Voice, Audience, and Stories in Student Writing
"Reconsidering Audience and Purpose for Authentic Student Writing" (Jonny Maiullo)
This presentation would focus on the importance of allowing students to determine audience and purpose for classroom-assigned writing, especially in the case of multilingual students in “bridge” courses between ESOL and Composition.
Writing instruction often reinforces the idea that correct usage is the basis for good writing. Instructors may ask students to be creative, to freewrite, outline etc., but when rubrics, peer review and writing conferences continually reinforce correctness of mechanics, students see writing as a means of demonstrating this mechanical knowledge. This is what can make writing, and especially revision and the creation of a writing process, frustrating, even paralyzing.
To redirect students to the communicative purpose of writing, I would like to share a successful model I have developed working with multilingual community college students in both Mendocino College and College of the Redwoods.
Instructors will consider the following in this workshop:
-Creating prompts that are flexible and can draw on students’ lived experience
-Assigning an iterative drafting and grading process with periods for student reflection
-Modeling a question-based peer review process
-Providing students with an authentic audience and purpose outside the classroom through the creation of reading events, and areas to publish writing
The workshop will conclude with an invitation for instructors to consider their current essay assignments in terms of an audience and purpose which transcend the classroom and instruction.
"Offering a Real-World Audience for Student Writers: Fostering the Dissemination of Student Voices" (Kara Mac Donald, Michelle (Soonhyang) Kim, and Amy Sleep)
Few students may be aware of the opportunities available to convert their classwork into a publication. Writing and audience are intertwined (Long, 1980; St. Amant, 2020). However, most often student writing generated as a class outcome is rarely read by anyone but the teacher, or possibly their peers as part of the writing and revision process. Therefore, the reach of the student authors’ message, intent, and voice as a piece of communication and dissemination beyond the classroom are limited. Writing for most high school, community college and university students is akin to always being a writing student but not an author, as the main reader, i.e. the teacher, never has a purpose but primarily to assess the mechanics of writing in English. The lack of a true audience significantly influences the author’s expression and writing approach as well as the coverage of the content (Ede & Lunford, 1984). The presenters share how they have incorporated mentoring and scaffolding support into their writing instruction and courses to support students who are interested in writing beyond the classroom and being published authors. The session describes how sample texts, peer collaboration, instructor mentoring and the identification of venues for students’ manuscript submissions were addressed as complimentary learning and growth opportunities to classroom instructions. The opportunity to publish is open to all students, but in part with a focus on non-native English speaking or heritage-language students, to share their voices through publication in real-world venues. The presenters address various types of articles, an overview of the publication process from their perspective and experiences, and specific suggestions of how student writers new to the process can begin. Upon completion of this presentation, the audience will have the tools, including student writers’ publication samples, to create a plan for pursuing their own professional learning through publication.
"Making Student Stories Come to Life: Stop Motion Animation as a Writing Tool" (Lindsey Lanfersieck)
With the rise in generative AI, we could say that creativity and the ability to think critically are important now more than ever. In this presentation, I will discuss a creative activity I’ve recently introduced in my classroom that emphasizes creative expression and critical insight as key aspects of student development. I have students turn a piece of their creative writing into a stop motion animation video, which I will also guide audience participants how to do. This activity can work even better as a group project, where students work together to tell a story about an important topic, text, event, or in my class, community leader. Additionally, this activity can be adapted across genres, including the reflective essay, allowing students to gain insights by visually mapping out their thought processes. I begin by having students storyboard their piece of creative writing. Storyboards help students identify a story's main ideas or the essential details of an issue by sketching out key scenes or components. Then, students need only basic art supplies and a free phone app to start shooting their videos.
Ultimately, stop motion animation can serve as an important analytical tool that promotes deeper engagement with texts. It not only enhances students’ digital literary skills but also encourages them to be innovative, imaginative thinkers. Through these strategies, we can make student voices, ideas, and stories come to life.