Writing Our Civic Futures (March): Mainstream Media, Pedagogies of Healing, and Critical Media Literacy

Join us for another exciting month of Writing Our Civic Futures, a collaboration of the National Writing Project and Marginal Syllabus that supports conversations about civic engagement and learning over the course of the 2017-18 academic year. Refer to the syllabus for information on all the annotatable readings, which will go “live” on the first Monday of each month, along with related events hosted by CLTV and others.

This Month’s Topic: Mainstream Media, Pedagogies of Healing, and Critical Media Literacy

This month, we discuss the various ways mainstream media reinforce white supremacy and anti-blackness as outlined by authors April Baker-Bell, Raven Jones Stanbrough, and Sakeena Everett in “.” In their article, the authors describe how Black youth use social media as counterspaces and how critical media literacy tools can support young people in rewriting harmful narratives.

Baker-Bell, Jones Stanbrough, and Everett also touch on what responsibilities English educators have to transform the status quo and counter racial injustice. As you read, we encourage you to think especially about what role you play or would like to play in this kind of social change and activism. , which is openly available online, via Educator Innovator. Using this link will enable you to view annotations (yellow highlights indicate annotations; the annotation tool displays along the right side of your browser) others have added to the text.

Join the Annotated Conversation

We invite you to read “” and annotate the text with your own thoughts and reactions. Annotations are being added via the web annotation platform Hypothes.is. To add your own annotations, and to respond to others, sign up for your free account.

For more support, see this annotation tutorial from Marginal Syllabus or this overview of Hypothes.is from KQED Teach.

Share your annotations as you read or any time throughout the month. We also encourage you to use these readings and the opportunity to annotate however it best works for you—organize a study group, bring a class you are teaching, engage as an individual, or connect it to a meeting.

Watch an Episode of CLTV with the Authors

On March 6, the authors met with colleagues to discuss this reading and kick-off this month’s annotation.

The Extended Conversation/Additional Resources

• “The Responsibility of English Teachers in the Wake of Racial Violence” by April Baker-Bell
• Professional Development for Teachers: A Culturally Relevant & Sustaining Approach – Raven Jones Stanbrough
• “I Just Started Writing” by Sakeena Everett
• Black Lives Matter Resources
• Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters | Part I – Teaching Tolerance

You can also refer back to previous annotated articles at the Educator Innovator blog to access additional resources and connect conversations in this series.