Reading the World Together

In elementary and middle-school classrooms across Canada, conversations about justice, identity, and equity are deepening students’ learning. As educators committed to fostering inclusive spaces, the authors believe literacy education can be a powerful foundation for restorative and antiracist teaching. This article offers a window into our collaborative journey as classroom teachers, educators, and researchers who strive to centre justice, relationships, and student voice in literacy instruction. Drawing on principles of restorative justice in education (RJE) and antiracist pedagogy, we show how reading and writing can help students better understand themselves, each other, and the world they are shaping. 

1. Rooting Literacy in Relationships

At its heart, RJE is about repairing harm, restoring relationships, and fostering community. In classrooms, this means cultivating a culture where every student feels seen, heard, and valued. Literacy becomes a relational act​​. When students share stories, read about diverse lives, and write from their own experiences, they connect with one another in meaningful ways. 

Restorative Foundations for Reading and Writing 

We use circle practice as both a pedagogical structure and a way of being in the classroom. Because circles are student-led rather than​​ hierarchal, everyone is allowed to be a learner, especially those who tend to stay quiet. Everyone has space to share and be heard. Circles invite students to speak and listen with care, to reflect on identity, and to build empathy. 

Early in the school year, we centre identity work: Who am I? Where do I come from? What stories matter to me? These questions anchor our literacy curriculum and provide a signal that students’ voices are not a side note but the heartbeat of our learning community.

2. Laying the Groundwork for Social Justice in Literacy

In the elementary years​,​ literacy instruction is a chance to nurture empathy, fairness, and identity awareness. In ​​​​their ethnically diverse Grade 4 classroom, Kaitlin uses picture books like Drawn Together, by Minh Lê, The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi, and Your Name Is a Song, by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow to spark conversations about difference and belonging. 

Building Brave Spaces Through Story and Writing 

Writing assignments invite students to explore their names, families, and cultural traditions alongside broader questions of identity and stereotype. Students of the Breaking Boxes read-aloud series (​​​​Pink Is for Boys, Red: A Crayon’s Story, and Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress) “circled up” to unpack how assumptions about colours, clothes, and labels can limit who they feel free to be. In that dialogue, even the most reticent classmates found their voices: some described moments when they’d hidden favourite colours or hobbies to avoid teasing, while others asked genuine questions about courage and allyship. The stories became springboards for deeper writing and richer conversations about kindness, authenticity, and the power of challenging stereotypes together. 

In extending these writing exercises further, restorative circles provide a safe space for students to explore challenging topics and listen to one another across differences. In one circle, students responded to this prompt: “When have you felt included or excluded because of who you are?” These kinds of stories and sharing can shape how educators select texts and approach writing assignments throughout the year. 

Similarly, after reading Drawn Together, the image of a child eating hot dogs while his Vietnamese grandfather (in their retelling) ate soup got the students’ attention. They shared an awkward silence, but a breakthrough moment came when, as one student put it, “they learned how to be kind to each other because they didn’t know how to communicate.”​​ One student, Louis (a pseudonym), connected that scene to his first months in Canada, when he knew almost no English. The picture made him think of his own mixed Brazilian-Japanese heritage, and imagining how his great-grandfather might have narrated wartime memories. Words failed him. He remembered sitting silently at lunch, feeling that his classmates saw only “the quiet kid.” 

Such spontaneous transfers from text to lived experience show how intercultural picture books serve as both mirrors and windows:​​ they validate children’s layered identities while inviting them to practise perspective taking across generations and cultures. This is where the often-overlooked power of making connections as a reading strategy becomes visible, beyond the superficial “text-to-self” prompts that can feel meaningless. Instead, these authentic connections reveal kindness not as a rule on a chart but as a relational practice.

3. Reading and Writing for Change

By middle-school grades, students are ready to grapple with complex issues and consider their role in creating a more just world. In Grant’s Grade 8 class, where all of the students were racialized, Grant introduced books that centre resistance, resilience, and activism—texts like The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, This Book Is Antiracist, by Tiffany Jewell, and We Are Not Free, by Traci Chee.  

