Identity and Intersectionality

Schools and classrooms are places where people of a range of different identities intersect. Our work is to strengthen our consciousness of our own identities and their impacts, as well as our awareness of students, colleagues and families’ identities, and how these varying identities intersect. While no workshop can cover the multitude of identities represented in our schools, these sessions aim to offer a deeper understanding of identity and intersectionality.

Tuesday, August 5th, 12:15-1:45 PM

Isang Bagsak: Teaching Cross-Racial Literacy and Coalitions

Presenter(s): Jennifer Heikkila Diaz & Tony De La Rosa

This learning experience, co-facilitated by educators Tony DelaRosa and JHD (Jenny Heikkila Diaz), offers knowledge and skills in teaching about cross-racial literacy and cross-racial coalitions through PK-12 lessons. The session draws from Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s Racial Literacy framework and Tony DelaRosa’s Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in Schools, which is grounded in how to embody a cross-racial lens in designing and facilitating literature and social studies lesson in schools. We will explore case studies to delve deeper into Afro-Asian racial literacy and solidarity building and to consider the invisible within the invisible when it comes to narratives and histories taught or not taught in schools. Beyond the case studies and framework, educators will have time to collaborate and examine some CT-based materials and teacher-created inquiry lessons focused on intersectionality and cross-community solidarity.

CT Council of The Social Studies & University of Wisconscin- Madison

  • Jennifer (JHD) Heikkila Díaz (they/she) was born and raised in Los Ángeles. Witnessing their family’s immigration experiences and the LA Civil Uprising of 1992 seeded JHD’s desire to build coalitions within their own Korean American and Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and across communities of color. For almost twenty-five years, JHD has worked as a K-12 public school teacher, school administrator, and educator coach across the country. They are a Fund for Teachers Program Officer, an Anti-Racist Teaching & Learning Collective Steering Committee Member, and a UConn Asian and Asian American Studies Institute Activist in Residence. They are the Co-Chair of the Asian Pacific American Coalition of CT, a co-founder of aapiNHV, and a parent of two elementary-aged children. Their lifelong commitment is to backing youth, who envision an even more joyful and just world than they do.

  • Tony DelaRosa is a son, husband, brother, and father. He is a current PhD student at UW-Madison Education Leadership & Policy Analysis program, where he focuses on researching the impact of ethnic studies & race-based policies on teacher and leadership practices. He is the author of the award-winning book, Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in Schools, with Jossey-Bass / Wiley Publishing. His work has been featured on CNN, NPR, Harvard Ed Magazine, NBC, and elsewhere. Learn more on IG/BlueSky @TonyRosaSpeaks or by visiting TonyRosaSpeaks.com

Fostering Social and Emotional Well-Being in the Classroom

Presenter(s): Carolina Rivera Parrot

Join us for an interactive and engaging workshop where we will explore the crucial connection between mental health, cultural and structural humility in the educational setting. The objective of the workshop is 1. To examine strategies and approaches for promoting social and emotional wellness that are sensitive to the diverse backgrounds and needs of students. 2. To empower educators, school social workers, and administrators with the knowledge and tools to effectively address mental health concerns from an anti racist lens and 3. To enhance those interfacing with students with the ability to support their mental health needs in an inclusive and culturally responsive manner.

Together we could foster a school environment where every student feels valued, understood, and supported on their journey to well-being.

Yale Child Study Center

  • Carolina is as a cis-gender, heterosexual, bilingual and bicultural Boricua woman. Born in the Island and raised in New Haven, she is a first-generation college graduate who earned her bachelor's from Southern Connecticut State University and her Master’s degree in Advance Clinical Social Work from New York University.

    Carolina is a licensed clinical social worker who has committed over 10 years to serving and supporting children and families of diverse backgrounds, including monolingual-Spanish speaking families, survivors of complex trauma, systems impacted families and underserved individuals. Carolina is deeply committed to teaching and training. She is a skilled clinician trained in several evidence-based practices that she delivers with a culturally responsive approach. Carolina comes to the field of Social Work with a personal and professional dedication to fostering an equitable society by dismantling systemic inequities that exist specifically for historically marginalized individuals.

Loops, Lyrics, and Liberation: Healing Frequencies Curated by the Art of DJing

Rooted in rhythm, resistance, and remembrance, this workshop fuses hip-hop, healing, and technology through DJ culture, sampling, and lyrical composition. Inspired by Lupe Fiasco’s Rap, Theory, and Practice course at MIT, participants will explore “ghoting”—a method of deep listening to one’s environment and self to capture truth through sound. After grounding in wellness and storytelling, participants will use tools like Splice to build layered soundscapes from lived experience and textFX to explore AI-assisted lyrical healing. The session culminates in the creation of original audio artifacts—beats, poetry, and compositions as expressions of memory, emotion, and liberation.

Just Experience LLC

Presenter(s): Dr. Justis Lopez

  • Justis Lopez—also known as DJ Faro—is a son, brother, husband, educator, and founder of Just Experience LLC, an organization that empowers communities through healing-centered events. A former public school teacher and now a Harvard Ed.L.D. graduate, Justis blends education, entertainment, and social justice to create spaces of radical joy and liberation. As DJ Faro, he’s been spinning global sets for over 15 years, weaving Afro-Latine', Hip-Hop, Salsa, Reggaeton, R&B, and Afrobeats into cross-cultural sound journeys. His DJing is both celebration and sound healing—designed to raise frequencies and honor the rich musical traditions of the Diaspora. A passionate advocate for music as a tool for transformation, Justis brings rhythm, resistance, and remembrance to every space he enters. Whether he's teaching, organizing, DJing, or dancing in the street, he invites others to connect deeply—with self, with sound, and with the collective power of joy.

