Augusta Mann is recognized for her workshops, demonstration lessons, and programs in culturally centered intensified accelerated teaching models in literacy for African American and other urban students. As a consultant with the professional development initiatives of the National Urban Alliance (NUA), she has worked with educators in New York City, Indianapolis, IN, Prince Georges County, MD, Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA, Bridgeport, CT, Albany, NY, and Wyandanch, NY, as well as privately with educators in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Louisville, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Berkeley, and West Contra Costa County.
She was program manager of San Francisco State University’s Center for Applied Cultural Studies and Educational Achievement (CACSEA), a professional development center devoted to applications of cultural-centered education for African American students. There she led staff development projects in reading for teachers and administrators from four Bay Area school districts and directed large annual conferences for educators throughout California.
An educator since 1962, she has been a classroom teacher, reading teacher, and staff developer in public schools in Chicago, Illinois; Oakland, California; and Yonkers, New York. Immediately prior to her appointment at CACSEA, she was director of the New York Urban Coalition’s Center for Educational Leadership in New York City. There, with a budget of $1.5 million, she led the development and operation of professional development programs for over 1,500 educators in 120 New York City Public schools.
Her Touching the Spirit workshops and classroom demonstration lessons focus on culture centered practical strategies to accelerate the learning of literacy skills by students who need to achieve multiple years growth in a short period of time. These sessions are interactive and lively and include many opportunities for questions and explanations specific to the needs of the participants.
She is the author of a videotape and guidebook on the accelerated teaching of vocabulary and phonics skills for students who are behind. This is the first component in her series: Mann’s Intensified Accelerated Reading System. She is also the author of the instructional design and the student activities for the textbook: African American History, A Journey of Liberation by Molefi Asante, and co-author of the Activity Book for that textbook.
Her conference presentations include National Urban Alliance’s (NUA) Teaching for Intelligence Conferences; International Reading Association (IRA); National Association of Black School Educators (NABSE); Buffalo New York Schools’ Professional Development Conference; Center for Applied Cultural Studies and Educational Achievement (CACSEA) at San Francisco State University; National Head Start Association and Guest Faculty for Head Start’s Satellite Course, Heads-Up; NY State Reading Association; Educators’ Institute, Atlanta, Georgia; Center for Urban Education and Innovation, Florida International University; National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC); and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Augusta Mann
auggiemann@aol.com