looks for a professorship: "I love teenagers. I want that contact with the kids when I move to the university level." In addition to constructing a course in African American History, White-Johnson has already contributed a great deal to the high school for which she works. She conceived and developed two programs: "Young Gifted and Talented," educates students regarding culture, history, self-esteem and motivation, and the "Reality Group for Teen Fathers," which provides the young men the counseling and support they need in order to be fully involved in their childrens lives.

In addition to her full and active professional life, White-Johnson is thankful to have the love and support of her husband and six-year old son. "I have had a lot of blessings in my life," she states. "My philosophy is to claim all the blessings that come my way."