Advanced Workshop on Anti-Racist Practice: Teaching and Tutoring Writing

The assumption that standardized English is a racially neutral ticket for student success and upward mobility shapes writing instruction in both classroom and writing center contexts. This workshop takes challenges to that assumption as a starting point and, in so doing, invites writing teachers and tutors from across the disciplines to discuss possibilities for anti-racist teaching and tutoring practices. Using critical pedagogy as a framework for discussion, facilitators will provide an overview of the commonplace and racist assumptions about standardized English that often inform writing instruction. The workshop will then prompt participants to explore visions for social change and to translate their ethical ideals into practical yet transformative anti-racist education strategies. Participants will not only learn strategies applicable to classroom and writing center contexts but also will identify possibilities for on-going anti-racist professional development.