The 47th Annual Spring Conference on the Teaching of Writing

What If We Wonder? Curiosity, Humanity, and the Teaching of Writing

February 23–24, 2026 | Old Dominion University, Norfolk Campus & Online

Submit your proposal HERE.

The educational landscape is shifting at a rapid pace. And we have emerging digital technologies to thank… and sometimes blame… and often both. Students arrive in our classrooms tired and carrying fatigue in their bodies, phones in their pockets. AI tools are increasingly embedded in primary, secondary, and higher education, reshaping how students read, write, and think. Lots of things feel uncertain, precarious even, and it can be tough not to get mired in overwhelm—particularly as political and institutional pressures push toward efficiency, standardization, and automation. Meanwhile, teachers of writing know that while generating text can be as simple as pushing a button, learning to write is slow, human, relational work.

So what do we do?

It can be easy to respond with judgment—of the tools, of the students, of our administrations, of ourselves. But (hear us out), what if we choose wonder instead? What if we approach this moment with curiosity?

We’re not suggesting we mask our feelings or ignore the very real challenges we face. Rather, we propose: What if we use this conference to pinpoint the questions that matter to teachers of writing right now—and brainstorm, problem-solve, and build resources and coalitions in response? 

Margaret Atwood reminds us that stories about the future are really about the present–the  questions we ask now reveal what we value now. So let’s ask together: What do we value? What enduring principles should continue to guide the teaching of writing? How is the changing educational landscape challenging existing threshold concepts– those irreversible, transformative ideas that fundamentally shift how someone understands writing? What new principles and threshold concepts are emerging? 

Join us this February as we center curiosity as both method and theme and invite writing and literacy teachers to explore the questions before us not to resolve tensions but to explore them. Not to declare what writing instruction must become, but to wonder what it could be. Not to defend against change, but to ask what change makes possible. And, perhaps most importantly, to do this inquiry together. 

We invite proposals that wonder:

  • What if we stay curious? What does it look like to approach students, colleagues, and emerging technologies with genuine curiosity rather than assumptions? How might framing pedagogical, administrative, and praxis through wonder reshape our pedagogies and our classrooms? How might it help teachers remain resilient in the face of change? 
  • What if we name what we value? What enduring principles should continue to guide our practice? What new principles and threshold concepts are emerging? How do we articulate the worth of slow, careful, human-centered teaching and writing?
  • What if we cultivate agency? How do we help students see themselves as writers, thinkers, and makers rather than consumers and task-completers? How do we foster motivation when apathy feels pervasive? How can we integrate tools thoughtfully while keeping students at the center?
  • What if we ask different questions about AI? What if we move beyond panic and hype to ask generative questions about technology’s role in literacy learning? How can we guide students to make AI work for them but not do the work for them? What if we sit with the tension between automation and individuation, exploring what gets lost—and what becomes possible? What if we resist resolving too quickly? 
  • What if we employ design thinking methods in our framing of the courses, challenges, and systems we teach in? How might empathy mapping help us understand our students’ actual experiences versus our assumptions about them? What if we prototyped pedagogical approaches the way designers prototype products—testing, iterating, and failing forward? How do we create space for the messy, nonlinear processes of both design and writing? 
  • What if we center equity? How do technological shifts intersect with existing inequities? How do we ensure innovation serves all students—especially those most vulnerable? What if we resist solutions that commodify instruction or leave anyone behind? How might these technologies create access for some student writers? And how do we as instructors live with the tension? 
  • What if we center humanity? What makes writing instruction distinctly human? How do we create meaningful, human-centered writing instruction even within structures designed for efficiency and automation? How do we help students, teachers, and administrations discern what is best left to humans and what is best left to machines?
  • What if we find possibility in limitation? How do we support meaningful writing instruction within real and challenging constraints like eight-week truncated courses, larger class sizes, and fewer resources? What does it look like to prioritize and protect what matters most when we can’t do everything?
  • And, finally, what if we sustain each other? What if we acknowledge that the work feels relentless? What if we share practices that keep us grounded? What if we build communities of care that help us—and our students—push through fatigue and rediscover purpose and joy in our work?

Proposal Types and Session Formats

We invite 150-word proposals for presentations, interactive workshops, teaching demonstrations, and roundtable discussions or panels that engage with the conference theme. Though we welcome proposals that diverge from the questions above, we also challenge and encourage you to frame your proposal around a “what if” question you want to explore.

  • Individual Presentation: Share research, theory, or reflections on praxis, practice, or pedagogy. (10-15 minutes within a longer session)
  • Teaching Demonstration: Walk us through an activity, tool, or approach you use in your classes. Show us what it looks like and why it matters. (10–15 minutes OR 30-minute demo + Q&A)
  • Panel: Two-four presenters offer prepared remarks on a shared theme or question, followed by discussion/ Q&A. Panels work best when presenters are in dialogue, not just presenting sequentially. (45 minutes OR 75 minutes)
  • Roundtable: A facilitated conversation among participants rather than a traditional presentation. Roundtable leaders pose questions and guide discussion; attendees contribute throughout. Ideal for exploratory topics or works-in-progress. (45 minutes OR 75 minutes)
  • Interactive Workshop: A hands-on session where participants engage in an activity, practice a strategy, or collaborate on a problem. Workshops should prioritize doing over listening. (45 minutes OR 75 minutes)

We are accepting submissions for both in person and online conference sessions; the modality is up to the presenters, though we do request for planning purposes that presenters do not request to shift modalities after acceptance unless there are extenuating circumstances and, for ease, we ask that all presenters in the same panel present using the same modality. 

Sessions are typically 45 or 75 minutes. Shorter presentations may be grouped thematically. Regardless of format, please reserve the final 10–15 minutes for audience Q&A. 

Have an idea that doesn’t fit into any of the categories listed above? Pitch it to the Director of this year’s conference, Kristi Costello (kcostell@odu.edu), and she will present it to the Conference Committee. 

Submit your proposal HERE!

Sponsored by The Thistle Foundation Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and The ODU Department of English