Critical Literacy, Revision, and Saving America in the Age of AI
Critical Literacy as Resistance: A Chicana Framework for Centering Student Knowledge (Sasha Osorio)
Scholars have long examined how students develop literacy skills, including digital and world-building literacies (New London Group, 1999), and how critical literacy supports engagement with complex writing tasks related to contemporary social and political issues (Delgado Bernal; Giroux; Leonardo; McLaren). Less attention has been paid to the specific pedagogical methods, curricular designs, and instructional texts that writing instructors use to cultivate critical literacy in ways responsive to students' lived experiences and local contexts, particularly when drawing on BIPOC scholarly traditions and interdisciplinary frameworks. This study contributes to understanding how critical literacy develops through sustained writing practice, with specific rhetorical moves emerging at identifiable points in students' development. This presentation shares empirical data on critical literacy development while engaging the audience in collaborative knowledge-building about what critical literacy means and looks like when BIPOC methods and interdisciplinary frameworks shape both the curriculum and the research design. The session unfolds in three parts. First, I invite participants into a conversation about their own critical literacy skills and familiarity with critical literacy as a pedagogical framework. Second, I present findings from 10 weeks of longitudinal data collection, including: an overview of the retrospective consent design and its methodological advantages; developmental patterns in rhetorical moves across the quarter; examples of student writing showing early versus late critical literacy practices; the relationship between writing practice and critical consciousness development; and implications for assessment. Third, I facilitate a brief reflective activity in which participants consider what critical literacy looks like in their own fields, universities, and classrooms. Participants will leave with access to a Google Drive folder containing an example codebook for identifying critical literacy moves in student writing, sample assessment rubrics, and sample course curriculum.
Fixing the Robot’s Homework: Reclaiming Revision in the Age of AI (Christene d'Anca)
As generative AI tools become increasingly embedded in student writing practices, composition instructors face a pedagogical crossroads: whether to prohibit, ignore, or meaningfully integrate AI into writing instruction. I argue for the latter by showcasing a scaffolded copyediting assignment that positions AI-generated text as an object of critical rhetorical analysis and human revision. The assignment asks students to generate a short piece of web content using an AI tool and then systematically evaluate and revise that text using established principles of effective web writing. Through a color-coded highlighting system, students identify stylistic weaknesses commonly associated with AI prose, such as vague language, excessive use of “to be” verbs, adverbs, and weasel words, alongside moments of rhetorical effectiveness worth preserving. Students then revise the AI-generated draft to create a more precise, audience-aware, and stylistically intentional version, followed by a reflective commentary on their editorial choices.
Drawing on process-based pedagogy and professional editing practices, this assignment makes visible the often-invisible labor of revision while reinforcing students’ authority as writers and editors. Rather than treating AI as a threat to authorship, the assignment reframes it as a flawed collaborator whose limitations sharpen students’ rhetorical judgment. Student reflections reveal increased confidence in identifying tone, purpose, and audience, as well as a growing skepticism toward surface-level fluency. For this presentation I will outline the assignment’s structure, discuss observed student outcomes, and offer adaptable strategies for integrating AI into composition, professional writing, and digital rhetoric courses. Ultimately, it suggests that teaching students how to revise AI-generated prose may be one of the most effective ways to teach writing itself.
