Virtual Workshop 1: "Open Educational Resources for a More Just Classroom”
Workshop leader: Leila Walker (Queens College, City University of New York)

Efforts to diversify the field of Romanticism, long overdue, have intensified in the past few years, and many Romantic organizations now sponsor programs aimed at amplifying Black and brown voices. Most of these efforts have focused on content: how to present Romanticism as a global movement and include non-white authors in our anthologies and syllabi. While these much-needed changes address some of our field's traditional blind spots, they do little to materially benefit our most vulnerable students. In this workshop, I propose to introduce participants to finding, making, and using open educational resources as a means of enacting social justice in the classroom. At my institution, the City University of New York, students can expect to spend $1,364 annually on books and supplies, but 42% of CUNY students have annual household incomes below $20,000. Many students report going into credit card debt or forgoing other necessities like food and medical care to purchase textbooks; other students report electing not to purchase the textbook and hoping for the best.

Virtual Workshop 2: “Coffee Hour with Julia Wright”
With Julia Wright (Dalhousie University) and moderator, Paul Child III (Sam Houston State University)

As a follow-up session to her morning plenary address, “Women's History, Women's Advocacy: Lady Morgan and Romantic-Era Dublin," Julia Wright will respond to questions and explore through discussion issues raised. By granting more time for questions, this session aims to inspire robust online discussions throughout the conference.

In-person Workshop 1: “The Prison Writer as Witness: Curation Workshop in The American Prison Writing Archive (APWA)”
Workshop leader: Doran Larson (Hamilton College)

The APWA is the largest and first fully searchable digital archive of non-fiction essays and poetry by currently and recently incarcerated people. At this writing, the APWA hosts 3,307 non-fiction essays and poems by over 1,000 incarcerated people writing about their experience in prisons in 48 states. The APWA is committed to placing those who know prisons, jails, and the criminal legal system from the inside at the forefront of understanding of and debate about the current legal order. This workshop will be facilitated by the APWA’s founder and current co-director. It will allow participants to become active contributors to the APWA by selecting subject-specific essays and poems, on topics such as racist practices, medical negligence, domestic and prison violence, sources of hope, resistance, and dreams of freedom.

Participants need to bring laptops with access to the net, email, and google.docs. After a brief presentation on the history of the APWA and a tour of its capacities, curation teams will be formed, choose topics, and have time to search and collect whole essays or poems and excerpts into curated collections. Curations that are particularly well conceived and completed will be posted on the APWA website for a global readership. You can learn more about the APWA’s origins and as explore its holdings at prisonwitness.org. The APWA has been supported by the NEH and is expanding with support from the Mellon Foundation.

In-person Workshop 2: “A Conversation with the Windham School District (WSD)”
With Kristina J. Hartman, Superintendent, Robert O'Banion, Chief Financial Officer, and
Danielle Nicholes, Communications Administrator for the Windham School District, which serves residents within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Leadership of the Windham School District (Windham) will provide an overview of the educational programs and services available to residents within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and engage in discussion with workshop participants.

Windham provides academic, career and technical education and life skills programs to eligible students at 85 campuses in TDCJ. The district was established by the Texas Board of Corrections in October 1969, named after James M. Windham, who served on the Texas Board of Corrections for 24 years. Windham began with a staff of eight instructors, and, today, is one of the largest and most effective correctional education systems in the nation with the goal of preparing students to rejoin our communities equipped with education and skills training that aligns with interests and employment outlook.