Ernesto Saldivar, Jr.
As an educator, I am passionately dedicated to developing students to meet their utmost potential by creating a school community that revolutionizes consciousness. This is a lesson learned from the tenacious Gloria Steinem who believed that the “problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with the popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up. Patriotism means obedience, age means wisdom, woman means submission, [people of color] means inferior: these are preconceptions imbedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there.” The social justice approach to education is the means of breaking from the socially accepted constructs of inferiority that our students are consistently exposed to from various social institutions: media, judicial systems, schools, and, to a certain extent, family and culture.
Special thank you to curriculum supporters who have volunteered their time and efforts to this unit as participants on the Equity in Education panel discussion and to a research and technology expert who gave my students her undivided attention:
Tamara Driver
Tamara Driver has been an educator with Chicago Public Schools since 1999. Mrs. Driver graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago with her Bachelor's Degree in French in 1999. Afterwards, she began her career as a French teacher at Northside College Preparatory High School where she developed the French program. Mrs. Driver also was the World Language Department Chairperson from 2003 until she left Northside in 2008 after receiving her Master of Arts degree in School Counseling from Northeastern Illinois University. Mrs. Driver spent her first year as a counselor and a member of the Instructional Leadership Team at Harlan Community Academy High School on the south side of Chicago. This is her fifth year at Jones, where she is the counselor for Ac Labs 504, 505, 506, 403, 404 (L-Z last names), and 405. Mrs. Driver grew up in the western suburbs and has lived in Chicago for the past fourteen years. She and her husband and two daughters live on the south side of the city.
Ana Gil-Garcia, PhD
Professor Northeastern Illinois University
Department of Educational Leadership and Development
She is a three-time Fullbright scholar, has an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University. She has additional training and expertise in the areas of psychometrics, and global teaching and learning stratergies across content areas in cultural and language-diverse classrooms. She is the author of 17 peer reviewed journal articles and a presenter both nationally and internationally on topics related to her areas of expertise. She is co-author of three books. Her most recent book is entitled The Strategic Reader, a spanish language college textbook (2005), FEDUPEL Pedagogical University Press. Currently, she is replicating her 2004 Fullbright research which establishes the connection between leadership development and the effective application and implementation of the CPS regarding initiative.
Robert Lazers
Currently I am a School Partnership Manager at a tech start up company which allows me to visit schools all over the country that implement oureducational app on the school's iPads. From inner city Baltimore to private schools in Austin, I have the opportunity to see how these schools operate and work with them to integrate our application into their curriculum. I am also an adjunct instructor teaching courses for those looking to attain a Masters in Education. Prior to moving into the private sector, I spent 6 years as a middle school science teacher and two years as the Dean of Students in a lottery based Chicago Public School. Finally, I spent my last two years as an Assistant Principal and Principal at a neighborhood Chicago Public School. In my positions as the Dean of Students, Assistant Principals and Principal I brought in multiple outside agencies such as Communities in the School of Chicago to offer more opportunities to my students as well as multiple beautification projects through Chicago Cares that gave facelifts in and out of the schools.
Anton Miglietta
Director at Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce
Grace Marie Moody
Assistant Principal at Alcott College Prep. I am the resident administrator as my principal has to travel back and forth to both of our elementary and high school buildings. In addition to supervising the day to day operations of the school, I work diligently with the Instructional Leadership Team, Leadership Team, Behavior Leadership Team, Grade Level Teams and Student Leadership organizations to create positive change for our students. Our ILT consists of our department chairs and our mission is to plan professional development throughout the year that supports Domain 3C (of the teacher evaluation process), all areas of the SQRP and the 5 Essentials Survey. The Leadership Team consists of the Principal, AP, Counselor and Lead Teacher and our mission is to make decisions that is in the best interest of our students, using input from all of our stakeholders. Our BLT is similar to that of the JCP Student Development Team, yet we focus on school wide policies and procedures that directly effects student behavior. Our Grade Level Teams meet regularly to use data to discover grade level trends and propose changes to school wide policy. The Student Government and Leadership Class work together to create peer support systems in order to take Alcott from good to great. All of the above structures were created to ensure student growth. Alcott College Prep is a new school that has a solid foundation with many opportunities for growth. ACP has a detailed 5 year plan and I look forward to seeing the growth.
