Developmentally Nourishing Writing Assignments: An Invitation to Innovate (John Creger, Daniel Davis)
How tired are you of reading uncommitted, disengaged writing from your students? In this interactive session we see roots of today’s spiraling disengagement in an overlooked place – our own set of assumptions about learning and curriculum, particularly in writing instruction. A longtime complaint from students, even those of us who later become teachers, is that learning in school is “not about me.” Our session's co-presenters are a recently repurposed English teacher and a former student now in the University of Missouri’s journalism program. We’ll start our conversation by reflecting with participants on our own disengagement as students from writing assignments and expectations that bar our unique personalities from entering what we write. We’ll then look at samples of student writing responding to assignments that invite students to nourish their developmental needs – even in academic writing. After comparing observations on these samples, we’ll trace the assignments themselves back to a new set of assumptions about teaching, learning, curriculum and writing instruction, assumptions drawing on pioneering new understandings of child development. This new orientation gives us the capacity and insight to move beyond our current transactional approach into a transformational model of learning and curriculum. Experimenting with the new approach, we’ll get started designing new or altering existing writing assignments created with students’ developmental needs in mind. Participants are invited to join follow-up conversations online, including the possibility of collaborating on a Curriculum Renovation Project growing out of this session and the presenter’s forthcoming book, Learning to Unfold: Crossing the Engagement Gap with Our Students.
Leveling Up the Writing Classroom: Failure, Feedback, and the Rogue-Like Model (Nicholas Stillman)
In the wake of increasing student anxiety, perfectionism, and fear of failure—exacerbated by pandemic disruption and the rise of AI-assisted writing—many students struggle to begin, revise, or take intellectual risks. How might writing instructors redesign their classrooms so that failure becomes motivating rather than something to avoid with AI tools? In 2023 I designed an experimental composition course to increase student engagement and resilience. Over six quarters of iteration at UC Davis, the course has been refined through student feedback and recognized with the university’s Graduate Student Teaching Award. This interactive session introduces the “Rogue-Like Writing Classroom,” a course model inspired by the notoriously difficult video game genre in which players try, fail, and repeat. Yet, despite these repeated failures, players' engagement and determination remain high. In this writing course that model of design is adapted to writing. Students track their progress using a modified “character sheet” aligned to course learning outcomes. Rather than earning static grades alone, students accumulate “experience points” through writing and reading labor, reflection, and revision, “leveling up” rhetorical skills across the term. Fictional scenarios, such as digging through “The Data Mines” for primary research and thematic “boss battles”—provide narrative exigence and multimodal reinforcement to deepen engagement and memory. As a result, students feel a sense of progression and meaning that is normally elusive. Drawing on student reflections and survey data, I share how this model fosters creative risk-taking, increases metacognitive awareness, and reframes assessment as growth. Participants will complete a short writing “challenge” and experiment with a mini character sheet to experience the structure firsthand. Attendees will leave with adaptable templates and strategies for fostering innovation, resilience, and meaningful engagement in their own writing classrooms across grade levels.
Cultural Storytelling as an Innovative Classroom Writing Approach (Coumba Diouf)
What if writing could stir students’ imagination and spark joy in the classroom? What if it could embark them on a journey through culture, history, and self-discovery? This session introduces cultural storytelling as a transformative approach that revives student writing and creates genuine connections. By weaving a mosaic of narratives, from oral traditions and folktales to contemporary stories, into writing activities, teachers will inspire their students to explore their cultural backgrounds and identities in ways that traditional exercises often miss. Teachers will practice hands-on strategies to incorporate storytelling into lesson plans, emphasizing techniques that help students weave cultural narratives into their own creative work and reflect on the true value and significance of their stories. Sample anonymized student projects and relevant case studies will demonstrate the type of impact that cultural storytelling can have on writing skills, critical thinking, as well as the affective filter. Moreover, this approach helps create an inclusive classroom where all student voices are celebrated. Participants will leave equipped with actionable, classroom-ready tools to transform writing instruction into an interactive, culturally rich experience. This session demonstrates that storytelling is not just an engaging teaching method; it is a powerful catalyst for cultivating curiosity, empathy, and a lifelong passion for writing. Educators will see their classrooms transform into spaces where stories connect hearts, minds, and cultures.
AI as a Thinking Mirror: Fostering Metacognitive Awareness in the Writing Process (Jisoo Lee, Juhyun Kim)
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in writing classrooms, instructors face a crucial question: how can AI deepen students' thinking rather than replace it? This session presents a teacher-designed "Growing a Thought Tree" framework that positions AI as a "Thinking Mirror," a reflective scaffold that cultivates metacognitive awareness and higher-order thinking across the writing process. Grounded in Bloom's Taxonomy, the model scaffolds students through sequenced interactions with AI so that, as they move through each stage, their capacity to evaluate and create is strengthened. The framework integrates three metacognitive stages—planning, monitoring, and evaluating—aligned with pre-writing, drafting, and revision. In pre-writing, guided AI prompts help students activate prior knowledge, set purposeful goals, and anticipate challenges. During drafting, students use AI to analyze the logic and organization of their arguments, test the strength of their claims and evidence, and identify gaps in reasoning. Rather than letting students consult AI at any time for any purpose, the model sequences these interactions so that each encounter with AI focuses on a specific metacognitive task and builds on the previous one. In revision, AI-generated reflective questions invite writers to reconsider their choices, explore multiple perspectives, and make deliberate decisions about coherence, voice, and audience rather than simply accept AI-produced text. To support metacognitive development, the approach pairs AI with low-tech classroom tools such as reflection journals and structured prompt sequences that help students trace how their ideas and decisions evolve over time. Classroom examples from college courses illustrate how reframing AI as a thinking partner fosters innovation, curiosity, and ethical technology use while preserving authorship and student agency. Participants will leave with adaptable prompts, planning templates, and coaching strategies they can implement immediately in diverse multilingual and ESL/EFL writing classes to promote self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and more inclusive, inquiry-driven writing spaces.
From Procrastination to Productivity: Coaching Strategies that Strengthen Student Writing Habits (Khulan Zagd)
Procrastination, lack of structure, and uncertainty about the writing process are common challenges that many students face across educational contexts. This interactive workshop introduces practical coaching strategies that writing instructors can incorporate into their classrooms to help students develop stronger writing habits and greater ownership of their learning. Rather than focusing solely on the final written product, this approach emphasizes supporting students throughout the writing process by fostering goal-setting, reflection, and intentional writing routines. Drawing on coaching-based practices used in academic support settings and writing instruction, this session demonstrates how small but intentional interventions can significantly improve students’ engagement with writing tasks. Participants will explore techniques such as guided goal-setting for writing assignments, structured planning activities, and coaching-style questioning that encourages students to think more critically about their writing process. Through brief, interactive activities, participants will experience how these strategies help students in higher education move from avoidance and procrastination to more productive, confident writing practices. The workshop will also address how these approaches can support diverse learners, including multilingual, first-generation, and academically underprepared students, by fostering an environment that normalizes struggle and emphasizes growth. Attendees will leave the session with practical tools and adaptable activities that can be implemented in writing classrooms across grade levels and disciplines. By integrating coaching principles into writing instruction, educators can help students build sustainable writing habits, develop greater self-awareness as writers, and approach writing with increased confidence and persistence.