Ceci’s Community Classroom is a participatory learning space for the community. Everyone is welcome, whether you are enrolled in school or pursuing your own interests as a lifelong learner. No prior knowledge of the subjects is required.
Read my Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Use this page to find the Orientation, Community Classroom lessons, and the materials accompanying each lesson.
Free subscribers can participate in complete Community Classroom lessons grounded in my scholarship and the work of other scholars, using real-world examples such as news stories, social media posts, videos, historical documents, and photographs. Interactive activities, guided questions, and reflection prompts invite you to examine your interpretations, connect what you learn with your experiences, and consider how to use that knowledge in your own life and community. You can reflect privately or share your perspectives through comments and conversation with other participants. You also receive public posts and announcements about upcoming lessons and can revisit previously published posts that are freely available.
Paid subscribers can continue working with what we learn in the Literacies Labs. Just as a science or language lab provides space to practice what students learn in a lesson, these labs offer more sustained opportunities to investigate, interpret, create, and apply ideas. Depending on the lesson, you may examine an extended case study, compare interpretations, evaluate sources, or investigate an issue in your community. Activities may also invite you to explain what you have learned through a post or video that can begin or extend a conversation with others.
Lab materials may include additional scholarship, interactive activities, downloadable guides and source packets, audio or video commentary, and discussion. You can share selected lab activities with family, friends, colleagues, or community groups to learn together and bring what you are learning into conversations in your own communities. Through these opportunities, learning starts in the Community Classroom, deepens in the labs, and travels into our communities as we put “each one, teach one” and “each one, reach one” into practice.
Founding subscribers receive everything included with a paid subscription, along with resources explaining the scholarship, literacies, and pedagogies behind each lesson. These resources explain why I selected particular cases, sources, and activities; how I use social media and public commentary as curriculum; and how the lessons draw on knowledge developed in families and communities. They also offer guidance for facilitating discussion, adapting activities, and supporting learning in your own classrooms, homes, and communities. Founding subscriptions provide additional support for the continued development of Ceci’s Community Classroom and my public scholarship and educational work.
Start Here
New to the Community Classroom? Begin with Orientation: Welcome to Ceci’s Community Classroom. Meet Dr. Bell, learn about the lessons, labs, and Harambee Learning Library, and practice navigating the learning platform and finding materials and discussion.
Community Classroom Directory
- Orientation
- Fall 2026 lessons
- Spring 2027 lessons
Finding Your Way Around the Website & Substack
Cecibell.net is your one-stop shop. If you ever lose track of a lesson, post, resource, or link, come back here and start again.
Use the device that works best for you. I recommend viewing cecibell.net and the Substack website on a laptop or desktop. The desktop view brings the navigation, featured posts, images, and sidebar together, as shown in the Orientation video tour, and provides more room to work with lesson materials. You can also use your phone’s browser or the Substack app to read, watch, comment, and participate. If a phone is what you have, please use it. Your phone is convenient for keeping up on the go.
A note about the Substack app: The app is convenient for receiving notifications, reading new posts, commenting, and keeping up with the Community Classroom on the go. However, the app is organized primarily around your Substack feed and creator profile, so it may not show Ceci’s Community Classroom as the organized learning space you see on the web.
To find your way around the Community Classroom, start at cecibell.net. From the website, you can enter the Community Classroom on the Substack website, browse lessons and conversations together, revisit earlier material, and find your way back if you ever get lost. Starting here can help you find links and materials that may be harder to locate in the Substack app.