Photo essays tell a story with photos and words. In a social documentary photo essay, the photographer/writer aims to draw the public’s attention to an ongoing social issue, often with an appeal to civic action. And social documentary photo essays can also tell very personal stories about the lives people lead and the issues and challenges they face. From Lewis Hine’s photos of child labor in the early 1900s, to Gordon Parks, “American Gothic,” portrait of Ella Parks in 1942, to John Phillip Jones photos of the Vietnam War, photographers and their documenting of social issues have prompted public calls for civic action to take on the issues made visible through the images.
In the American Creed series, young leaders are telling their stories and bringing attention to issues they care about in their communities through photo essays. These are examples of civically engaged writing and illustrate how young adults might engage audiences in the issues, questions, and possible social actions that matter to them, their families, and their communities. They can be used as mentor texts to support students in doing their own civically engaged writing.
Below are two of these photo essays from the American Creed project – “Salmon Tales – Subsistence on the Kenai Peninsula” by Sam Schimmel and “Slag Valley” by Trinity Colon. Using the National Writing Project’s Civically Engaged Analysis Continuum (CEWAC), I have highlighted the composition choices of both authors and featured aspects of their photo essays that make them strong pieces of civically engaged writing.
NWP’s Civically Engaged Analysis Continuum
The Civically Engaged Writing Analysis Continuum (CEWAC) developed by the National Writing Project is designed to assess a student’s ability to engage in public arguments rooted in evidence and reasoning and to enter productive civic conversations. Through that process, CEWAC helps both teachers and students identify what makes for strong civic writing.
CEWAC looks at four key components in a composition:
Employs a public voice – Analyzes how the writing employs rhetorical strategies, tone and style to contribute to civic discourse or influence action, and how it establishes a writer’s credibility. Public voice is directed beyond one’s immediate family or friends.
Argues a position based on reasoning and evidence – Analyzes how the writing uses reasoning, interprets and presents evidence, and, when appropriate for purpose and audience, addresses alternate positions or perspectives. Evidence may include personal experience as well as primary and secondary research.
Advocates civic engagement or action – Analyzes how the writing, as crafted for an intended audience, raises awareness and establishes the public importance of a civic issue. When appropriate, advocates for a desired change or civic action, explaining why the action is reasonable and feasible.
Employs a structure to support a position – Analyzes how organization and structure help develop the central argument, including openings, closings, and linkages.
Analysis of American Creed photo essays using CEWAC
As students and youth take on the task of creating their own civically engaged compositions, it is important to consider what makes a strong photo essay as well as what qualities would make a photo essay a strong piece of civically engaged writing.
Below are two examples:
Annotation of “Salmon Tales – Subsistence on the Kenai Peninsula”
Annotation of “Slag Valley”
Annotation of “Salmon Tales – Subsistence on the Kenai Peninsula”
The photographer and writer Sam Schimmel is a member of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe in Alaska where he hopes to help his people negotiate a healthier, more sustainable economy that aligns with his community’s values and the need to protect the environment.
The annotations here are my notes about the ways that Sam Schimmel’s photo essay is a strong piece of civically engaged writing. These notes can be discussed with students directly or you can invite the group’s own annotation first and then use my version for discussion.
Employs a Public Voice
To support his goal of raising awareness of the challenges facing his people, Schimmel effectively engages the audience through a series of family photos and captions that help tell two important stories.
First, the story of how his family works together to continue using traditional fishing methods. One photo caption reads, “Although we use different materials to make nets than our ancestors did, it still requires the same know-how. Here, Allie is hanging a lead line. This heavy rope is attached so the net sinks. You need to place the lead line at the right intervals between the mesh so it sits in the water properly.”
Secondly, the story of how the skills of subsistence fishing are passed down from generation to generation. A photo caption reads, “My aunt MaryAnn points to the direction of the fish scales as she explains that we need to tie the twine on the tail end of the strip or else the salmon will slip out when it is hung to dry.”
Taken all together the images and their captions support and drive forward an inspiring family story of skill and resilience that should engage and resonate with most readers.
The choice of photos, along with the captions, also firmly establishes the writer’s credibility. He demonstrates deep knowledge about the work of subsistence fishing. One caption reads, “My cousin Julianne collects driftwood from the beach. The ocean purges the cottonwood of its tannins. This makes the driftwood perfect for smoking salmon without transmitting the bitter taste of tannins to the fish.” This is a person who is also knowledgeable about the issues and history confronting his people as they seek to maintain this way of life. Someone whose story we need to know if we are to understand the impact of many current public policies affecting his tribes’ right to their keep at their traditional livelihood. Another caption reads, “Both of my aunties sit on our Tribal council. They work hard to ensure the well-being of the community, from fighting for our rights to maintaining Tribal programs that ensure the continuity of our traditional subsistence practices. They also participate in subsistence activities, like fishing and preparing salmon.”
Through his choice of images and text the author has clearly demonstrated a command of the issue and built a connection with the reader that elicits empathy and an awareness of what it might take for the family and tribe to continue their traditional fishing story.
Argues a Position Based on Reasoning and Evidence
The author writes, “[My aunt] MaryAnn reminds me that ‘because we’ve been fisherpeople from time immemorial, we are the caretakers of these waters –our responsibility as well as our right.’”
Through the thoughtful selection of images, the author supports this position by illustrating what it might mean to be caretakers of the waters. Two images help address the responsibility claim.
First, about the use of available resources, in this case driftwood, to help process the fish that feed the family.
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And, secondly, about knowing the proper way to prepare the food that will help feed the family.
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In addition, the author makes effective use of history and law to support the position that fishing in the waters at their traditional home is a right they are actively trying to protect. The author tells us the story of his aunt’s confrontation with state authorities around that right, “She set a net in the mouth of the Cook Inlet to fish without a commercial permit where we’ve been subsistence fishing for thousands of years. The state government threatened her with jail time and a $150,000 fine. She pushed for a hearing because she knew she could win…Under international law, she knew that ‘in no case may a people be deprived of their means of subsistence.’”
