Dr. Mikela Bjork - Consultant

With an M.Ed. in secondary Special Education and a Ph.D. in Urban Education, Mikela’s pedagogy centers around social justice and self-reflexivity, empowering students with the skill-set to recognize their own social location in their assumptions about their students’ (dis)abilities. Empathic listening and sharing of personal narratives are qualities that she believes to be paramount to effective and authentic (teacher) education. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Redlands, Mikela sees her job as multifaceted; it is equally as important for her students to learn about best practices, special education policy, and universal design for learning, just as much as it is important for them to engage in self-reflexive practices, willing to remain alert to their own biases and privileges that inform their every day interactions with their students and colleagues. As a practitioner of Mindfulness Meditation, she incorporates Mindfulness theory and praxis in all of her classes, because she believes that when we are fully present with ourselves, we can be fully present for and with our students.