Maribel Valdez Gonzalez is a Xicana educator and San Antonio-born daughter of Mexican immigrants with a goal to create academically and culturally engaging learning experiences through a culturally responsive framework that fosters empowerment, agency, and radical kindness. She is a STEMbyTAF Transformation Coach for Technology Access Foundation. She works directly with administrators and teachers to achieve educational justice for all students, especially Black and Brown students. Maribel partners with K–12 public schools as an instructional coach to shift pedagogy, transform curriculum using a project-based learning model, and influence policy toward empowering all students, regardless of race and socioeconomic factors, in a way that removes all barriers to academic achievement and ends the trauma of racial microaggressions in the classroom. Maribel previously taught middle school ELA and World Cultures and worked toward decolonizing the educational experience of historically underserved students. Additionally, she writes culturally relevant visual arts curriculum that centers the experience of the global majority for Seattle Public Schools. Maribel is a member of the Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board.
