Sondra Gonzalez
John Robert Pollock
2024 Spring Enrollment: Children’s Literature and the Immigrant Experience
Sondra Gonzalez is a middle years ESOL teacher at John Robert Pollock School with more than a decade of experience in education. She joined the School District of Philadelphia after earning a Master of Education from Arcadia University. As an educator, Gonzalez has served in many roles including drama teacher and elementary education teacher.
Gonzalez was initially drawn to TIP because she saw it as an opportunity to amplify her teaching voice. In the five years she has been a fellow, she Gonzalez has participated in three seminars:
- Learning about America and the World from McDonald’s: An Interdisciplinary Approach (spring 2019), in which she wrote the unit Why Do You Eat That? An Inquiry of Food Choices and Values Amongst 4th Grade Students
- New Histories of Slavery: The View from Penn & Slavery Project (spring 2020), in which she wrote Forging A Connection: Releasing the Bondage of Internalized Oppression through Quality Social Studies Instruction
- Children’s Environmental Health (fall 2023), in which she wrote Imagine a Day Without Clean Water: Middle School English Language Learners Advocate for Clean Water for All.
She feels that her participation in these three seminars has provided her with an opportunity to express her intellect, talent, and creativity as an educator. Gonzalez is currently enrolled in ongoing spring 2024 seminar Children’s Literature and the Immigrant Experience taught by Penn GSE professor H. Gerald Campano.
Gonzalez believes that engaging in these seminars as a TIP fellow has provided her with an authentic learning opportunity enabled her to develop effective curricula for her students. She is grateful to her TIP professors and colleagues in the seminars who have been supportive and inspiring throughout the process.