Staff Book Recommendations: Mariela Puentes
The first book that I’m sharing is one of my absolute favorites: Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education by Annette Lareau. It talks about what cultural capital schools value, how they value it, and why this can perpetuate inequality. For example, if a school values deference over criticism, it elevates families who tend to defer to school leaders. And families who know how to navigate the school system are better able to accumulate advantages for their children.
The second book is Teaching While the World is On Fire by Lisa Delpit. It’s a collection of essays written for K-12 educators about how to help students 
navigate current events that shape our society. It encourages educators to talk about race, culture, immigration, politics with their students and provides different perspectives on how to do that. One of my friends from graduate school has a great essay for the chapter on Race Matters. Her essay, Her essay, “Don’t Say Nothing,” is about how when you don’t talk about race, you’re sending a message. We can’t afford to be silent.
