As a teacher/activist, Julia Torres's work is grounded in empowering students to use the Language Arts to fuel resistance and positive social transformation. Ms. Torres facilitates workshops and professional conversations about anti-racist education, social justice, and culturally sustaining pedagogies.
Culture
Towards a Culture of Learning
Taking away grades signals a fundamental change in the power dynamics of a classroom, and students need to be supported in order to thrive.
My Room: Accepting the Mantle of Classroom Culture
I am a teacher. I am a room. I am a space to fill. I am a culture to create. I am a world to shape. We are teachers. We are rooms. We are spaces to fill. We are cultures to create. We are worlds to shape.
Building Classroom Community Starting Day One
One of the first lessons I teach my students is about my life. I tell them how I got to this moment and all the significant things that happened along the way: good, bad, ugly, and embarrassing.
Make Time for What You Believe is Right and Good
We should be focusing on “better” practices, as what is “best” today may not be best for the children we teach in the future. With that in mind, we need to continue to be on the lookout for teaching practices that we feel are right and good for the children we have in front of us on a day-to-day basis.
Learning Culture: My Perspective as a Montessori Graduate
So the question is: How do we, people who are interested in making education better for students, help traditional schools adopt some of the things that made my education so far fantastic?
Introducing the Gradeless Classroom to Students
With feedback, students know exactly where they stand and what to do to move forward. That is empowering.
Cultivating Culture
We are famous, as educators, for asking others to take risks. Teachers do this to students, and administrators do it to teachers. We see risk taking as a key element of learning and growth... The problem is that we often assume that the conditions for risk are optimal...
Social Justice Education w/ Dan Scratch – TG²Cast Episode 9
This episode features an interview with Dan Scratch, high school social studies teacher, author of the website Teaching for Equity and Social Justice, and advocate of teaching for social justice.
Motivation Matters
Now, take the type of motivation that inspires you not only to teach, but to spend free time honing your craft, and compare it to the tactics often used to motivate students. High marks are dangled as rewards while low marks are wielded as punishments. Pizza hut offers free pizza to promote reading (and pizza, of course).
Teachers Going Gradeless 