Highlights from NYPL's Summer Residency for Educators with 2024 Resident Maria Elena Martinez
The New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools is devoted to making all of the Library’s resources accessible and useful for educators through book lists, credit-bearing workshops, special access to exhibitions, tips on teaching with primary source materials from our vast research collections, and much more.
As we open applications for another year of the Summer Residency with NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools, we join 2024 resident Maria Elena Martinez in conversation about her experiences and takeaways from the residency.
Plus, apply today to our 2025 Summer Residency, Mother Tongues, by April 27, 2025! Participation in the residency includes lunch and lodging for the duration of the program, round-trip travel to New York City, and a $1,000 program stipend. Apply now!
The Summer Residency is presented in partnership with the Whiting Foundation.
About the 2025 Summer Residency, Mother Tongues
At our annual summer residency, NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools will be inviting educators to reimagine what language mastery means and humanize their pedagogical approaches. This residency will examine the powerful intersections between language and culture, memory, and belonging to explore how linguistic practices shape and are shaped by personal and collective histories.
Over the course of a week, participants will delve into critical and creative perspectives on multilingualism and language through access to NYPL’s world-class collections. Through a series of discussions, workshops, and collaborative activities, educators will reflect on language as a living, evolving force that challenges conventions and drives connection between us.
What drew you to apply to the educator residency?
I was initially drawn to apply to the educator residency because of its title “Dangerous Books.” It sparked questions in my mind: “What books?” “Dangerous to whom?”
Simultaneously, I considered my ever-present goal as a social studies teacher to further include my students’ experiences—and their own history—in the classroom, especially at a time in which preserving their stories might be challenged or considered dangerous. After reading about the experience of previous educators and their hands-on experiences with books, maps, and other print media, I became even more enthusiastic about the possibility of being a summer resident.
What’s something you learned from other teachers at the residency?
By the end of the residency, through our shared lesson plans, I reflected upon the importance and power of words by way of their incorporation in writing and visual expression. Everyone shared a passion for teaching and an openness to subject-matter, while individually bringing to the table their varying backgrounds in areas like English, history, art, libraries, and administration. We also all came from different regions of the U.S., so while our experiences in educational settings were different, we felt comfortable to share our stories and obstacles related to content and censorship.
Together, we became collaborators, learning about each other and our students, and some of us have even generated the idea of our classes establishing pen pals with one another, as an extension of cultural exchange via traditional letter writing.
What’s something you've applied from the residency to your own classroom?
I have intentionally applied storytelling in my classroom. In the session about Pura Belpre and Augusta Baker hosted by Professor Marilisa Jiménez García, ideas about enrichment and inclusivity in the stories we read and tell were affirmed. This encouraged me to guide my students in researching their families’ migration stories.
From their collected information, they created a foldable zine. On one full side of the zine, students illustrated their family migration map. On the other side, students documented a family member's migration story. Some wrote about their own journey to the United States. In doing so, they captured their family history through artistic expression, which now finds a home in the community archive of our classroom.
What is something you’d want people participating in the educator residency this year to know?
I would want educators participating in the residency this year to be prepared to be amazed by the depth of knowledge and expertise by those leading the sessions. Know that the NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools has planned an amazing curriculum and will set time aside for meaningful engagement with materials and with fellow residents to share ideas and lessons.
Also, know that while the days are fully planned, there is also time in the evenings to explore New York City and socialize with fellow resident-educators.
How might the topic of this year’s residency “Mother Tongues” be useful to teachers like you?
This year’s residency topic, “Mother Tongues,” might be useful to teachers who desire to maintain an inclusive, culturally-rich classroom, at a time in which one language, English, is seen as dominant. Like our residency’s topic, “Dangerous Books,” placed emphasis on dangerous as a categorization on materials, languages might be viewed as threatening.
It is important to emphasize the ways in which language preserves stories, and contributes to them through active dialogue. By participating in this year’s residency, participants can study with one another and, in discussion, find ways for their individual voices to educate and encourage their communities.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Applications now open! Summer Residency with NYPL's Center for Educators & Schools
Deadline: Sun, April 27 | 11:59 PM PST
The CES Summer Residency is a one-week program for teachers invested in teaching with the Library’s collections. Participation in the residency includes lunch and lodging for the duration of the program, round-trip travel to New York City, and a $1,000 program stipend. Presented in partnership with the Whiting Foundation.
Maria Elena Martinez is a high school social studies teacher in Southern California. She teaches World History and Latin American Studies, and creates lessons in which students can preserve their history in creative formats.
Explore More from NYPL's Center for Educators and Schools
The New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools (CES) is devoted to making all of the Library’s resources accessible and useful for educators. You’ll find programs and services tailored for the educator community, such as book lists, credit-bearing workshops, special access to exhibitions, tips on teaching with primary source materials from our vast research collections, and much more: nypl.org/ces