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Elizabeth Varela taught ESL in elementary and secondary schools for nine years. She holds a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from Georgetown University and has been an adjunct professor at The George Washington University and an assistant professor and acting coordinator of the TESOL program in the College of Education at the University of Maryland. Varela is an elementary ESL specialist and principal investigator for a Title VII project for the Arlington Public Schools.

George is an award-winning teacher and author. The child of Holocaust survivors, he began teaching in 1983 to tell his family’s story and increase acceptance and understanding among young people. Cassutto was an innovator in bringing the internet to the K-12 classroom during the 1990s. He has since published The Internet Pocket Guide for Teachers, Civics Lesson Plans and US History Lesson Plans for new, overworked and out-of-subject-area teachers.

Jim is an experienced writer and the former head of a school counseling department in a school with a high immigrant population. He has written for the Washington Post, USA Today Weekend, Parent magazine, Baltimore Magazine, Hopkins magazine, Washingtonian and a number of other national education publications.

Cory is an author and journalist and a former senior writer for Learning for Justice. He has experience in both the newsroom—as a former sports journalist—and the classroom, where he has provided reading intervention and tutoring for K–6 students from rural Kentucky to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hannah Sachs is a theater director, activist and educator. This summer, she is teaching and directing at Theatre Lab in Washington, D.C., prior to moving to the Czech Republic as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She recently graduated from Smith College, where she studied theater directing with a minor in religion and a concentration in community engagement and social change. Hannah has previously taught third grade at East African Community Services in Seattle, Washington, and facilitated theater workshops at Kensington International School in Springfield, Massachusetts. In addition to

Emily Chiariello is an educational consultant who specializes in culturally responsive standards-based education. Chiariello has nearly two decades of experience as a classroom teacher, professional developer, curriculum designer and education writer. She has worked in public, charter and alternative school settings and in nonprofit organizations such as the Children’s Defense Fund and The Southern Poverty Law Center (namely as a teaching and learning specialist for Teaching Tolerance). Chiariello is the chief architect of Teaching Tolerance’s award-winning K-12 curriculum, Perspectives for a

Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is an Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Auguste is a writer and mother of four who lives in New Jersey. She writes about the cultural experiences of families for anthologies, children’s magazines and academic journals.

Annie Huynh is a graduate of Temple University with a master’s degree in elementary education. She teaches at the Folk Art – Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) in Philadelphia, Pa., where her areas of focus include literacy, social studies and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Her passion lies in equitable education for immigrant students. Additionally, she develops social studies curriculum, and is a member of Teachers Lead Philly and Teacher Action Group for the advancement of the teaching profession. In her spare time, Annie enjoys bike riding, Bikram yoga, and

Dr. June Cara Christian brings more than15 years of education experience to her role as a teaching and learning specialist for Teaching Tolerance. She has taught secondary, undergraduate and graduate students, and is an expert in critical pedagogies. Christian holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature (from Washington University and Tennessee State, respectively), an M.Ed. with an emphasis in American culture from Washington University, and a Ph.D. in education leadership and policy from University of Missouri—St. Louis. Christian has trained educators across the United States and in