Building Writing Identities: Integrating Explicit Strategies with Authentic Writing Experiences to Engage At-Promise Writers

The message of what constitutes good writing instruction, though promulgated for decades, has not always nor consistently trickled down to P–12 schools, where writing instruction is often focused on preparing students for success on standardized tests and where prescriptive and formulaic approaches to teaching writing are prevalent. Part of the reason for this might be that teachers are not always familiar enough with authentic writing experiences that adequately engage all learners. As scholars in the fields of literacy and special education, respectively, the authors combine their collective expertise to address this concern. They offer skills-based tools and strategies that can be integrated into authentic writing experiences to promote critical thinking and creativity, build students’ writing identities, and help at-promise learners gain and maintain writing momentum. A balanced approach that harmonizes different orientations and paradigms lends credibility to this piece as an example of what educators joining together to form a coalition for student support can look like. This article is positioned to bridge the divide between seemingly dichotomous perspectives. Through the strategies and ideas the authors share, teachers will be better equipped to give at-promise writers reasons to believe in themselves and their writerly capabilities