California
Birmingham Community Charter High School
We are a team of math, science, and English teachers from a large high school (approximately 3000 students) in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Our school is predominantly Latino with 82% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. Our overarching goal as classroom teachers is to create an environment where students feel safe to share their ideas and use their voices. We also want to bridge the achievement gap by inspiring students’ innate curiosities and fostering a life-long desire to learn. As a diverse group, we bring our own different educational backgrounds, which inform our ideas and pedagogies. Our team looks forward to growing through open-minded participation and constructive feedback from instructors and peers.
East Palo Alto Academy
WELCOME TO DOG CITY! Eva, Marilyn, and Soo are a multidisciplinary team of loud and proud California-born educators. We teach English, social science, and science at East Palo Alto Academy, a college-prep high school that believes all Bulldogs can go to and graduate from college. Our mission is to prepare all of our students for college and beyond by equipping them with the knowledge, resources, and dispositions needed to face their challenges head-on. We teach and cherish the underserved students of East Palo Alto because we firmly believe that their challenges and experiences are precisely what make them capable of being future leaders that will help their community thrive. By bringing the go-getter attitude, enthusiasm, and excitement we have for our practice, we hope to use our lessons from Hollyhock to enrich our students’ learning experiences. Go Bulldogs!
Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School
Vamos Mendez, vamos Jaguars! We are Angelica (ELA, general education), Liliana (Social Science, SPED), and Alexis (Math, SPED) proud Jaguar maestras from Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School in Boyle Heights, California. Our school is named after the legendary education activists and social agents of change, Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, who brought the Mendez v. Westminster court case in 1946. This case successfully desegregated California schools, making California the first state to outlaw school segregation based on race. Upholding the Mendez family legacy, as maestras we strive to continue bridging the gaps in the educational system and provide an equitable educational experience for our own students, most of whom identify as first-generation, working class, and Latinx. Though we teach different content, our pedagogy is united by creating culturally relevant, engaging, and challenging curriculum for our students. Despite the obstacles our students may face, both educationally and personally, we want to ensure that they leave our classrooms feeling empowered. Through the Hollyhock Fellowship we hope to gather tools, resources, and instructional strategies to help our students continue to grow academically and personally.
Hawthorne High School
We are a comprehensive high school that primarily serves Hispanic/Latinx (83.7%) and Black or African American (9.5%) students, of which 88% are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. Pictured here, (left to right), are William Morejón, Dr. Pamela Brown (Principal), María Cuevas and Mario Romero. As teachers of mathematics and science courses, we look forward to learning effective teaching strategies that will strengthen the connection our students make within the STEM field. Our goal as professionals is to develop our skills in facilitating relevant learning experiences that promote autonomy and choice.
Tennyson High School
We are excited to be the second team from Tennyson High School! We serve students in South Hayward, and are the only high school in our district that has a program for newcomer students. Our team is comprised of Bianca, an ELD/ELA teacher; Analleli, a Social Studies teacher; and Leslie, a science teacher. We look forward to joining a community of educators who seek solutions to the complex realities within our sites and who approach their work with a sense of hope. Our interdisciplinary team’s mission is that we are able to serve our students better by increasing collaboration at our site so that we can improve on systems of language instruction that span all content areas.
Colorado
Denver Center for International Studies
Denver Center for International Studies (DCIS) is a small, urban, 6-12 school that is part of the International Studies Schools Network. Located in the heart of Denver, we serve a diverse, rapidly-changing student body from across the greater metropolitan area. As teachers, we are excited to continue refining our skills to best meet our students’ needs. We bring a wide variety of professional backgrounds to our teaching practices. We enjoy working collaboratively together in the English and Social Studies departments to develop cross-curricular content. We hope to bring back the skills we develop through the Hollyhock Fellowship to strengthen our community. We look forward to collaborating to develop curriculum and practices to strengthen the cohesion of our school.