On Belonging: Leveraging Language and Culture for Inclusive Communication in the Classroom

Presenter(s): Rebecca Flores Harper

Grounded in culturally responsive pedagogy, insights from neuroscience, and principles of healing-centered education, this interactive workshop invites educators to examine the powerful role of communication in shaping learning environments where every student feels seen, heard, and valued.

Participants will explore how language—both verbal and non-verbal—along with digital interactions and classroom discourse dynamics, can either foster inclusion and belonging or unintentionally reinforce exclusion and marginalization. Together, we will critically reflect on how linguistic and cultural differences have historically been treated through deficit lenses in schools, and how to instead recognize and celebrate these differences as assets that enrich the classroom community.

By the end of this session, participants will leave with tools to create learning spaces where communication serves as a vehicle for belonging, academic growth, and holistic student development.

Come to the workshop prepared to revisit a lesson plan of your choice to reframe and rework.

AuthenTEACHCity

  • Rebecca (Becky) Flores Harper (she | her | ella) is a bicultural multilingual Mexican-American adoptee, educator, and coach. With just under 15 years of experience in education, Rebecca has worked in Pre-S to post-graduate level classrooms, on the soccer field, and collaborates with parents/caregivers, families, educators, alums, and community members alike always with the goal of uplifting children and the collective. For the past eleven years, Rebecca has worked specifically as a DEIJBA leader and is currently the Director of Equity and Community at Hopkins School in New Haven, CT. In 2021, she founded AuthenTEACHCity in order to better support educators, organizations, and community members with their DEIJBA efforts. Raised in New Haven and a product of NHPS, it is an honor to join this beloved community once again.

Teaching Access Artistry: Celebrating Disability Culture, Embodying Disability Justice

Presenter(s): Julia Havard

This workshop examines the Disability Justice principle of “Collective Access,” exploring the generative potential of integrating intersectional accessibility into the classroom through creative means. As accessibility in education, Disability Rights, and medical care for disabled people are all under direct attack, it is up to us to build collective access for one another. This workshop will support participants in approaching accessibility as more than a checklist but rather as creative form that can facilitate exponential learning and growth. Resources draw from Disability Justice, crip pedagogy, and the emerging field of access aesthetics. Participants will be invited to bring examples of barriers in their communities as we workshop strategies of moving through barriers collectively. Expect to come away with a grounded understanding of Disability Justice, ideas for increasing access artistry in the classroom, and suggestions for community care toward protecting and cherishing accessibility for multiply marginalized students and colleagues.

Fracture Access Consulting

  • Julia Havard, PhD (they/them) is a researcher, educator, access worker, and artist. They received their PhD from UC Berkeley in Performance Studies, focusing on queer disability arts and culture. Their writing has appeared in Radical Teacher Magazine, Choreographic Practices, Theatre Journal, Feral Femanisms, Activist History Review, and Performance Matters among other journals and edited collections. Their freelance practice, Fracture Access Consulting, supports institutions, artists, and organizations in cultivating spaces of disability belonging. They have taught workshops on disability and access for UC Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning, Keshet Inc., Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania, Therapy Center of Philadelphia, and the Velocity Fund, among others. They are a practicing dance and ceramic artist and proud member of the disability art and mutual aid collective Hook&Loop. More about their work can be found at www.juliahavard.net and www.fractureaccessconsulting.com.

Teaching LGBTQ Movement History

Participants will engage in and reflect on a lesson from a newly released curriculum that teaches students LGBTQ movement history. Through a dilemma-based, problem-solving simulation, students imagine themselves as participants in the fight for LGBTQ liberation. They debate key questions regarding the goals and strategies that organizers faced in the United States from the 1950s to the early 2000s. While the curriculum is designed for high school, teachers might easily adapt it for middle school.

https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/teaching-the-fight-for-queer-liberation/

Presenter(s): Nick Palazzolo & Stone Hamilton

School District of Philadelphia

  • Nick Palazzolo coordinates the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at Central High School in Philadelphia and teaches Queer Studies, IB History, and African American History. He was a Zinn Education Project 2022–2023 Prentiss Charney Fellow and serves on the leadership team of Building Anti-Racist White Educators and Teacher Action Group.

  • Stone Hamilton (he/him) is attending his senior year at Central High School of Philadelphia. He is an International Baccalaureate Diploma candidate and President of the Trans-Cis Alliance. He is an awarded and published poet, in which he writes about his experiences as a young Black trans man.

We Walk in Many Worlds

This session will explore the concept of “walking in many worlds” as it applies to the Mohegan Tribe historically and culturally, applies to the perspective of a Mohegan educator and how all educators and students walk their own similar yet unique paths. Exploring how our identities, in particular a Native American identity combines and interacts to shape our experiences in the classroom, our content and in creating culturally relevant pedagogy will be examined.

Teacher resources, including print, audio and visual will be shared and made available to participants.

Presenter(s): Beth Regan Morning Deer

Mohegan Tribe Council of Elders

  • Beth Regan was elected to the Mohegan Tribe Council of Elders in 2014 and is currently serving as the Chair. She was a teacher and coach at Tolland High School for 35 years where she specialized in Native American Studies and Russian History creating the curriculum for both courses. Beth has created lessons and units in Mohegan History and culture for teachers of all grade levels. She was a longtime member of the Mohegan Board of Education. Mohegan Language Reclamation has been one of her most joyous realizations for her tribe. Additionally, she has been a coach of Unified Special Olympics for decades. She upholds and lives by her Mohegan value that "we are all related."