9th-12th Grade English and ESL Teacher in Chicago, IL
Lincoln Park High School
2024-25 Fellow Isela Ponce teaches English and ESL at Lincoln Park High School entering her 16th year as an educator. Isela’s planning and teaching embraces interdisciplinary concepts and learning which is why she is drawn to the possibilities Food Education will bring to her practice this year. She looks forward to the joy, curiosity, familiarity and connection students will experience in the classroom through the Food Education standards. Isela is deeply committed to cultivating critically conscious learning environments by amplifying the stories and impact of Black and brown thinkers through her curriculum and advocating for equitable learning conditions for students from historically marginalized communities. When she is not trying to keep up with her three small children, she likes to read, dream, build and process with anyone who believes a just world is possible.
Favorite Food Education Standard:
FES #1- Food connects us to each other – exploring the ways we are all deeply interconnected through literature and inquiry can help us understand our responsibilities to each other as fellow humans. Food is a major source of that human connection that fosters cross cultural communication and understanding and helps us maintain our ties and pride in our homelands and cultural identities.
A Favorite Food Memory or Recipe:
I have countless memories of being in my grandmother’s kitchen and wondering how a fairly small but seemingly endless warm pot of frijoles de la olla was enough to feed every aunt, uncle and cousin that walked in the back door. The spoonfuls of frijoles placed in a warm tortilla de harina topped with a few drops of her delicious homemade salsa or a sprinkle of queso cotija was the most comforting and satisfying way to energize the hours of cousin play time that followed in the basement.
What I’m Most Excited About as a New Fellow:
I am so excited to try something new and different in the classroom this year! I anticipate that learning and breaking bread with the wonderful young people I have the privilege of teaching will create positive food and education memories for us to appreciate for years to come.