Denver North High School
We are three strong teachers representing Denver North High School. We all come from different backgrounds, but as a team we are strong. Our community and school is changing rapidly, and soon North High School will be welcoming a closing charter, and we look forward to learning ways to integrate the incoming students with our lovely community. We are grateful for this opportunity to grow and very excited to be a part of this program. We are open to learning more strategies and practices to create more equitable and fun classrooms!
Florida
Jones High School
We are a unique quilted tapestry of equality and equity knitted from the injustices of segregation, which gave birth to Jones High School, rich in pride and tradition. Founded in 1895, Jones High School is the first public school for African Americans in Orlando. As a team, we forge together to fulfill our mission of creating history by moving our school grade to an A, never seen before in the history of the school. We are committed to our students and their success, not just in our classrooms, but in what they do outside our four walls. Our lived experiences in this community are what we will contribute to the Hollyhock Fellowship program. We are Jones: History in the making.
Maynard Evans High School
We are Evans High School, a place of high achievement! Our pillars of success are pride, determination, and perseverance, and our focus is on literacy, rigor, and relationships. Evans High is a one-to-one digital school in Central Florida, serving 2,500 students with Title 1 status. Our team consists of like minded, growth oriented, and internally motivated leaders who aim to positively impact our students in all aspects. We truly have a passion for learning, and are always looking for new strategies to reach our diverse student population. Our fresh ideas and diverse backgrounds will offer a unique outlook on teaching strategies and content knowledge. We are committed to working together and with other fellows to strengthen our perceived weaknesses, and build on our strengths in order to better support our students and peers.
Georgia
Maynard H. Jackson High School
Maynard H. Jackson High School (MHJHS) is a racially and economically diverse International Baccalaureate (IB) high school located in southeast Atlanta, Georgia. Our inaugural Hollyhock team consists of Pam, Kiona, and Bret, an enthusiastic interdisciplinary team covering grades 9-12 mathematics (AP Statistics and Geometry), social studies (American Government, Ethnic Studies, Individual Law, and High School Transitions), and science (Biology and IB Biology). We are excited to join other passionate educators across the country in gaining professional development so we can build stronger lesson plans as a cross-curricular teaching team. Given that we will be the first Hollyhock fellows in MHJHS history, our goal during this program is to develop culturally relevant pedagogical tools, network with like-minded teachers and mentors, and bring new ideas and vision into MHJHS curriculum and student-centered instruction. Thank you Hollyhock for this amazing opportunity, and go Jaguars!
Illinois
Farragut Career Academy
We are the teacher team from Farragut! We teach at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Our team is comprised of teachers from the History (Cary Bolnick & Nestor Guzman) and English (Daniela Varela) departments. Although located in a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood, we also serve the needs of neighboring North Lawndale, a predominantly African American neighborhood. The students at our school are a prime example of the obstacles that inner-city youth face on a daily basis. However, the inequities within our public schools and student experiences do not define our young Admirals. Our focus is to create lifelong learners who are ready to take on the world and make a difference for themselves and their neighborhoods. As educators in the early stages of our careers, we believe we bring a progressive approach to education and believe in student-centric instruction. Our goal as a team is to not only shed light upon the inequity that exists within inner city schools, but to identify teaching strategies and solutions to better serve students nationwide, specifically the students we have the privilege of working with at Farragut Career Academy.
George Westinghouse College Prep
Westinghouse is back again! Our team of mathematics and humanities teachers is proud to join the growing community of Hollyhock fellows at George Westinghouse College Prep. Located on Chicago’s west side, our school offers a unique academic experience to the roughly 1,100 students enrolled here: a hybrid selective enrollment and community vocational academy that emphasizes both college and career readiness. Our team came together on the picket lines during the 2019 Chicago Teachers Strike. It was there that we first imagined how we could use our own experiences and goals to build upon the work of our Hollyhock colleagues, specifically in areas of culturally sensitive pedagogy. Our team will also focus on how to build students’ foundational skills like critical thinking and argumentation so that they are prepared for advanced courses and college level work. Finally, we are interested in exploring ways to bring student voice and civic engagement into the classroom so that our students become active and informed global citizens.
