Liz Lyons, Experienced Teacher. Elizabeth Lyons received her BS in English 7-12 and an MA in English from Buffalo State College. She is currently teaching 11th grade at Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, where she has been teaching since 2004.  She is a strong advocate for the incorporation of culturally responsive teaching and multimodal literacies in the English classroom, most notably in her own classroom through the development of the Injustice Project. The Injustice Project was a research-based project where students explored social justice issues in their community, resulting in the development of a research paper and an art-based representation of their research. She was honored in 2013 with the SPCA Judy Silver Humane Educator of the Year for excellence in providing lessons of kindness and compassion to children through her work at BAVPA in the development of Tolerance Day. Tolerance Day was an event at BAVPA that served as a platform to discuss and explore issues related to the need for greater tolerance on every level. Previous guests have included Burmese photojournalist Law Eh Soe, the Alison DeForges Memorial Institute, the Sister Karen Klimczak Center, the Anne Frank Project, Kids on the Block, GLYSS, and Joe Diamond, a Holocaust Survivor.