Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word

Linda Christensen's book is one of the most useful and rewarding books for teaching Language Arts, period. Reading, Writing, and Rising Up is totally hands on, useful, and will help any teacher figure out better, more effective ways to make learning meaningful for their students. I've used this book many times in my own classes and my students have responded well. No other Language Arts book incorporates issues of social justice so seamlessly. Thank you Linda!

I bought this book because I thought it seemed interesting. I had no idea how useful it would be. I work with out of school teenagers who are almost all Latino. This book has given me so many activities to use with my students. They are really starting to understand the power of their voices and how important their stories are. It was really a blessing to finally come across a book that actually addresses the population that I work with.

I'm so glad Ms. Christensen has collected many of her articles from the popular social justice journal, Rethinking Schools. I've known Linda for several years and I've find her to be a teacher who goes the extra mile to bring relevant, culturally conscious teaching to her classroom. She strives to use writing, poetry, reading, literature, activism, and reflective thinking as tools for her students to empower their own lives, their community, and the world at large.Teachers seeking to bring social justice and cultural awareness to their classroom can do no better than having Linda's book as part of their reference. Her writing is both personal, reflective, and seriously enganging. She shows how to use varied writing, reading, and group activities that encourage students to do their best work. In fact, social justice teaching and quality work go hand and hand in Linda's teaching and writing.Some of my favorite articles include "Where I'm From: Inviting Students' Lives Into the Classroom," "Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us: Critiquing Cartoons and Society," "Essay With An Attitude," and "Teaching Stanard English: Whose Standard?" All the articles in her book call for students be the center of teaching. Her approach is to pull on the experiences and thoughts of her students. She uses the backround of her students to help them think about issues of race, class, gender, injustice, and justice. This book will be useful for teacher education programs, staff developers, and new and experienced teachers seeking fresh ideas, lessons, and critical approaches to their teaching.Even if you as a teacher can't apply many of the ideas that Linda writes about, reading her book will be a good read for how to be a good teacher.

This is an excellent resource for teachers who truly hope to inspire their students both academically and politically. It offers concrete lesson plans, outstanding student work, and lots of inspiration. It is a book for people who are able to think outside of the box, for teachers who passionately care about their students' success not only on standardized tests, but also in life.

A Great Book to Energize Your Learning and Teaching By Alex Gordin"The common element in each of the reading and writing strategies I've presented is students working together in a community to make meaning and to make change." This is the theme and mission in Linda Christensen's collection of reading and writing strategies in her new book, Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word. Linda Christensen is a celebrated teacher in the classroom who has integrated reading and writing strategies with the power of student voice and relevancy at Jefferson High School for 24 years. In her text published by Rethinking Schools, Linda presents a series of curricular lesson plans she has used in her language arts classroom that promote classroom community, student narrative and voice, and most importantly connect students to the world around them. In a unit that I have used with my students, "Essay With an Attitude" Linda asks students to think of a time or instance when something really got under their skin. She then goes through the writing process where students compose a very thorough persuasive paper with attention to writing models that include examples of introductions, documentation, and conclusions. Linda writes, " I've never found a 5 step Betty Crocker boxed essay recipe. Because students don't learn all the same way or enter my class with the same background knowledge or confidence, I need to teach essay writing rather than assign it." This unit along with others on childhood narratives, poetry, immigration, politics of language, college essays, and portfolios have many examples of student and professional writing to illuminate her insightful and thought-provoking strategies. To show the power of the essay with an attitude, her former student, Khalilah Joseph, writes about how black women were categorized by the shade of their skin color. "As a dark-skinned girl I was ridiculed...I was called names like `tarbaby' or `blackie.' Erika Miller begins her political piece with "Am I Fat? Look at my thighs." She goes on to write in a powerful manner that has voice, evidence, and most importantly passion about how weight and appearance have been political challenges and obstacles in women's lives. As a teacher, Portland Writing Project Director, and Portland Public Schools Language Arts Coordinator Linda has assembled her top hits of effectual literacy strategies that jump off the page at you and get past the passive "get busy" notions of worksheets, vocabulary lists, and book reports. Ideas like interior monologues, praise poems, text renderings, and read arounds empower student voices and allow them to reflect on their learning styles and why they are in the classroom. Linda states in the introduction, "Most chapters developed out of "aha" moments from a class; a conversation with colleagues, students or parents, a stirring talk; anger; or out of the pain of walking away at the e