Lindblom Math and Science Academy
Nathan, Teddy, and Danya are a multi-disciplinary team from Lindblom Math and Science Academy in the south side of Chicago. At their selective enrollment school, students come from all over the city, creating a microcosm of Chicago. In their fight for equity during the Chicago Teachers’ Union Strike, they had a rare opportunity to discuss their individual goals. Through these conversations, they realized what they envisioned was actually very similar: equitable opportunities in their classrooms, time to develop interdisciplinary curriculum, and a space to discuss the successes and challenges of their shared students. They are ready to dish some deep teaching insight to their fellow fellows, light a fire of collaboration, and knock the Sox off of their colleagues. Hot dog!
Roberto Clemente Community Academy
We are 3 teachers at Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Chicago, IL on the West Side that are excited about joining the Hollyhock Fellows this summer! We are in the early stages of our career and all started at Clemente.
Round Lake High School
We are the Round Lake High School team. We represent all of the core subjects of Math, Science, English, and Social Studies. We are trying to navigate through mastery learning and standards based grading. It is important to us to make our classes fun and meaningful to students and engage them through differentiated tasks and strategies. Our school is one-to-one with iPads, has over 60% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch, and is primarily Latino. We are looking forward to bringing back strategies for an equitable classroom.
Kansas
Wyandotte High School
We are five dedicated educators from Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas. Wyandotte High School is a public urban school serving over 1600 students from many diverse backgrounds and cultures. Our team consists of Casey Kelly (mathematics), Salvador Gavalda (science), Micah Fouquet (mathematics), Sara Meis (social studies/special education/English), and Dan Robinson (social studies). Our team is focused on closing the achievement gap for all students. We are creating a better sense of community in the classroom that directly relates to content. We look forward to continuing the work of equitable learning for all students as our school's second Hollyhock extension team.
Michigan
East Kentwood High School
In Kentwood Public Schools, we believe in Excellence and Equity in Education. We believe each of us embodies that vision. It is our responsibility as educators in this diverse space to continually work to grow with a focus on equity so that we can most effectively support our student population. Our crew comes from East Kentwood High School, where we are honored to work with a population that has 20% EL students, over 60 languages represented, and the most amazing students in the West Michigan Area… we might be a bit biased. In addition to our refugee students, we serve a community with a wide range of economic disparity and where students of color make up 52% of our student body. Our group consists of five teachers in 4 different core subject areas and we are ecstatic to be accepted into a community of teachers who value our diverse learners as much as we do, and will support us in providing the best learning spaces for our students. We look forward to continuing to grow as a community and sharing what we learn through Hollyhock with our district and the greater West Michigan Area.
Nebraska
Lincoln Northeast High School
“Once a rocket, always a rocket” is the mantra of Lincoln Northeast High School. While our school has many rich traditions, our student population has changed as Lincoln welcomes refugees from all over the world. Our school is a large, urban, comprehensive, public high school nestled in the neighborhoods of northeast Lincoln, NE. We strive to build high-quality relationships and meet the diverse instructional needs of all students. Our team is a tight-knit group that is highly collaborative, positive, and energetic. We value high-quality math instruction that encourages multiple problem-solving strategies, conceptual understanding, and collaboration between students. Our goal is to aid every student in developing mathematical confidence and the ability to communicate their mathematical ideas. We are excited to improve our practices and develop as educators with the Hollyhock community and bring back our learnings to Lincoln.
