Realizing powerful writing pedagogy in U.S. public schools

ABSTRACT

In this theoretical article, I argue that classroom teachers are in an ideal position to help students make sense of and take action regarding pressing social issues. Yet according to past research, writing instruction in the United States tends to focus on short, formulaic assignments that do not require criticality or connect to real-world events. Additionally, this trend is more pronounced for historically underserved students, particularly students of color and/or students with lower socioeconomic statuses. To address this problematic trend, I propose a powerful writing pedagogy (PWP) that blends evidence-based practices with methods for increasing authenticity, while emphasizing critical composition pedagogy, resulting in a theoretically comprehensive pedagogy that provides necessary skills and strategies, connects to students’ lives, responds to sociopolitical realities, and provides opportunities to impact actual, intended audiences. PWP illustrates that striving for social justice, increasing authenticity, and supporting skill and strategy development are mutually supportive goals for writing instruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Authentic writing
• critical literacy
• evidence-based practices
• social justice
• writing pedagogy

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the journal reviewers as well as Rouhollah Aghasaleh, Deb Bieler, Kristina Brezicha, Jake Cohen, Stephanie Behm Cross, Patrick Enderle, Sara Giordano, Noah Golden, Natalie King, Rob Petrone, April Poindexter, Clarice Thomas, and Maisha Winn who read drafts of this article and provided helpful feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and the Conference on English Education of the National Council of Teachers of English. Spencer Foundation [201700071];Conference on English Education.

Notes on contributors

Nadia Behizadeh

Nadia Behizadeh is an associate professor of adolescent literacy at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. Her research interests include critical literacy instruction, social justice teacher preparation, and reforming high-stakes assessments. She can be reached at [email protected].