• Home
  • ABOUT
  • Knowledge Base
    • About Writing
    • Content-Area Literacy
    • Digital Learning
    • English Learners
    • Equity & Access
    • Leading Professional Learning
    • Program Design
    • Teacher as Writer
    • Teacher Inquiry
  • Blog
    • Events & Opportunities
    • NWP Radio
    • Marginal Syllabus
  • Books
  • Contact
  • NWP.org
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • Knowledge Base
    • About Writing
    • Content-Area Literacy
    • Digital Learning
    • English Learners
    • Equity & Access
    • Leading Professional Learning
    • Program Design
    • Teacher as Writer
    • Teacher Inquiry
  • Blog
    • Events & Opportunities
    • NWP Radio
    • Marginal Syllabus
  • Books
  • Contact
  • NWP.org

Subversive Acts of Revision: Writing and Justice

90 views 0

Author: Heather Bruce

Summary: Bruce explains how revision can be taught as a tool to critique unjust texts. She writes, “We must …speak back to those who would take our power from us and continue a legacy of damage to our students.” Reading this piece could spark powerful conversations about teaching for social justice while supporting students as critically active readers who write as a way to resist and/or advocate.

Original Date of Publication: July 2013


Download “Subversive Acts of Revision: Writing and Justice”

Excerpt

Revision in writing (and in life) results from a process of re-seeing. Revision is part of a process of clarifying how we express ourselves and not ‘a sign of failure’ (Early 84). It is a process of re-imagining, an ability to see otherwise. At the heart of revision is the act of looking for other possibilities and ways of envisioning. Revision is blind-sided when we disallow possibilities beyond common understandings. Revision reframes and reveals alternatives. Revision disarms and dissects. Revision expands our awareness and enlarges our perceptions. As Mary Ehrenworth and Vicki Vinton assert, ‘Revision is the opportunity to restructure, reword, play, plan and imagine it differently’ (19). Authentic revision leads to new ways of seeing, new insights, new inventions and developments. Revision lies at the center of reform; it rings particularly on a fervent desire for change. Revision, in this vein, leads to transformation.
 
Revision as it pertains to learning about others makes our eyes see differently; we begin to look farther, to look beyond the self and one way of knowing and believing, to accept other ways of knowing and being. Revision pushes us to look at the same words, images, sounds, texts, people, animals, landscapes and see something completely different. When we study with profound concentration, we are able to see more intently and pause to light-step into wider understanding. Learning to re-see, to re-vise, in the deepest sense of the word, becomes exciting with possibilities when we begin to view the world through others’ eyes and to hear others’ voices. Our awareness of potential expands exponentially when we discover alternative ways of seeing, viewing, and interacting with the world through exposure to multiple perspectives, diverse cultural traditions, and unique individual narratives. Subversive acts of radical revision can stimulate civic dialogue and move us closer to achieving inclusive pluralistic values intrinsic to democracy.


Related Resources

  • Lee Anne Bell Counters the “Stock Stories” of Race and Racism
  • Community Connections for English Learners: Changing the World Starts with Just a Few Words
  • When Students Take a Critical Lens to Traditional Literature: Protest and Student Voice

Original Source: National Writing Project, https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/4553

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Tags:revisionreading/writing connectioncurriculumsocial justiceadvocacycivic engagement
Attached Files
#
File Type
File Size
Download
1 .pdf 3.05 MB teaching_in_the_CL_classroom

Would you recommend this resource to others?

Yes  No
ABOUT

write.learn.lead. is a collection of resources, insights, and reflections from National Writing Project teacher-leaders. You can also find us at nwp.org and Educator Innovator.

SEARCH BY TAG
agenda assessment bibliography bilingual/bicultural coaching community connected learning continuity curriculum diversity dual language elementary facilitation family grammar/correctness key reading mentor/thinking partner middle/high school multimodal narrative new teachers partnership preservice professional growth protocol publication reading/writing connection research retreat revision rural school-year program science/math social justice social studies standards study group summer program technology urban video writing center writing group writing prompt youth program
NWP Logo
NWP ON THE WEB
NWP.org
Educator Innovator
The Current
STAY CONNECTED WITH NWP
Get more great resources on teaching and writing delivered to your inbox every month by subscribing to our Write Now Newsletter.
  • © 2020 National Writing Project. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.