Distinguished Jones Alum
Eric Valle C/O 2011 (U OF I C/O 2015)
Marco Antonio Valarde C/O 2011 (U OF I C/O 2015)
Malcolm Cherry C/O 2010 (Illinois Institute of Art—Chicago)
Shanta Harrington C/O 2010 (University of Missouri—Columbia C/O 2013)
As an educator, I am passionately dedicated to developing students to meet their utmost potential by creating a school community that revolutionizes consciousness. This is a lesson learned from the tenacious Gloria Steinem who believed that the “problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with the popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up. Patriotism means obedience, age means wisdom, woman means submission, [people of color] means inferior: these are preconceptions imbedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there.” The social justice approach to education is the means of breaking from the socially accepted constructs of inferiority that our students are consistently exposed to from various social institutions: media, judicial systems, schools, and, to a certain extent, family and culture.
Special thank you to curriculum supporters who have volunteered their time and efforts to this unit as participants on the Equity in Education panel discussion and to a research and technology expert who gave my students her undivided attention:
Tamara Driver
Tamara Driver has been an educator with Chicago Public Schools since 1999. Mrs. Driver graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago with her Bachelor's Degree in French in 1999. Afterwards, she began her career as a French teacher at Northside College Preparatory High School where she developed the French program. Mrs. Driver also was the World Language Department Chairperson from 2003 until she left Northside in 2008 after receiving her Master of Arts degree in School Counseling from Northeastern Illinois University. Mrs. Driver spent her first year as a counselor and a member of the Instructional Leadership Team at Harlan Community Academy High School on the south side of Chicago. This is her fifth year at Jones, where she is the counselor for Ac Labs 504, 505, 506, 403, 404 (L-Z last names), and 405. Mrs. Driver grew up in the western suburbs and has lived in Chicago for the past fourteen years. She and her husband and two daughters live on the south side of the city.
Ana Gil-Garcia, PhD
Professor Northeastern Illinois University
Department of Educational Leadership and Development
She is a three-time Fullbright scholar, has an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University. She has additional training and expertise in the areas of psychometrics, and global teaching and learning stratergies across content areas in cultural and language-diverse classrooms. She is the author of 17 peer reviewed journal articles and a presenter both nationally and internationally on topics related to her areas of expertise. She is co-author of three books. Her most recent book is entitled The Strategic Reader, a spanish language college textbook (2005), FEDUPEL Pedagogical University Press. Currently, she is replicating her 2004 Fullbright research which establishes the connection between leadership development and the effective application and implementation of the CPS regarding initiative.
Robert Lazers
Currently I am a School Partnership Manager at a tech start up company which allows me to visit schools all over the country that implement oureducational app on the school's iPads. From inner city Baltimore to private schools in Austin, I have the opportunity to see how these schools operate and work with them to integrate our application into their curriculum. I am also an adjunct instructor teaching courses for those looking to attain a Masters in Education. Prior to moving into the private sector, I spent 6 years as a middle school science teacher and two years as the Dean of Students in a lottery based Chicago Public School. Finally, I spent my last two years as an Assistant Principal and Principal at a neighborhood Chicago Public School. In my positions as the Dean of Students, Assistant Principals and Principal I brought in multiple outside agencies such as Communities in the School of Chicago to offer more opportunities to my students as well as multiple beautification projects through Chicago Cares that gave facelifts in and out of the schools.
Anton Miglietta
Director at Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce
Grace Marie Moody
Assistant Principal at Alcott College Prep. I am the resident administrator as my principal has to travel back and forth to both of our elementary and high school buildings. In addition to supervising the day to day operations of the school, I work diligently with the Instructional Leadership Team, Leadership Team, Behavior Leadership Team, Grade Level Teams and Student Leadership organizations to create positive change for our students. Our ILT consists of our department chairs and our mission is to plan professional development throughout the year that supports Domain 3C (of the teacher evaluation process), all areas of the SQRP and the 5 Essentials Survey. The Leadership Team consists of the Principal, AP, Counselor and Lead Teacher and our mission is to make decisions that is in the best interest of our students, using input from all of our stakeholders. Our BLT is similar to that of the JCP Student Development Team, yet we focus on school wide policies and procedures that directly effects student behavior. Our Grade Level Teams meet regularly to use data to discover grade level trends and propose changes to school wide policy. The Student Government and Leadership Class work together to create peer support systems in order to take Alcott from good to great. All of the above structures were created to ensure student growth. Alcott College Prep is a new school that has a solid foundation with many opportunities for growth. ACP has a detailed 5 year plan and I look forward to seeing the growth.
Distinguished Jones Alum
Eric Valle C/O 2011 (U OF I C/O 2015)
Marco Antonio Valarde C/O 2011 (U OF I C/O 2015)
Malcolm Cherry C/O 2010 (Illinois Institute of Art—Chicago)
Shanta Harrington C/O 2010 (University of Missouri—Columbia C/O 2013)