Advocates Civic Engagement or Action
In many cases a piece of public writing is civic engagement and action. That is the case with this photo essay.
Through the narrative the reader is made aware of the importance of subsistence fishing to the Indigenous community to which the author belongs, and the threats to that economy in both the present and future. In terms of the present he writes, citing the impact of climate change, “Weather patterns change unpredictably, and we can’t rely as much on those thousands of years of accrued knowledge that allowed us to read the ocean and the woods. Three years ago, I flew in a plane across the Cook Inlet. I looked down on the water and there were thousands of dead fish floating because the water was too warm. That year we had terrible fires and heat waves that lasted weeks and killed off fish. So this year, we’re going to have a smaller fish return. Some years we cannot harvest enough fish to feed our community.” With an eye on the future of his community, he continues to raise awareness by writing, “Consequently, the number of kids who are brought up taught to fish for subsistence decreases. This has a downstream impact where fewer kids have a sense of identity, or are involved with their community.”
Besides itself being a piece of civic action, the author includes an account of civic actions taken by his aunt in the fight for the community’s right to continue their subsistence fishing. Her actions, starting with an act of civil disobedience resulted in a legal victory that won the tribe the right to continue subsistence fishing. He writes, “Under international law, she [Aunt MaryAnn} knew that in no case may a people deprived of their means of subsistence.’ She won her case and we won the right to our Tribal nets.”
Through this account the writer makes clear that these are actions he admires and advocates for as part of the entire effort to protect the community’s right to subsistence fishing.
Employs a Structure
In this photo essay, images and words are placed in a specific to develop a narrative that develops for the reader an awareness of a civic issue facing the author’s community.
This essay first starts by introducing the reader, through both words and images, to the historical and social context at the center of this account.
For example, in the essay’s third paragraph he writes, “Fishing has always been essential to the spiritual and physical health of our Indigenous community. Our Tribal fishery offers a resource to my generation and the next…” This focus on the resource for generations is thoughtfully supported by this image and caption which immediately follow that paragraph.
“My cousin Julianne pulls out the gill net with some fresh salmon that will be brought back to the Tribal fishery to be cleaned.
When I was 6 or 7, I remember fishing with a cousin for 12 hours on the east side of the Cook Inlet.”
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These words and images are followed by a series of images and words that bring to life the story of the community’s continued struggle to protect their subsistence rights. The essay concludes with an image and words that help the reader understand how important the civic actions taken by her Aunt MaryAnn were to the community as whole.
“My auntie MaryAnn has been advocating for decades for our tribe’s fishing and subsistence rights. In her work, she has met many other Indigenous leaders and advocates and has been given gifts like this bag in honor of her work and friendship. In the background, my uncle Bill.”
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Annotation of “Slag Valley”
Trinity Colón works towards better health and quality of life in her industrial Southeast Chicago neighborhood, known as “Slag Valley.” In this photography project, she reflects on the beauty and character of her community, and her pursuit of education in order to imagine and create new opportunities for herself and others.
The annotations here are my notes about the ways that Trinity Colón’s photo essay is a strong piece of civically engaged writing. These notes can be discussed with students directly or you can invite the group’s own annotation first and then use my version for discussion.
Employs a Public Voice
To support her goal of raising awareness of the challenges facing people in her neighborhood the author effectively engages the audience through a series of photos and captions that help tell two important stories.
First, the story of how industrial pollution impacts her and the people of her community. One photo depicts a basketball court covered with weeds and located right next to a train track.
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It was paired with a caption that reads, “Growing up, it felt hard to be proud of where I was from because the city of Chicago wasn’t caring for my community. I grew up with pollution in my backyard. When you see and smell smoke stacks and dirty industry each time you take the garbage out or walk around, it’s hard to feel that sense of pride. “
Another photo caption reads, “Pollution is constant. It’s every day. Regardless of the measures that you take, regardless if you wear a mask, it’s in our soil, our air, our homes, our bodies.”
But the story of industrial pollution is not the only story being told in this photo essay. She also relates her own story. A story of personal growth as she learns to find beauty in the strength of the people in her community and in the other parts of her neighborhood’s landscape. One caption reads, “I’m learning compassion. I believe in the everyday people working in industry and operating industrial facilities. I’ve learned that we all have a very shared love for the community that we live in, and for the families that live here.”
This is a young woman who thoughtfully illustrates and articulates the issues confronting the people in her neighborhood, but she also demonstrates a reflective knowledge of how she herself might continue to be part of this community, and what it might take to be an agent of change. She writes “I’m in a transition from living on the southeast side of Chicago to being in college at Northwestern University, north of Chicago, in Evanston. I’m still near home, so I’m always trying to stay connected in both worlds. I’m very grateful for the people who have allowed me to grow as a person, as an organizer, and as a student.”
If one of her main audiences for this photo essay is the members of her community, the author, through her images and words, establishes her credibility. She demonstrates a command of the shared issue they face and why she is one voice in the community to be listened to and valued. For audiences beyond her community, she establishes a credible voice that is simultaneously open, inquiring, passionate and considered. Someone whose story we need to hear if we are to begin to understand the varied impact of American industry on different communities across the nation. Her tone is direct, urgent, and personal, connecting strong images to personal reflection and community understanding.
Argues a Position Based on Reasoning and Evidence
Colon’s photo essay makes a strong and forceful argument about what it means for her community to live with and amid environmental pollution. Her well-chosen words and images articulate her position. Below is one photo and caption that helps build this argument.
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“Pollution is constant. It’s every day. Regardless of the measures that you take, regardless if you wear a mask, it’s in our soil, our air, our homes, our bodies.”
