Making It Real: Girls' Stories, Social Change, and Moral Struggle

Abstract

ids in the Bronx are always saying to each other and us: Keep it real. Make it real. Don't be fake. So some of us who are their English teachers try to devise curricula that bring words and worlds, students and the substance of their lives, closer together in the goal of meeting that demand for authenticity in their literacy practices. But sometimes some of these students not only demand real-ness in the classroom, they propose it, devise it, and even enact it, with adult help and/or encouragement. This article is the story of one such effort, a story about a group of eighth grade girls self-named the TEEN group