Brieana Johnson
Brieana is an 11th grade English teacher in the Race, Policy, and Law Academy at Oakland Technical High School. Originally from Compton, CA, she received both her B.A. and her M.Ed. from UCLA in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Brieana completed her first year of teaching in Compton and Watts, before moving to the Bay Area to teach at Castlemont High School in East Oakland. While stepping away from the classroom for a brief time, Brieana continued to develop her advocacy and educational policy skills in serving as the Lead Curriculum Developer for Oakland Kids First. It was during this time that she also actualized her idea for Lit C.I.R.C.L.E. in July 2019.
As a social justice educator and an aspiring teacher educator, Brieana believes that classrooms should be loving and transformative spaces that seek to dismantle oppressive systems towards the end of achieving joy and liberation for all. Her goal is to use Lit C.I.R.C.L.E. as a vehicle to support educators in this process by providing resources, as well as trainings and workshops that merge the theory with the practice.
“When I was in the 9th grade, I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and it changed my life. It was the first time in my schooling that I had been asked to read a book by and about a Black woman. There was nothing more validating to my identity and experiences than that. I felt seen.”