Teaching Central America and AAVEd Collaborate in Georgia Schools
Throughout September and into October, Teaching Central America program specialist Jonathan Peraza Campos is collaborating with Dr. Sohyun An from Asian American Voices for Education (AAVEd) to train elementary and middle school teachers in ethnic studies education.
AAVEd was the recipient of a grant from the National Education Association’s Racial Justice in Education Grant. AAVEd recruited Peraza Campos as a local ethnic studies educator and the program specialist for Teaching for Change to support the Latinx studies and Central American studies programming. Together, they are training teachers in ethnic studies pedagogy with a focus on Asian American and Latinx/Central American studies content.
Across four sessions in the Fall, An is facilitating sessions that delve into Asian American identities, history, and art. Peraza Campos has trained teachers in Latinx and Central American identities, history, and art as well. Teachers became exposed to the history of oppression and resistance that Latinxs and Asian Americans have both experienced and participated in.
Peraza Campos remarked: “I grew up and went to school in the Gwinnett County school district. It is such a beautiful full circle for me to come back to train teachers in the pedagogy and curriculum I wish I had as a Latino and Central American kid in Gwinnett.”
Using one of Teaching Central America’s most popular lessons, Introduction to Central America mixer, teachers learned about the various U.S. and Central America-based actors that comprise the region’s complex history.
In a survey, one teacher responded that their favorite part of the workshop was making connections between paralleling and contrasting the mainstream United States, Latinx, Central American, and Asian American histories provided in an overlapping timeline. The teacher added, “the role play helped me better understand U.S. involvement in the destabilization of other countries.”
Teachers also appreciated the variety of resources that Teaching Central America and AAVEd provided to support teachers in their ethnic studies journeys, such as the animated short film by Pablo Leon, “Remember Us”, that recounts the Salvadoran civil war, and AAVEd’s lesson on mulitracial school desegregation cases that laid the foundations for federal desegregation.
We look forward to seeing how teachers continue to provide a humanizing and truthful education for their diverse students in Gwinnett County. We appreciate how organizations like AAVEd collaborate with Teaching for Change and other kindred groups to grow the ethnic studies movement in Georgia.
Teaching Central America and AAVEd Collaborate in Georgia Schools
Throughout September and into October, Teaching Central America program specialist Jonathan Peraza Campos is collaborating with Dr. Sohyun An from Asian American Voices for Education (AAVEd) to train elementary and middle school teachers in ethnic studies education.
AAVEd was the recipient of a grant from the National Education Association’s Racial Justice in Education Grant. AAVEd recruited Peraza Campos as a local ethnic studies educator and the program specialist for Teaching for Change to support the Latinx studies and Central American studies programming. Together, they are training teachers in ethnic studies pedagogy with a focus on Asian American and Latinx/Central American studies content.
Across four sessions in the Fall, An is facilitating sessions that delve into Asian American identities, history, and art. Peraza Campos has trained teachers in Latinx and Central American identities, history, and art as well. Teachers became exposed to the history of oppression and resistance that Latinxs and Asian Americans have both experienced and participated in.
Peraza Campos remarked: “I grew up and went to school in the Gwinnett County school district. It is such a beautiful full circle for me to come back to train teachers in the pedagogy and curriculum I wish I had as a Latino and Central American kid in Gwinnett.”
Using one of Teaching Central America’s most popular lessons, Introduction to Central America mixer, teachers learned about the various U.S. and Central America-based actors that comprise the region’s complex history.
In a survey, one teacher responded that their favorite part of the workshop was making connections between paralleling and contrasting the mainstream United States, Latinx, Central American, and Asian American histories provided in an overlapping timeline. The teacher added, “the role play helped me better understand U.S. involvement in the destabilization of other countries.”
Teachers also appreciated the variety of resources that Teaching Central America and AAVEd provided to support teachers in their ethnic studies journeys, such as the animated short film by Pablo Leon, “Remember Us”, that recounts the Salvadoran civil war, and AAVEd’s lesson on mulitracial school desegregation cases that laid the foundations for federal desegregation.
We look forward to seeing how teachers continue to provide a humanizing and truthful education for their diverse students in Gwinnett County. We appreciate how organizations like AAVEd collaborate with Teaching for Change and other kindred groups to grow the ethnic studies movement in Georgia.
Posted: September 9, 2025