Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom
Linda Christensen creates passionate curriculum, centered on the lives and voices of her students. InTeaching for Joy and Justiceshe shows us how her students come to celebrate their own writing, value themselves, and stand up for others. Writing is embedded in curriculum that matters, in discussion about big ideas, and in literature rich with the full range of human experience. It's a language arts teachermust-read! --Allen Webb, Professor of English Education, Western Michigan University and author ofLiterature and LivesandLiterature and the WebIn these pages, Linda Christensen consummate teacher and brilliant writer shows us that, in the end, teaching well is about awakening and transformation. Through lively vignettes and stirring writing by both teacher and students, this book exudes hope and possibility. --Sonia Nieto, professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and author ofWhy We TeachandWhat Keeps Teachers Going?Teaching for Joy and Justicegives teachers the inspiration and 'how to' nitty-gritty we crave. We find names of texts that compel, high school student writing that calls out to teenage reality, techniques forteachinghow to write poems, narratives, essays. And everything presented sits resolutely under the social justice umbrella: issues of race, class, language, gender -- oh yes, they do matter. --Faye Peitzman, Director, UCLA Writing Project