Voices in Print, Power in Action

Adolescents face a barrage of reading tasks requiring critical literacy skills to navigate a democratic world, and yet their voices are sometimes lost in the shuffle. This chapter outlines a unit designed to honor adolescents’ transformative voice, build a sense of agency, and develop a liberating civic praxis. It begins with identity work to build awareness of self and others, followed by justice-oriented book clubs that explore voice and agency, and culminates in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) projects. By embracing text interrogation and critical action research for activism and innovation, our schools can build academic skills while teaching for humanity and disrupting domination to foreground activism, community, and love.