I’m not going to lie…the last several days have been DOOZIES where it comes to getting my writing posted each and every day.
So, I’m going to preview a little project I’ve been working on, and I’ll give you an update tomorrow – that is, of course, assuming that some other post doesn’t pull me to the side.
I’m a strong believer in the power of writing to both shape and affirm identity.
But when I look at the writing my diverse student population produces, there’s actually very little within it to express that diversity.
I wrestle with this. How can I teach young writers about the power of the “default” where it comes to writing? How can I have them realize that characters without identifying traits still get identified – as whatever the mainstream culture would have readers picture? How can I have young writers begin to put cultural markers into their work through explicit and inferred language? And what are the questions to consider and explore when we do start to incorporate cultural language into writing?
Those are the questions I’ll be posing tomorrow at a mini-workshop for teachers. Wish me luck, and I’ll post an update afterwards!
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 
These are excellent questions and should lead to some thought-provoking discussion. So often the images that pop into our minds as we read are based on what we know, what we experience, and what the outside world tells us even if there are not clear-cut identifiable character traits given by the author. I look forward to your follow-up.
Oh I can definitely relate to this. I did think it was a bit of a second language problem as obviously my students have less vocabulary than first language English speakers, but even when I post word suggestions for replacements around the room, everything is still ‘pretty’, ‘beautiful’ or ‘naughty’ and dogs are always ‘spotted’!
Celia, you have me thinking – we have a lot of English Language Learners in our schools, and it definitely poses a question: how can we support kids in expressing their identity when they are still learning to master the basics of written expression?