I Will Screw This Up / Teaching Today
by Dina Strasser · Published 09/24/2025 · Last modified 10/01/2025
For Dina Strasser, the Pledge is not a real-time reflection of our nation’s status. It’s an expression of the liberty and justice for all towards which we strive. “Most of all, it is a pledge: a commitment. A promise that school professionals physically make and renew each day.”
If you teach students from immigrant families, EL teacher Dina Strasser is offering her list of “what can I do?” actions to prepare and support them. How you honor your duty of care depends on your students’ needs, your district’s policies and resources, and your political environment.
Rather than fixating on immigrant parents’ economic conditions and languages as deficits and labeling them as unable to contribute to their children’s education, ML specialist Tan Huynh advocates for an assets-affirming narrative, sharing the instructive story of his own mother.
