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Chelda Smith Kondo

Associate Professor of Education

Teacher Education

  • Education

  • PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota
    MEd in Elementary Education, Brooklyn College
    BA in English, Albany State University

  • Expertise

  • Intersectional justice
    Qualitative research
    Critical and asset-based pedagogy

Chelda Smith Kondo, PhD, (she/her/hers) identifies as a cisgender, able-bodied, Americanized Haitian womxn. Prior to joining St. Thomas, she served as an associate professor of Critical Multicultural Education at Georgia Southern University, where she was also director of the Elementary Education Master of Arts in Teaching program, a social justice education and initial licensure program that she co-founded. Her research explores intersectional justice, qualitative research, and critical and asset-based pedagogy.

Chelda currently sits on the governing board of InterAction Inc, a non-profit committed to activating and advancing Young Black, Indigenous, People of Color and their counter-narratives to build a more just, inclusive and equitable society. In 2021-2022, she was a visiting scholar at the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute (OIGI) at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis where she edited and co-wrote a forthcoming book exploring the application of critical pedagogy in teacher preparation: A Pedagogy of Humanization: Preparing Elementary Teachers for Culturally Sustaining Classrooms.

Chelda is the Faculty in Residence at the Collaborative Learning School at Maxfield Elementary in St. Paul.

Journal Articles

Smith Kondo, C. (2022). Walking the Talk: Employing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Teacher Education. Teachers College Record, 124 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221096797

Smith Kondo, C. (2021). Trying to Decenter Whiteness in the Academy. Forum of the American Journal of Education. https://www.ajeforum.com/trying-to-decenter-whiteness-in-the-academy-by-dr-chelda-smith-kondo/

Smith Kondo, C. (2021). An Episode in Allyship Responding to the Uprising. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education, 6(1), 170–176. Retrieved from https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jimphe/article/view/3181

Smith Kondo, C. (2019). Front Streeting: A challenge in preparing culturally diverse teachers for diverse students. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 50(2), 135-150. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aeq.12285

Smith Kondo, C. & Bracho, C. (2019). Friendly resistance: Narratives from preservice teachers of color navigating diversity courses. Educational Studies, 55(2), 114-120.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131946.2018.1500913

Smith C. & Wells, A. (2016). Experimenting with asset pedagogy in elementary teacher education: One semester - Two perspectives. Making Connections, 16(2), 138-154.

Smith, C., Dyke, E., & Hermes, M. (2013). Life in the Undercommons: Sustaining Justice-Work Post Disillusionment. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 29(2). https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/view/480

Lozenski, B., & Smith, C. (2012). Pen 2 Paper 2 Power: Lessons from an arts-based literacy program serving Somali youth. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45(4). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10665684.2012.717482

Books

Smith Kondo, C., (In press). Pedagogy of Humanization: Preparing Teachers for Culturally Sustaining Classrooms. Myers Education Press. https://styluspub.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/9781975505097/Pedagogy-of-Humanization

Book Chapters

Smith Kondo, C., & Brkich, K.M. (In press). Co-teaching in the Time of the 2020 Uprising. In Tschida C.M., Fogarty, E., Cuthrell, K., Stapleton, J., Lys, D., & Bullock, A. (Eds.), Co-Teaching in Teacher Education: Centering Equity. Teachers College Press.

Harkins, E. A., & Smith Kondo, C., (accepted chapter- forthcoming 2023). Culture and Disability. In Harkins, E. A., Stansberry Brusnahan, L.L., Fuller, M. C., & Odima, M. (Eds.), Incorporating intersectional needs of students: Disability, culture, and inclusivity in schools. Rowman and Littlefield, Inc.

Smith Kondo, C. (2018). Mama, am I hip-hop? Unpacking the intersections of race, culture, and gender with a young Black boy. In J.F. Jackson (Ed.), The Handbook of Research on Black Males. (1-2). Michigan State University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctv4g1qgh

Smith, C., & Lozenski, B. (2014). “I Do Not Need Help to Define Myself”: The Self-Location of Somali Immigrant Youth Through Discourse and Agency. In Porfilio, B., Roychoudhury, D., & Gardner, L. M. (Eds.), See You at the Crossroads: Hip Hop Scholarship at the Intersections: Dialectical Harmony, Ethics, Aesthetics, and Panoply of Voices (pp. 111-127). Rotterdam, NY:Sense Publishers. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6209-674-5_7

Reviews
Smith, C. (2015). Reviews of Literature [Review of the book. Mogadishu on the Mississippi:Language, Racialized Identity, and Education in a New Land, by M. H. Bigelow]. Multicultural Perspectives. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15210960.2015.996390

Helman, L., Allen, K., Beach, R., Bear, D., Bigelow, M., Brendler, B., Cushing-Leubner, J., Dillon, D., Frederick, A., Haertling-Thein, A., Isaacson, K., Ittner, A., Janssen, T., Liang, L., Madson, M., Mason, A., Ngo, B., O’Brien, D., Peterson, D., Rietdijk, S., Rogers, C., Rummel, A., Scharber, C., Smith, C, & Stornaiuolo, A. (2014). Annotated bibliography of research in the teaching of English. Research in the Teaching of English 49(2), 365-367. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Available in whole as a downloadable pdf file at https://www.jstor.org/stable/40171697

Public Communication
Smith Kondo, C. (2021). Social Isolation: A Welcome Intervention. Minnesota Women's Press. https://www.womenspress.com/social-isolation-a-welcome-intervention/

Smith Kondo, C. (2020). Toward a radical Black humanity. CEHD Connect: The Magazine of the College of Education and Human Development. Fall 2020/Special Issue. https://connect.cehd.umn.edu/lived-experiences/

Smith Kondo, C. (2022). Pedagogy of Humanization: A Guide to Preparing Elementary Teachers for Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Classrooms. International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE) Biennial Meeting, Cancun, Mexico. November 2–5.

