MCTE Fall 2026 Conference

This session describes our journey in supporting instructional coaches as they developed a deeper understanding of the Disciplinary Literacy Essentials through local stories, histories, and contexts. Participants will explore our approach, including values, speakers, materials, and our place-based meeting structure, designed to support coaching by centering place-based and adolescent pedagogies.

Racial and ethnic injustices in education can seem difficult to combat. However, we can use the tools available to us as instruments for change. Considering challenges faced by students of color when choosing classroom literature can subvert institutional injustice, thereby helping students develop their identities in a structurally racist society.

What are the benefits of an annual writing marathon that draws writers outside to write at the same locations year after year? This presentation will offer two broad answers: noticing changes in the place, and noticing changes in the person. Participants will write about a single location across four seasons and brainstorm applications to K-12 contexts.

This interactive session invites ELA teachers to examine how positionality shapes who can adapt, question, or resist prescribed curricula. Drawing from a high school English case, participants will analyze pedagogical privilege, identify local curricular tensions, and design antiracist discussion moves, text pairings, or writing prompts for their own classrooms.