Who are you and what are your practitioner sites?
My name is Isabella DiOrio, and I am a Spanish Teacher at South High Community School and Adjunct Professor at QCC here in Worcester. Outside of the educational realm, I am extremely fortunate to be able to train youth softball players individually most nights after teaching.
What inspired you to join the Doctoral Program in Transformative Education?
Ever since I graduated from Clark in 2022 from the Master of Arts in Teaching program, I’ve been looking into Ed.D programs. The launching of Clark’s, and Eric’s initial interest email that I received, I knew immediately I wanted to apply. An Ed.D has been on my radar for quite some time and with everything that the Education Department at Clark has done for me, there was no better place for me to return to.
What do you hope to accomplish in the future?
I’ve been fascinated by cultural and linguistic traditions/practices and the power struggles that they hold. There is such a disconnect to intertwining culture to language in curriculum. I am hoping that the Doctoral Program in Transformative Education will help me dig deeper into this divide and incorporate more positive than negative power in terms of being bicultural and bilingual in school settings.