In Our Own Words: Teachers Writing Workshop
The Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Collective invites you to apply for a writing workshop. Throughout the past few years, schools and classrooms have found themselves at the center of many stories told by the mainstream media. Yet rarely does mainstream media center the stories of educators in classrooms or students writing about their own experiences in their words. Because of this, the dominant narrative of schools is often incomplete or inaccurate.
In Our Own Words: Teachers Writing Workshop will gather teachers to rewrite these narratives of our schools and tell our own stories. In the process, the workshop will also create a much-needed space for educators to make sense of and discuss our experiences. We will also write about them with the community, support, and accountability needed to produce meaningful work.
The workshop will meet virtually via Zoom twice a month from September through December 2023 and once monthly as a whole group. And the second monthly session will be one-on-one with a writing partner (scheduled at your mutual convenience). The goal of the workshop is for each teacher participant to produce a piece of work they are proud to share. If interested, teachers will also be supported in seeking publication in a local or national outlet.
This workshop will be facilitated by Nataliya Braginsky, a veteran teacher and writer who has published education-related articles in In These Times, Law and Political Economy Project, and the Washington Post.
This project is sponsored by the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Collective, co-sponsored by Rethinking Schools, and funded by the Connecticut Writing Project.
Nine educators will be invited to join the workshop and each educator will receive a $250 honorarium for their participation. Applications are due by Friday, September 1st; applicants will be contacted by Sunday, September 3rd.
APPLY HERE. For questions, please email nataliyabraginsky@gmail.com.
The header images are photographs of James Baldwin at his typewriter in Istanbul in 1966, taken by Baldwin's friend, Turkish photographer Sedat Pakay. These photographs are part of the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. They are also featured in this article that includes Baldwin's advice on writing.