Writing and Working for Change
from NCTE INBOX 9-27-11
In 2011, NCTE will celebrate its 100th year of continued support to teachers of English, writing, composition, and rhetoric. The Writing and Working for Change Committee was formed in 2010 to "highlight the collective work of teachers within and across diverse identities to ensure the field recognizes and respects the language, educational, political, and social rights of all students and teachers." A preview of this work can be found in the September 2011 issue of The Council Chronicle; a full interview can be found on the NCTE website. The following resources from NCTE share the commitment of the National Council of Teachers of English to social justice and equality.
Three of NCTE’s core values -- writing, diversity, and advocacy -- are discussed and explored in the English Journal article "Sustaining NCTE Values" (G).
Collaborative dialogue and inquiry among teachers help promote more equitable learning opportunities and outcomes for students, as described in the Language Arts article "Teacher Inquiry for Equity: Collaborating to Improve Teaching and Learning" (E).
In "Paying Attention: Talking about Social Justice in a Reading Intervention Program" (M) from Voices from the Middle, one teacher tells her story of inviting rich discussion about a variety of issues -- including racism, sexism, and poverty -- in a classroom targeting 8th and 9th graders in a reading intervention program.
"Texts, Talk . . . and Fear? English Language Arts Teachers Negotiate Social Justice Teaching" (TE) from English Education focuses on teachers working for social justice in their classrooms and shares new directions to understanding this complex topic.
"'The Expression of Wise Others': Using Students' Views of Academic Discourse to Talk about Social Justice" (C) from Teaching English in the Two-Year College describes the process of building on students' views about academic discourse to talk about issues of privilege, access, and the banking concept of education, thus providing a constructive and organic approach to making social justice issues relevant for students' lives.
Exploring language practices, beliefs, and management in a first-year writing program, "Enacting and Transforming Local Language Policies" (C) from College Composition and Communication, considers the obstacles and opportunities associated with transforming language policy and enacting a new multilingual norm in US postsecondary writing instruction.
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