Identity Narrative Assignment: How Writing About Students’ Identities Shapes Their Writerly Voice

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Contents

Introduction

Literature Review: Voice, Identity, and Assignment Design

How I Proceed with the Assignment

My Observation & The Success Story

Concluding Thoughts

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Works Cited

About the Author

Concluding Thoughts

To write this paper, I did not want to conduct empirical research. I wanted to share this assignment and my personal experience with the reader community of this journal. In my future research, I plan to conduct an IRB-approved study to empirically show my readers how the “Identity Narrative” assignment works to help students develop their writerly voice stemming from their sense of self and identity. From the inception of this assignment to writing this paper, I have developed a new pedagogical strategy, which is to have group conversations among my students. I will do it for my future research to show how students themselves learn from reading from and conversing about their “Identity Narrative” assignment. As a writing teacher, it is my heartfelt responsibility to create a more inclusive learning environment for my students coming from a diverse range of backgrounds and help them develop a voice of their own. I am happy to know how it works for other writing teachers if they plan to incorporate it into their writing courses.