Literature as identity-affirming, teaching as liberatory

Dr. Chantal Francois and Dr. Jen McLaughlin Cahill, co-authors of Identity-Affirming Literacies in Schools, discuss their time at the school they call Pearl Street Collaborative, a progressive secondary school on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that prioritizes teacher inquiry and collaboration. Schedules include time for teachers to meet frequently with grade and content colleagues. Drawing on the work of Freire and Lilia Bartolomé, Drs. Francois and McLaughlin Cahill used literature to support students' identities, including by integrating an LGBTQ+ focus into English classes.

Overview00:00-00:52 Intros

00:52-03:36 Humanizing pedagogy

03:36-04:44 Relationships and humanizing pedagogy

04:44-07:35 Scheduling facilitating creation and maintenance of faculty relationships

07:35-10:04 Collaboration as modeling for students

10:04-10:21 Pearl Street Collaborative

10:21-13:24 Literacy as more than reading

13:24-18:53 Reading and teaching as political

18:53-23:17 Mission statement as a meaningful document

23:17-31:23 Structuring literacy instruction around independent reading and reading whole books

31:23-36:44 LGBTQ+ identify-affirming literacies