Teaching for Change hosted two interns in the summer of 2026: Emily Beatrice Erickson, an undergraduate student at Wellesley College pursuing a degree in English and Education and Anthony Tamez-Pochel is an Afro-Indigenous community organizer, advocate, and graduate student pursuing a Master of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Anthony is a Truman fellow.
Week 1: May 18–22
Emily: During my first week with Teaching for Change, I attended two incredible meetings with other social justice groups collaborating with Teaching for Change.
The first, on May 18, was an End-of-Year Showcase for the Teaching for Black Lives study groups led by Jesse Hagopian of the Zinn Education Project. He spoke about the work educators have done to learn how to uplift Black lives, history, and culture in their classrooms. He brought in Dr. Bettina L. Love, an abolitionist, professor, and award-winning author of Punished for Dreaming, amongst other titles, to be in conversation with him about the importance of teaching truth and freedom.
It was a truly moving conversation that reaffirmed the power of collective study and practicing education in community with peers dedicated to uplifting social justice in classrooms. I was impressed by how many educators were a part of this nationwide effort. It was inspiring to see how many teachers are actively working to make their classrooms beacons of truth and liberation in our current times of misinformation and oppression.
The second event I attended was a Teach Truth Media Training on May 21, also led by Jesse Hagopian and the Zinn Education Project, on how to prepare for media interviews. We learned about the value of speaking with the press and the risks of doing so without proper training.
Hagopian emphasized the need to keep your mission preeminent in conversations with the press and to avoid getting sidetracked by leading or accusatory questions. I have never been interviewed nor received media training, so hearing Hagopian’s perspective on speaking with the press and how to preserve the integrity of your mission’s ethos was enlightening.
Weeks 2 and 3: May 25–June 5
Emily: In addition to the events I have had the privilege of attending, I have been helping develop Teaching for Change’s Social Justice Books website.
The Social Justice Books site is a comprehensive database of multicultural and social justice books for readers and educators of all ages. It has more than 100 booklists on different ethnicities, races, sexualities, abilities, histories, and more. I have been helping upload critical indie reviews of the books on each list, including excerpts of the reviews and the reviewer’s recommendation about the book.
I have loved finding new books and reviewing sites while updating the website. The wealth of multicultural children’s and adult literature available is inspiring. This website is an incredible guide for parents, educators, and readers to diversify their reading and explore new authors and stories.
Week 4: June 8–12
Emily: This week, I continued attending incredible events in collaboration with Teaching for Change, visited a local classroom, and continued helping in the Teaching for Change office.
On June 10, I visited the High School at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC). I was able to visit multiple periods of Zachary Wilson’s English and AP Human Geography classes, which were both focusing on different social justice pillars. Wilson’s AP Human Geography class was exploring the ethical implications of land ownership, centered on a conversation around Wilson’s question, “Should anyone be able to buy (and own) a river?” using resources from the Zinn Education Project. The class thoughtfully incorporated the ideas of Indigenous land knowledge, land-back concepts, and environmental equity into the conversation. While an almost-summer fatigue had been creeping into the classroom, this conversation prompted alert eyes and engaged discussion as the students weighed the social and ethical implications of owning environmental features.
Wilson’s English classes were focused more on criminal justice and how the law is upheld (or not) based on racial prejudice. The class examined two similar murder trials where both defendants claimed self-defense, but one was a Black teenager, Karmelo Anthony, charged with the murder of a white teenager, and the other was an Asian-American man, Rick Chow, charged with the murder of a Black 14-year-old.
The class watched news excerpts from both cases, as well as the convictions and sentences of both defendants, and discussed what it means that Anthony received a 35-year sentence and Rick Chow was found not guilty. They emphasized how the race of the victims played into the verdicts and appropriate public responses to these injustices.
It was invaluable to see this work being done in classrooms and to see how receptive the students were to these conversations about injustice, even at the tail-end of the school year. As a hopeful future educator, observing the profound and necessary conversations about injustice, racial discrimination, environmental activism, and protest in the CHEC class was inspiring and moving. I hope to navigate these essential conversations with Mr. Wilson’s grace when I lead my own classroom someday.
