Sonia Nieto

Sonia Nieto is Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, and Culture, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Starting as a teacher at P.S. 25 in the Bronx (the first fully bilingual school in the Northeast) Nieto has taught students at all levels from elementary grades through graduate school, and she continues to speak and write on multicultural education, teacher preparation, and the education of Latinos and other culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Her book Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, is widely used in teacher preparation and inservice courses throughout the nation. Other books include The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities, and What Keeps Teachers Going?, as well as three edited volumes: Puerto Rican Students in U.S. Schools, Why We Teach, and Dear Paulo: Letters From Those Who Dare Teach. She serves as trustee or advisor on several regional and national boards that focus on educational equity and social justice, including the Center for Applied Linguistics, Facing History and Ourselves and Educators for Social Responsibility.

Assets created by Sonia Nieto

Title Body
Addressing Personal Biases and Prejudices Sonia Nieto gives advice to teachers who want to address their biases and prejudices.
Confronting Bias Sonia Nieto explains the value of the Teaching Diverse Students Initiative.
Culture is Personal and Ever-Changing Cultural differences not set in stone, it's ever-changing, therefore lists of traits shared by members of a culture can be dangerous.
Debunking Deficit Views Sonia Nieto points out that too often educators have a deficit view of the experiences students bring with them to school. Instead, they need to...
Expanding Teacher Self-Knowledge Sonia Nieto shares a personal story about how others' perceptions of Puerto Ricans and Spanish-speakers affected her first teaching assignment, and...
Knowledge of Self Sonia Nieto observes that in order to know their students well, teachers need to be aware of their own dispositions about race, culture and class.
Multi-Lingualism as an Asset not a Deficit Sonia Nieto describes knowledge of different language as positive and beneficial and encourages teachers to use the languages that their students...
Personal Experience of Being an ELL Building on students’ interests and linguistic resources, to learn more about building on students’ interests and linguistic resources.
Showing Caring While Having High Expectations Sonia Nieto describes the importance of teachers to show caring for their students, particularly by holding high expectations for their learning.
Using Home Language as a Resource Sonia Nieto points out that the home language of English language learners is a resource that teachers can use to enhance student learning.