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

Teaching Guide. By Linda Christensen. 2003. 196 pages.
Lessons for teaching a range of writing genres while addressing social justice themes.

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“My students walk out the school door into a social emergency,” Linda Christensen writes. “They are in the center of it. I believe that writing is a basic skill that will help them both understand that emergency and work to change it.”

This practical, inspirational book offers essays, lesson plans,and a remarkable collection of student writing, all rooted in an unwavering focus on language arts teaching for justice.

“What a good and useful book! Read these beautifully written chapters and show them to teachers, so we can become the educators needed by our students. Linda Christensen … gives us the tools to teach meaningful classes, to build good schools, and to work for a just society.” - Ira Shor, professor of English at City University of New York, and author of, Empowering Education and When Students Have Power.

“At long last, we have a book that both shows and tells how to teach students to produce not only ‘pretty words and adept dialogue,’ but ‘searing analysis.’ This profound work of emancipatory pedagogy brings together theory, classroom practice, personal narrative, and student work… a must-read for every teacher seeking to reach students that are ‘unreachable.’” - Geneva Smitherman, University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, and author of Talkin’ That Talk: Language, Culture, and Education in African America

Published by Rethinking Schools.

ISBN: 0942961250