I so appreciate that this moment in students' learning demonstrates an emerging reciprocal engagement in the process of writing. Classroom practices and literature do not often reflect the worlds of students “who communicate in numerous languages, claim multiple identities, and often have ties that extend beyond our nation’s borders” (Campano & Ghiso, 2011, as cited in Ghiso et al., 2012, p. 15). This moment reminds me that centering student music and culture combat systems of oppression that exist in traditional forms of schooling

I love that Johnson used sticky notes in the margins to have a conversation (through the written word) with the student. The students says that she "read each and every one of them and took into account what she was saying." The conversations in her journal reflect a deep care for her as a human being and writer. By taking notes, Johnson extended this student's thinking about her own writing but not in some prescriptive, calculated way that diminished how the student felt about herself. This ongoing conversation is a large piece of both written and oral storytelling, which is a long-standing tradition to acknowledge voices regardless of stage in the process.

Risk-taking only seems possible when students feel that their experiences, histories, many languages, and stories are valued. The focus, here, on "celebrating other ways of knowing a being" does not only mean bringing in works that reflect the identities of students. An invitation to hearing and seeing students' contributions of mind and heart feels urgent.

I am thinking about how this teacher frames this question. In many ways, the teacher's framing of the question creates a dichotomy, which does not allow for interpretations beyond these two categories. While I appreciate that this teacher invites students to provide evidence to support their claims, categorizing family members into "bad" vs. "good" seems damaging for students, especially those students who, developmentally, are at an age where they are constantly sense of their own identities and that of their family members. By forcing students to choose, when the question is subjective in terms of how students (and the teacher) might define" good" vs. "bad," both the human beings (in a memoir no less) and the students are dehumanized.

This moment reminds me that so much of this dreaming work requires intentionality within dialogue...working alongside rather than on behalf of communities to raise inquiries and offer moments for/of reflection, especially when it comes to young girls in schools.

This question is so important. Providing a counter narrative is one move that we, as educators, consistently need to make; however, revising the "(mis)representations" in a way that reframes Black girl/womanhood is vital to our students' success and understandings of the world/who our students are within the world.

I'm interested in thinking about futuremkaing as a process…one that is continuous. Here, the dreaming and futuremaking occur in a continuum.

I'm interested in thinking about futuremkaing as a process...one that is continuous. Here, the dreaming and futuremaking occur in a continuum.