The Beyond Bars Teaching Collective is an online-based community of practice for teachers of incarcerated youth across the United States organized and facilitated by Mary McConnaha. A community of practice, defined by Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner, “are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” In this spirit, the Beyond Bars Teaching Collective is a group of teachers of incarcerated youth who seek to improve their teaching of incarcerated youth through collaboration with other teachers who “get it” by meeting regularly. Specifically, we consider the improvement of teaching through the lens of equity-centered, humanizing teaching methods.
The first cohort of the Beyond Bars Teaching Collective met in Spring 2026 and consisted of five English Language Arts teachers in multiple sites that incarcerate children and teenagers across the U.S. The Collective is made of teachers from a variety of institutions, backgrounds, geographic locations, and experiences. Across the different meetings, teachers came together to discuss classroom wins and problems of practice, share classroom practices, read and discuss texts related to teaching and youth incarceration, and write together.
These meetings are continuing monthly in the school year 2026-2027. We are opening up to interested, new community participants. Interested teachers will be those who work within institutions that incarcerate children and teenagers (institutions where youth are mandated to go and cannot leave) from any content area (expanding beyond English Language Arts). Interested teachers should align with the mission and philosophy of the Beyond Bars Teaching Collective and be interested in both improving their practice and supporting the practices of other teachers in similar spaces.
Interested in joining us? Complete this form.
Are you a juvenile justice administrator or leader interested in speaking to Mary about humanizing education within youth carceral institutions? Send her an email through the Contact page.
Mary M. McConnaha 