Rethinking our Work as Literacy Educators: Cultivating Leadership Skills through Student-Generated Initiatives and Meaningful Collaborations

Presentation at Conference on English Leadership Link to Program: http://ncte.org/app/uploads/2018/03/2015CELProgram.pdf Adolescent literacy involves complicated relationships between emotionally and socially-driven youth and their visual, verbal-rich environments, suggesting our need to rethink our work as educators in some fundamental ways. This session will introduce participants to a program model that provides a forum for student leaders to empower their peers and their school communities regarding the importance of literacy. University faculty collaborate with school administrators, teachers, students, counselors and parents — as well as university students and individuals in the community (local authors, book publishers, members of the public library, university staff) who make significant contributions to the program’s success. The project underscores the importance of what these students are accomplishing collectively — they establish their roles as readers, writers and school leaders who have a desire to share the significance of their work with others. The session will discuss sample “Teens for Literacy” student-generated literacy initiatives and recommendations for implementing the program while developing authentic community collaborations