Community Education: Language Justice Summit

Ben Tinsley, Keynote Speaker

If Not Us, Then Who? | Pathways to Proficiency & Interculturality

In this interactive keynote session, Ben Tinsley will lead participants through exercises designed to encourage reflection and action, fostering community and growth in both our language classrooms and our communities.

Bio

A teacher with almost two decades of experience and a lifelong student, Ben Tinsley has dedicated his professional and personal life to advancing substantive diversity, equity, and belonging in education. In the classroom, he has had the opportunity to work with teachers and schools around the world to develop curricula that center Black Indigenous Communities of Color and other historically marginalized peoples.

Ben’s recent work has focused primarily on leveraging language acquisition and language education toward developing global literacy and 21st-century competencies.

Ben could not be more honored to have the opportunity to share some thoughts on the urgency and the feasibility of leveraging our spaces and practices to foster community both within and beyond our classroom walls. You can learn more about Ben’s recent work here.

Session 1A: Dr. Xiomara Rivera Pagán

Building Language Confidence with Dímelo Talking Cards

In this hands-on workshop, participants will use bilingual (Spanish/English) question cards to spark metalinguistic reflection and deepen target-language practice. The session draws on language justice frameworks to illuminate cultural influences on vocabulary, disrupt dominant-language norms, and uplift multilingual identities. Educators will leave with strategies to create student-centered, culturally grounded learning spaces that connect classrooms to local and global communities.

Bio

Dr. Xiomara Rivera Pagán is an educator, scholar, and advocate with over a decade of experience working with language learners and multilingual communities. She has held leadership roles in education, pioneered innovative language programs, and advanced language policy and practice both locally and internationally.

Her doctoral research critically examined How Educational Language Policy Orientations and Ideologies Relate to Outcomes for English Learners, reflecting her deep commitment to equity and culturally responsive education. She has presented at conferences across the United States and abroad, including the Maryland TESOL Conference, the Maryland Foreign Language Association Fall Conference, the National Association for Bilingual Education, the Northeastern Educational Research Association, the Higher Education Partnership Conference in Costa Rica, and The Learner Conference in Spain.

Dr. Rivera Pagán is also the founder of LUPA Talks, a community that explores the connection between language and identity through events and educational experiences. Guided by the belief that language is something we practice, not perfect, LUPA Talks empowers Spanish, English, and Spanglish speakers to feel confident and proud of the way they communicate, while fostering spaces of joy, belonging, and connection.

Beyond her work with LUPA Talks, she serves on the boards of Cultura Plenera, leading community-based initiatives that promote culture, equity, and collective empowerment.

Session 1B: Dr. Kerri Valencia

Building Belonging for Multilingual Learners: Addressing Imposter Phenomenon Through Teaching & Learning

This session explores how impostor syndrome manifests in multilingual classrooms and how it can undermine students’ sense of belonging, identity, and academic confidence. Grounded in sociocultural competence, participants will examine instructional practices that affirm multilingual learners’ identities, leverage their linguistic and cultural assets, and foster meaningful connections in learning spaces. Through reflection and practical examples, educators will identify ways their beliefs, interactions, and classroom structures can either reinforce or disrupt feelings of exclusion. The session emphasizes concrete strategies that support student belonging as a foundation for engagement, learning, and long-term success.

Bio

Dr. Kerri Valencia is an experienced educator, consultant, and organizational leader with over 25 years of experience in P-12 and higher education. She is the CEO of ConnectEd Consulting, LLC, where she partners with school districts, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations to strengthen teaching and learning for multilingual learners through equity-centered, research-based practices. Her work focuses on building sociocultural competence, supporting educator development, and designing systems that foster belonging, academic growth, and sustainability.

Dr. Valencia holds a BA in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an MEd in Instructional Technology from the University of Maryland Global Campus, and an EdD in Leadership for Change with a concentration in dual language education from Fielding Graduate University. Her expertise includes professional development, curriculum design, accreditation, multilingual learner programming, and the Science of Reading.

In addition to her consulting work, Dr. Valencia currently teaches English Language Development at the Blair G. Ewing Center, an alternative program within Montgomery County Public Schools, which allows her to continuously apply research to practice with students navigating complex educational and social challenges. She has served as a CAEP accreditation reviewer and previously served on the board for Maryland READS.

Session 2A: Traci Dougherty, MEd

Beyond Grades: Building Belonging through Proficiency Portfolios

Traditional grading often limits students’ capacity for reflection, self-assessment, and ownership of learning. This session examines how proficiency portfolios can transform assessment into a feedback-driven, growth-oriented process that builds a sense of belonging in the language classroom. Participants will engage in hands-on activities to explore feedback strategies, collaborate on solutions to common challenges, and leave with practical tools for fostering reflective, autonomous learners.

Bio

Traci Dougherty, MEd, is a Latin teacher at Upper Dublin High School, passionate about making the ancient world accessible and engaging for students. She develops creative assessments, organizes student opportunities in the Junior Classical League, and presents on proficiency-based language learning. Dedicated to both classroom teaching and student leadership, she fosters a community in which Latin and classical culture connect meaningfully with modern life.

Session 2B: Talia Chicherio

“Teaching New Worlds/New Words”: Considering bell hooks Three Decades On

In this collaborative workshop, participants will collectively read and consider the contemporary relevance of bell hooks’ essay “Language: Teaching New Worlds/New Words” from her 1994 book Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. In this short, readable essay, hooks argues that “shifting how we think about language and how we use it necessarily alters how we know what we know.” She encourages educators and students to question dominant cultural norms and conventional knowledge structures, “disrupt[ing] that cultural imperialism that suggests one is worthy of being heard only if one speaks in standard English.” In addition to these more abstract considerations, hooks presents practical approaches to promoting belonging and student dignity in the classroom through inclusive linguistic practices. This workshop is appropriate for all participants: those who have no prior experience with Hooks’ work as well as those who wish to revisit her work in a new context.

Bio

Talia Chicherio is an Upper School Latin teacher and the World Language Department Chair at McLean School. A graduate of Oberlin College (BA 2013, English and Latin) and the University of Maryland, College Park (MA 2016, Classics), she has been in her dream job—teaching teenagers—for nearly 10 years. Talia grew up in a multilingual, multicultural, interfaith family, which has shaped both her worldview and her teaching.

Program