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Roberto
Multicultural Classroom Co-Founder
Educator & Poet
Travels from: Tampa, FL

“Lorena and Roberto Germán are one of the most dynamic speakers of the 21st century by weaving art, history, and culture into a call of action. Their keynote at the Montessori for Social Justice Conference was everything. I have only wanted to listen to one other keynote speaker and that was Bryan Stevenson. But once this dynamic and loving duo started, I was glued to my seat. Their powerful message urged each of us to find our joy as a means of resistance and radical healing.” —Britt Hawthorne, Anti-Racist Anti-Bias Guide

Roberto is a Dominican American author, poet and spoken word artist. He was born in Lawrence, MA to immigrant parents. Growing up, Roberto turned to poetry as a means for expressing himself and dealing with his frustrations. When he was twenty years old, Roberto introduced and co-led a spoken word movement in the city of Lawrence that took the city by storm from 2001-2003. This movement became the beginning of a writing revolution that inspired young people in the city of Lawrence to find their voices through the arts, particularly spoken word poetry and rap. He accomplished this with his former performing arts group, the Soul Kaliber Movement, and by his ability to collaborate with diverse organizations and individuals.

Later, Roberto turned to education and after becoming a secondary teacher, he blossomed into a school leader. At St. John’s Prep in Massachusetts, he was Director of Multicultural Affairs and Community Development for seven years. Then, an Assistant Principal at a local public middle school, and then a founding staff member of Magnolia Montessori for All, Austin, Texas’s first public Montessori. Lastly, he was also Director of the Middle School at Headwaters School where he brought inclusivity and social justice ideas into every aspect of his work. Today, as Executive Director of Multicultural Classroom, he supports schools and organizations with strategies for anti bias and anti racist teaching and learning.

He is driven by integrity, faith, family, justice, and more. His work is reflective of these values, characterized by passion, supporting young people, and a dedication to excellence. This can all be seen in through his interactions with his audiences. A graduate of Merrimack College and Boston College, he’s been an educator and school leader for over 15 years. His writing has been featured in Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide (Hawthorne 2022), Speaking for Ourselves Anthology (2019), Edutopia, and others. His first poetry book Blue Ink Tears (2023) focuses on identity, love, relationships and more. Currently, he’s Executive Director of Multicultural Classroom and lives in Tampa, FL with his wife and three children.

Blue Ink Tears

Poetry

Since 7th grade, poetry has been an outlet for Roberto Germán. It has helped him navigate all of who he is and what he feels. In college, as he looked across all the pages and all the tears shed in blue ink, he realized he had a book in his hands; a compilation of all his secrets and wonderings. Blue Ink Tears is for those that understand what it is to live the beautiful struggle, and to offer insight to those that don’t.

In this three-part bilingual poetry collection, Roberto tells stories about love, relationships, race, identity, and more. Written over the span of 20 years, you’ll hear from teen Roberto all the way to him as an adult.

A visit with Roberto Germán

Roberto offers a variety of programs for youth of all ages ranging from discussions and training on anti-racism to poetry workshops. All of Roberto’s programs can be customized to fit the needs of your school or event. Most programs include a short presentation from Roberto on your topic of choice and then a lively and interactive discussion / workshop / activity with the students.

Roberto’s workshops on poetry, antiracism, and identity target narrative writing skills, poetry techniques, verbal expression, exploration of social studies issues, opportunities for basic social and emotional learning, and more. They work well within humanities classrooms from early elementary through high school and beyond.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • How long are Roberto’s programs? The programs range from 30 minutes to 1 hr and 30 min.
  • How many classroom visits will Roberto do in one day? It depends on the respective school schedule but potentially up to 5 or 6 classroom visits.
  • Can Roberto visit multiple classrooms or schools at different locations? Yes, as long as we work together to make the logistics of the schedule as smooth as possible.

Keynote: Writing to Be Free

In this keynote, Roberto encourages people to write and use it as a tool for their liberation. We carry so much within ourselves and writing can be a useful process for exhaling what we didn’t know was inside of us. Through this keynote, Roberto will integrate notions of writing in schools and how they are tied to race and culture. Many youth entangled with the justice system are identified as practically illiterate. Many people have deep anxiety about writing. Writing, for too long, was seen as something for upper class White people. We can make a change.

Workshop: Writing in Community

There is power in community and switching our mind frame from an individualist approach to a collectivist one, is a powerful step. Through a reading and prompting framework, participants will be pushed to think and write in vulnerable ways. Grounded in June Jordan’s theories of “Poetry for the People”, bell hooks and her ideas about love and community, and other literary and activist thinkers, these sessions will ultimately offer participants a chance to refresh and renew their relationship to writing. There is a sharing period where writers can voice what has come through their pen, and in this way we build community and model the impact writing can have on us.

Workshop: Unpacking Ourselves

In this 2 hour session, participants explore key concepts to understand bias while gaining an understanding for the state of education in the U.S. today. They also learn about culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, Alim 2017) as an approach for their practice and plan for steps they can take and adjustments they can make for a better practice. Additionally, participants will receive a planning/reflection tool they can keep and use for ongoing reflection.

Workshop: Truth-Telling: A Strategy for Teaching Counter Narratives

One way education can move us forward and through racism is by intentionally teaching about racism. Truth-telling is part of the purpose of teaching and that requires students developing counter narratives (Delgado, et al 1995). Due to the long-standing biased curriculum in U.S. schools, along with biased media and other sources, we have developed a racialized imagination gap (Thomas 2019). Education and educators can do better, once we know better. In this session, participants will learn about designing lessons (in any subject) to explicitly teach counter-narratives and move students into anti bias and anti racist learning. We should fight for the future we want to see, and we can do it through our classrooms.

Workshop: Rap and Race: A Redefinition

Through presentation, individual reflection, group dialogue, along with excerpts of music and film, this workshop explores race by analyzing spoken word poetry and rap music and its global impact. This workshop seeks to help participants’ develop an understanding and appreciation of content-based rap music as part of multicultural education.

Workshops for Youth

On Masculinity 

Boys & young men are welcomed to join in a conversation about life, love, changes, and more. We will share, question, and wonder all while building community and exploring truth.

Writing in Community

Participants are engaged in writing prompts and community time centered around Blue Ink Tears poems and others. They are provided with modeling and tips for spoken word style sharing.

Expressive Writing

Participants explore and analyze their feelings and the way various their feelings can be expressed, particularly through the arts.

City of Promise

Participants will examine the promise that exists in our respective communities and use writing as a means to make meaningful connections, think critically, express ourselves and celebrate the work of others.

Storytelling through Music

Participants will examine song lyrics in various genres, analyze the story being told, name the literary devices, and make real-world connections. Then they will begin the process of writing their own story through song.

Multicultural Classroom Books & Curriculum

Multicultural Classroom Podcast

Multicultural Classroom Blog

Multicultural Classroom Courses

Professional Development

4 Tips for School Leavers Starting DEI Work

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Recipient of the St. John’s Preparatory School MLK Social Justice Award, 2019
Multicultural Classroom | Cofounder & Executive Director
Boston College, Lynch School of Education | Masters in Educational Administration

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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