Alexandrea Renae Henry

My research explores how carceral thinking exists and persists in early elementary classrooms, and how children make meaning of responses to harm at school. Scholarship on the relationship between the prison industrial complex and schooling in the U.S. oftentimes associates this dynamic with older students, however it is a problem that starts much earlier in a student’s life, particularly for Black children. 

My SIGF work seeks to extend this through delving deeper into the imaginations and experiences of children who are disproportionately impacted by punishment at school. In a two-phased approach, I will collaborate with K-2 teachers and work to identify students who have been labeled with behavioral concerns, so as to better understand the challenges they face in school. After a year of learning with and from the children, they will be invited to participate in a summer design thinking program. Here they will design and prototype their ideal classrooms with the focus of student belonging. The purpose of this work is to center the voices, expertise, and creativity of children, so that we may work to build a world where every child is valued in school.