Changing Writing, Writing for Change: Examining Expert Writers’ Transformations to Inform and Inspire Writing Instruction

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Centering Learner and Community Knowledge in Literacy Learning (Table 1)

Abstract

Building from the premise that writing plays an essential role in critical pedagogy, we examine expert writing practices of five scholars and artists whose writing underwent significant transformations through an interdisciplinary residential fellowship. Using graphic elicitation interviews and document analysis, we traced the development of the fellows’ learning to show how transformations were supported by specific features of the fellowship setting. Findings revealed four supports for promoting change in writing: 1) interdisciplinarity within the community, 2) novelty of place, 3) emphasis on the lived environment, and 4) balance between space and time for uninterrupted practice, along with constraints of regular sharing of work for critique. Detailed cases and overarching findings are presented along with implications for K-12 writing instruction.

Authors

• Malayna Bernstein, University of Toronto

• Ciara Zogheib, University of Toronto