{"id":1285,"date":"2026-04-23T19:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/?page_id=1285"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:21:10","slug":"faculty-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/faculty-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t \t\t\t An interview with<\/span>\n\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t

Cristina Silva Gleason<\/h2>\n\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t

Dr. Silva Gleason grew up in Brazil and Costa Rica. She received her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, and an M.A. in Counseling Education from the University of Minnesota. She is completing her doctoral dissertation in Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Minnesota<\/p>\n\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

What is something from Educational Psychology every educator should know?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s important that we understand human behavior but don\u2019t pathologize. If we can see students from the perspective of learning, growing, and developing individuals, we can come at it through a lens of curiosity… I think of child behavior as purposeful. It all means something and every action is a form of communication. As long as we are willing to engage with that, learn from it, and understand what might be there, then we are doing our job to educate, as opposed to looking at children\u2019s behavior as delinquent or combative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up outside the states, what have you seen about American culture and school systems from your studies and work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it\u2019s impossible to separate from the political climate. I mean, how could we? It\u2019s been very eye-opening to see a country that has really shifted from the time I arrived in the 2000’s to today. I see a country now whose policies mimic oppressive Latin American countries that I come from. I think what\u2019s really great about educational systems in the United States is that there are so many people deeply committed to having educational systems be changemakers. We are really teaching the next generation and doing so in the context of very oppressive historical systems. It\u2019s so interesting for me to see how hard people are working and how receptive students and families are to being a part of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another big thing for me has been, coming from Latin American countries, is how different packets of the United States are in terms of how they feel about education… There\u2019s a larger world out there, and I think we don\u2019t do a good job of recognizing that. So, wherever possible, I try to push and see where can we learn from other educational systems not in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there anything that falls outside the parameters of the \u201csystem\u201d that you encourage students to engage in?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am interested in relevancy and ensuring that our students are learning how to become better humans. The landscape continues to shift, so to me it\u2019s more important that we create systems that support and uphold healthy development across identities… Can we contextualize our learning in a way that emphasizes critical thinking skills, communication skills, innovation, and partnership? Everyone comes into every classroom with a set of skills and expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What words of advice do you have for current and future students graduating and entering their 20s?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t presume to feel like I have any words of wisdom to impart. I think that the hardest time of your life is whatever time of life you\u2019re in. But, I do think it\u2019s important to know that paths aren\u2019t linear. I have more fun when I go off-trail. I think being able to explore is important. Being able to make mistakes, having grace for ourselves, and just knowing that you\u2019ll get to where you\u2019re headed eventually. If parenthood has taught me anything, it\u2019s better when you can\u2019t control everything, and the reality is you can\u2019t control everything. So have fun with it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is something from Educational Psychology every educator should know? I think it\u2019s important that we understand human behavior but don\u2019t pathologize. If we can see students from the perspective of learning, growing, and developing individuals, we can come at it through a lens of curiosity… I think of child behavior as purposeful. It all […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1285","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1285"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1311,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1285\/revisions\/1311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}