The Blog

We all learn in multiple ways. Besides being an auditory learner, I am also a visual learner. Coming off the heels of the Montessori For Social Justice Conference where I performed the spoken word poem BEAUTIFUL BLACKNESS, I figured it would be worthwhile to complement it with a typography video.

W...

WE SPENT THIS LAST WEEKEND OF JUNE 2018 IN ST. PAUL, MN AT THE MONTESSORI FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE CONFERENCE.

Wow! What a powerful conference. What a powerful group of people working together to change Montessori and all other educational spaces. What a radical and justice-oriented community space and w...

Growing up an immigrant of color in the U.S. can be full of challenges and trauma.

My family came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in the late 80s. I was four. While I was born there and have dual citizenship, and can’t deny the island breeze in my veins, I’m also very American. I grew up he...

Dear parents,

Who better to teach your children about race than you? Yet, to best educate your children means you have to be committed to educating yourself. The resources are plentiful and we would be wise to utilize them because our children are learning about race whether we teach them or not. T...

The Intersection of Rhetorics and Justice: An IB unit of study

When teaching about historically marginalized and oppressed communities, that’s usually what students understand: we are in pain, in sorrow, and are oppressed. While there is accuracy to that due to systemic oppression, we often end up ...

In honor of Black History Month, Roberto performed a poem entitled “Beautiful Blackness” and blew us all away! The words are below and a viewer’s recording included here, also.

BEAUTIFUL BLACKNESS

Sweet juice drips from the BLACKberry on full lips

Adding to our fullness

And it’s just so BEAUTI...

Children love books and storytelling. As parents, it’s a go-to activity. In my home, my almost-3-year-old reads on her own even though she doesn’t know how to read. She loves looking at the pictures and will read for 30 minutes all by herself! I love watching her eyes scan the page, go back and fort...

You can’t teach the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and not discuss the n-word. Ignoring it is irresponsible. So, how does a teacher engage her class in a discussion around this very controversial and complicated word? 

NOTE: My current teaching context is a small independent school with ...

I’ve had many difficult teaching moments. Some were a result of my own doing, yet many were a result of systemic inequalities that bled into the four walls of my classroom. I once had a student drop out of his junior year in order to work full time so he could help his family back home in Guatemala ...