Who am I as a writer (Blog Post #2)

    Mrs. Craig is in her final year of her graduate program with 3 semesters left in her licensing program. She has worked as an English teacher for the past 4 years at a Milwaukee charter school where she has been able to develop her critical thinking skills and expanded upon her diverse youth reading set. Her passion for youth to conduct self exploration and self discovery through literature is a driving force behind her Why! Mrs. Craig is a lifelong learner and always open to adapt and learn from the unique learning styles of her students.

    She’s a big sci-fi fan and prides herself on knowing too many facts about films like Star Wars, the Maze Runner and Black Box. She is excited to assist young readers into finding what genres best fit them and always making sure to see themselves in their readings/writings.

My Reading Collage

Out with the old, in with the new

 I often feel anxiety and skepticism when I think of replacing in person forums with digital platforms. I'm either afraid of the legitimacy of information presented on certain digital sites, or my fears over the loss of social skills due to limited in person interactions. COVID and the pandemic exacerbated these fears as I witnessed people replace in person interactions with Zooms and Google Meets, and then met children back in the classroom where they had forgotten many important social cues and the much needed soft skills like public speaking, critical thinking and teamwork.

   

Reality then hits me and I begin to remove the blinders that I've developed over the years to remember what using the internet looked like for me as a young adult/teen. I remember loading up the internet on the home computer (which could take a good 5-10 minutes), and getting excited to meet my friends and complete strangers in an AOL chat room. pretending to do some type of schoolwork on a different tab incase my parents happened to walk into the living room. Oh how age does make our memory foggy to the risks one use to take!  

(For anyone who may be unaware of what the AOL chats looks liked)

    While the idea of online book clubs is nothing new to me, utilizing a space like TikTok was an absolutely new concept. How could an app that I'm always telling my kids to close provide them with an opportunity to constructively and impactfully engage with books and other young readers? With this question I started down my journey of BookToks by putting "Black woman BookToks" into the TikTok search and came up with this amazing list. (I've provided the link to you so you can explore also). Blackwomanbooks. The reading by Jerasa and Boffone add nuance and understanding to the needed exploration of young readers that can be accomplished on a platform like TikTok. Young adults spend so much of their free time on these types of platforms that incorporating commentary and suggestions on diverse books is a plus! Especially since I've come across many young adults who have openly told me that they do not read and have no interest in reading. Maybe seeing other people who look like you in not just appearance but age can help activate a spark within them to at least try a new book!

                                                                               

When it comes to my social media usage, I see myself as a firm user of Facebook and Instagram platforms. On these platforms I primarily network and negotiate, as presented in the reading by Jenkins. Posting about upcoming social/ political events, and moving between different online groups allows for me to stay connected with what's going on in my community, which is an important factor in my life.

For many students in urban settings, who are from diverse backgrounds, having a sense of control and autonomy is missing in traditional classroom spaces. According to a reading titled, Critical Media Literacy Practices for Equitable Futures, "Empowering diverse voices to impact and enact social change cannot be done without centering equity in teaching and learning. Doing this not only enhances media literacy curricula but also strengthens the ELA classroom to foster inclusive practices" (Johnson et al., 2022). The ELA classroom is the foundation for all other learning that takes place during a students day. Having a positive relationship with the ways in which you express and digest information is central to a students development, especially those from diverse urban settings. These youth also need to find safety and space within institutional spaces to unpack all the ways in which they feel. DeJaynes and Curmi-Hall explain that, "leveraging institutional spaces for civic discourses engaged youths and their school community in a public dialogue about systems of oppression" (p.10). 

Adults and educators must take a step back and allow the youth to explore. Structured but not rigid should be the motto!!

                                                                    Citations

DeJaynes, Tiffany, and Christopher Curmi‐Hall. “Transforming School hallways through critical inquiry: Multimodal literacies for Civic Engagement.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 63, no. 3, 25 June 2019, pp. 299–309, https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.991

Jenkins, Henry, et al. “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.” Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning, 2006, pp. 3–4.

Jerasa, Sarah, and Trevor Boffone. “BookTok 101: Tiktok, digital literacies, and out‐of‐school reading practices.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 65, no. 3, 8 Oct. 2021, pp. 219–226, https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1199. 

Johnson et al. "A Field Guide for ELA Educators." Critical Media Literacy Practices for Equitable    Futures, vol.2, 5 June 2025, pp. 27-32, https://prjohnson.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/critical-media-literacy-practices-for-equitable-futures-a-field-guide-for-ela.pdf