The essay’s causal reasoning connects the historical presence of industrial “slag”, ongoing contamination, and the daily lives of her historically marginalized community. The narrative links visual evidence to the argumentative claim that this environmental history continues to shape the area and its people.
Colon’s own voice and the perspectives of her family/community serve as evidence rooted in lived experience, an important source of evidence in civically engaged writing.
She refers to the community’s industrial past, citing and elaborating on known facts about waste material left behind.
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“The southeast side is a sacrifice zone for the city of Chicago. The city and state see it as a dumping ground, and that’s why industrial polluters feel so comfortable coming here. They have built over 70 industrial facilities within the neighborhood. The people that own and maintain these industrial facilities typically don’t live here. They don’t send their kids to play at local parks. They don’t shop and eat here like locals do.”
“Slag Valley” provides a reasonable, evidence-based narrative, weaving together images and words that make visible the personal and community experiences that build and support her argument.
Advocates Civic Engagement and/or Action
Through her photo essay Colón documents the impacts of industrial pollution on Southeast Chicago, but she also encourages her audience—especially youth, neighbors, and the broader public—to recognize environmental injustice and become part of the solution.
She invites members of her community to engage with her and each other, to see themselves as the agents of change needed to help the community unite, advocate, and heal. This is illustrated through the following image and text.
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”I’m learning compassion. I believe in the everyday people working in industry and operating industrial facilities. I’ve learned that we all have a very shared love for the community that we live in, and for the families that live here.”
In addition, her advocacy is supported through her own experience of being deeply engaged in her community. “Many people who grow up in communities like mine believe you have to leave home to succeed. But I think the most beautiful thing is to stay here, build here, and put down roots. I don’t need to leave to be somebody. I’m somebody because I’m here.”
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“I’m in a transition from living on the southeast side of Chicago to being in college at Northwestern University, north of Chicago, in Evanston. I’m still near home, so I’m always trying to stay connected in both worlds. I’m very grateful for the people who have allowed me to grow as a person, as an organizer, and as a student. “
Colón, as both a witness and a participant, models civic engagement. Indeed, this photo essay, which documents the story of her community and her own personal evolution is itself a piece of civic engagement.
Employs a Structure
In “Slag Valley” images and words are placed in a specific order to develop a narrative that raises the reader’s awareness of the civic issue facing the author’s community, and the personal journey of the author as she articulates how she plans to grapple with this issue by remaining a part of the community she values.
With this in mind, the images and words are chosen and sequenced to illustrate both damage and resilience.
As you move through the essay, from introduction to conclusion, excerpts from the captions reveal this structure.
“The southeast side is a sacrifice zone for the city of Chicago.”
“I’ve learned that we all have a very shared love for the community that we live in, and for the families that live here.”
“Many people who grow up in communities like mine believe you have to leave home to succeed. But I think the most beautiful thing is to stay here, build here, and put down roots.”
“An important part of my community is that it holds so much Mexican life, culture, and joy.”
“But despite the industry that’s always in the background, we actually have a lot of parks and
green spaces to play in that are enjoyed by community members every day.”
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“Healing requires more than me exercising my imagination, dreaming and visioning by myself. It requires me going out and sharing those visions with other people, listening to other people share their visions, asking them what they dream about.”
This narrative structure thoughtfully develops her civic argument, moving her audience from observation and understanding, to the urgency for action.
Explore foundational ideals like freedom, fairness and opportunity in a mosaic of American stories. This multiformat documentary project centers on the stories of people working to realize their visions of America’s promise in their local communities. Scholars of American democracy David M. Kennedy and Condoleezza Rice contextualize these stories, illuminating shared values along with differences in outlook and approach. Students learn from this dialogue. Then, students develop their own media projects contributing, community by community, to a national dialogue about America’s identity.
What motivates youth to turn idealism into action? The American Creed initiative invites students to explore America’s foundational ideals and consider what inspires them in their own communities.
Students throughout the nation are invited to participate in the American Creed public media project. Participants compose their own storytelling media and learn from the perspectives of others. Student stories exploring foundational American ideals and how idealism can be turned into action in their own communities will be published to KQED’s national Youth Media Challenge publishing platform, creating a national dialogue promoted by partnering local PBS stations around the country.
Visit the American Creed Youth Media Challenge to reach the teacher toolkit, see a showcase of student work and find the submission link for the Challenge.
This handbook, authored by James Fester and produced in collaboration with the National Writing Project (NWP), is a trail map for teachers interested in the potential of writing outside, but unsure of the how or why needed to take the first step into such an endeavor. It is intended to serve as a companion for the annual Write Out event created by the NWP with the National Park Service (NPS) during the first half of October as a way to inspire writers everywhere to connect and learn through place-based writing.
If you take some time to flip through this handbook, you will find a wealth of information to help you plan how to integrate outdoor writing into your curriculum. Inside you will find:
A review of current research on the academic and health benefits associated with writing in an outdoor space.
A list of common barriers that keep educators like yourself from integrating more outdoor writing in their curriculum alongside steps and strategies for addressing them.
Activities, ideas, and resources you can leverage next-day to inspire all students, especially those who struggle with literacy, to become more skilled and confident writers.
This three-part interview, accompanied by writing prompts, highlights the friendship and cultural sharing between Chief Red Cloud and homesteader, James Cook of Agate Ranch. Through interviews with their descendants, learn about the nature of Cook and Chief Red Cloud’s friendship, the gifts they exchanged, and their hope to preserve cultures.
Note that this video includes embedded writing prompts for students on these three topics:
Friendship (Beginning through to prompts at 16:15)
Gift giving (17:55 through 23:24)
Preservation (23:25 through End)
Developed through a partnership between the Nebraska Writing Project and the Elk River Writing Project and the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.
Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. — Rita Dove
What’s a Teeny Tiny (or Small) Poem anyway? Educator Kevin Hodgson says that it is a short poem, like a haiku or couplet or free verse, of just a few lines. He stresses that rhymes are optional. What a small poem looks like and sounds like is up to the poet!
