Cal Jordan Powers
WEAVER • WONDERER • WORDSMITH
Educator • Researcher • Leader • Advocate • Organizer
Advocacy & DEI Portfolio
Cal has had a strong sense of justice since childhood and has extensive experience passionately advocating in the intersections of teacher wellbeing, world language and cultural education, environmentalism, LGBTQ+ rights, and disabled and under-resourced communities.
Cal’s Advocacy Work
Through Professionall
Advocating for Teachers
Alongside Dr. Kathleen Bailey, Cal has been working on an independent mixed-methods research project designed to fill a research gap on leadership in world language education. Cal and Kathi noted how much of the literature in teacher leadership in world language education focuses on teachers and learners of English as a Second Language, ignoring much of the field.
Lead Author & Researcher
The Leadership in World Language Education Project
2021-Present • Remote
Podcast Host & Producer
Cal hosts the Pathways Podcast, an interview podcast that explores fascinating career paths from all sectors of the education profession to better understand what makes a quality educator. Through the podcast, Cal advocates for a teacher-centered profession that values the wisdom and experience of educators, but also reduces teacher burnout and attrition.
The Pathways Podcast
2025-Present • Remote
Cal’s Advocacy Work
Before Professionall
at Immerse, Virtual Reality Language Learning
Virtual Reality Teacher of
English as a Second Language
2023–2025 • Remote
Advocating for Teacher Wellbeing
Creating Administrative Innovations
While teaching at Immerse, Cal supported the launch of the program by developing program management systems and innovations such as building a scheduling tool, a bug reporting system, and creating quick-access dashboards to organize company resources, all which advocate for reduced workloads.
Cal advocated for teachers at Immerse by creating supplemental resources to improve curricula and student engagement as well as organizing lunch chats for teachers to decompress, encouraging social interaction in a virtual workplace, then relayed teacher concerns.
Cal advised international high school students located around the globe to develop leadership skills by developing strategic and scalable research projects to address novel problems as a strategy for getting accepted to the Top 20 universities in the United States. Cal supported young leaders in the ideation and design of their research projects, aiding in identifying a unique need in their communities, choosing methods, and strategizing on maximizing the impact of the project. For example, Cal worked with a young leader in New Jersey who developed an educational advocacy series for immigrants who were pregnant with their first children and were far from their support networks.
at Crimson Education
Leadership Advisor to
Youth Community Benefit Projects
2022–2023 • Remote
at Teacher’s Discovery
Curriculum Manager & Creative Director
2021–2022 • Remote
As Curriculum Developer, Cal produced two online Spanish textbooks of comprehensible-input stories to foster communicative proficiency for K-5th grade novice learners. While carrying out these responsibilities, Cal ensured the goals of the project were achieved while guaranteeing cultural authenticity and inclusivity of resources, ultimately producing creatively rich and engaging curricula.
DEI & Advocacy Storylines
Through this work, Cal was able to feature engaging stories that subtly teach learners about diverse peoples and cultures. For example, Cal created a story about young school children using math to build an entrance ramp to the school for a young wheelchair user in their class, or the story of Marcel el Murciélago, a bat who––like real bats––is colorblind, but finds magical glasses that let him see color. Story themes include being prepared for class, sharing with others, asking for help, making friends, curiosity of other cultures, responsibility with pets, expressing emotions, and being a good sport.
Multicultural Authenticity & DEI Audit
Cal built a diverse and international team of language education professionals, freelance voice-over artists, and native Spanish speakers to manage the authenticity of the cultural content and to ensure a diversity of cultures be represented within the curricula. Cal pioneered innovation in the company’s DEI efforts, architecting a DEI Audit of the company’s catalogue of content to identify and replace problematic stereotypes with authentic diversity, integrated DEI and social emotional learning into the curricula, and trained other curriculum managers with custom resources to audit each language program’s textbooks.
Researcher & Presenter
“Understanding Teacher Burnout During a Global Pandemic”
2019–2022 • IGI Global
This presentation explores a mobile phone scavenger hunt that asks French learners to explore their cities to discover prominent French figures and their stories. The accompanying lesson plans and development materials offer accommodations for disabled students, contingencies for students without access to technology, and reminds teachers to include notes on dangerous areas of town to prioritize student safety.
Researcher & Author
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a grueling transition to distance learning that left heavy burdens on teachers. Since these conditions contributed to an unprecedented surge in teacher burnout, Cal wanted to study this phenomenon to learn about coping strategies used to reduce the symptoms of teacher burnout, to advocate for other struggling teachers, and to remind leaders of the importance of teacher wellbeing.
“Midnight in Monterey: A Geolocated Game For Adventurous French Learners”
2019–2020 • ACTFL
Graduate School Work
Graduate Research Assistant
& Editorial Assistant
2019–2021 • MIIS, TIRF, Routledge, & Bloomsbury
As Editorial Assistant, Cal worked on two research volumes and one teacher education textbook that provided valuable experience in advocating within the education profession. The Chinese-Speaking Learners book explores unique insights into some of the most salient issues for non-native speakers of English, connecting to Cal’s advocacy for creating a welcoming learning environment for all students. The Under-Resourced Contexts book offers a window into the complex challenges that disadvantaged and marginalized communities face around the world, preparing Cal to support teachers in similar contexts. The Teaching Listening and Speaking textbook uses pictures, songs, reflections, and drama techniques to prepare teachers to care for their students throughout their struggles with speaking anxiety, accentedness and intelligibility.