Across the Divide: A Course to Save America (Maximilian DeLaure)
The university is in crisis. Our democracy is in crisis. Our students are not well. Can a single class improve students’ in-person social skills, deepen their understanding of themselves and their beliefs, while building psychological resilience and reducing their social media addiction by sharpening their critical eye? Can a class also help students see their fellow Americans across the divide with more tolerance and understanding? I devised an experimental class to try to accomplish these aims, and it has succeeded beyond my hopes. I have been teaching for 35 years, and this is the first time I have been compelled to share my teaching ideas with others. I want to share key assignments, the philosophy underlying them, and their impact, in the hope that others may integrate some of these approaches in their own courses. Goals: Provide a successful framework for managing AI in a writing class. Share assignments that have changed the lives of students beyond the classroom, and impacted the people around them, such as interviewing people from the other side, first people you know (family, acquaintances, etc.), then perfect strangers. Share techniques that help students build friendships with classmates beyond the course. Address the issue of groupthink through self-critiques and self-improvement, rather than arguing against opponents who are never present in the classroom. What has my side gotten wrong? What can my side do to improve? What does the other side get right? Cultivate stillness and concentration through authenticity, presence, and a return to the analog technology: fountain pens, Japanese notebooks, in-class writing and reading. Detach grading and assessment from learning, and encourage trial-and-error to ensure learning is about exploration and discovery, not about the grade. Facilitate international students’ understanding of American social mores. Encourage students with disabilities to swim without water wings, without fear of drowning.
Student Innovations Across Contexts (Roundtable)
Small Interventions, Big Shifts: Student-Centered Innovations in Writing Instruction Across Contexts (Clare Taylor , Carmen D’Angelo, Will Gisselquist)
Speaker 1, 2, and 3, all graduate students in English Education at Arizona State University, will present three case studies that explore how small, student-centered pedagogical interventions can foster innovation in writing instruction across diverse learning contexts in secondary and college classrooms. Responding to the growing need for adaptable and inclusive writing pedagogies, this roundtable examines how targeted instructional shifts can support student agency, engagement, and analytical development. Each presenter investigates how rethinking traditional structures for grading, reflection, and annotation can lead to meaningful changes in student learning and in the teaching of writing. Speaker1-explores how alternative revision tools, including a progress-tracking journal and revision matrix, supported a first-year composition student who had fallen behind due to missed coursework. By shifting focus away from punitive grading and toward process-based development, this intervention reimagines how instructors can scaffold revision and persistence. Speaker2-examines how structured reflection and writing to learn strategies, such as a double-entry T-chart, helped an adult graduate student move from descriptive writing toward deeper analytical interpretation. This case highlights how reflective scaffolding can support advanced writers in developing interpretive depth. Speaker3-investigates how flexible annotation practices impact student focus and engagement in a high school English classroom. By comparing traditional, highly structured annotation requirements with more self-directed approaches across print and digital platforms, this study challenges assumptions about attention and accountability in literacy practices.
Together, these case studies highlight how innovation in writing instruction can emerge through small, intentional instructional changes that prioritize student needs, agency, and context. The session will begin with brief presentations of each case study, followed by a guided discussion in which participants reflect on how these approaches might be adapted to their own teaching contexts. Attendees will be invited to share their own strategies and challenges related to fostering innovation in writing instruction.
Self Expression and Deep Reading
Literary Self-Expression: Proverbs, Song Lyrics, and Fables (Andrew Yim)
In this presentation, I will introduce an innovative literary pedagogy that fosters creative risk-taking, experimentation, and curiosity through three literary genres I have taught to undergraduate students in a 16-week course and to older adult learners in a 5-week summer course. Specifically, learners studied the defining characteristics of and created their own: (1) proverbs (short, wise statements), (2) song lyrics (lyrical expressions by contemporary artists), and (3) fables (stories that convey moral lessons). I will then share anonymized student writing samples and discuss writers' experiences in both courses. Finally, I will highlight innovative classroom strategies, including how students studied specific literary devices (e.g., metaphor, simile) in proverbs, song lyrics, and fables. Participants can incorporate these strategies into their own literary classrooms to support diverse learners and learning contexts.
Writing through Deep Reading (Jackie Pak)
This discussion panel examines a shift in ESL writing pedagogy from viewing literacy as a set of discrete skills to understanding it as a socially and cognitively situated practice. Multilingual learners are often positioned within deficit frameworks that privilege grammatical correctness over meaning, limiting their confidence and engagement as writers. Drawing on classroom and tutoring experience, this discussion explores how these assumptions shape students’ relationships to reading and writing. Grounded in the work of Patrick Finn (2009), the session situates literacy within broader structures of power and advocates for asset-based approaches that build on students’ linguistic and cultural resources. Insights from Mary Ross (2010) emphasize the importance of supportive environments that encourage risk-taking and meaning-making rather than error correction.
