Research tells us that culturally responsive education not only acknowledges students’ experiences but welcomes them as an integral part of learning communities, ultimately resulting in greater academic success. Through reading and discussing true stories written by Youth Communication’s teen writers, educators will be given mirrors (stories that reflect their own experiences) and windows (stories that provide insight into another’s experiences) through which they can better understand themselves and the youth with whom they work.

The youth-written stories read during the session will serve as case studies and as guides for how educators can continuously improve positive youth racial identity formation by creating justice-focused classrooms and schools. We will review the difference between race, racism, and internalized racism, as well the impact racism has on education and a student’s sense of belonging. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of how racial identity develops and learn to identify and address racism in the classroom.

For many students and staff of color, it can be difficult to reconcile the history of the American education system with their place in it. In this session, we will read a true, teen-written story about interrogating internalized racism. We will review key terms like internalized racism, colorism, and white supremacy culture. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of the impact internalized racism has on their students and tools to help create healthy racial identity development.

According to the 2019 National School Climate Survey, 84% of trans students felt unsafe at school because of their gender, which can be compounded with other parts of their identities. In this session, we will read a true, teen-written story about being a young trans person and discuss how to create a healthy environment for trans and non-binary students to thrive. We will review key terms like cisgender, transgender, gender queer, and nonbinary, as well the impact racism has on education and a student’s sense of belonging. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of trans and non-binary students and actionable steps they can take to support them.

Mass shootings, death at the hands of police, and mass displacement cannot help but
seep into our culture and trigger a type of mourning very different from our traditional
ideas of grief. During this workshop, we’ll read Youth Communication writer Kayla
Differently abled students often face discrimination in the very schools meant to encourage and protect them. In this session, we will read true teen-written stories about being differently abled and maneuvering a world that considers that a flaw. We will review key terms like disabled, differently abled, neurodiversity, and ableism, as well as how education systems can perpetuate stereotypes about people with disabilities. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of their differently abled students and actionable steps they can take to support them.

From birth, children have been taught that gender norms dictate a person’s behaviors, activities, or interests. In this session, we will read stories by young people of many gender identities to understand how a strict gender binary—and all of society’s expectations that come with that binary—can harm adolescents. We will review the difference between gender-assigned-at-birth, gender identity, and gender expression, as well as what it means to be cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of how gender identity develops and how to support their students in creating a healthy gender identity.

During this session, participants will be able to identify ways that stress, anxiety, and trauma impact our students of immigrant families. That said, we’ll discuss the strengths of our students of immigrant families and how we can identify ways to collaborate with each other and discuss strategies for how to better support our students. Participants will listen to story excerpts written by four youth writers which will give participants a window into each writer’s experience as immigrants themselves and as a young person in an immigrant family.

Given the increase in our population of migrant teens, educators are often left wondering what to do beyond addressing the immediate needs and gaps of these students. By shifting our mindset and reminding ourselves that our youth come with myriad strengths we are able to focus on bolstering excel skills that are already present.

The most effective educators name and interrogate biases they have been taught, and confront how they impact students and how they can actively work toward breaking them. In this session, we will read and discuss excerpts from stories by teens about how being known by their teachers—or, at a minimum, having their teacher communicate that they want to know them—has benefited the writers socially, emotionally, and academically. The YC facilitator will lead participants in a group brainstorming session to share ideas for the best ways of getting to know all their students better as individuals.

Balancing having high expectations of students with understanding students’ particular circumstances (e.g., housing insecurity, poverty, racial trauma) is an important skill in closing the opportunity gap in schools. In this session, we will read and discuss true, teen-written stories about how teachers communicated this combination of empathy and high expectations to their students. In addition to the strategies the writers outline in their stories, participants will discuss what high expectations and empathy looks like in their schools. Teachers will consider one of their students as a case study to practice this balancing act.

Students may feel stress because of positive events, like finally getting into that honors class, or negative ones, like not being sure where they’re going to be living from one day to the next. Those students who are equipped to handle stress through a solid set of social and emotional learning skills are those most likely to make and achieve their goals. In this session, we will examine the difference between stress, chronic stress, and trauma, and read true, teen-written stories to illustrate each type. If the stress is unavoidable, we will discuss how to grow students’ social and emotional learning skills to deal productively with the stress. If it is avoidable, we will discuss alternative approaches that will be healthier and more supportive of students.

“Who am I?” It’s a question that all adolescents wrestle with. Young people with strong social and emotional learning skills—especially self-reflection, relationship-building, and responsible decision-making—are better equipped to create a positive identity for themselves. In this session, we will read true stories by teens about how they developed a positive identity for themselves, what resources they used to do so, and how teachers and other adults helped them.

Black feminist writer and educator, bell hooks wrote, “When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in the other.” With the compounded weight of not only daily living, but also of war, genocide, politics, and trauma, we can oftentimes feel like we are in a constant state of distress. In this session, we will read true stories by teens and engage in a communal journaling practice with the goal of building a space of compassion. Participants will share tools on how to utilize creative writing to build loving environments in their school.

The best teachers know that the cornerstone of a supportive academic and behavioral relationship with their students is a positive personal relationship. Of course, this doesn’t mean teachers are students’ friends or that they should share personal details about their lives with students. Student-teacher relationships are one-way, and listening is often key to building these nonreciprocal relationships with students. But with heavy course loads, limited free time, and the challenges placed on teachers themselves, stopping what you are doing and really listening can be a challenge. In this session, participants will read and discuss true, teen-written stories about how teachers established rapport and trust with those students. Participants will reflect on their own relationships with teachers in the past and review fundamental relationship building blocks needed to maintain productive relationships with students.

School reform and equity efforts rarely include the young people they are meant to serve in the design process. We will use true, teen-written stories about students’ positive and negative experiences with teachers to draw conclusions about what students want from the adults in their communities. These stories go beyond students wanting better lunches and less homework; they talk about the relationships with adults and support (personal and academic) that helps them fulfill their own academic goals.