Publications

Before 2016, if you saw my writing published online, it was on my website, Gardener Shicole, where I shared my family’s journey growing food and making harvest meals. In 2017, my writing shifted to education advocacy when I earned an opportunity to write for EdPost. EdPost is the flagship publication, and under the EdPost umbrella, there used to be several other publications. Additionally, in addition to writing for EdPost, I wrote articles for some of the publications under that umbrella, as well as becoming an editor, where I had the opportunity to connect with education advocates across America. I helped them advocate for education solutions where they lived. Eventually, I became Editor-in-Chief of Indy K12, which was one of the publications under that umbrella.

The opportunity led to several other opportunities to write for other publications. One of those publications was The Educator’s Room (TER). Yes, you are reading this correctly. My writing and editing for TER overlapped with EdPost.

During the pandemic, as many organizations did, EdPost began re-evaluating. brightbeam was created. Like bell hooks, brightbeam is stylized in lowercase. brightbeam became the new umbrella, and EdPost is under brightbeam. With that transition, all of the publications under the EdPost umbrella faded away. This is why any article I wrote for Indy K12, under the EdPost umbrella, is a PDF on this website. It allows you to read the articles even though the Indy K12 website is inactive.

When Indy K12 ended its run under EdPost on February 28, 2023, the dedicated writers decided to create Indy Kids Winning, an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit. Luckily, through collaboration with EdPost, we were able to move articles published under Indy K12 to the Indy Kids Winning (IKW) website. If you google the title of any Indy K12 PDF, you will most certainly find it online on the IKW website. However, I prefer to keep the Indy K12 PDFs on my website because it shows a clear delineation between when I wrote articles under EdPost versus under IKW.

Also, I continued writing for the flagship publication EdPost through April 2024. Some of my EdPost articles have a publication date after April 2024 because they weren’t edited and published until after my time with EdPost concluded.

The upside to being published online is that your work is easily accessible and shareable. The downside is that if the publication’s website goes down, you lose the edited and polished version of your work. If you are published online, PDF your work! Also, if you come across a dead link on my website, just know it is probably because a publication I wrote for has gone away. I am doing my best to keep this site updated, so let me know if you come across a link.

Below is a chart of publications in which I was published only once or twice. If I was published three or more times, I created individual pages on my website. You can find those pages under the drop-down menu under the publication tab, or you can click the hyperlinks I have included on this page.

Last, from 2018-2023, I worked on my doctorate in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education with a minor in Learning and Developmental Sciences. If you are so inclined, read my dissertation, ‘Still I’ll Rise’: Exploring Girls’ Participation During Literacy-Rich STEM Experiences.

Published Work

Publications are listed below if I have been published three or more times.

• The 74: Keeping It 100
• EdPost
• The Educator’s Room
• Huffington Post
• Indianapolis Recorder
• Indy K12, an EdPost Publication
• Indy Kids Winning
• Keep Indiana Learning
• The Phoenix Soul

Other Published Work

Articles are listed below if I have only been published once or twice by the publication.

7/1/2016	TWINS Magazine	Focus on Me Not We:  Five Tips to Advocate for Your Children’s Education
8/21/2016	Whirlwind Magazine	A Villanelle – Life at My Falling School
8/25/2016	Word Dance	Progress
8/30/2016	Fifty Word Stories	Gone Too Soon
9/22/2016	Mused	Mint Tea at Dusk
12/1/2016	Words and Other Wild Things – Brick Street Poetry	Busy Busy Bee
3/9/2017	Memphis K12	School Choice Vs. No Choice:  The Flaws with Betsy DeVos’ Thoughts on HBCUs
5/10/2017	The Kitchen Community	Learning and Gardening in School
5/30/2017	Fifty Word Stories	ICE
6/28/2017	Good School Hunting	We Strap Roller Skates on Their Feet and Push Parents Out the Door
7/3/2017	Second Line Education Blog	What, to a Slave Descendant, is your 4th of July?
7/21/2017	Black Press USA	I Worked on Indiana’s ESSA Plan.  This Is What I Learned.
3/6/2018	The Instructional Coach Academy	Coaching Displaced Teachers
5/2/2018	The Cerurove	Immigration and Customs Enforcement
9/10/2018	One Voice Blog Magazine	Was School Integration a Blessing or a Curse?
3/16/2019	One Voice Blog Magazine	My Calling as an Educator and an Advocate
10/2/2019	Safer Campus Life	When Your Child Becomes a Victim of Bullying
12/5/2019	Families of Multiples	Separate Classes or Same Class – Which Option is Best?
12/31/2019	Citizen Education	Real New Year’s Resolutions from a Black Female Educator
1/22/2020	Medium	Why ‘In God We Trust’ Signs in Every Classroom is a Bad Idea
10/31/2023	Capital B Gary	Was It Worth It? Evaluating the Impact of Indiana’s Takeover of Gary Schools.

Feature

Work included below includes times when I was featured or interviewed for a publication.

5/5/2016	Chalkbeat Indiana	My story:  ‘Even though I didn’t see my dad except on Saturdays…I felt his presence’
6/26/2017	CBS4 Reads	Guest Reader:  The Emperor’s New Suit (Video)
9/9/2018	Truth for Teachers Podcast	Why great teachers get saddled with the biggest workload (and how to advocate for yourself)
9/17/2018	dfree Podcast: In the Black	Episode 50: In the Black with Jermaine and Shawnta Barnes
3/15/2019	The Phoenix Soul	Shawnta S. Barnes: Artist Profile
3/1/2023	Cultural Capacity Podcast	March Featured Voice
4/16/2025	Love Learning You Podcast	How Does Culture Influence Our Ability To Connect With Each Other?