The session draws on cognitive and composition research from Maryanne Wolf (2018) and Ellen C. Carillo (2017, 2018) to highlight the role of deep, metacognitive reading in developing multilingual writers’ critical thinking and expressive abilities. It addresses common challenges such as “message-hunting” (Carillo, 2017), where students prioritize locating the “right” answer over engaging meaningfully with texts, as well as “patchwriting” (Tinberg, 2017), often seen as a surface-level reliance on source language. Participants will explore practical strategies and samples of scaffolded writing activities which support students in moving from formulaic writing toward deeper engagement and the development of a confident, individual voice, fostering both comprehension and ownership of ideas through reflection and revision.
Diverse Learners Panel
Using AI Tools to support Adult English language learners (Apolonio Valdovinos)
This presentation explores how writing instruction can be redesigned using AI tools to support adult learners, particularly English language learners, within Integrated Education and Training (IET) contexts. It positions educators as facilitators of collaborative, goal-oriented learning that connects writing to shared outcomes in career pathways, education planning, and workplace readiness. English language learners include both multilingual learners and native English speakers with low literacy. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, based on the 2023 PIAAC study, 28 percent of U.S. adults perform at the lowest levels of literacy proficiency, an increase from earlier cycles of the study in 2011 to 2014. Recent data also show an overall decline in literacy skills across the adult population. These challenges are closely tied to employment outcomes, including underemployment, limited job mobility, and reduced access to career advancement. Participants will examine how AI can support each stage of the writing process, including idea generation, vocabulary development, drafting, feedback, and revision. The focus is on using AI as a scaffold to support language development, critical thinking, and learner agency. Strategies include generating leveled texts, supporting academic and workplace vocabulary, and enabling multimodal expression.The session will highlight collaborative approaches to writing instruction. Examples of group-based writing tasks tied to shared goals such as researching career options, planning education pathways, and solving workplace challenges will be examined. AI tools support shared inquiry by helping students compare perspectives, build knowledge together, and strengthen communication skills in authentic contexts. Participants will leave with practical strategies they can apply and share to design inclusive, collaborative writing experiences that support literacy development and workforce readiness.
From Classroom Practice to Publication: Supporting Multilingual Higher Education Faculty in Academic Writing (Kara Mac Donald, Jamil Al-Thawharih)
Publication is an important requirement for career and rank advancement in higher education. Multilingual faculty in positions in higher education in the U.S. through degree pathways completed in their home language contexts or through coursework-based master’s programs in the U.S can face unique challenges. Although possessing working and/or professional proficiency in English and field specific expertise, they may have limited experience with academic research writing for publication in English. This session draws on the experiences of the presenters as educators serving in a Faculty Professional Development division at a higher education institute. Although academic writing support is not formally within the division’s mandate, so support for multilingual faculty has been provided informally, yet through a structured, community-based approach that blends flexibility with clear guidance. Drawing on the presenters’ experience in teaching academic writing from undergraduate to doctoral studies, they share an approach to adequately support writers’ needs. The peer mentor approach is organized on a one-on-one basis through short, loosely scheduled sessions over several weeks. The process begins with annotated examples of action research articles to make academic conventions visible, particularly for those writing in English as an additional language. Subsequent sessions are focused on a specific task such as outlining a paper, drafting individual sections, and revising for clarity. Attendees gain insight into how an ancillary service to writers can be delivered in a structured manner, and common barriers faced by multilingual educators are including confidence in academic English, unfamiliarity with research conventions, uncertainty about journal expectations, and developing an academic voice, are addressed. The session is of particular interest to directors and instructors working in academic writing centers that may face limited resources, as it places the writer at the center of driving the learning process.