Reading and Writing Our Rural Stories: Memoir-Writing With Rural High School Students

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Five
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Adolescent Writing and Literacies (Table 6)

Abstract

Research on rural literacies has highlighted the nuances of rural contexts by noting that rural literacies are dynamic and socially constructed (Corbett & Donehower, 2017). To better understand how rural literacies can be used as an impetus in the writing classroom, we present a study conducted with two classes of rural high school students in two different states, who participated in a place-conscious memoir writing unit designed aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which culminated in a final, written memoir. We describe this unit and analyze student artifacts to provide findings that illuminate the impact of a place-conscious writing unit on students writing and thinking about place and how that influences motivation and engagement in English class.

Authors

• Erika L. Bass, University of Northern Iowa
  Presenting Author

• Amy Price Azano, Virginia Tech
  Presenting Author