In these following two writing sparks, you’ll learn a couple of ways to make – and share! – teeny tiny poems a part of your daily life through photographic prompts and a simple and fun craft project. Give yourself freedom to experiment, play, and write tiny.
Writing “Sparks”
Spark from writer Kate Hill Cantrill– Grab your tea and meet me on the porch to write and share tiny poems!
Content focus: Very short poem writing and sharing Age-level recommendations: All ages Time: Video 2:38; project 5-30 minutes
So you’ve written some great teeny tiny poems. Now what? In this spark, writer Kate Hill Cantrill shows you a fun way to turn your teeny tiny poems into teeny tiny gifts by crafting them into tea bag tags! Grab your construction paper, scissors and colored markers and meet her outside on the porch to craft! (Oh, and don’t forget your tea bags!)
Additional visual info on how to make Poet-teas:
Spark from educator Kevin Hodgson – Collaborate by making a small poetry/photo book together!
Content focus: Very short poem writing and sharing Age-level recommendations: All ages Time: 5-30 minutes
Kevin Hodgson invites you to share small poems, alongside a single photograph, with each other in your community. Go for a walk in nature and find out which type of poet you are. Are you one who takes a photo first and that photo inspires your poem? Or are you one who writes a poem first and then looks around to find something to photograph to accompany your poem? There are no rules with these tiny poems beyond: use your true poet’s voice and have fun!
Here is an example from Write Out 2022 gathered by writers from all over the country:
Below are related resources gathered to further support inquiry and exploration of this topic. If you have additional resources to recommend, please share them online via the hashtag #writeout
Cinquan: The cinquain, also known as a quintain or quintet, is a poem or stanza composed of five lines. Learn more via Poets.org.
Haiku: A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression. Learn more via Poets.org.
Free Verse: Free verse is poetry not dictated by an established form or meter and often influenced by the rhythms of speech. Learn more via Poets.org and a find a resource on how to write free verse poetry from Writers.com.
The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) at the University of Pennsylvania and the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) developed and hosted a series of events focused on the hidden histories of African American women in Philadelphia from 1700 to the present. Using shared texts including They Carried Us: The Social Impact of Philadelphia’s Black Women Leaders (Baker-Rogers & Traylor 2020) and two books by Gholdy Mohammad—Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy—teachers engaged in inquiry together and then organized four public panel discussions and created open-source resources for students, educators, and community members to freely access.
Hear from the Dina Portnoy, Barrett Rosser, and Trey Smith about the project and the array of resources now available.
Webinar: Connecting Past and Present with Primary Sources and Civically Engaged Argument Writing
PhilWP Summer Institute 2022 website: For this Institute, PhilWP partnered with the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) to engage teachers, young people, and community members in exploring The Hidden Histories of African American Women in Philadelphia from the 1700s to the present. Daily agendas and linked resources are available. The related Padlet resource is also available.
Quick Writing: Our Lessons Learned in the Marginal Syllabus 2016-2017
During the week of July 10th, we – Remi Kalir and Joe Dillon- attended the National Writing Project’s Resource Development Retreat (RDR; and check out #NWPRDR17 on Twitter) in Denver, Colorado. Throughout the 2016-17 academic school year, we played key roles in organizing and facilitating the Marginal Syllabus, an openly networked experiment in educator professional learning that leverages web annotation, social reading practices, and author partnerships to advance conversations about educational equity. Part geeky book club, part digital learning resource, the Marginal Syllabus embraces an intentional double entendre; we partner with authors whose writing may be considered marginal – or contrary to – dominant education norms, and our online conversations with authors occur in the margins of their texts by using the web annotation platform Hypothesis.
Our passion project has grown, and the NWP RDR was a welcome opportunity to reflect, design, receive feedback, and plan for next year. As an entry point into the week’s collaborative work, we began by clarifying some of the core values that have guided our organization and facilitation of the Marginal Syllabus. These values include:
Fostering transparency and openness;
Designing experiments via technology;
Inquiring through partnership; and
Sustaining critical conversations about equity.
We were tasked with two broad responsibilities for our work during the RDR.
First, our retrospective activities will include the development of resources for educators that summarize what happened during the first year, curate information about our conversations, and make the entire syllabus accessible as an open educational resource (or OER; also, read more the Marginal Syllabus as OER). One example of this curation includes our recently published The 2016-17 Syllabus, a summary of author partnerships, nine annotated texts, and some educator takeaways (thanks to our many partner authors and participants!).
Second, our forward-looking efforts are all about design – sketching out a plan, sustaining and growing partnerships, and detailing concrete next steps for Marginal Syllabus activities during the 2017-18 academic year. Last year, Marginal Syllabus programming concluded on a notable high thanks to an emergent partnership with the NWP’s Educator Innovator initiative. While we welcome and are very thankful for this emergent partnering, we’re now eager to more proactively shape future collaborative activities.
The purpose of this page is to address – provisionally and formatively – one aspect of our retrospective work that, most simply, boils down to this question: What did we learn from the first year of Marginal Syllabus activities? As reflective educators who are both active in the world of digital media and learning, engaging a question about our own learning is a welcome opportunity for introspection, iterative design, and strengthened collaboration. We also approach this question from different yet complementary perspectives: Joe is a K-12 educator, Remi is a professor; Joe has a history of collaboration with the NWP and the Denver Writing Project, and has facilitated the Young Writers Camp, whereas Remi is a newcomer to NWP activities and communities. We’re engaging with the RDR – and, more specifically, this question about what we’ve learned – from both varied experiences and also shared commitments.
So, what have we learned? On the RDR’s second morning, we sketched out a poster that introduced the Marginal Syllabus to other RDR participants. As a part of this poster session, we literally spent five minutes detailing provisional inquiry prompts that have consequently helped us to answer our “what did we learn” question. What resulted were three writing prompts which suggest broad lessons related to partnerships, the design of professional learning, the emergence of a community of practice, and research.
