We Substituted Good Grammar for Intellect

We reimagined what a composition class can and should be in order to center students and engage their strengths, passions, and lived experiences. Drawing on tenets of Critical Race Theory and community cultural wealth, we developed a menu (a curated collection of culturally sustaining composition projects) and a “create your own path” curriculum meant to engage Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, disrupt teacher positionality, democratize the classroom, and draw on student strength and expertise. We use student-led writing groups and labor contracts to emphasize process over product and disrupt dominant norms by allowing projects to be submitted in a variety of creative genres. The idea is that if we allow students in Composition classes to choose the assignment prompt and the genre in which they communicate and compose they will develop more autonomy, become more independent learners, better understand the role of process in composition, and better recognize the transferability of skills learned in the composition class. There is no expectation in our classes that students produce a polished “academic” essay, instead they are encouraged to lean on their cultural wealths and celebrate the variety of skills, talents, and knowledges they already possess in the process of invention, creation, and revision.