Sonia Nieto is a Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy and Culture at the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she focuses on the field of multiculturalism. She has won several awards in her field, including the 1997 Multicultural Educator of the Year award from the National Association for Multicultural Education, the 2005 Educator of the Year Award from the National Council of Teachers of English,^[1] and honorary doctorates from Lesley University (1999), Bridgewater State College (2004), and DePaul University (2007).^[2]

Nieto was raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she attended the public school systems. She later attended St. Johns University, where she received her B.S. in Elementary Education. Later, she studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, receiving her M.A. in Spanish and Hispanic Literature. In the following years she taught in Brooklyn and the Bronx until moving to Massachusetts and receiving her doctorate in curriculum studies with concentrations in multicultural and bilingual education, from the University of Massachusetts in 1979.^[3] In May 2017, Nieto delivered the commencement address for the Graduate School of Education at St. John's University in New York City, where she reflected on her life work and her undergraduate days at St. John's.

About her work

Nieto's book Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education (the fifth edition of which is co-authored by Patty Bode) explores the public school systems and describes how they fail to serve many students, particularly children of color and those who live in poverty. Her text describes structural flaws in the education system and how to challenge them in the classroom. Affirming Diversity also includes multiple case studies of students of various sociocultural backgrounds.

Nieto's work seeks to shed light on common institutional policies and practices (racism, inequality, discrimination, and other forms of exclusion) in multicultural learning environments and to show teachers how to effectively confront these challenges. According to her, institutional policies and practices that jeopardize student learning are evident at many different levels: negative societal ideologies, inequitable power relationships, rigid national policies, unresponsive school districts, and even the biases and beliefs of teachers themselves.

Her books also offer activities both in the classroom and out that the teacher can engage in with students, colleagues, and community members to provide an enhanced learning environment. Her book also offers web resources for a multimedia learning experience.

Other publications

Nieto has written dozens of journal articles and book chapters and is also author of several books (see "Works" below).

Nieto is also a signatory to the Support 4 Bill Ayers petition, which has been signed by more than 3000 academics.

Works

• Nieto, Sonia (2018). Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives for a New Century (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781315465685. OCLC 945948341. A compilation of previously published journal articles and book chapters.
• ——; Bode, Patty (2012). Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 9780131367340. OCLC 704907645.
• —— (2010). The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities (Tenth anniversary ed.). New York: Teachers College Press. ISBN 9780807750544. OCLC 965457387.
• —— (2002). What Keeps Teachers Going?. New York: Teachers College Press. ISBN 9780807743126. OCLC 471662211.

As editor

• Nieto, Sonia, ed. (2010). Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415999687. OCLC 277196027.
• Nieto, Sonia, ed. (2005). Why We Teach Now. New York: Teachers College Press. ISBN 9780807755877. OCLC 898092719.
• Nieto, Sonia, ed. (2000). Puerto Rican Students in U.S. Schools. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 9780805827651. OCLC 710022856.

References

Sources

• "About Sonia Nieto". Why We Teach. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2018.