This article examines how teachers can navigate "difficult knowledge" embedded within digital stories, particularly those sourced from openly licensed literacy platforms. These platforms offer a rich tapestry of narratives reflecting diverse cultural contexts and experiences, but may also present challenging themes that require sensitive pedagogical approaches. Drawing on case studies and teacher reflections, the article explores how teachers can leverage their agentive identities to address these challenges creatively within the contexts of constraining institutional structures. Through analysis of several example stories that address issues such as social exclusion and difference, we demonstrate how teachers can use these freely-available materials to facilitate critical discussions about complex sociocultural themes. The study highlights the importance of scaffolding student learning, promoting inclusive classroom environments, and empowering students to engage with diverse perspectives in a meaningful way. Ultimately, this research suggests that open educational resources, when thoughtfully integrated into pedagogical practices using transmediation, translanguaging, and other approaches, can offer valuable opportunities for teachers to foster agency in both themselves and their students as they grapple with "difficult knowledge" together.