Abstract
This article builds upon more than 6 years of critical research in urban schools in northern California to offer a particular perspective on teaching for social justice. Concerned with prevailing issues in adolescent literacy, this article examines instantiations of literacy instruction in the shadow of the late activist poet June Jordan and with the support of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker. It focuses on culturally responsive pedagogy to understand not only their work but also the work of teachers and other educators. Central to the discussion are two kinds of pedagogical innovations, one based on a school-community partnership and the other a district-wide sponsored writing contest. Implications for classroom practice and key lessons useful for teachers interested in similar work are also discussed.
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Notes
All names are pseudonyms, except for Alice Walker, June Jordan, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Special thanks to students, teachers, and administrators for assisting in the construction of this narrative.
Different from a haiku or a tanka, a t’ang poem consists of four lines with five one-syllable words per line, each word either a verb or a noun.
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Jocson, K.M. Steering Legacies: Pedagogy, Literacy, and Social Justice in Schools. Urban Rev 41, 269–285 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-008-0103-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-008-0103-0