SPEAKING & EVENTS

Ph.D. Urban Literacy

Books

Cindy Urbanski

Ph.D. Urban Literacy

Keynote Speaker, Workshop, Classroom Visit or Book Club Talk

Booking Inquiry Form

1 / The Writing Workshop Classroom K-12+

This is the topic that I cut my teeth on with my first book back in 2004, Using the Workshop Approach in the High School English Classroom. At that time, writing workshops were primarily held in elementary and middle school classrooms. I stood on the shoulders of people like Donald Graves and Nancy Atwell to bring the practice to the high school level. The core strategies explored in the book, written alongside my high school students, remain my most popular and most requested workshop and speaking topic. I stand by those principles as I work with all writers, be they K-12, college level, or adults who are working to get their words out into the world.

2 / School Reform and the Perpetuated Cycle of Poverty

It’s not a new topic. We’ve been reforming schools for as long as I can remember, yet reform has always been linked with a standardized test for which students have been drilled and prepared. The schools that “need” reforming and the students who "need" the drill are those whose socioeconomic situations mark them as “poor.” While their affluent counterparts are being pushed to think critically and “get outside of the box,” these students are asked to repeat what they’ve been given and do as they are told with promises of a better life. And we wonder why the cycle of poverty continues. I offer discussion around how schools perpetuate the cycle while attempting to “help.”

3 / Qualitative Research Methods

Numbers are significant, but the story is where it’s at for me. Often, when people speak of qualitative research methods, they think of “research lite.” The narrative approach doesn’t feel “real” in academia. However, a story is not only a way in which we connect with others, but methods like Critical Discourse Analysis and Activity Theory allow us to dive into that story, analyze it, and see how it’s functioning in the world and with people. I invite others to play with these methods with the stories of their own classrooms or others they encounter.

4 / The Power of Self/ Independent Publishing

I have experience in both self-publishing and traditional publishing worlds. There are reasons to do each. In my current life, self or independent publishing makes the most sense. No more losing control over my own words. No more doing my own marketing to have someone else claim the paycheck. In this way, I would like to make space in the world for untold and/or underrepresented stories.

5 / Relishing in the “Mess” and Getting Your Words Down

The blank page is every author’s nightmare. I like to wave my magic permission wand and tell writers to make a big ‘ol mess on the page. Just let what’s in your mind flow down your arm and through your fingers. Sometimes, the mess looks like transcribed voice memos, doodles, fits, and spurts of words. This is something to be enjoyed and relished rather than feared and dreaded.

6 / Revision

This is my favorite part of writing, to do and talk about. Here is where the magic resides. We do not do revision because we got it wrong the first time. It’s an act of play, almost like playing dress-up and trying the words on, mixing and matching, and moving things around. We'll get in the sandbox together and see what reveals itself on the page.

7 / Writing as Healing

The perfect pen scratching across a journal page, fingers flying over a keyboard or thumbs over a phone screen. The medium doesn’t matter. Neither does the genre: poem, essay, fiction, stream of consciousness. When we put our feelings on the page and shine the high beams on them, when we do the work of excavation, for no other reason but for ourselves, healing has the space to happen. And sometimes, those words make it out into the world, where they connect with others and offer a little balm to the soul.

"Cindy provides a powerful combination of expertise and experience! I am always left with new ways of thinking after engaging in one of her workshops or speaking events."

Shana Hartman, PhD CEO & Founder of Synergy Wellness