Critical friendship and collegial conversations

Cultivating Padlet communities during a time of Covid

Authors

  • Susan Densmore-James University of West Florida Author
  • Bryan Ripley Crandall Fairfield University and Connecticut Writing Project Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.24293

Keywords:

writing communities, critical friendships, diverse & inclusive books, COVID, literacy in digital space

Abstract

In this reflective article, a case study, we draw upon scholarship on a critical friendship (Schuck & Russell, 2005; Silva, 2003) that grew in 2020 as we worked to assist one another in creating NWP writing programs for teachers and youth. At the heart of our professional collaboration was our desire to maintain and cultivate community engagement (Deans, Roswell, & Wurr, 2010; Preece, 2017), while advancing racial literacies in digital spaces (Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021) and as we worked with a framework for instructional equity (Muhammad, 2020). Weekly meetings led us to using Padlet for 189 hours of professional development, 9 programs with 511 youth, and 7 courses with 320 students. Padlet became a location for curation, especially as we worked to promote diverse, inclusive children’s and young adult texts as models for classroom teacher and student writers.

Author Biographies

  • Susan Densmore-James, University of West Florida

    Susan Densmore-James is a graduate of Florida State University, where she obtained a dual Ph.D. in Reading Education and language arts. She is an Associate Professor at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida, and the Director of the Emerald Coast National Writing Project. Her work with middle and secondary literacy has earned her the title of ‘The Book Dealer.’

  • Bryan Ripley Crandall, Fairfield University and Connecticut Writing Project

    Bryan Ripley Crandall is Director of Connecticut Writing Project and Associate Professor of English Education at Fairfield University in southern Connecticut. He researches and writes about writing communities, young adult literature, and working with immigrant and refugee youth in mainstream classrooms.

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Published

2023-08-16

Issue

Section

Caring for a Network of Teacher-Writers in a Time of Covid: Part 2

How to Cite

Densmore-James, S., & Crandall, B. R. (2023). Critical friendship and collegial conversations: Cultivating Padlet communities during a time of Covid. Writing and Pedagogy, 15(1-2), 139-156. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.24293