About

I am an educator. I love exploring a wide range of disciplines and ideas, finding the beautiful connections and puzzles between them. I enjoy tangents, both mathematical and conversational. I love a good metaphor and I love the ellipsis…

I started this blog to talk about a few of my favorite things: Community, culture, language, languaging, arts, identity, education.

“The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one. One of the dictionary definitions of the verb “to claim” is: to take as the rightful owner; to assert in the face of possible contradiction. “To receive” is to come into possession of: to act as receptacle or container for; to accept as authoritative or true. The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon…”

Adrienne Rich

Here is the third-person version of my bio with a little more info y un poquito más formal…

Olivia Mulcahy has been a bilingual educator for over 20 years. She currently supports teachers, schools, and districts in developing multilingual and multicultural practices and programs through her work at the Illinois Resource Center. Olivia previously worked at the Office of Language and Cultural Education at the Chicago Public Schools where she initially led the Dual Language Education Initiative and ultimately was in charge of district guidance and support to all bilingual and ESL programs. Prior to this work, Olivia taught middle school students in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Her teaching practice was rooted in supporting students’ bilingualism and biliteracy development, designing inclusive and culturally-responsive curriculum, and integrating the arts across subject areas. Olivia was raised in a proudly multilingual home and is raising her 3 children in a proudly multilingual home. 

Olivia Mulcahy ha sido educadora por más de 20 años. Actualmente apoya a maestros, escuelas y distritos en el desarrollo de prácticas y programas multilingües y multiculturales a través de su trabajo en el Illinois Resource Center. Olivia trabajó anteriormente en la Oficina de Educación Lingüística y Cultural en las escuelas públicas de Chicago, donde inicialmente encabezó la Iniciativa de Educación en Dos Idiomas y luego estuvo a cargo de la orientación y los apoyos proporcionados por el distrito escolar a los programas bilingües y los del estudio de inglés como segundo idioma. Anteriormente, Olivia fue maestra durante nueve años en una escuela intermedia en el barrio de La Villita en Chicago. Su práctica docente se basaba en apoyar el bilingüismo y el desarrollo de la lectoescritura en dos idiomas, diseñando un currículo inclusivo y culturalmente receptivo, e integrando las artes en las áreas temáticas. Olivia fue criada en un hogar orgullosamente multilingüe y está criando a sus 3 hijos en un hogar orgullosamente multilingüe.