Anthony: I had the privilege of attending two classroom visits that offered powerful examples of how students are engaging critically with history, social justice, and civic life.
The first visit was to Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, where I had the opportunity to observe students participating in the Leadership Academy for Social Justice (LASJ) program. Throughout my time at the school, students shared research projects examining a variety of contemporary and historical issues. Topics ranged from access to healthcare through an analysis of the Black Panther Party’s People’s Free Medical Clinics (PFMCs) to discussions about police brutality and its disproportionate impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
What stood out most was the students’ ability to connect historical movements and policies to present-day challenges. Rather than simply learning about history, they were actively using it as a lens to understand systems of power, inequality, and social change. Their presentations reflected a deep level of engagement with both the material and the broader questions of justice facing their communities today.
In addition to my visit to Walt Whitman, I also had the privilege of visiting Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC) in Washington, D.C. During my visit, students were entering the second-to-last week of the school year and were engaged in a thoughtful examination of Dudley Randall’s poem, Booker T. and W. E. B. The class centered on a fundamental question: What does it truly mean to be free?
Students debated differing visions of freedom, comparing ideas of economic opportunity and access to capital with Du Bois’s argument that freedom also requires political power and civic participation. One line that generated a particularly meaningful discussion was, “Unless you help to make the laws, they’ll steal your house with a trumped-up clause.” Students explored how voting rights, representation, and participation in democratic institutions shape people’s ability to exercise freedom and protect their communities.
Both classroom visits reinforced the importance of education that encourages critical thinking, dialogue, and civic engagement. Whether examining the legacy of the Black Panther Party or debating the meaning of freedom through the writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, students were challenged to think deeply about history’s relevance to the world they are inheriting and helping to shape
In addition to classroom visits, I also attended a screening at the DC/DOX Film Festival, where I got to watch the documentary The Baddest Speechwriter of All, which tells the story of Clarence B. Jones, the lawyer and speechwriter who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I liked how the documentary offers a firsthand account of the events leading up to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Jones’s role in helping draft the opening sections of Dr. King’s iconic speech.
Week 5: June 15–19
On Juneteenth, I went to the America 433+ event in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The event was a collaboration between multiple organizations, including Teaching for Change, Rethinking Schools, the Zinn Education Project, and the Resistance Rangers. I was able to learn about current censorship happening at National Parks across the country, including the blatant erasure of Black history at parks in the D.C. Area and beyond. The Resistance Rangers explained how many cases of censorship occur every day in our national parks, from the removal of plaques describing Abolitionist histories to banning informational booklets about Black history at critical historical sites.
Several speakers from these organizations detailed their experiences with censorship in the park system and the importance of remembering Black history in the face of attempts to whitewash and erase it altogether. One former park ranger spoke about an exhibit at Harpers Ferry that has been supposedly “under construction” since 2019. The exhibit would have illuminated the complex history of Harpers Ferry and some key figures in the abolitionist fight on its grounds. However, the exhibit never came to fruition, and seven years later, it likely never will.
While this was a saddening truth to hear, it was very moving to be in community with so many people dedicated to fighting for the preservation of true histories that do not shy away from hard truths. While our government is actively trying to hide these histories away from the public eye, this event shone a bright light on the importance of preserving Black history and empowered the audience to do so in their communities after the event ended.
Week 6: July 6–10
Emily: Over these last few weeks, I was able to write about my experiences with CHEC into an article, “’What does it mean to be truly free?’”: High School Class Inquiry alongside Anthony Tamez, another Teaching for Change Summer intern. It was very rewarding to see that the incredible work I observed in Mr. Wilson’s classroom would be shared with the public.
For the Social Justice Books site, I reviewed two picture books:
The Vicious Cycle by Kyle Lukoff, about a lonely unicycle overcoming the cycle of isolation with the help of a little girl
Grandma, Cho Cho, and Me, a vividly illustrated story about family traditions and where they come from
I loved being exposed to these wonderful contemporary stories touching on profound topics in accessible ways. I probably would not have learned of these books if I had not been asked to review them. I was grateful to have my work published on the Social Justice Books site.
Both books are about the 1963 Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, but cover different perspectives of the pivotal protests. The Youngest Marcher tells the story of the real-life Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young civil rights activist who was jailed for participating in the historic children’s protest. Both books are essential stories for young readers that illustrate the changemaking power of children.