Smith Kondo, C. Brkich K. M. (2020.) Adapting Critical Pedagogy to Online Teacher Education. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 16-21.

Smith Kondo, C. (2019). Diasporans Negotiating Insider/Outsider Positionality in International Development Work. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, CA, April 5–9.

Smith Kondo, C. & Bracho, C. (2018). Friendly Resistance: Narratives from Preservice Teachers of Color Navigating Diversity Courses. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY, April 13–17.

Smith Kondo, C. & Desir, C. (2018). Seats at the Table: Tensions of being Haitian American Consultants to International Development Work in Haiti. The 62nd Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). Mexico City, MX. March 25–29.

Smith Kondo, C. & Bracho, C. (2017). Friendly Resistance: A Case Study of Preservice Teachers of Color Traversing Multicultural Education Courses in Teacher Education Programs. Teacher Diversity Matters: A National Symposium on Preparing, Recruiting, and Retaining Teachers of Color. Northern Kentucky University, KY, September 15.

Smith Kondo, C. (2017). Collaborative Teaching to Enhance and Innovate Teaching & Learning. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the South. University of Johannesburg, Soweto Campus, July 24–27.

Smith Kondo, C. (2017). Front Streeting: A Dishonorable Instructional Practice in Academia. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the South. University of Johannesburg, Soweto Campus, July 24–27.

Smith Kondo, C. (2016). “Problematizing “Post-Racial America” with Preservice Teachers & James Baldwin.” International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE) Biennial Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 3–5.

Smith Kondo, C. (2016). Gate Crashing with Baldwin in Teacher Education. International James Baldwin Conference, Paris, France, May 26–28.

Smith Kondo, C., Lewis, A., Wells, A. (2015). Weaving CRP into EdTPA Implementation: Pitfalls and Potentials. Paper presented. National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), New Orleans, LA, September 30–October 4.

Smith Kondo, C. (2015). Avoiding “Front Street Pedagogy” in Higher Education. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia (HERDSA), Melbourne, AU, July 6–9.

Smith Kondo, C. (2015). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Multicultural Teacher Education: A Paradoxical Objective. Paper presented. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, April 16–20.

Smith, C. (2014). Front Street Pedagogy: Challenges of Preparing Diverse Teachers for Diverse Students. International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE), Montego Bay, Jamaica, November 5–8.

Smith, C. (2014). Diversity in Higher Ed: Complications in Teacher Education. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia (HERDSA), Hong Kong, July 7–10.

(*) “Everyday activism,” Black History Month Lecture. Mount St. Mary's University, February 2017.

(#) “Equity in the global context: How school administrators can create and implement equitable policies,” American University, Washington, D.C. February 16, 2016.

(#) “Teacher activism and global change,” American University, Washington, D.C. February 16, 2016.

(^) “Front Streeting: Lessons about Saying Her Name with Grace,” Faculty Women of Color in the Academy Conference at Virginia Tech. Blacksburg, VA, April 2-3, 2017.

(^) “Instructional Leadership and Teacher Support: How teachers can function as change agents,” Bulloch County Public Schools, September 16, 2016.

(*) “Honoring Black History as American History,” Soul Food Dinner & Black History Month, University of Minnesota-Morris. February 2014.

(^) “Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Practice” Series. Minneapolis Public Schools, Minneapolis, MN, Summer 2012.

(*) = keynote, (#) = lecture, (^) = facilitator

Awards

  • Black Women Empowerment, Georgia Southern University, 2021
  • Rising Alumni Award, University of Minnesota, 2021
  • Educator of the Year Finalist, Georgia Southern University, 2020

External Grants

  • Textbook Transformation Grant, Affordable Learning Georgia, 2020
  • Textbook Transformation Grant with Dr. Alisa Leckiem, Affordable Learning Georgia, 2015-16
  • Mithun Graduate Fellowship for Elementary Education, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2013-14
  • Research Support, Common Ground Consortium, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2012-13
  • Inaugural Commitment to Diversity Award, Georgia Southern University College of Education, 2020
  • COE Small Seed Grant w/undergraduate Alyce Wells, Georgia Southern University College of Education, 2017
  • Program Evaluation Seed Grant with Dr. Melony Allen, Georgia Southern University College of Education, 2016
  • Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), 2018 – Present
  • Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia (HERDSA), 2014 – Present
  • National Association of Multicultural Education (NAME), 2011 – Present
  • American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2010 – Present