Critical Dialogue

Abstract

This is a conversation between Kate Werthwine, a high school English teacher in Pasco County, Florida, and Alexandra Panos, a former middle grades ELA teacher and current Assistant Professor of Literacy Studies at the University of South Florida and Associate Editor of Climate Literacy in Education. Kate and Alex have known each other for almost four years and have spent much of their time together thinking and talking about climate and ecojustice and its intersection with literacy, with diverse kinds of text, and with where their bodies are on this living earth. This conversation is focused on Kate’s artwork—published in this volume—and discusses how the current laws and policy practices in Florida have impacted the stories that get shared in classrooms, including those that support learners in their own journeys to understand who they are and where they are from.