This book tells the story of CeDell Davis, a blues musician who contracts polio in his youth. The disease strips him of his deft fretting fingers, but he refuses to give up on his love of the blues. His passion propels him to start using a butter knife for what his fingers can no longer do, and continue playing his music. This unexpected tool gave him his unique sound and persevering spirit that made him the distinguished blues musician that he is renowned as today.
Reading these stories has been a highlight of my time with Teaching for Change. As we grow up, there is less and less time for picture books. Being able to reconnect with this medium has been so enlightening. There are profound truths within so many picture books, and I am grateful to have been able to discover them through this work.
Week 8 and 9: July 27–August 7
Throughout my last two weeks with Teaching for Change, I rounded out my work on the Social Justice Books website. I finished searching for reviews for the disabilities booklist and helped compile contact information for the reviewers so we can inform them that their reviews are on the website. One of my favorite aspects of working on this website has been finding new diverse books and the indie book sites that review them. I hope that these reviewers look into the Social Justice Books website and feel proud of their contributions to it.
In addition to finding reviews, I also wrote another book review of my own. This time, I reviewed the wonderful book Home for Margaret by Denise Davy. This picture book follows the heartwarming bond between a young girl Emma, and an elderly unhoused woman Margart, whom Emma befriends and helps finally find a safe home after many years of solitude. It was such a pleasure to read this book and even more so to be able to have my thoughts on it be included on the Social Justice Books site. I am elated to have my writing publicized alongside so many wonderful reviewers.
My time at Teaching for Change has been so fulfilling. I have learned so much that I will take with me into my next few years of education and beyond that into my first years of teaching. I feel so privileged to have been surrounded by passionate social justice educators and advocates dedicated to teaching history that uplifts the students it often dismisses. It was an immense joy to be a part of this wonderful organization and I hope to maintain this connection and champion its mission of teaching truth, equity, and social justice wherever I go.
2026 Summer Intern Blog
Teaching for Change hosted two interns in the summer of 2026: Emily Beatrice Erickson, an undergraduate student at Wellesley College pursuing a degree in English and Education and Anthony Tamez-Pochel is an Afro-Indigenous community organizer, advocate, and graduate student pursuing a Master of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Anthony is a Truman fellow.
Week 1: May 18–22
Emily: During my first week with Teaching for Change, I attended two incredible meetings with other social justice groups collaborating with Teaching for Change.
The first, on May 18, was an End-of-Year Showcase for the Teaching for Black Lives study groups led by Jesse Hagopian of the Zinn Education Project. He spoke about the work educators have done to learn how to uplift Black lives, history, and culture in their classrooms. He brought in Dr. Bettina L. Love, an abolitionist, professor, and award-winning author of Punished for Dreaming, amongst other titles, to be in conversation with him about the importance of teaching truth and freedom.
It was a truly moving conversation that reaffirmed the power of collective study and practicing education in community with peers dedicated to uplifting social justice in classrooms. I was impressed by how many educators were a part of this nationwide effort. It was inspiring to see how many teachers are actively working to make their classrooms beacons of truth and liberation in our current times of misinformation and oppression.
The second event I attended was a Teach Truth Media Training on May 21, also led by Jesse Hagopian and the Zinn Education Project, on how to prepare for media interviews. We learned about the value of speaking with the press and the risks of doing so without proper training.
Hagopian emphasized the need to keep your mission preeminent in conversations with the press and to avoid getting sidetracked by leading or accusatory questions. I have never been interviewed nor received media training, so hearing Hagopian’s perspective on speaking with the press and how to preserve the integrity of your mission’s ethos was enlightening.
Weeks 2 and 3: May 25–June 5
Emily: In addition to the events I have had the privilege of attending, I have been helping develop Teaching for Change’s Social Justice Books website.
The Social Justice Books site is a comprehensive database of multicultural and social justice books for readers and educators of all ages. It has more than 100 booklists on different ethnicities, races, sexualities, abilities, histories, and more. I have been helping upload critical indie reviews of the books on each list, including excerpts of the reviews and the reviewer’s recommendation about the book.
