My name is Steven Arenas, and I’m a proud product of Arizona public schools. I’m currently in my 8th year as a high school English educator. I spent the first four years of my career in the Tolleson Union High School District; however, I currently teach Freshmen English in the Phoenix Union High School District. This year is also unique in that it is my first year as the head football coach at my high school. I earned both my BA in secondary education and a master’s degree from Arizona State University. I also serve as a teacher consultant for the Central Arizona Writing Project and am an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2016 I was a recipient of the NCTE Early Career Educator of Color in Leadership award. This opportunity proved to be a transformative moment in my teaching career as I was able to engage with likeminded teachers, scholars, and authors from across the country. In the future, I aspire to become National Board Certified and earn my doctorate degree.
My passion for literacy was cultivated by the contemporary voices of the Chicano/a Renaissance of the 1960s. With this in mind, I work to develop an inclusive multicultural literacy curriculum. I am a committed advocate of young adult literature and slam poetry in the secondary ELA classroom. A social justice educator and an advocate for ethnic studies, I’ve created a literacy pedagogy that honors and sustains students’ home culture, language, and experiences. By incorporating a multicultural frame, I encourage my students to use their understanding of literacy as a tool to matriculate through colleges and universities. When not teaching, I enjoy spending time with his wife, Lizeth, son, Gabriel, and daughter, Eiva.
