Building Community to Center Student Voice

FACILITATORS:

Dr. Tonia Holmes-Sutton, NBCT
Dr. Tonia Holmes-Sutton is the Nevada Executive Director. Tonia is a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) and an accomplished educator of twenty years. She previously served as a teacher and leader for the Clark County School District in Southern Nevada, and was most recently director of the Nevada National Board Professional Learning Institute: Empowering Teachers as Leaders and Learners, the organization she founded. She is also founding member and Board Director of the National Board Network for Accomplished Minority Educators (NAME).

Tonia has served as a Governor-appointed member on the Nevada State Board of Education. She is a Board Director for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the WestEd Board of Directors, and is a Board Trustee for the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Tonia earned her her bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and her master’s degree in Special Education (Early Childhood Education) from Hawaii Loa College, and her doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Jacquelyn Fabian, NBCT
Jacquelyn is a former classroom teacher who now works at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. During her career in education, she served as a department chair, English and Social Studies teacher in both high school and middle school, and led professional development. She has presented at national and local conferences, including at the NCTE Annual Conference, the DuPage ROE Institute Day Conference for English Educators, EdTech Summit, and the National Board Academy. She also served as an American Sources Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she helped design humanities curriculum using the art pieces located in the museum. Her  professional development courses and presentations primarily focus on implementing social justice, equity, and anti-racist practices in the classroom. More recently, she  helped create the Teach to Change Now Toolkit, an anti-bias/anti-racist (ABAR) toolkit for educators, which contains resources to better support educators on their ABAR journey. Jacquelyn believes the classroom is a space to provide students with creative, authentic experiences that will help them develop real-world skills.

In her free time, Jacquelyn loves to spend time with her family, friends, and her dog, Romeo. She also enjoys cooking and the occasional TV binge,  which is always accompanied by the perfect cup of coffee.

PANELISTS:

Rodridgo Rodriguez-Tovar 
Rodrigo Rodríguez-Tovar is a Dual Language Instructional Coach for the Austin Independent School District. He holds a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Teaching and Learning styles from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), and he is a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Middle Childhood Generalist. Mr. Rodríguez-Tovar possesses his teaching certificate from the state of Texas with endorsements in Bilingual (Spanish), General, and Gifted Education. He is a facilitator at the district level and a big advocate for Great Public Schools and Dual Language, he works with the National Education Association (NEA) English Language Learners (ELL) Cadre in providing professional development workshops to educators across the nation with Advocacy for ELLs, Standards-Based Instruction and Lesson Development for ELLs, and Assessment of ELLs. Mr. Rodriguez also serves as a NEA Blended Learning cohort facilitator and supports educators who are transitioning out of the classroom to become instructional coaches within the NEA CAMI- Coaching and Mentoring Initiative. Mr. Rodriguez believes that coaching supports teachers to improve their capacity to reflect and apply their learning to their work with students and also in their work with each other.

Mr. Rodriguez-Tovar is also a National Board cohort facilitator/mentor for teachers who are pursuing their National Board Teaching Certification. As a former National Board Fellow, he is committed to sharing valuable competencies with other educators to strengthen and improve the teaching profession to continue making an impact on student learning. He is a member of the Certification Council for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, NBPTS, and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, NBPTS, the Network of Accomplished Minoritized Educators, NAME, and also for the Texas National Board Coalition for Teachers, TXNBCT. His research interests center on issues of language, culture, equity, and identity- especially as they affect, or are affected by, biliteracy practices. His K-5 public school teaching experience includes 14 years as an educator in a dual language classroom setting, alternating the last four years as the writing literacy coach in a maintenance bilingual program and also, providing interventions in Spanish to students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Mr. Rodriguez-Tovar was named the National Bilingual Teacher of the Year by the National Bilingual Education Association in March 2017.

John Arthur, NBCT
John Arthur is the 2021 Utah Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist.  He teaches 6th grade at Meadowlark Elementary, a Title I school in Salt Lake City.  John Arthur is also an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Education at Westminster College, and he represents the Asian community on the Utah State Board of Education’s Advisory Committee on Equity of Educational Services for Students.

Ray Salazar, NBCT 
Since 1995, Ray has been a public school English teacher in Chicago. In 2017, thanks to a former student, Ray received a Distinguished Secondary Teacher Award from Northwestern University.In March 2013, The White Rhino tied for second place in the Best Blog category of the Education Writers Association's national writing contest. Ray earned an M.A. in Writing, with distinction, and a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from DePaul University. He's been a National Board Certified Teacher for over ten years. He graduated from a neighborhood Chicago public high school. His writing aired on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio many times. His editorials appeared in the Chicago Tribune and on CNN's Schools of Thought blog, as well as on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' Web site. He's also written articles for NPR's Latino USA, Latino Rebels, and NewsTaco. Ray is also a powerlifter and an aspiring guitarist.

Justin Johnson, IL State Teacher of the Year
Justin Johnson is a 2020-21 Teach Plus Illinois ILSTOY Policy Fellow and the 2021 Illinois Teacher of the Year. Justin is the Director of Bands at Niles West High School in Skokie, IL where he leads the marching band, jazz band, three curricular concert ensembles, and a percussion course. He is also very involved with many diversity and equity initiatives focused on students from underserved communities and the retention and recruitment of black educators. He has been active in many different leadership roles within the district including mentoring new teachers and facilitating  equity-centered conversations. Justin is in his 10th year at Niles West and 14th year of teaching. Justin has worked with music programs across the country and is a 2016 Golden Apple Teacher of Distinction. He holds a BA in Music Education from the University of Memphis and an MA in Music Education from Eastern Illinois University