Here are some of those prompts; we’ve each responded individually to highlight our personal experience, useful divergence in our thinking, and some common insights.
1. How has partnership defined activities, and how will partnership sustain activities?
JD: For Remi and I, our different vantage points – he’s from higher ed and I’m from K12 – have resulted in a diverse set of texts that frame marginality differently. Our different personal connections have also helped this work intersect with the work of organizations like Virtually Connecting and Educator Innovator. As we experiment with emergent design and seek to form a community of practice, we’ve had to think about the interests of partners and participants, and reflect on their reactions to social annotation and equity issues. In a couple of instances, a partner’s idea led us to include synchronous Google Hangout discussions as part of the monthly reading and response. Partnering with authors and publishers moving forward will allow us to continually surface new texts about equity issues and responses to the processes we use to facilitate social online annotation. Partnering will also surface emergent interests in annotation technology.
RK: We launched the Marginal Syllabus with a core commitment to author partnership. It was important that authors consented to have their writing annotated – and annotated publicly as a means of conversation and professionally-relevant learning. Accordingly, we set clear expectations with authors about how to access, mark up, and talk about their texts. In some cases, we also consulted with authors about how to annotate texts published according to copyright standards. Partnership also meant establishing participation expectations, such as how authors would engage during live annotation activities and, eventually, Educator Innovator-hosted webinars (as we did last April and May). The lessons we’ve learned about author partnership indicate opportunities to improve how these partners develop and/or leverage their technical fluency (especially with web annotation), share their public participation, and continue to reference their annotated texts as learning resources.
2. How has this experiment in professional learning changed based upon structure and supports?
JD: We made a structural shift when we changed the time window for annotation from a one-hour “flash-mob” format to a week-long “annotathon” format. This may not have changed participation drastically, but it did change the way our invitations sounded – we created more opportunity – and increased potential participation.
Another structural consideration that arose was the technical barrier to entry, which snuck up on me as an issue because the first few authors and groups of participants picked up Hypothes.is readily. It wasn’t until the last month when Bronwyn LaMay, our participating author, asked a few good clarifying questions in the lead up to our synchronous annotation and the webinar to discuss the chapter that I realized how much we’d asked of her technically. She needed to create a Hypothes.is account and familiarize herself with the tool at the same time we asked her to read over the planning document for the Educator Innovator webinar. The addition of the Google Hangout as a structure made the monthly reading increasingly social and also raised a technical hurdle.
RK: As I wrote about last January, our early annotation conversations were structured around the idea of a “flash mob,” though that organizing metaphor failed to capture people’s sustained participation in annotation over longer periods of time. Accordingly, one of the first major changes to the Marginal Syllabus structure was a shift toward week-long “annotathons.” This change in conversation format coincided with our Educator Innovator partnership, and was a new means of supporting and scaling how educators might access, learn about, and contribute to conversation activities. Among these changes to structure to support, we were reminded that web annotation aligns well with a broader media ecology; participating educators were not only using Hypothesis to mark up texts, they were also sharing publicly via Twitter and blogging to reflect on their distinct efforts. We’ve learned that it’s important to be flexible about the structures that support open and collaborative annotation, to welcome a broad range of complementary social media practices, and to amplify participant experiences.
3. What have we heard from our participants, including partner authors, and how does this help us inquire about what’s happened during our first year?
JD: Participants in social annotation comment about their reading process, which is notable. They sometimes reflect that the annotations pull them away from the text to engage in a discussion thread in the margins. Repeat participants have remarked to me that they prefer to read a text one time through before they annotate and consider the annotations of others. Why is this important? Increasingly, I’m familiar with definitive claims about the way people read in online spaces. It seems generally accepted that people read more closely on paper while they are more likely to skim digital texts. Still, If reading on paper is superior for close reading, research is needed about the potential for digitally-enabled reading and its capacity to support extended cognition. The reading people do using annotation software and encountering other readers’ thoughts, might prove to be closer reads because they consider different viewpoints and questions they otherwise wouldn’t while reading.
As for what we hear from authors, everyone we have asked for permission to read and mark up their work so far has granted permission. It bears noting that Bronwyn LaMay remarked that the conversation we had with her online was an uplifting experience, probably because it was the end of a school year and she appreciated us considering her work so carefully.
RK: As someone who regularly wears a researcher hat, I’ll keep my response here brief. First, it’s important to remind people that by using Hypothesis publicly, annotators agree to license their annotation content according to a Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain Dedication (check out Hypothesis’ Terms of Service). Second, my research about educator participation in open and collaborative annotation as professionally-relevant activity is summarized and publicly available here. And third, I’m quite thankful to have begun collaborating with amazing doctoral students, professors, Hypothesis staff, and others who are committed to inquiry about the ways in which (digital) annotation is changing reading, learning, scholarship, and publication. From a research perspective, the Marginal Syllabus embraces a design-based research methodology, and my retrospective analysis about the first year – as an initial iteration – is a focus of forthcoming presentations and publications.
Though these “lessons learned” read as somewhat declarative and definitive, we reiterate that these are rough draft thoughts and, as such, we welcome your responses, questions, and criticisms (and, it should go without saying, you’re very welcome to engage via Hypothesis annotation!). Moreover, we would be thrilled to hear responses from Marginal Syllabus participants, partner authors, or our colleagues at the NWP RDR.
Finally, a brief note of thanks: Throughout our experiences at the RDR, we’ve been deftly and graciously supported by NWP staff, most especially Tanya Baker, Christina Cantrill, and Liana Gamber-Thompson. We’re grateful for their support and critique in helping us to advance open and interest-driven educator learning about educational equity via the Marginal Syllabus.
What follows is a summary of the nine texts, author partnerships, and annotation conversations that comprised the 2016-17 Marginal Syllabus. Read more about this project at marginalsyllab.us.
