Reading and Writing as Acts of Healing and Resistance: Reimagining Literacy Spaces to Center Students

This session will examine key practices we utilize to uphold NCTE’s Committee Against Racism and Bias’ Antiracist ELA Educators’ Actions: culturally relevant and sustaining learning materials in all spaces, advocacy for every student to receive equitable educational opportunities and teaching and learning stances that are culturally sustaining.

The practices we have utilized include:

- A summer writing institute which partners teen writers with BIPOC and LGBTQ writers as mentors in a writing community

- Literacy events which connect preteens and teens with BIPOC, LGBTQ and bilingual authors in person and virtually and with each other as writers in a writing community

Student participants in these literacy experiences will co- facilitate this session to discuss the power and impact of these actions on themselves and their view of literacy in their lives.