This is very real. I teach at an urban high school and I can see all too often that students will graduate and often be right back in their neighborhoods they grew up in struggling to obtain or maintain social mobility. I talked to one student that is at the community college and he is working a full time as stock worker for Wal Mart and a part time job for the high school. He has school from 8AM-2PM, then comes to the school to work from 3-5:30 and then has work from 9 PM til 5 AM. This schedule does not include time for him to work on school, let alone sleep. He is just one example of many low-income non-white students.

Interesting at my school, we still call them "Hall Sweeps." However if a student is swept, then they can get held for processing and potentially miss the entire class period. Many times I have had students miss entire periods of instruction because they were a minute or two late.

This is what I believe many teachers want from the students we teach. We want students to find their voice to address their needs and wants as they are on their journey of life. The manner in which we go about it is different and the ways we try to create student agency may be different upon the context but I believe the goals many students have is the same.

The example of how perception is reality.

This is a great example of student led and student centered writing. This project is designed to get students to think critically about their surroundings and then write about this from personal experience on top of synthesized information.

Having students switch their perspectives about themselves and their role in our world is critical.

Can anyone further explain this definition? I think this is describing the idea that context matters and determines spatial justice.

These should be foundation questions that should guide teachers in their practice

This kind of answers my thought to the DuBois quote earlier in the article. It is only when marginalized people tell their stories that then it begins to challenge the people in power (or that is the way I am interpreting it).

This is so real for me. There are so many articles and statistics so support this but on a personal and practical level I rarely see Black men in my Advanced Placement and Honors classes and the narrative around a lot of Black adolescent males (if it is not centered around their athleticism) is centered around the lack of qualities they have to "make it in the real world."

I am curious in what DuBois meant when he said "keep broad ideals?"

This quote is very powerful to me. It gives the obvious statement of the power of education, but it argues that the lack of quality education to all will challenge our very way of life. I feel like this is not true in some aspects because the lack of quality education is designed ignorance and controlled social mobility. However, on the other hand, it is through the inequality and inequity that we see misrepresented people fighting to challenge and dismantle the unfair education system.

It is very interesting, we see a religion brought to native lands by the colonizers as sacred but yet the ideas and concepts of religion that the indigenous believe in we look at as folklore.

These questions can be used in all aspects of literacy. In a lot of instances, it shows a white mainstream Euro-centric perspective. This is why the history of many minority cultures (and specifically tribal nations) do not exceed a chapter in the history books.

This is so real. When you crush and distort the dreams of an enslaved person...their dreams and ideas of freedom will also become crushed and distorted. What they will fight for, believe in, and resist will be changed as well.

In the high school where I teach, people refer to the class as "English" and the official title of the Language Arts classes are "English." This immediately gives superiority to those who can master White Mainstream english or are familiar with grammatical terms according to white mainstream English.

One example: When reading the book about the Salem witch trials. Often the story is taught from the lense of blissfully ignorant white girls who accuse other white women of witchcraft which resulted in their executions even though they were innocent. However when the story brings up Tituba, a slave accused of witchcraft, she is portrayed as a women who is potentially evil, dangerously mysterious, and promiscuous so the taking of her life seemed more justified.

This is another reminder that the stripping of language and culture has happened to Black people for centuries. Society and education has continuously invented (and reinvented) ways to dehumanize Black people and specifically Black women.

I believe this is important for us as educators to be transparent. If we can talk about the way that we grew up, what affected us growing up, ways we struggled or excelled in school (literacy autobiographies) as well as be open to where we are now then that will help deconstruct bias that students have about the teacher and help them understand their surroundings in racial inequality more.

I am going to use this and create an assignment from this. Great idea that encompasses so much.

Alienation and depression have been on the rise in our country specifically upon our youth. Critical literacies can combat the system that mainstream media text has created.

This is a example of coherence theory where showing dehumanizing portrayals of Black people to be organized around the assumption of what really matters how Black people have (not) mattered.

This taps into many peoples funds of knowledge. We have been fed by these notions of racial superiority for so long that it has been tied to peoples cultural experiences and the way that they look at other cultures (specifically Black people).

It is interesting how the United States has a fascination with serial killers (who throughout recent history are mostly white) but look down upon gangs, gang members and gang violence. There are so many serial killer TV show series and documentaries but yet we do not have the same fascination and interest in African Americans who are murderers.

This is not just in videos, news and movies, but also in newspapers, articles, books, textbooks and other forms of written media.