Conversation Context: In August we read Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy, a blog post for Common Sense Education written by Chris Gilliard and Hugh Culik. The authors explain the way IT safety nets and employee management efforts can create inequitable educational opportunities for learners. Chris Gilliard joined us to mark up the text during our first “flash mob,” as well as for a discussion in a Google Hangout. Thanks to Autumm Caines for organizing the post-flash mob hangout (and check out her great work as part of the Virtually Connecting project).
This reading might help educators:
Respond to student curiosity online with positive assumptions and curiosity.
Consider the assumptions we make about a youth’s Internet searches and their use of digital tools.
Ask critical questions with IT leadership about acceptable use policies, Internet blocks and filters in order to determine their impact on learning.
Conversation Context: In September we annotated Mia Zamora’s blog post, Speculative Design for Emergent Learning: Taking Risks, which appeared at dmlcentral.net. Mia writes about the way she changed her approach to a course she taught called “Writing Race and Ethnicity” at Keane University. Mia joined in the synchronous annotation as we discussed the risks she took as an instructor with co-design. In particular, this post shares her public reflections about instructional decision-making that was timely and urgent in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement that influenced changes to her course.
This reading might help educators:
Plan instruction to take into account current events and the civic climate.
Allow students to share in shaping the content of a course, or produce work that is personally meaningful as a result.
Plan course content and structure so that the teacher, too, is learning.
Conversation Context: In October we marked up a chapter excerpted from Antero Garcia and Cindy O’Donnell-Allen’s book Pose, Wobble, and Flow: a Culturally Proactive Approach to Literacy Instruction. Antero and Cindy introduce yoga as an inspiring metaphor for teacher learning, and they provide concrete examples of culturally relevant pedagogy that exemplify their model of Pose, Wobble, and Flow. Their analogy frames in decidedly realistic and human terms the way real teachers develop and improve their craft. In addition to October’s synchronous annotation flash mob, another group of annotators contributed substantially to this text in February.
This reading might help educators:
Think about the “pose” we hope to strike in our practice and consider equity in professional goal setting.
Prepare for the iterative process of teacher learning and improvement in the classroom, in order to learn from inevitable “wobbles.”
Develop new flexibility and strengths in our work with students.
Conversation Context: In November we read Helen Beetham’s blog post Ed Tech and the circus of unreason right on the heels of the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. In it, she reflected on his victory as well as the state of educational technology from a higher education perspective. She delivers a list of responsibilities for educators based on the stunning election result and, in doing so, synthesizes political reality with the shifting landscape of the Internet. She joined us in our annotation of her post, and commented in the margins with participants who were grappling with the political news and the questions it raised about educational technology.
This reading might help educators:
Unpack our response to the political climate and the way it might change the way we view digital tools and our work in online spaces.
Consider our responsibilities in response to civic events.
Determine the real promise of digital tools as we investigate some false promises propagated in educational technology circles.
Conversation Context: In January we annotated John Dewey’s historical educational text The School and Society with Christina Cantrill of Arcadia University and the National Writing Project. Christina chose the text and invited her teacher education course at Arcadia to join us in our annotation. Dewey’s words reminded us of how social change is interwoven inextricably with education. The responses in Dewey’s margins grapple with that marriage, and serve as a kind of signpost toward contemporary social change efforts and implications for educators, students, and schools.
This reading might help educators:
Grapple with time-honored theory as it relates to modern communities and schooling.
Contextualize community responses to civic events in order to determine our responses.
Challenge traditions in our contexts and in our practice.
Conversation Context: In February we read Reading, Writing and Inquiry with Adolescents, the preface of Dawn Reed and Troy Hicks’ book Research Writing Rewired: Lessons that Ground Digital Learning. Both authors joined us to mark up this short excerpt of their book, which shares three core principles they employ in the planning for, and instruction of, research writing. The text speaks to the way research writing has evolved for them in response to new content standards, the ubiquity of digital tools for writing and publication, and the prevalence of the Internet as a site of inquiry and research.
This reading might help educators to:
Plan writing instruction in response to promising practices established from educational research.
Explore the principles of Connected Learning to plan for authentic uses of digital tools in the classroom.
Create an active role for the student researcher that responds student interest.
Conversation Context: In April, during our first week-long “annotathon” in partnership with Educator Innovator, we marked up Between Storytelling and Surveillance: The Precarious Public of American Muslim Youth, a chapter from the book By Any Media Necessary, by Henry Jenkins, Sangita Shresthova, Liana Gamber-Thompson, Neta Kligler-Vilenchik, and Arely Zimmerman. The chapter author Sangita Shresthova joined us in the annotation of her study of American Muslim youth’s experiences online. We learned about the ways in which American Muslim youth experience islamophobia online, and also how they endure the criticism of older community members who take issue with some youth’s desire to have expressive and creative online identities. As a part of the week’s professional learning activities, we also joined a Google Hangout conversation with the book’s authors hosted via EducatorInnovator.org.
This reading might help educators:
Discuss issues and opportunities germane to Muslim American youth with learners interested in culture, identity, and expression in our contemporary political climate.
Expand their online networks to include Muslim American youth and/or to engage around pertinent cultural conversations.
Include positive media representations of Muslim American youth in classroom teaching and learning.
Conversation Context: In May we read Revising Narrative Truth, a chapter excerpt from Bronwyn Clare LaMay’s book Personal Narrative, Revised. Bronwyn joined us for the annotation and for a Google Hangout hosted via the EducatorInnovator.org network. The chapter shares the story of LaMay’s work with one student who reveals traumatic personal details about his life in response to her encouragement to write personal narratives in search of truth. Her responses to conflicts that arise with that student – and the larger classroom community – offer an inspiring story about relationship negotiation among all learners (including educators).
This reading might help educators:
Support students to investigate their own stories and values.
