Stirring Up Justice: Adolescents Reading, Writing, and Changing the World

Teaching a diverse population of adolescents to be writers, readers, and active citizens requires fundamental changes in curriculum development, teaching strategies, and student roles in the classroom. In this article, two educators report on their collaboration in an urban high school in Portland, Oregon, USA, to create a classroom where students of diverse backgrounds learned to ask critical questions, to support one another, and to work toward positive social change. Curriculum and teaching in this classroom were choreographed around one central theme: social activism. The authors designed a project in which students worked toward creating positive social change. By sharing their individual projects as they prepared them in and out of class, students learned that activism is not a solo process and that influencing change grows with support and camaraderie. Using a range of literacy activities, including reading biographies of activists, creating gallery displays, writing essays, revising written work, interviewing activists, and teaching other class members, the students learned the power of using their literacy to make changes in the world.