Renée Almatierra (she/ her)

My name is Renée Almatierra and I am an Academic Advisor, an Educator and an Artist.In addition to teaching this class at North, I also teach classes at Lake WashingtonInstitute of Technology and with the Center for Linguistic and Cultural Democracy.

My areas of expertise and interests are in Indigenous and decolonizing art, culturally responsive teaching, adult teaching with a dual language approach, anti-bias work, and social justice work. I am bilingual, bicultural, and I have a great interest in knowing the cultures and languages of all my students. I have a Master of Arts in Education with an emphasis on Andragogy and Dual Language Learners and a Master of Fine Arts inIndigenous and Decolonizing Art.

What I like most about teaching college classes is getting to know and learning with all the students, who are incredibly bright and creative.

I speak English and Spanish fluently, and am learning my ancestral language of P'urhépecha. I speak a few words in French, Mandarin, Garifuna, Japanese, Patoi, Nahuatl and Vietnamese.

I love to hike, run, and backpack. Spending time in nature is both healing and invigorating to me. I love to sing and dance and drum! I play the conga, djembe, bombabarril, huehuetl, shekere and maraca. I have performed with a Oaxacan dance group, an Aztec Danza group and a Puerto Rican Bomba group here in Seattle. I also love to read. Right now I am reading "Gathering Moss" by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Over the next ten to eleven weeks, I am very much looking forward to diving into the topics of this course with all of you, and hope to learn about your experiences in an academic setting. I want to hear about your challenges, triumphs, setbacks and successes as they relate to your college experience. I want to know what inspires you, what motivates you, what you are curious about, and any feelings of nervousness or anxiety you may have about being a college student. My goal is for all of us to create a positive co-learning environment, where we are all both the teachers and the students.I hope you all walk away from this course having learned more about yourselves, each other, and all the wonderful resources that are available to you that will help you to be successful in your academic journey.

I look forward to being in a learning community with all of you!