Laurence Gander: LGBTQ inclusion starts with you
Jennifer Mc Glynn: Mindfulness in the classroom
Margaret Renn: Developing a Culturally Inclusive Classroom
Ellen Pozzi & Yvonne Roux: Exploring the rainbow
Georgette Van Vliet: Dealing with toxic people
LGBTQ inclusion starts with you!
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Lesléa (pronounced “Lez-LEE-uh”) Newman is the author of 70 books for readers of all ages, including A Letter to Harvey Milk; October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; The Boy Who Cried Fabulous; and Heather Has Two Mommies. She has received many literary awards, including creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, two American Library Association Stonewall Honors, the Massachusetts Book Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award, the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement. Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award Finalists.
Ms. Newman wrote Heather Has Two Mommies, the first children’s book to portray lesbian families in a positive way, and has followed up this pioneering work with several more children’s books on lesbian and gay families: Felicia’s Favorite Story; Too Far Away to Touch; Saturday Is Pattyday; Mommy, Mama, and Me; and Daddy, Papa, and Me.
Recently published books include the poetry collection I Carry My Mother (Golden Crown Literary Society Award and Massachusetts Center for the Book “Must Read” title); picture book Here Is The World: A Year of Jewish Holidays (Sydney Taylor Notable); Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed (Massachusetts Book Award, Sydney Taylor Award, and Cat Writers Association Best “Litter-ary” Award); and Sparkle Boy (Lee and Low, 2017). Her most recent picture book is Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story (Abrams, 2018).
Exploring the Rainbow