Teaching in Black and White
Open gallery
Three of the following four articles featured in the fall 2014 issue of Rethinking Schools magazine, were written in the Oregon Writing Project’s Writing for Publication class last spring. Through the Oregon Writing Project (OWP), teachers become leaders in their schools, in their districts, and in national conversations about education.
Renée Watson, the OWP Renewal Day Speaker, shares a poem and the history behind it—about being invisible, yet stereotyped, as an African American student bused to a predominantly white school in Portland. We taught Renée’s new book, This Side of Home, about gentrification in Portland, in the OWP Institute this summer. It has been pre-ordered by three schools for Everybody Reads.
Chrysanthius Lathan, an OWP Writing Coach, calls on white teachers to think before they routinely send black children to black teachers when there is a problem. Ms. Lathan’s provocative article stirred many professional development days as teachers read and discussed the article.
Michelle Kenney, an OWP Writing Coach, prepares her students to read August Wilson’s Fences by leading an exploration of the n-word. This is a lesson that all teachers should use before reading any book using the n-word.
The Military Invasion of My High School
The role of JROTC
Sylvia McGauley, an OWP Writing Coach, describes the problematic impact of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at her school. In these days of increased militarization of our society, McGauley provokes us to think carefully about the programs we place in our schools.
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