Creating a Home in Schools: Book Launch Webinar

Creating a home in schools book cover
WHEN:

Thursday, May 13, 2021

4:00 - 5:15 p.m. PST

Webinar featuring Francisco Rios, Ph.D and A Longoria, Ph.D. 

Brought to you by Woodring College of Education

Join Woodring professors Francisco Rios, Ph.D, and A Longoria, Ph.D., as they discuss the launch of their new book, Creating a Home in Schools: Sustaining Identities for Black, Indigenous, and Teachers of Color. The webinar will be moderated by Kevin Roxas, Ph.D, Chair of the Secondary Education Department.

Dr. Rios and Dr. Longoria will be joined by Woodring Masters in Teaching students, Giselle Alcántar Soto, Karanbir Deol, Nathaniel Okamoto, Angelia Thornton, and Eldred Vidal Vázque, who will be serving as discussants.

Book Synopsis

The authors of this book provide caring advice to Black, Indigenous, and Teachers of Color (BITOC) to help sustain them into and through the teaching profession. Through an examination of BITOC in the education workforce, the assets that these educators bring to the teaching profession are identified, as are some of the most critical challenges they face in today’s schools. The book illuminates the importance of cultivating and supporting social-cultural identities as resources that will serve prospective teachers and their increasingly diverse students. Rooted in an identity sustaining framework, the authors strongly encourage BITOC to bring their full cultural, social, and linguistic assets into the classroom while simultaneously encouraging their students to do the same. Creating a Home in Schools will help readers successfully negotiate and navigate the teaching profession, from pathway programs to teacher education, and into the classroom.

Book Features:

  • Explores major contextual constraints that BITOC will have to understand and navigate.
  • Identifies the cultural and linguistic assets BITOC bring with them and how to make these a central part of their teaching.
  • Focuses on the importance of a strong sense of identity and how to approach teaching and learning in identity sustaining ways.
  • Offers guidance for enacting culturally sustaining pedagogies that are rooted in BITOC identities to serve the needs of their students.

About the Authors

Dr. Francisco Rios

Dr. Francisco Rios

(he/him/él)

Francisco Rios, Ph. D., is Professor of Secondary Education at Western Washington University (WWU).  From 2011-2017, he served as Dean of the Woodring College of Education at WWU. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and worked at California State University San Marcos and the University of Wyoming before arriving in Washington.

Francisco’s research interests include teachers of color, Latinos in education, and preservice teacher education with a multicultural focus. Francisco served as the Senior Associate Editor of Multicultural Perspectives, the Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education. Francisco served as program chair for Division K, (Teaching and Teacher Education) for the AERA Annual Program, 2007. Francisco was the founding director of the University of Wyoming’s Social Justice Research Center. Francisco served as President of the National Association for Multicultural Education from 2014-2016.

Dr. A Longoria

Dr. A Longoria

(they/them)

Dr. Longoria, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Secondary Education in the Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University (WWU). They are a strong proponent of multicultural education, identity-sustaining pedagogy, and bridging the divide between methods (practice) and foundations (theory) in teacher education.

A former high school teacher, they serve as co-advisor and are faculty for the Master in Teaching (MIT) program. They also currently serve as co-chair (2020-2022) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Queer Studies Special Interest Group (SIG). Alongside department colega Dr. Vero Vélez, Longoria is co-supporting the development of Ethnic Studies curriculum with a collective of educators for Bellingham Public Schools. They have taught courses for Family and Community Engaged Teaching (FACET) and are affiliate faculty for the Education and Social Justice (ESJ) minor. 

Originally from El Centro, California, Longoria is a Chinx-Chicanx grandchild of immigrants from the Pearl River Delta in China and the state of Zacatecas in Mexico. Outside of academia, Longoria enjoys fiber crafting (knitting, crochet, spinning, and weaving), bel canto opera, and cooking.