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Welcome to the February 2025 issue of the MRA Café, a monthly publication that connects our members, inspires joyful collegiality, shares insights into literacy education, and celebrates success stories.
Diversify Your Bookshelves
Love, Learning, and Diverse Stories can Connect Us All
Though it’s the shortest month, February is overflowing with opportunities to celebrate love, learning, and the diverse stories that connect us all. This is a month of reflection and growth—from honoring Black History Month to sharing love and friendship on Valentine’s Day, to spreading kindness and joy during International Friendship Month and Random Acts of Kindness Day. Let’s make February a time to open our hearts and our bookshelves, creating classrooms that are safe, welcoming sanctuaries where every student feels seen, loved, and valued.
This February:
Diversify your bookshelves: Introduce stories that celebrate a wide range of voices, experiences, and cultures. Representation matters.
Honor Black History Month: Explore the rich history, contributions, and achievements of Black leaders, artists, and innovators.
Celebrate Love and Friendship: Valentine’s Day, International Friendship Month, and Random Acts of Kindness Day remind us to spread love, care, and compassion.
Share Stories on World Read Aloud Day: Join the global celebration on February 5th, reinforcing the joys of storytelling and the power of literacy as a fundamental human right.
Prioritize Heart Health: During American Heart Month, let’s nurture not only our physical hearts but also our emotional well-being through kindness and connection.
Together, by showing love, kindness, and acceptance, we can make February—and the world—brighter, safer, and more connected.
Upcoming Events and Programming
Below are events happening this month from our councils and committees. Other events may be found on our MRA 2025 calendar
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Nobscot Reading Council presents a virtual workshop: Trauma-Sensitive Writing Instruction with Ioanna Opidee
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MRA Board Meeting For the Love of Books and Chocolate EB at 4:00 PM, Full Board starts at 5:30 PM.
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Join Ashley Houston-King at our next DEI book club discussion via Zoom to discuss chapters 6-12 of Dr. Bettina Love's Punished for Dreaming.
MRA Community Spotlight
Graduate and Undergraduate Students
Apply Now!
The Donald L. Landry Student Awards were established to encourage Graduate and Undergraduate students to become active members of MRA. Landry Award recipients receive:
Thursday and Friday Conference Registration
Annual MRA Student Membership
Meals and Events at the Conference
Lodging Thursday night
Students enrolled in an Educational Program may Apply here by February 14, 2025
2025 MRA Conference Updates
The 54th Annual Massachusetts Reading Association Conference, Literacy & Language: Words Empower, Inspire, and Transform will be held March 27-28, 2025, with a Pre-Conference on the 26th, at the Boston Marriott Newton Hotel in Newton, MA.
Registration are now open!
Literacy Inspirations
“It is not possible to be a teacher without loving one’s students. ”
How is your heart?
In the midst of uncertainty, fear, and struggle, I want to pause and ask you this simple but profound question asked to us by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad last April.
Slide projected by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad opening Keynote address at MRA Conference April 25, 2024
“We live in a period where there’s no time for ‘urgent-free’ pedagogy…” (Muhammad, 2020, p. 54). Our students, their families, and our communities are carrying immense burdens—worrying about their safety, their futures, and the world they are inheriting. As educators, we witness this pain daily. We feel it, too.
But I want to remind you: there is power in radical love.
Love comes up often in the month of February. So let’s embrace love! Radical love is the unwavering belief that education is not just about knowledge but about liberation. It is the conviction that even in times of crisis and oppression, we can create spaces of belonging, of healing, and of hope. “All the great movements for social justice in our society have strongly emphasized …love” (hooks, 2000. P. xix).
In Start with Radical Love, Crystal Bell tells us, “In an ever-changing and highly diverse society that encompasses a rich array of races, ethnicities, cultures, languages, and sexual and gender identities as well as a range of abilities, teaching with love must be understood as an intersectional process” … The ability to both heal and inspire others due to a deeper understanding of oneself and one’s purpose in the world. This healing love … is radical love from the depths of the heart (2024, p.3-5)
Radical love serves as the foundation for creating transformative and inclusive educational spaces where all students can thrive. Here's why:
Radical love humanizes the teaching process by recognizing every student as a unique individual deserving of dignity, respect, and care. It fosters relationships built on trust and mutual understanding, allowing students to feel valued and seen.
Radical love prioritizes safety—emotional, social, and physical. It creates an environment where students from diverse backgrounds, identities, and experiences feel accepted and celebrated. When students feel safe and included, they are more likely to engage meaningfully in learning.
Radical love challenges inequities in education by actively advocating for justice and fairness. It requires teachers to confront biases and systemic barriers that hinder the success of marginalized students, ensuring all learners have equal opportunities to succeed.
Students thrive when they know their teachers care deeply about them—not just as learners but as whole people. Radical love supports academic growth by nurturing curiosity and resilience while also fostering emotional well-being and self-confidence.
By modeling radical love, teachers teach students the value of empathy, kindness, and compassion. This not only strengthens classroom dynamics but also equips students to contribute positively to their communities.
Radical love lays the groundwork for lasting relationships between teachers and students. These relationships often extend beyond the classroom, providing students with mentors who inspire them to achieve their goals and believe in their potential.
Radical love is a force for change. It empowers teachers to reimagine education as a practice of liberation, where students are encouraged to think critically, challenge injustices, and envision a more equitable future.
Educators who begin with radical love recognize that their role goes beyond delivering content—they are shaping lives, nurturing hearts, and creating the conditions for transformative learning. In a world where many students face adversity, radical love has the power to heal, inspire, and imagine a more just future.
Our role is critical and often heavy as we hold space for others while tending to our own hearts. But I also know this: every time you choose to show up with care, with courage, with love—you are resisting the deficit narratives. You are offering students not just lessons, but light.
So, I ask again: How is your heart? And how can we, as a community of educators, hold each other up? Let’s not carry this alone. Let’s lean on one another, find strength in our shared purpose, and continue the work of teaching, leading, and loving radically.
Thank you for your dedication to literacy. Together, we can ensure every student becomes a confident and capable reader, writer, and learner.
MRA information
The Massachusetts Reading Association is a professional non-profit organization of individuals whose primary purpose is to improve the quality and level of literacy in the state of Massachusetts. The MRA is affiliated with the International Literacy Association (ILA), a worldwide literacy organization. Our Mission The mission of the Massachusetts Reading Association is to promote literacy for all learners through professional development, research, publications, and advocacy.