Educators’ book explores role of linguistics in teaching diverse student populations

The Trump administration is actively fighting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in multiple parts of our society from private corporations to public schools. For example, this year the Department of Education announced an investigation of DEI programs at Chicago Public Schools, among many others.

But even while all of this is going on, there are still teachers and school administrators arguing for the importance of diversity in the classroom. For years, northern Illinois educators Maurice McDavid and Lissette Jacobson have hosted a podcast called Black, Brown & Bilingüe. Maurice is the principal of DeKalb's new Dr. Leroy A. Mitchell Elementary School, while Lissette is Director of Curriculum for Multilingual Services in Huntley, Illinois.

This year, they published their first book together. It's called "Your Words are Fire: 10 culturally-responsive teaching strategies to speak the language of belonging and help students learn, express ideas, and solve problems." Both educators join the program today.

GUESTS
 
Maurice McDavid 
Principal, Dr. Leroy A. Mitchell Elementary School, DeKalb School District 428
Co-author, "Your Words are Fire: 10 culturally-responsive teaching strategies to speak the language of belonging and help students learn, express ideas, and solve problems"

Lissette Jacobson
Director of Curriculum for Multilingual Services, Huntley School District 158
Co-author, "Your Words are Fire: 10 culturally-responsive teaching strategies to speak the language of belonging and help students learn, express ideas, and solve problems"