I have loved finding new books and reviewing sites while updating the website. The wealth of multicultural children’s and adult literature available is inspiring. This website is an incredible guide for parents, educators, and readers to diversify their reading and explore new authors and stories.
Week 4: June 8–12
Emily: This week, I continued attending incredible events in collaboration with Teaching for Change, visited a local classroom, and continued helping in the Teaching for Change office.
On June 10, I visited the High School at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC). I was able to visit multiple periods of Zachary Wilson’s English and AP Human Geography classes, which were both focusing on different social justice pillars. Wilson’s AP Human Geography class was exploring the ethical implications of land ownership, centered on a conversation around Wilson’s question, “Should anyone be able to buy (and own) a river?” using resources from the Zinn Education Project. The class thoughtfully incorporated the ideas of Indigenous land knowledge, land-back concepts, and environmental equity into the conversation. While an almost-summer fatigue had been creeping into the classroom, this conversation prompted alert eyes and engaged discussion as the students weighed the social and ethical implications of owning environmental features.
Wilson’s English classes were focused more on criminal justice and how the law is upheld (or not) based on racial prejudice. The class examined two similar murder trials where both defendants claimed self-defense, but one was a Black teenager, Karmelo Anthony, charged with the murder of a white teenager, and the other was an Asian-American man, Rick Chow, charged with the murder of a Black 14-year-old.
The class watched news excerpts from both cases, as well as the convictions and sentences of both defendants, and discussed what it means that Anthony received a 35-year sentence and Rick Chow was found not guilty. They emphasized how the race of the victims played into the verdicts and appropriate public responses to these injustices.
It was invaluable to see this work being done in classrooms and to see how receptive the students were to these conversations about injustice, even at the tail-end of the school year. As a hopeful future educator, observing the profound and necessary conversations about injustice, racial discrimination, environmental activism, and protest in the CHEC class was inspiring and moving. I hope to navigate these essential conversations with Mr. Wilson’s grace when I lead my own classroom someday.
Anthony: I had the privilege of attending two classroom visits that offered powerful examples of how students are engaging critically with history, social justice, and civic life.
The first visit was to Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, where I had the opportunity to observe students participating in the Leadership Academy for Social Justice (LASJ) program. Throughout my time at the school, students shared research projects examining a variety of contemporary and historical issues. Topics ranged from access to healthcare through an analysis of the Black Panther Party’s People’s Free Medical Clinics (PFMCs) to discussions about police brutality and its disproportionate impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
What stood out most was the students’ ability to connect historical movements and policies to present-day challenges. Rather than simply learning about history, they were actively using it as a lens to understand systems of power, inequality, and social change. Their presentations reflected a deep level of engagement with both the material and the broader questions of justice facing their communities today.
In addition to my visit to Walt Whitman, I also had the privilege of visiting Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC) in Washington, D.C. During my visit, students were entering the second-to-last week of the school year and were engaged in a thoughtful examination of Dudley Randall’s poem, Booker T. and W. E. B. The class centered on a fundamental question: What does it truly mean to be free?
Students debated differing visions of freedom, comparing ideas of economic opportunity and access to capital with Du Bois’s argument that freedom also requires political power and civic participation. One line that generated a particularly meaningful discussion was, “Unless you help to make the laws, they’ll steal your house with a trumped-up clause.” Students explored how voting rights, representation, and participation in democratic institutions shape people’s ability to exercise freedom and protect their communities.
Both classroom visits reinforced the importance of education that encourages critical thinking, dialogue, and civic engagement. Whether examining the legacy of the Black Panther Party or debating the meaning of freedom through the writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, students were challenged to think deeply about history’s relevance to the world they are inheriting and helping to shape
In addition to classroom visits, I also attended a screening at the DC/DOX Film Festival, where I got to watch the documentary The Baddest Speechwriter of All, which tells the story of Clarence B. Jones, the lawyer and speechwriter who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I liked how the documentary offers a firsthand account of the events leading up to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Jones’s role in helping draft the opening sections of Dr. King’s iconic speech.
