Exploring Identity in Writing Workshop: Identity Webs as a Conferring Tool

Catch Up Quick

Last month, I wrote a post entitled Exploring Identity in Writing Workshop. In that piece, I shared ideas around studying student writing with a lens on identity. I posed possible questions we can ask while reading student writing, including:

• What does the writing tell us about identity?
• What topics did kids write about?
• What parts of themselves are writers including in their writing?
• Are multilingual students incorporating their different languages in their writing?

After writing that post, I began thinking about the next steps. Now that I have an idea of how students are already bringing their identity into their writing (or aren’t), as a writing teacher, what can I do to help students bring more of themselves to their writing?

I enlisted the help of my daughter Wren, now a seventh grader. I asked her to write a personal narrative and I planned to confer with her in a way that would support her in thinking about bringing more of her identity to the page. When we confer with a targeted and purposeful approach, our teaching is clear for our student writers.

The Details

Identity Web: As I anticipated conferring with Wren, I thought that having her complete an identity web would be helpful so that she had experience thinking about what made her unique. This idea came from Sara K. Ahmed’s brilliant and practical book, Being the Change. I set Wren up with this quick web filled with ideas she could use to brainstorm about multiple facets of her identity. 

I left the creation process open-ended and Wren opted to use a digital platform (Google Slides) to construct her identity web. She created several different webs to capture various aspects of her identity.

Time to Write: Next, it was time to generate story ideas. Wren listed several life moments that could become a story. There was one that I knew had the potential to be filled with meaningful bits of identity, but Wren was hesitant to write about the moment because it was embarrassing. After talking with Melanie Meehan, she gave me a genius tip, “Let her write it as fiction.” Melanie explained that putting ourselves on the page often leaves writers feeling vulnerable. Sometimes, it is easier to put ourselves on the page if we have permission to make up some of the details. Wren was really excited to write the piece once we made it fictional and I quickly realized that the story was mostly true, except for a few minor details.

Conferring: With Wren’s identity webs and story between us, I sat down at our kitchen table for a writing conference. I had no script, but I did have a plan to help Wren explore the idea of including more meaningful details that would help her reader know her (or her main character) better. As I conferred, I jotted the questions and prompts I used:

• How do you bring you and your identity to your writing?
• Let’s look at your identity web. What can you insert into your story? How would that sound?
• Let’s read your story. Is this a place you might add details to help your reader know you better? What could you add?

What She Wrote: Revisions

Here is Wren’s piece with the revisions noted in green.

The Impact

When Wren set out to write this story, she mainly aimed to recount a memorable moment from her life. Through our conferring and subsequent revision work, she found meaning in the details. Wren’s reworked piece illuminates a more explicit focus and purpose for writing. I think this revision work led her to discover more about herself and how this moment impacted her life, and she experienced how including herself elevated her writing. I’m excited to take this work into classrooms this fall and see what happens next!