17th Annual Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference

Many in our schools feel unsafe or unwelcome, particularly in this time of increased hate speech, xenophobia, and deportations. In social justice classrooms, we want to critique the world, but also take hopeful action to create the world students deserve. Participants will examine model texts and articles, write welcome poems to hang up in their schools, and draw on poems for further action that can create safe, inclusive school communities.

Some of our students live in communities that are surveilled, policed, and intentionally drained of resources, and many media outlets seem only to see — and report on — the worst. In this workshop, we give students a chance to talk back to those representations and to show us the places they love through their eyes. Students will practice wielding the twin powers of detail and dialogue to write an essay that celebrates the complex, vivid places they call home. We will run through the lesson and have time to discuss how this project can be modified for lower grades, multilingual students, and more.

If you share an affinity group identity and want to join, just show up at the location listed. You don't need to register for this session in advance. Affinity spaces are for individuals who identify with the group identity. Please only join if you share this identity.