This may be controversial but I think think there should be a perspective citing both her actions and how she was victimized but placing emphasis on the way she was victimized as a result. If she would have gotten out of her seat, there would have been a strong likelihood we would have never heard about this story. However, due to the fact that she did not and the officer used excessive force to remove her, clearly making her a victim in the situation.

I could equate it to driving. If you stop at a stop sign for less than three seconds, that's against the law. Say one stops at a stop sign for less than three seconds but due that action they get involved in a hit-and-run accident that leaves them inquired. Could stopping at that stop sign for the full three seconds changed the outcome? Possibly, but being involved in the accident doesn't make them any less of a victim.

Can someone explain the last part of this sentence?

This also goes into transactional reader theory. Each student can experience the same trauma but how they write and talk about that event will be different.

This practice appears to be rooted in emergent literacy theory and transactional reader theory. It focuses how students understand reading and writing processes and how they use these literacy skills in meaningful and contextualized ways of how they matter. This is also is having students bring their own schemata to bear meaning they construct from texts.

Many teachers are unequipped to deal with trauma leading up to and following elections for a number of reasons. They have to understand the events they are experiencing, their own biases and feelings regarding the same events, their students viewpoints and the community they serve, as well as understand how history has played a role in influencing peoples ideas. This very complex to understand to deliver to students over a some days or weeks.

The way loose and symbolic rhetoric built on the schema of individuals, I had never experienced as a teacher or individual. The communication and rhetoric specifically by our current President made it hard to communicate with students clearly on the messages that were being conveyed. He skillfully used tapped into peoples schema of racism, homophobia, elitism, sexism and many other concepts that people were either drawn to or despised.

I remember when this happened four years ago. I was in my third year teaching and that Wednesday I had no idea what to do or say with my students. I was not ready for the conversations and questions they would bring as well as I was fighting my own feelings. Not only did I not know what to say that day but I also felt lost in how I would teach moving forward as well.

This article not only focuses on youth-led and youth-centered writing activities, but it also pushes back on Anti-Black linguistic racism and double linguistic consciousness. The teacher focuses to decentralize the cultural narrative of White Mainstream culture as well as White Mainstream English.

Once again the result of standardized test scores perpetuating Black students or students of color as lacking or deficient. This directly ties to the linguistic racism that is tied to these standardized tests.

When starting units with a question, you can definitely activate students voice and perspective in how they see and interpret those events.

Great job not only using a youth-led and youth-centered writing activity but then having students use their own peers stories as evidence.

Great questions. This forces students to look at different perspectives and expand their awareness.

Another example of a youth-led and youth-centered writing activity.

Also shows there is no perfect way to teach and there will always be consequences in whatever decisions a teacher is making in the classroom.

This is a perfect example of youth led and youth centered activities. Having the teacher learn from the students and take a deeper dive into African American culture.

This is the brilliance and difficulty of an educator. To bring out students brilliance in a classroom setting. This take understanding of the teacher's personal biases and ideas, an understanding of the students and community they teach in, an understanding of history (not only local but national and world wide), as well present context in which the teacher is teaching. It is not easy but it is needed to help bring out students voices and perspectives.

This is another example of the complex linguistic structure of African American Vernacular English. Many educators believe this language is just "slang" or an inferior language when it is incredibly complex.

This is vital. If teachers cannot bridge community literacy practices with school expectations then we will continually lose students in the fight to have them believe they are competent and able writers. This bridge also to me should be what people mean when they say or have "Black Lives Matter" signs or shirts. Showing that all students (especially students of color) have a voice is essential in honoring their communities and experiences.

This is so true on a practical level. If you ask students something they may take the opportunity to opt out or say, "I don't know." When you ask them something and ask for a written response without giving them the option to opt out, it is amazing to see the voice and perspective that students bring in their writing.

Very effective strategy. It places them to belonging to the "writer" group or identity even if they do not see themselves as good writers.

This is something that is not quantifiable. Young people being seen and feeling seen as writers ties solely into identity and sense of self. That is something that is deeply impactful but may not show up on a spreadsheet or in a dissertation.

Most power given in the writing is to students who can master and write in "White Mainstream English." Also a lot of power is given to those who can write in that way in timed writing and standardized tests such as the SAT.

It is so unfortunate but real statement that a lot of people believe about African American men. Nonetheless, that statement could not be more stereotypical, discriminatory, biased, and untrue.

I like that term, "underground writers." I think that term is very applicable to a lot of students especially urban youth.

That's too real. In school we a lot of times hide and disregard ourselves and our identities but outside of school we show our true selves.