R272. Incarcerated Juvenile? Veteran? Senior? Teaching and Reaching the Writer Hidden Within the Underserved

Diamond Salon 6&7, JW Marriott LA, 3rd Floor
Thursday, March 31, 2016
4:30 pm to 5:45 pm

 

Five veteran teachers of the underserved discuss strategies and best practices to bring the power of writing into the lives of those often discounted in our culture. How do we create safe classrooms and yet raise the bar for literary craft? How do our language and demeanor affect the outcome of the classroom? How do we craft culture-sensitive writing prompts? Panelists discuss the challenges and rewards of working in unusual classrooms and delve into how to best engage unique populations.


Participants

Moderator:

Monona Wali is the author of My Blue Skin Lover. Her short stories have been published in many literary journals. She teaches writing and literature at Antioch University and at Santa Monica Emeritus College.

Rob Fox's creative nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, LA Weekly, Diverse Voices Quarterly, and other literary journals. He is teaching faculty at Antioch University, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica College. He has been a volunteer teacher for incarcerated teenage girls for over ten years.

Esché Jackson is a poet and writer who has made the transformational journey from incarcerated teen to college graduate. She earned her BA in English literature from the University of Southern California in 2015. She works with InsideOut Writers to bring her own experience to incarcerated youth.

Ashaki M. Jackson is a social psychologist, program evaluator, and poet who has worked with at-risk and post-incarceration youth through research, evaluation, and creative arts mentoring for over one decade. She is a Cave Canem alumna, VONA/Voices alumna, and WriteGirl mentor.

Leslie Diane Poston is a writing instructor for African American high school students and underrepresented first generation college students at UCLA. She served for over three years as the writing program director of InsideOUT Writers, which instructs creative writing classes in LA juvenile halls.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center