In this episode of Our Classroom, host Roberto Germán explores how emotion and identity serve as the gateway to authentic literacy engagement. Drawing from his presentation Reading with Purpose, Writing with Passion, Roberto invites educators to rethink what truly keeps students — especially reluctant and multilingual writers — from fully engaging with reading and writing.

Through student testimony, classroom strategies, and reflections from Blue Ink Tears, this episode centers literacy as a human experience before it becomes an academic one. When students are seen, heard, and affirmed, reading and writing transform from tasks into tools for expression, healing, and connection.

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Welcome to Our Classroom
1:10 – What Keeps Students from Engaging with Literacy
3:00 – Emotion as an Entry Point to Writing
5:00 – Identity, Language & Student Confidence
7:00 – Books as Mirrors, Not Just Texts
9:00 – Instructional Strategies that Humanize Literacy
11:30 – A Writing Invitation You Can Use Tomorrow
13:00 – Patterns Across Classrooms
14:30 – Teach in Truth, Lead with Courage (CTA)

Featured Student Voice

“When he talked about his feelings, it made me more confident to talk about mine.” — José Reyes, 9th Grade, Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School

Resources & Next Steps

• Blue Ink Tears by Roberto Germán

• Author Visits & Workshops: multiculturalclassroom.com

• Follow: @multiculturalclassroom

Join the Community

Teach in Truth.

Lead with Courage.

Belong to a Community That Gets It.

Join My Classroom Gold — a community of educators committed to equity, truth, and impact.

In this episode of Our Classroom, host Roberto Germán explores what it means to boldly serve boys of color—not just academically, but emotionally, culturally, and holistically. Drawing from Roberto’s live session at the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Annual Convention in Denver, Colorado, this conversation centers identity, storytelling, emotional literacy, and high expectations rooted in love.

If you teach, mentor, parent, coach, or work alongside boys of color, this episode offers concrete shifts in mindset and practice that affirm humanity rather than manage behavior.

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Welcome to Our Classroom

1:00 – Why Boys of Color Need Better Support

2:30 – Emotion Is Not Defiance

4:30 – When Boys Are Seen, They Speak

6:00 – Identity Is Complex, Not Confused

7:30 – Commitments for Educators

10:00 – Create Space, Not Silence

11:30 – Teach in Truth, Lead with Courage

• Anger as communication, not misbehavior

• Storytelling and poetry as emotional containers

• Identity as complex, multilingual, whole

• High expectations as a form of love

• Rewriting deficit narratives in classrooms

• Creating space rather than controlling behavior

Teach in truth.

Lead with courage.

Belong to a community that gets it.

Become a founding member of My Classroom Gold — a community for educators committed to equity, truth, and impact.

Follow @multiculturalclassroom

Subscribe to Our Classroom on all platforms

Explore resources at multiculturalclassroom.com

If this message resonated, share it with someone who serves boys of color and help build a culture of love, truth, and accountability.

In this episode of Our Classroom, Roberto Germán shares a powerful testimony from community member Justin Luttrull about a moment that unfolded in a breakout session at Calvin University.

A professor teaching about book bans and the difference between harmful books and books that expose harm cited the work of Lorena Germán — and mentioned that he listens to Roberto’s podcast.

This unexpected story, coming from a white professor in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serves as a reminder that our work travels farther than we ever see. It speaks to representation, legacy, and the impact of culturally grounded education across communities and generations.

This is an episode about encouragement, legacy, and the quiet ways our work changes the world.

0:00 – Welcome to Our Classroom
1:00 – Justin’s Testimony
2:30 – Representation in Unexpected Places
4:30 – Why This Matters for Educators
6:00 – Staying Faithful to the Work
7:30 – A Call to Community
9:00 – Outro: Keep Leading with Curiosity