Learn from productive conflict with learners that inevitably arises in classrooms.
Develop inclusive classroom communities that nurture student risk-taking, expression, and learning.
For the last two summers, I have worked closely with two fellow teacher consultants at the Bay Area Writing Project’s Young Writing Camp in San Francisco. Last year, we were new writing camp teachers so we were experimenting with writing and technology using videos and digital storytelling. We wanted to intertwine writing with technology to engage our students and push their creativity.
Our first summer, we used Google Documents as a way for students to share their work, to comment and help each other edit. However, we found that it limited the audience, the author had to invite readers to their piece thereby limiting both feedback and encouragement. We wanted a space that was inclusive to the entire camp. We wanted an open space where every student had the opportunity to read everyone’s work. We also wanted a space that was both user and instructor friendly, especially with only three weeks of a half-day camp.
This summer, we improved upon the previous summer’s lessons and used pbworks.com, a free blog and wiki site with each student having their own blog page to compose and receive feedback on. We continued with the video and digital story telling, however pbworks.com allowed for a wider audience and was very user friendly when it came to students sharing and editing, or uploading pictures and finished videos.
Our writing camp is different, because it has a “Technology Component” that includes film-making and photography. We strive to enhance the technology component using the Web 2.0 technologies of our camp, yet, not lose the essence of writing.
In pbworks.com, we created a page on our wiki for each student, allowing for individual creativity.
The wiki allowed all the students at the camp to read, and comment on each other’s work. Though the students were divided into groups, based on age and skills, to help better meet their needs, they were not confined to them. The students were not limited to only reading writings from their group, rather they could read across ages. Hearing some parent concerns on Internet safety, we safeguarded the website via invitation, only students, parents, and staff were allowed access to the wiki.
Although the summer has ended and camp concluded two months ago, students are still using the website. Students are still writing, editing and commenting on each other’s writing. As we reflect upon the summer, we ourselves, why are our Young Writer’s Camp students still writing on the website? What’s motivating them to continue writing?
The Process
As a teacher, I have continually struggled in teaching my students to appreciate the need to go through the writing process. Many students just write once, without proofreading and turning the original piece in for a grade. Students do not see the need to reflect, make corrections, and add details, in their writing. They see the writing process as a chore and non-engaging. The student’s audience is the teacher, and the end result is the grade. Once the grade is assigned, the piece is “dead.” The student will not go back to the piece again.
We weren’t school; instead we were a writing camp. We didn’t give topics and subjects the students had to write about, nor were students given grades or deadlines. Rather they chose what they wanted to write about. Students would conference with each of the teachers and with each other, working to grow as writers. Our students yearned to write. They could spend hours inside the computer lab composing, and some wanted to go home and read what someone else had written.
The process was different for every student. Some students would begin their piece on paper then type it onto their wiki page; others would just type their work on their wiki page. For our younger students, an older student, one of the teachers, or volunteers would help type the piece. To facilitate the flow of writing, older students or teachers would type for the student who had fewer keyboarding skills. We didn’t want typing to inhibit our young writers from the experience of being in a community of writers because they were frustrated with the process of keyboarding.
As seventh grader James was typing Chloe’s lengthy story onto her blog page, he commented how many times she used the word “said.” His schoolteacher had taught them that “said is dead.”
Eliza whispered, “Chloe just finished second grade.”
James replied, “Oh. She can write for a second grader! Then said is not dead.”
The passion for writing grew stronger and stronger as more and more students placed their work on their page. Students thrived on other’s reading their work. Interestingly, only constructive comments were written for the author. They were learning to support each other rather then discouraging each other about grammar and spelling mistakes.
Students wrote comments on the author’s blog seeking more, and praising the author. The author read the feedback, corrected or added to their piece.
We discovered something amazing. Unknowingly, the author was revising, correcting, publishing, and utilizing the writing process taught in schools. Since it was peer driven, the student didn’t realize that they were involved in the editing process. For some students their writing was continually spiraling, where they constantly revisit that piece to add or fix it. The students did not seek the teacher’s approval rather they listened to what their peers had to say. Writing became vibrant, personal, and meaningful.
The author’s friends edged the author for more.
A Young Writing Community
Students were courageous in putting their writing on the wiki page. Everyone at camp, including parents could read what was written. The blog included all students, there was no exclusion and everyone was included. A writing community and culture was built, established and trusted. The author knew the audience was authentic. The audience cared about the author’s writing and commented accordingly. The community allowed students to write safely, and to try.
The blog became a place to share.
Many students had probably never been a part of a writing community, and now they are. They had a place to showcase their work, and they were able to be who they are without constraints. The older student had a hard time being without writing boundaries. Some asked, “What do I write about now?” They had been super imposed with years of educational writing – persuasive, literary analysis, expository, etc. leaving them initially stiff in their writing.
For sixth grader Jake, he was able to break free and to find his voice. He was able to freely explore on his terms. He wrote about subjects that are dear to his heart.
Did the sense of belonging and acceptance trigger the students to write more. We believe the students felt connected with one another and writing was the common ground. Writing was the vehicle uniting the youngest to the oldest student together, and technology was the ignition/gas that carried them forward.
Teacher Reflection
Many students first placed a poem on their wiki page and from there the writing explosion began.
We can not exactly explain what made the writing community powerful. Was it the technology component? Technology is a dominant form of communication for students and we wanted to use it, exploit to engage them and enhance their writing. Many students today are connected with technology and were we using technology to our advantage? Rather than paper pencil, students were publishing online, something they may not have done before. Was it is because there was an instant audience? Once a student published his/her work online, it instantly becomes available for everyone to read. Was it is because no topic was off limits? One week, we were all teaching about descriptive writing and as a result Harlo’s story The Blue Poo was created. Watch as Harlo tells his story: [Original media is no longer available].
