Derek Burtch of Erase the Space (who will be a guest speaker at our Teaching Cleveland Institute on June 22, 2023)
Derek Burtch, an English teacher at Olentangy High School in Lewis Center, Ohio and his friend Amelia Gordon, a former English teacher at Columbus South High School in Columbus started doing their work in 2016 and eventually founded the nonprofit Erase the Space.
Tell us more about you and your work
Erase the Space facilitates year-long writing exchanges between classrooms in order to help repair public discourse and allow students in our segregated schools the opportunity to learn with students they are literally not supposed to meet.
Students write letters and opinion pieces, communicate online, and ultimately meet in person to collaborate and reimagine solutions to shared social issues. They present their ideas to each other and a panel of community leaders in May.
Currently, we are facilitating 11 exchanges between 22 different classrooms in 18 different schools (14 different school districts) across Central Ohio.
During a recent joint field trip with two schools, students visited the “Undesign the Redline” exhibit at the main branch of the Columbus Library.
Ultimately what are you hoping the students will learn from these exchanges?
We want to teach students to interact with people from different backgrounds with empathy and respect. The idea is to “erase the space” between people living in the same metropolitan area to bridge divides and foster the idea of a larger community. We do that by encouraging educators of different districts to work together to engage students in project-based learning, writing, and a ton of dialogue.
Do you have community partners with whom you work?
Yes – beyond classroom exchanges, we try to link across the community to other organizations doing educational justice work, such as the Kaleidoscope Youth Center, the Columbus Education Justice Coalition, and the Kirwan Institute at Ohio State. We also partner with Otterbein University and sit on the steering committee for their Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation campus center. Through this partnership we have created NExT Hub, an Erase the Space model for teachers to collaborate on antiracist education, professional development, and solidarity. These networks are open to all teachers looking for community with teachers doing the same honest and brave work in their schools.
How can education professionals around Northeast Ohio connect with you or learn more?
Teachers can feel free to email me ([email protected]), visit our website, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook to learn more about us and send us a message.
