Burning a House in the Sky

What does it mean to teach grief in classrooms that privilege composure over complexity? This chapter presents a grief-responsive framework for literacy instruction rooted in poetic inquiry, culturally responsive pedagogy, and narrative witnessing. Centering House in the Sky by Kyle Liang, we explore how students—especially students of color—use narrative writing to process trauma, reclaim memory, and resist erasure. Drawing from our collective research, lived experiences, and classroom practice, we show how poetry functions as both method and mirror, inviting students to write through grief rather than around it—honoring their stories as sites of healing, resistance, and transformation.