Inside Dallas ISD

Lizette Rivera knows how it feels to be lifted by her community. As a student at Sunset High School, dance gave her a stage, her teachers gave her guidance, and her classmates gave her encouragement. Now, as a first-year dance teacher at Robert T. Hill Middle School, she is returning to the district that helped shape her, teaching dance and career prep classes. “My high school dance teachers inspired me to continue doing dance as an educator,” she said. “I hope to be that person for my students. I hope to inspire them to try new things and to see…

Students attending the Future Doctors Camp this summer weren’t the only ones learning new things. Teacher Lawanna Evans, who helped lead the camp, walked away with important lab skills and life lessons of her own. “It’s always interesting to hear from medical students about some of their personal experiences. There has been a wealth of knowledge that I have acquired even for myself,” Evans said. Now, in her second year teaching at the camp, Evans said she is more comfortable in the science lab and is ready for the hands-on learning that comes with studying anatomy. “My favorite part of…

For Army Sgt. Maj. Leon Johnson, senior JROTC instructor at Emmett J. Conrad High School, the military promised opportunities he did not imagine having. Now, at Conrad, he sees himself in a lot of the students and wants them to be aware of the opportunities that were available to him. “This is something personal for me,” Johnson said. “When I come to school and I look at these kids, I think, ‘I was sitting in their seat one day. I didn’t have a lot of money; my parents were both working; and college wasn’t even an option.’” A native of…

When Lisa Whitaker is struck by an idea, she jumps right into action. So when she wondered earlier this year why American Sign Language classes weren’t more common in the district, she started working toward creating more opportunities to introduce students to ASL. Her idea: organize the district’s first-ever ASL summer camp for elementary school students.  “We have a health and physical education summer camp, but we don’t offer ASL until ninth grade. That gives students only four years to learn it, limiting their proficiency,” said Whitaker, who is the director of Academic Enrichment and Support. “Research tells us that…