Work in Progress: Conversations about Writing, Being Writers, and Teaching Writing for Social Justice
On March 14, 2015, the Passions, Pedagogies, and Publics research cluster hosted the third in a series of public events that aim to give participants an opportunity to see how writing is being taught and used as a tool for learning in various disciplines, to explore connections to their own teaching contexts, and to generate strategies and recommendations for understanding and teaching writing in the province—from Kindergarten through post-secondary education. This final conversation was a half-day writing workshop held at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, which invited educators to talk about writing, being writers, and teaching writing for social justice.
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On March 14, 2015, K-16 educators with a shared interest in writing for/as human rights gathered at the newly opened Canadian Museum of Human Rights for a half-day writing workshop.
Former teacher and workshop facilitator, Beth Albers-Jones shared her rich experiences writing and making meaning with children. Through a variety of vignettes from her own classroom, Albers-Jones especially encouraged those who teach writing to be writers themselves. She stressed the importance for students who are beginning to use writing as a tool for social justice to hear how their teachers explore, advocate, and persuade through their own writing. She also encouraged teachers and students to read widely and find strong mentor texts that would inspire and guide writing practices. Most of the workshop was devoted to finding participants some time and space for writing and the sharing of works-in-progress, which were pieces of writing in various developmental stages that participants were encouraged to bring to the workshop. Participants had time to do a short autobiographical free-write to share with the whole group. They were then divided into small groups of shared teaching or social justice issues to share writing, discuss pedagogical strategies, and gain feedback from one another. The Canadian Museum of Human Rights was a stunning architectural location to host this event. After the lunch that was provided, workshop participants were invited to continue their conversations with one another and with the ideas of writing for/as social justice as they experienced the museum. |