We don’t know the exact answers to our questions. We know that we want our students to enjoy writing and the creativity that it offers. For many students, writing became a joyful process. As in the video, Harlo was able to write and read his story about the incident with his brother. Would he able to do so in a regular classroom setting? Would his teacher approve? At camp, Harlo was praised for his story, and students helped him develop it into a powerful descriptive story about blue poo.
Harlo’s brother, Ozzie responds to his brother’s story with a poem of his own.
Creativity was supported and embraced.
We didn’t want camp to reflect the demands and requirements of school. The students called us by our first names. They weren’t assigned to specific teachers rather they had the freedom to go between teachers, and the wiki allowed for that. Did the teacher’s openness create an environment where students felt free to explore and allow their writing to blossom?
According to the students, we probably took off the “academic” out of writing, but we wonder if indeed we were “academic” and they just didn’t realize it. We wonder if we told them they went through the actual writing process they would believe us?
Over the last several years, I’ve looked for ways to use technology to enhance my classroom practice, students’ critical thinking, and student engagement. In 2008, I was introduced to blogs as a way to make students’ writing public. The following reflections discuss the rationale and steps I used to implement blogs in my classroom in a way that not only fostered critical engagement with written and visual texts and encouraged student participation but provided an opportunity to write for an authentic audience.
Assignment Rationale
Every day community colleges students are bombarded with texts that aim to sway their opinions, entice them to buy products, or ask them to think a particular way about a political candidate, the classes they might take, or the issues that concern them. As readers and writers in the digital age, a fellow community college colleague and I felt that it was important for students to think through, understand, and be critical of these texts. We wanted them to be particularly critical of the “information” they so often access without question on the internet, so we developed this rhetorical analysis assignment.
The assignment asked students to analyze the moves made in one of several websites assigned to the class. Students were asked to identify the author, audience, and purpose. Then they were asked to analyze the rhetoric of the images, the colors, the font style, and the text. They were to answer the question: How does the author attempt to reach the audience? Then, they needed to address the follow-up question, which asked students to reflect on whether or not the author was effective in reaching the intended audience.
Our goal was to help students to become aware of the ways in which information can be presented to easily sway an intended audience. Our hope is for students to be critical readers and thinkers in the world. While our goals may be lofty, our objectives were much more grounded. For this assignment, 1) students would be able critically read a website; 2) students would be able to use analysis of style, layout, and text to make claims about how the website worked to reach its intended audience; and, 3) students would be able to evaluate the efficacy of the site in reaching its intended audience.
The assignment had clear objectives and goals, and my colleague and I were satisfied with the work in which the students would engage. But, we felt the assignment could work to foster additional critical thinking if we could further the dialog. We decided one way to continue the dialog outside of class was to have the students post their analyses to an inter-campus blog. In 2008, my colleague and I attended the Northern California Writing Project Summer Institute, where we were introduced to blogs as a classroom tool. As a result, my students (Yuba) and my colleague’s students (at two separate campuses) posted their finished papers to a blog. Once the analyses were public, the students at all three campuses (Butte, Shasta) were asked to respond one another using some clear lines of questioning.
The results were better than we could have anticipated. Students’ original analyses were really interesting, but their discussions online were even more so. What was even more surprising was the fact that their original papers became the subject of a larger discussion outside of their class. Some of the authors of the websites they had analyzed commented on their analyses. In one instance, a students’ analysis of a health food website was adopted as a reference on another health website. Suddenly, the dialog of the students reached beyond their classrooms and campus to the world.
The First Step: Create a Common Assignment
Since the students were going to contribute a piece of writing to the web, we wanted them to investigate the rhetorical purposes and moves behind online documents. So, we created an assignment, that supported by class readings and discussion, asked them to analyze one of eight websites, to identify the intended audience, identify appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) in use, and to discuss the potential success or failure of the site to reach the intended audience.
Second Step: Publish to the Web
Once students (at all three campuses) were done with their analyses, they were asked to publish their work to a common blog-site, Edublogs. Posts were categorized by the website under analysis. This enabled analyses in common to be grouped together.
Third Step: Engage Students in Dialogue
Once students (at all three campuses) had completed and published their analyses on the class blog site, students were then asked to respond to each other. Student online response has to be carefully constructed. If not, there is the danger that superficial comments (those reminiscent of myspace comments) can take over. Because our goal was to create a space of thoughtful dialog we created questions to guide the responses:
Do you agree or disagree with the writer’s assertion about the overall efficacy of the website? Why? Why not?
Were your thoughts on the website’s author, audience, and purpose similar or different? Explain the differences and or similarities. Reflect on the writer’s reasons and arguments. Were they similar or different?
What was interesting and/or insightful about this writer’s paper?
Why did you chose this analysis? What makes it interesting, insightful, important?
What were the writer’s claims about the author, audience, purpose, and efficacy of the site? After viewing the site do you agree or disagree? Why? Why not? Explain.
Why were the writer’s conclusions persuasive? Why? Why not? Explain.
Here is an example of a student response [Note original media shared is no longer available]. This was my colleague’s student, but in this comment, she is actually responding to me. In a previous response to another student, Hrossi had left some very brief comments. I pushed her for clarification and explanation. Though there is some informality in her response (which is indicative of a blogging), her insights focus on the content of the assignment (credibility) and she gives an example that demonstrates her clear understanding of the concept in the world outside of the assignment.
The Results: Were Great!
Overall, the results were fantastic!
Students original analysis were thoughtful examples of critical thinking in action.
Students were enthusiastic and excited about participating in a online writing environment.
Because they were publishing on a website, they were more careful to produce a finished product.
The students’ discussions with one another were thoughtful and insightful. They furthered students’ critical thinking.
The online forum helped form an academic community beyond our classroom.
Students’ found responses to their writing not only from students in the other classes, but from the public at large. In one instance, one of the website creators of a site under analysis responded to a students’ critique.
Students felt like their writing was read and validated and/or discussed by others.
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