Darlene Calderón

2026 Yale & Slavery Teachers Institute Cohort Member

Darlene Calderón is a secondary English language arts educator who currently teaches at a public K-8 school in New Haven, Connecticut. She is deeply passionate about social justice and much of her work as a teacher is centered around the development and implementation of culturally sustaining practices in the ELA classroom. In addition to her work as an English teacher, Darlene has also partnered with teachers across Connecticut to facilitate literacy workshops for students from underserved communities. Through her participation in the institute, she hopes to develop an interdisciplinary unit that authentically honors Indigenous practices, epistemologies, and histories. As a practitioner of anti-bias and anti-racist teaching, she believes that such a unit—namely, one that elevates Indigenous communities—is critical to the larger project of educational equity.