Maker Identity, An Ignite Talk by 2017-2018 Agency by Design Oakland Teacher Fellow Roxy Martínez
“Our students, youth of color, navigate worlds that tell them that their home identities and their school identities have to be kept separate. And, in fact, their ability to do that is essential for their success in education. Does the MAKER MOVEMENT contribute to these tensions? YES.”
Roxy Martínez is a Resource Specialist at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland. At the Agency by Design Oakland year end event on Saturday, May 5, Roxy presented her talk entitled, "Students of Color Sustaining and Creating Identities in Maker Education." Roxy spoke to the importance of maker education not being another tool to oppress our students, and instead a means of liberation.
“Making is a manifestation, it’s a proclamation, and it’s a celebration of who we are, and who we always have been.”
“The maker movement has the potential to reproduce harmful hierarchies. Is it inevitable that the maker movement reproduce these hierarchies? Absolutely not. But unchecked and unchallenged, it will.”
Check out Roxy's amazing Ignite Talk below! And see more leadership from our 2017 - 2018 Teacher Fellows by following the #PictureofPractice hashtag.
“Teaching is a Political Act. It’s essential for the liberation of our students of color.”
-Roxy Martínez
Resource Teacher/Education Specialist, Grass Valley Elementary School, OUSD