While studying at MIIS, Cal volunteered as Co-Chair for SOWLE 2020, the Symposium on World Language Education, a virtual student-led professional development conference for educators working in WLE.
Co-Chair of the Virtual Conference
2020 Symposium on World Language Education
2020 • Remote
From FLEDS to SOWLE, Looking Forward
Prior to 2020, the in-person conference was called the Foreign Language Education Symposium, or FLEDS and did not have an official or unique logo. While respecting tradition, Cal and Grace saw the need to look forward, and with the blessing of faculty, they changed the outdated term ‘foreign language,’ updated the logo, and organized the first virtual conference at MIIS. After, Cal organized the transfer of resources to the next generation of co-chairs by starting a Transfer of Power Doc.
The theme of the symposium to Language Education in 2020: Tackling Racial Inequities in WLE. The opening day keynote was given by Dr. Uju Anya, a leading researcher in critical race pedagogy in language education, who explained the critical role of WLE educators in reframing our students’ views on culture and race. Many of the symposium sessions provided educators simple frameworks for understanding racism and sexism, while others offered strategies to integrate these anti-racist themes.
Theme: Tackling Racial Inequities in WLE
Graduate School Coursework
In several courses, Cal had the opportunity to gain knowledge in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion practices and the integration of Social Emotional Learning into curricula. Cal’s LPA courses featured teacher advocacy research in many class readings and class projects.
Undergraduate School Work
For over two years, Cal was an officer in GLAD, UNT’s student union for LGBTQ2S+ youth, serving as President, Vice President, & Media Liaison to organize community advocacy events and lead educational trainings on Queer life, culture, and history. Cal spearheaded the change of the club name which was established years prior as “GLAD: Gay & Lesbian Association of Denton,” however, after being critiqued for excluding other identities within the LGBTQ+ community, the officers and members voted to abandon the acronym, to keep “GLAD” in honor of the club’s history, and to adopt the moniker “UNT’s Queer Alliance” to compromise.
President of
GLAD: UNT’s Queer Alliance
2015-2017 • Denton, TX
Teaching About Queer Life
Organizing Community-Building Events
To encourage students to make friends and make the most of their college experience, Cal and the other officers organized events such as Second Chance Prom & Queer Homecoming, Queer Comedy Shows, RuPaul’s Drag Race viewing parties & fantasy leagues, Open Drag Show fundraisers, the LGBTQ+ Career Fair, the Gender Fair, queer-focused professional development opportunities, events to celebrate holidays like National Coming Out Day and Trans Day of Visibility, and a vigil to honor the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting.
As an officer, Cal researched, prepared, and presented educational sessions on topics such as Gender & Sexuality, Activism, Queer Representation & Exploitation in Media, Racism & Discrimination, Safe Queer Sex, Body Positivity, and Mental Health & Ableism. As Media Liaison, Cal used social media to share educational facts about the history of LGBTQ+ rights, the Stonewall Riots, organizations like Lambda Legal and the Daughters of Bilitis, and relevant statistics on queer youth. Cal also organized health events such as HIV testing.
Outside the Boundaries of Campus
As part of the club’s programming, Cal and the officers brought in voices from outside the boundaries of campus by organizing events such as the Q&A with Garth Greenwell, author of “What Belongs to You,” or the Q&A with Professor Melissa Michelson, speaking on her new book, “Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attitudes about LGBT Rights.” Cal aided in putting on a Queer Film Series, screening films like “Tomboy,” “Saving Face,” or “Walking in Two Worlds: Embracing the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Community,” with a Keynote speech by Lenny Hayes, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe.
Amplifying All Queer Voices
The mission of GLAD includes advocating for the larger LGBTQ+ community, representing intersectionality, and increasing visibility with events such as the Queer Family Panel Series, the Queer People of Color Panel in collaboration with the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, the Women’s March of January 2017, or walking in the 2016 Dallas Pride March. Cal led Safe Space Sessions, guiding conversations to encourage students to share their experiences on topics like love, trauma, and identity. Cal also registered hundreds of college students to vote in the 2016 presidential elections, the most of any officer.
Youth Experience
Officer & Volunteer
NHS/NJHS, Band, Theatre, French Club, & Key Club
2009–2015 • BHHS
In grade school, Cal was a leader in many clubs including the Secretary of National Honor Society Secretary and its Junior counterpart, as well as serving as a Key Club volunteer. Through this work, Cal led many volunteer events with organizations like the Houston Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity.
PALs: Peers Assistance & Leadership Program
2014–2015 • BHHS
An award-winning, nationally recognized evidence-based prevention program, Cal was a PAL, nurturing and supporting youth, increasing resiliency, and building protective factors to help them achieve academic and social successes which lead to making a difference in their lives, schools, and communities.
Mentor & Tutor
Founder, Babysitting Club
2009-2015 • BHISD
To support teachers like Cal’s mother, Cal founded a babysitting club for teacher’s kids to be supervised on half-days to allow parents to focus on professional development. Cal later collaborated with PALS to turn this into a volunteer program.
Cal’s Portfolios
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