2019 ITEM Fall Conference

On Saturday morning, Kelly D. Holstine, the Director of Educational Equity at OutFront Minnesota (the largest LGBTQ+ civil rightsgroup in the state) and the 2018 MN State Teacher of the Year will give the keynote Every Heart Matters: Why I Stand Up and Teach. This presentation highlights the importance of owning flaws and prioritizing one’s own mental health in order to make more authentic connections with others. Holstine will reveal the roles that vulnerability and courageous connections have in creating equity for every heart. She will also reveal how working through her own personal struggles has helped her to become a better teacher and a healthier human being. Holstine will additionally share how her personal journey of being a gender non-conforming, lesbian teacher and her decision to boycott the annual Teacher of the Year White House visit (she could not implicitly show support for an administration that actively discriminates against her students and her community) has re-ignited her fire to stand up for humans who have been historically marginalized and oppressed.