I want to spark joy in the lives of new immigrant students. I teach English and survival skills in a poor district in Vermont. As a public school teacher, I see up close how our system struggles to teach all students to read, write and live in community. The travails of non-native English-speaking students are universal.

I enrich my students’ learning by connecting them with the arts. We are fortunate that so many amazing artists live here though our schools are too often isolated. This spring the students and I are especially excited to join a playwriting festival. Watching how quickly and profoundly new immigrant kids learn to express themselves makes me speechless. For those of you who know me, you know that is rare!

Wouldn’t it be great to expand these ideas and make them more scalable for as many kids as possible? Stay tuned.

Ask me more. I have simplified for now because I recognize cognitive overload overwhelms us all.