Week 5: June 15–19
On Juneteenth, I went to the America 433+ event in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The event was a collaboration between multiple organizations, including Teaching for Change, Rethinking Schools, the Zinn Education Project, and the Resistance Rangers. I was able to learn about current censorship happening at National Parks across the country, including the blatant erasure of Black history at parks in the D.C. Area and beyond. The Resistance Rangers explained how many cases of censorship occur every day in our national parks, from the removal of plaques describing Abolitionist histories to banning informational booklets about Black history at critical historical sites.
Several speakers from these organizations detailed their experiences with censorship in the park system and the importance of remembering Black history in the face of attempts to whitewash and erase it altogether. One former park ranger spoke about an exhibit at Harpers Ferry that has been supposedly “under construction” since 2019. The exhibit would have illuminated the complex history of Harpers Ferry and some key figures in the abolitionist fight on its grounds. However, the exhibit never came to fruition, and seven years later, it likely never will.
While this was a saddening truth to hear, it was very moving to be in community with so many people dedicated to fighting for the preservation of true histories that do not shy away from hard truths. While our government is actively trying to hide these histories away from the public eye, this event shone a bright light on the importance of preserving Black history and empowered the audience to do so in their communities after the event ended.
Week 6: July 6–10
Emily: Over these last few weeks, I was able to write about my experiences with CHEC into an article, “’What does it mean to be truly free?’”: High School Class Inquiry alongside Anthony Tamez, another Teaching for Change Summer intern. It was very rewarding to see that the incredible work I observed in Mr. Wilson’s classroom would be shared with the public.
For the Social Justice Books site, I reviewed two picture books:
I loved being exposed to these wonderful contemporary stories touching on profound topics in accessible ways. I probably would not have learned of these books if I had not been asked to review them. I was grateful to have my work published on the Social Justice Books site.
Weeks 7 and 8: July 13–24
During these two weeks, I continued working on the Social Justice Books site. I read Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson and The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson and uploaded them to the website.
Both books are about the 1963 Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, but cover different perspectives of the pivotal protests. The Youngest Marcher tells the story of the real-life Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young civil rights activist who was jailed for participating in the historic children’s protest. Both books are essential stories for young readers that illustrate the changemaking power of children.
I added reviews to books on the disabilities list. I was able to read some of the moving stories, including Blues with a Butter Knife: The Unstoppable Music of CeDell Davis by Jason Peterson.
This book tells the story of CeDell Davis, a blues musician who contracts polio in his youth. The disease strips him of his deft fretting fingers, but he refuses to give up on his love of the blues. His passion propels him to start using a butter knife for what his fingers can no longer do, and continue playing his music. This unexpected tool gave him his unique sound and persevering spirit that made him the distinguished blues musician that he is renowned as today.
Reading these stories has been a highlight of my time with Teaching for Change. As we grow up, there is less and less time for picture books. Being able to reconnect with this medium has been so enlightening. There are profound truths within so many picture books, and I am grateful to have been able to discover them through this work.
Week 8 and 9: July 27–August 7
Throughout my last two weeks with Teaching for Change, I rounded out my work on the Social Justice Books website. I finished searching for reviews for the disabilities booklist and helped compile contact information for the reviewers so we can inform them that their reviews are on the website. One of my favorite aspects of working on this website has been finding new diverse books and the indie book sites that review them. I hope that these reviewers look into the Social Justice Books website and feel proud of their contributions to it.
In addition to finding reviews, I also wrote another book review of my own. This time, I reviewed the wonderful book Home for Margaret by Denise Davy. This picture book follows the heartwarming bond between a young girl Emma, and an elderly unhoused woman Margart, whom Emma befriends and helps finally find a safe home after many years of solitude. It was such a pleasure to read this book and even more so to be able to have my thoughts on it be included on the Social Justice Books site. I am elated to have my writing publicized alongside so many wonderful reviewers.
My time at Teaching for Change has been so fulfilling. I have learned so much that I will take with me into my next few years of education and beyond that into my first years of teaching. I feel so privileged to have been surrounded by passionate social justice educators and advocates dedicated to teaching history that uplifts the students it often dismisses. It was an immense joy to be a part of this wonderful organization and I hope to maintain this connection and champion its mission of teaching truth, equity, and social justice wherever I go.
Posted: July 1, 2026