Writing at the Crossroads: Navigating Labor, Disciplinarity, and Equity in Teaching Writing

Call for Proposals – Deadline January 19, 2025

Submit Proposals Here

NCTE updated their “NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing” about writing in 2016, noting that “the everyday experience of writing in people’s lives has expanded dramatically” and pointing to changes in technology, multimodal composition, and the increasing presence of writing and language use outside the classroom. The change in the document’s title, moving from the “Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing to “Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing,” reflects the growing body of scholarly knowledge that practitioners grapple with and use in varied ways to create new learning contexts and points towards the need for writing instructors to take ownership of their knowledge and experience, putting it into dialogue with a growing body of scholarship, policy recommendations, and the daily expediencies of teaching. In the eight years since that update, the landscape for writing has continued to change and expand. Most notably, today instructors face challenges of AI, post-truth rhetoric and information literacy, and the increasing burdens of labor. These emotional and material challenges impact how we create literacy learning environments, and this navigation is today’s professionalism in writing instruction. 

In this 46th Spring Conference on the Teaching of Writing, we once again invite secondary and post-secondary teachers from the Hampton Roads area and beyond, to come together on ODU’s Norfolk Campus, to explore the intersection of professionalization and the practical challenges faced by writing teachers. Together, we will examine how our roles demand not just instructional expertise but also emotional intelligence, resilience, and creativity as we face the myriad demands of education in today’s world. As our title states, we see writing as “at a crossroads” for how writing instruction will continue to evolve. Highlighting attention to labor, to equity, and to increasing specialized disciplinary practices, our conference invites you to investigate how instructors can continue to navigate the increasing demands and complex challenges of literacy instruction in the 21st century and to prepare their students to enter the very environments that we must navigate.

We invite literacy educators from various fields and institutions, including writing studies, reading instruction, creative writing, community writing, information literacy, student support, and secondary-education, to join us as we collectively consider how we grapple with the ever-increasing needs and contexts of literacy education in the 21st century.

We invite conference proposals that may explore:

  1. The Labor of Teaching: Examining the emotional and intellectual labor involved in writing instruction and how it impacts both educators and students. Also addressing the challenges of adjunctification, job security, and support structures for writing instructors, including finding space in the secondary curriculum for meaningful writing instruction
  2. Emotional Labor in the Classroom: Understanding the emotional dynamics in writing instruction and how teachers can navigate their own feelings and those of their students.
  3. Disciplinary Crossroads: Exploring how different disciplines approach writing and communication, and how these perspectives can enrich teaching practices. 
  4. Work-Life Balance: Strategies for managing the demands of teaching writing while maintaining passion for the craft.
  5. Community and Collaboration: Building supportive networks among writing teachers to share experiences, resources, and emotional support.
  6. Inclusive Practices: Addressing the emotional and labor challenges faced by diverse students and how teachers can create inclusive environments.
  7. Innovative Pedagogies: Exploring creative teaching methods that engage students emotionally and intellectually, making writing a more accessible and joyful process
  8. Working Against the Commodification of Writing Instruction: Critiquing the commodification of education and discussing alternative models that prioritize student engagement and meaningful learning experiences. Efficiency and accountability structures often disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, who are often most in need of robust, humanizing writing instruction. 

Proposal Types and Types of Sessions –  Submit Proposals Here

We invite you to submit a 150-word proposal for presentations, interactive workshops, and teacher-to-teacher roundtable discussions or panels that connect with the conference’s theme. Sessions are typically assigned to 45 or 75 minute time slots. Shorter presentation proposals are welcome (10-15 minutes) and can be combined with others thematically. 

There is no limit on the number of presenters in a given workshop, panel, or roundtable, but please realize that the time limit remains the same regardless of the number of speakers, so time should be allocated accordingly. The final 10-15 minutes should be open for audience Q&A.

Async Online (On-Demand Only, 10 min max) this year we have added online options, share some activity or tool you use in your classes, and walk us through what that looks like. 

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