From Windigo Economies to Classrooms of Abundance: Indigenous Wisdom for Educators
This 20-minute session directly engages the conference theme of “abundance” through the lens of Indigenous ways of knowing. It contrasts the Anishinaabe legend of the Windigo—a powerful metaphor for a destructive culture of overconsumption, excess, and scarcity—with the Indigenous principle of the gift economy, exemplified by practices like the Potlatch, where wealth and honor are measured by generosity. Drawing heavily on the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass, this talk will provide educators of all backgrounds with a framework to critique systems of privilege and waste in education and to actively cultivate classrooms rich in belonging, reciprocity, and shared success.
Jennifer Wolf, PhD, Director of Native American Culture and Education, Denver Public Schools
Abundant Student and Teacher Agency in a Time of Curricular Change
In an attempt to provide the grade-level, standards-based literacy instruction that all students deserve, school and district leaders often turn to mandated curricular programs. But what does it take to implement such curricula in a way that truly engages students? Sarah Zerwin, classroom teacher of 30 years, will share her recent research study about implementing a mandated curriculum in her 10th-grade classes. Via a research design that allowed for frequent “engagement checks,” Sarah and her students came to a nuanced understanding of the needs for such mandated curricula alongside the challenges of putting them to work in a classroom. In this keynote, Sarah will tell the story of the study and offer some reflection based on the study’s outcomes. Sarah’s students continually advocated for a classroom experience anchored on their agency as learners. Similarly, literacy leaders can cultivate an abundance of teacher agency by inviting teachers to be partners in meaningful change.
Sarah M. Zerwin is in her thirtieth year as an educator, the last eighteen years as a language arts teacher at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado. She is the author of Point-Less: An English Teacher’s Guide to More Meaningful Grading (2020) and Step Aside: Strategies for Student-Driven Learning with Secondary Readers and Writers (2024). Both books reflect her career-long obsession to get out of her students’ way in her classroom so they’re doing the bulk of the reading, writing, and thinking on their own. She is proud to be public school educated, K–PhD (she received her PhD in 2009 in curriculum and instruction, secondary literacy, from the University of Colorado, Boulder). Learn more at SarahMZerwin.com.
Writing for Abundance: Taking Writing from the Academic to the Holistic
“I wrote myself towards a stronger version of myself.” —Roxane Gay
What if writing were more than just academic—what if it empowered students, supported their well-being, and helped teachers find power in rest? Using generative writing prompts and an overview of programming offered by Lighthouse Writers Workshop, local arts administrators Ashley Bunn and Marissa Morrow invite CEL attendees to explore the power of writing holistically in the classroom and in community. Together we’ll examine how community-centered writing can boost student self-awareness, strengthen social-emotional learning, and support teachers. Attendees will take away practical steps toward integrating holistic writing into the classroom and their own reflective practices.
Ashley Howell Bunn (she/they) started as the youth program coordinator at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in December 2024. She completed her MFA in poetry through Regis University and holds an MA in Literature from Northwestern University. She has a background in Montessori education and has worked with all ages, from elementary to early college. Her first chapbook, in coming light, was published in 2022 by Middle Creek Publishing, and her second chapbook, Living/Amends, is forthcoming through Galileo Press. Her writing has been supported by Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and Sundress Publications. She is an adjunct instructor of English at the Community College of Denver and a certified somatic coach and yoga instructor. She is dedicated to supporting inclusive and accessible creative and healing programming.
Marissa Morrow (she/her/hers) started her career as a legal advocate for victims of domestic violence in Colorado’s 18th Judicial District in 2018. She’s been in her current role as the Community Engagement Program Manager at Lighthouse Writers Workshop since 2022. Marissa received a Bachelor of Arts in human development with a minor in sociology from Metropolitan State University of Denver. With a steadfast passion for poetry, literature, photography and social justice, she has always found joy and freedom in the arts.