New York
New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math & Science II
We are a dedicated team of educators from The Bronx. We teach at New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math & Science II. Our team is the third cohort to represent AMS II in the Hollyhock fellowship and we are extremely excited to share this time and space with teachers who share our vision of authenticity in the classroom. We are excited to collaborate with teachers who strive to make their curriculum more authentic and more in tune with the diversity in experience of their students from traditionally underserved backgrounds -- students of Color, students of immigrant status, students with disabilities, students who represent members of the LGBTQ+ community. Our mission is to transition our system -- one that prioritizes test-taking and data -- to one that values the diversity in experience that prepares them for what lies outside the four walls of our school community.
World View High School
We teach humanities in the Bronx, which means that to many of our students, our teaching comes alive in the way they interact with several institutes on socioemotional and intellectual levels. World View High School serves a massive ELL population, so we do our best to find new ways to make learning more accessible for our students. That's why we're here; we're trying to find a way to ensure that all our students, regardless of where they're from or what obstacles they may have when they enter our door, can succeed when they walk out of our door for the final time. We do this because as a group we've been through it. We know what it is like to have the odds stacked against you, and use education as our way forward, so we commit ourselves to work as a group. We are a melody of experiences that fuse together to make learning a harmony. Just like music requires different instruments to make songs, teaching requires the different experiences and perspectives we bring to the table.
Texas
IDEA South Flores College Prep
We are a team of passionate STEM educators from IDEA South Flores, based in the heart of San Antonio, Texas. We operate with the “SoFLo So Fierce” mentality and are proud to have our first class graduating in May 2020. As a school team, we ambitiously strive to strengthen our pedagogy and build community on our campus by pursuing additional learning experiences, leading professional development, and creating programming to provide opportunities to our campus community like the Holocaust Learning Experience, Model United Nations, and the Mexican American Society. We hope to continue to build competency in advocating for our most vulnerable student groups, creating rigorous learning experiences, and supporting restorative practices in our school community. We are looking forward to bringing back content-specific instructional practices and strategies to increase equity on campus.
Killeen High School
The stars at night are big and bright (insert claps here) - DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS - and that is how we feel about Killeen High School coming to Hollyhock! The four of us bring different dimensions to the classroom, and together we are the Educational Superman. Kylie and Donna are science teachers who focus on collaborative and inquiry-based learning where students work together to develop skills and uncover scientific concepts. Sami and Kasey are social studies teachers who use Project Based Learning to present a 'problem of practice' which students are tasked with resolving each unit; this allows for collaborative techniques such as Socratic Seminars, Harkness Discussions, and good ol’ fashioned classroom debate. As a team, we are devoted to implementing rigorous, high-level 21st century learning and thinking skills for our students, specifically to prepare them for the real-world. We are committed to learning the ways in which our own personal identities impact our students and their learning in our classrooms. We are excited to share our personal experiences with fellow Hollyhock Teams and to bring our learning back to benefit the Heart of Texas (our kids!).
Washington
Henry Foss High School
We are a team from an IB school that is ethnically and socially diverse, located in the Pacific Northwest. The three of us are science teachers in our second year of working together and have a strong collaborative dynamic. Our goal is to increase equity and access to rigorous curriculum for all students that prepares them for college, career and life. We are continually transforming our curriculum in ways that incorporate different students' backgrounds and cultural knowledge. We are helping students to see themselves as academics and scientists, so as to create an interdependent community of learners. We have worked to create positive caring relationships with students as a foundation for risk taking and inquiry and we strive to partner with family and community members to know students beyond who they are in the classroom. From our Foss family to yours, we are excited to join the Hollyhock community!
Wisconsin
Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education
We are a high school English co-teaching team from the Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While we have 6 years of combined experience, we have spent the past 2 years teaching together. Milwaukee is one of the country’s most segregated cities and, in many ways, is a microcosm of American racism. Because of this, we are committed to reducing the predictability of negative outcomes for our students. We act on this commitment by ensuring our students learn in a culturally responsive way and striving to broaden our students’ worldviews to help them become more critical readers, writers, and thinkers.
