Dr. G.B. "Triz" Rodriguez

My name is Gloria Beatriz Rodríguez. I go by the names GB, Beatriz, or Dr. Rodriguez. I am also known as “Triz” or “Teach,” the names I spray on walls with aerosol paint. I am a multi-faceted Creative and educational visionary. With my lifelong artistic practice and “can’t stop, won’t stop”-will, I have been transforming classrooms across the nation and the K-16 spectrum for 25 years. My groundbreaking scholarship rolls out the evidence-based blueprints of a comprehensive “True School” Hip Hop cultural education model, offering a liberatory alternative paradigm to traditional schooling. Upon earning my PhD (UCLA, Education) in 2016, I dove full-time back into the classroom, teaching 9th grade Geography at Travis Early College High School, SAISD. In this space of daily, critical, creative action, I have mapped my innovative model onto core content curricula, richly animating and shaping young minds for their futures, and earning “distinguished” marks in the process. My exciting, practical framework for teachers and learners is laid out in full in my forthcoming book, “Remaking Education Now”. I was born in San Antonio to Cuban and Puerto Rican parents. In 2014 I co-founded Universal Style School here with my creative partner, Faustino “Dote” Aguinaga of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. Through US School, we offer a multifaceted programme of pedagogy, painting, and publications for and with youth, teachers, and communities. Visit www.universalstyleschool.org for full details.