​​​​Critical Literacy and Youth Voice in Action 

​​Grant’s Grade 8 students engaged in “literature salons,” a discussion-based reading assignment focused on social justice and equity issues. When self-selecting two different books, students focused on a specific issue that resonated with them personally. ​One South Asian Grade 8 student reflected about their experiences in the ​​​​lit salons unit: “I never thought a book could make me feel this seen. It made me want to write my own story, so others could feel that too.”​​ 

Because they did not all read the same texts, the students’ conversations examined how topics such as race, class, gender, and sexuality unfolded in their individual books, in the world, and in their own lives. For some, these discussions sparked difficult realizations. Near the end of the year, a few students shared that their parents often used racist language at home, but that—because of the books they had read—they were now beginning to challenge anti-Black racism and homophobia in their own families. 

In another literacy project, students created digital photo essays after first studying published photo essays that exposed them to the lives of diverse people in diverse situations around the world, such as a piece by Kwetásel’wet Wood in The ​​​​Narwhal that focused on Indigenous youth connecting to the land through hunting. Students then documented their own lives through a photo essay, exploring experiences of migration, cultural identities, encounters with bias, and moments of belonging. Writing became an act of activism, and consistent circle dialogues helped students process emotional responses, confront inequities, and build solidarity.

4. Circle Pedagogy as Literacy Pedagogy

In classrooms that treat dialogue as both a literacy skill and a transformative practice, we’ve observed how learning deepens. Circle pedagogy supports students in developing listening and speaking competencies while also fostering a classroom culture of inclusion. 

Circles can be structured (with talking pieces and opening and closing prompts) or informal (spontaneous check-ins or reflection dialogues). They provide regular opportunities for students to practise articulating ideas, asking questions, and expressing care. Importantly, circles invite students to slow down and simply listen—​​without immediately responding or debating—so that they can better understand one another’s perspectives. This process can be uncomfortable at times, especially when viewpoints are challenged or assumptions are unsettled, but that discomfort is part of the learning. It creates space for students to reflect, grow, and build empathy alongside their peers. 

Dialogue as Text and Tool 

Teachers sometimes worry that using circles takes time away from curriculum-driven instruction, but we have found the opposite. Circles completely connect to any grade-level curriculum and foster a safe learning environment. Further, when students feel connected and safe, they engage more deeply with texts, write more authentically, and take intellectual risks. Administrative and collegial support, thoughtful pacing, and modelling vulnerability as educators all contribute to making this work sustainable.

5. Challenges and Learning Along the Way

This work is not without its challenges. We’ve encountered pushback from colleagues, community members, or caregivers who worry about “politics in the classroom,” and we’ve had to navigate discomfort when difficult conversations arise. 

However, ​​​​​​we’ve also experienced profound growth—as teachers, learners, and individuals. We’ve learned to lean into discomfort, to continue learning about our own biases, and to trust that students are capable of engaging with complex ideas. In fact, students want—and need—to have these discussions. They are capable and ready to reflect on conflictual issues, even at a young age. Just as importantly, adults have been invited into circle spaces of their own, where they not only unpack biases but also are given room to bring more of who they are—appropriately and authentically. Adults are honoured in these spaces, and that sense of connection extends out into the student community. When we modelled this process with staff alone, we saw real shifts: people left feeling connected, many were deeply moved, and while not everyone did, several tried bringing circles into their own classrooms. 

What We’re Still Figuring Out 

Every literacy move we make—what we place on the shelf, how we frame a question, whose languages we honour—either disrupts or reproduces power. Echoing Rudine Sims Bishop’s insight that books can be both “windows” into others’ lives and “mirrors” of our own, we strive to let students see themselves and look outward. By helping them read the world through the words on the page, we cultivate readers and writers who are equipped to spot inequities, extend empathy, and imagine fairer possibilities for everyone. 

