The Power of Conversation: Linking Discussion of Social Justice to Literacy Standards

As a way to privilege speaking and listening alongside writing and reading, the article describes an action research project that directly linked students' oral literacy skills to the writing process. Fifth- and sixth-grade students participated in reading, discussion, writing, and publishing sessions that focused on their ideas related to a text about Rosa Parks and issues of social justice. Students composed narrative essays using transcripts of conversations where they orally developed story dialogue and description. Leveraging students' perspectives across modes is a way for teachers to help students meet the demands of Common Core State Standards and ambitions for personal activism.