Reading, writing, and rising up

NEA Today, Feb 2001

Learning

Helping students connect writing and justice.

Students often change their writing to make a grade. But some Jefferson High students in Portland, Oregon use their writing to make a change. That's because na author of the recently released Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word, has created a literacy-based social justice curriculum that moves student writing into the realm of social action.

Jefferson High School is located in a working-class community where students of color make up 85 percent of the school's population. For years, Christensen has worked to reach students by helping them reflect on their personal experiences and connecting them to the world of language, literature, and society.

"Students who see what's happening in their neighborhoods, who feel life is pretty unfair, are more interested in school when you can begin naming problems and figuring out how to change them," notes Christensen, a language arts coordinator and K-12 writing project director.

Students now respond to newspaper articles reporting that parents fear sending their children to Jefferson. They've written essays about their names and how, throughout history, oppressed peoples have been denied them. And they've submitted for publication "Essays with an Attitude."

Even correcting assignments becomes an object lesson. "Instead of just marking errors, we talk about the politics of language," says Christensen. "Standard language is about power-who has it and who doesn't."

Reading, Writing, and Rising Up contains these exercises, along with Christensen's essays and student Writing. Impact: Students who previously shunned school have been published in national magazines. Some have pursued journalism and film careers. Says Christensen: "The students I was most successful with didn't feel they had a sense of privilege-but felt that, through writing, they'd become empowered to change that."

For More: Contact Christensen at Lchrist@aol.com. To order Reading, Writing, and Rising Up ($12.95), call 800/669-4192 or visit www.rethinkingschools.org.