Jacobson, Lissette: - Lissette Jacobson: Lissette Jacobson has dedicated her career to multilingual learners, having worked with culturally and linguistically diverse students in grades K-8. She brings both classroom and administrative experience to this role. She has provided professional development in multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS), curriculum mapping, standards-based instruction, and differentiation. Lissette's passion for education stems from her experience as a first-generation Mexican American in the public school system. She also serves as an advisory board member of the TEACH Plus Illinois Affinity Group Network. Lissette co-founded Culture, Identity, and Multilingual Advocacy (CIMA), an educational consulting company that addresses current educational challenges through a linguistically and culturally responsive lens. It is crucial for her to affirm her students' identities and elevate the status of the Spanish language. She married her college sweetheart, Brett, and has two sons, Maxwell and Miguel.
McDavid, Maurice: - Maurice McDavid: Maurice McDavid has a wide array of experience in education. He has taught middle school history and Spanish, as well as high school world geography. Maurice moved into administration as a dean at a high school sixty miles west of Chicago. He now serves as principal of a dual language elementary school in the western suburbs. While social justice and restorative justice have always been driving factors in his work, his interest in early literacy and linguistics has grown during his current tenure. He has offered professional development in all those areas in various settings. He also served on the Illinois Diverse and Learner Ready Teacher Network and helped to author the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading (CRTL) standards. Maurice is married to his high school sweetheart, Samantha, and has three children, Ezekiel, Cinderella, and Zariah.Together, Lissette Jacobson and Maurice McDavid co-founded Black, Brown & Bilingüe, a podcast dedicated to creating a world in which Black and Brown identities are affirmed, multilingualism and multiculturalism are nurtured, and equity is at the center of all conversations.