Youth Re-Writing of Self

Abstract

Given today's social and political milieu, disciplinary writing in secondary schools must address systemic violence and the increased disconnection amongst youth from self and communities. The chapter will illuminate ways writing pedagogy in secondary school disciplines—with its privileging of dominant writing genres and narrow conceptions of disciplinary literacies—perpetuate youth disconnection. Then, it proposes disciplinary writing—grounded in principles of nonviolent communication and critical consciousness—can support a literacy of being where youth unlearn culturally-conditioned, deleterious narratives of self and become a source of peace and justice within communities. Secondary school writing can cultivate agentive spaces for youth to awaken to the sources of societal, communal, and personal violence and rewrite themselves with greater compassion, authenticity, and personal power.