Conclusion 

We invite educators to begin where they are. You don’t need a perfect curriculum or all the answers. Start by listening to your students. Reflect on your own story. Choose one book, one circle, one question that opens the door to justice-centred learning. 

Literacy as Liberation: An Invitation to Educators 

1. Literacy is relational: Build trust, foster connection, and make space for every student’s voice. 
2. Be okay with discomfort: Know that learning comes from discomfort. 
3. Circles are powerful tools: Use them to build community and deepen conversations. 
4. Choose texts with intention: Include diverse voices and invite critical thinking. 
5. Embrace complexity: Don’t shy away from hard topics—lean into them with care. 

Reading the world together means listening deeply, speaking truthfully, and writing toward a more just future.​​​​ 

​​​Reflection Questions​​ 

• ​​​How can you use literacy practices in your classroom to invite students into critical conversations about identity, justice, and belonging?​​ 

• ​​​What small changes could you make in your literacy instruction to better reflect and affirm the ​​diverse lived experiences of your students, your colleagues and the broader community? 

• ​What book was impactful to your own growing/learning?​​ 

​​     ​ 

Some Resources to Explore

Christine Baldacchino. (2014). Morris Micklewhite and the tangerine dress. Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press. 

Rudine Sims Bishop. (1990). Windows and mirrors: Children’s books and parallel cultures. In Celebrating literacy: Proceedings of the Annual Reading Conference at California State University (14th, San Bernadino, California, March 5, 1990) (pp. 3–12). 

Traci Chee. (2020). We are not free. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

Yangsook Choi. (2001). The name jar. Alfred A Knopf. 

Katherine Evans and Dorothy Vaandering. (2022). The little book of restorative justice in education: Fostering responsibility, healing, and hope in schools. Simon & Schuster. 

Equity Literacy Institute. (2025). https://www.equityliteracy.org/ 

Government of Ontario. (2023). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language. https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-language 

Michael Hall. (2015). Red: A crayon’s story. Greenwillow Books. 

Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand. (2020). This book is anti-racist: 20 lessons on how to wake up, take action, and do the work. Frances Lincoln Chilren’s Books. 

Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood. (2024, May 30). They’d never been hunting. Now, Indigenous youth learn skills, culture and language—thanks to a First Nation program [Photo essay]. https://thenarwhal.ca/indigenous-youth-hunting-lake-babine/ 

Minh Lê. (2018). Drawn together. Disney/Hyperion. 

Gholnecsar (Gholdy) E. Muhammad. (2020). Cultivating genius. Scholastic. 

Kimberly N. Parker. (2022). Literacy is liberation: Working toward justice through culturally relevant teaching. ASCD. 

Crystena Parker-Shandal. (2022). Restorative justice in the classroom: Liberating students’ voices through relational pedagogy. Palgrave Macmillan. 

Robb Pearlman (2018). Pink is for boys. Pride and Less Prejudice.  

Relationships First NL. (n.d.). Worthy & interconnected. https://www.rfnl.org/ 

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2024). Learning for justice [formerly Teaching tolerance]. https://www.learningforjustice.org  

Angie Thomas and Amandla Stenberg. (2022). The hate u give. Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins.  

Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow. (2020). Your name is a song. The Innovation Press. 

Meet the Expert(s)

Dr. Crystena A. H. Parker-Shandal

Associate Professor, Renison University College, University of Waterloo

Crystena Parker-Shandal is an Associate Professor of Social Development Studies at Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Canada. Her research and teaching focus on restorative justice, antiracism, and peacebuilding in education.

Read More

Teresa Mayer

Restorative Justice Practitioner and Consultant

Teresa Mayer is a restorative justice practitioner, consultant, and facilitator based in the GTA and Southern Ontario. Her work spans diverse areas including education, sexual harm, grief, and community healing.

Read More